I can barely hold my eyelids open as I type this, but there are so many things to blog about. We're fresh off a marathon weekend of awesome events and while we had a blast at all of them, we are now struggling to recover! First things first, I can't write a single thing about this weekend without mentioning that one of my best buds got married! We waited for 7-9-11 to get here for so long, and now I can't believe it has come and gone. If you thought the royal wedding was a big deal, you are wrong, as this was certainly the event of the year. Kendra and Antonio threw a party like no other, and it is one we will not forget!

Because I'm struggling to stay awake, here are my highlights from the weekend, bullet-style.

The fact that our friend, Darrin, live-tweeted the entire event (follow him: @darrinearl). He had help from lots of us that were there, but he was very instrumental in getting everything started and creating the hash tag for the event. (Am I speaking a foreign language to you? For you non-tweeters, twitter is a way to let your friends know what you're doing in 140 characters or less. A hash tag can be used for a trending topic - for example, you could search #caseyanthony if you wanted to keep up with all the craziness that is that trial.) Search #kentonio2011 if you want to read what all the party-goers, me included, had to say during the ceremony and reception!
Not only did Darrin live-tweet the event, he also created a website to journal all the tweets and updates. Visit it here for lots of pictures and details.
The rehearsal dinner on Friday was fun and relaxed, just like the bride and groom. For dinner, we had a variety of foods from all of their favorite places, including tacos from Moe's, chicken from Chik-Fil-A, sandwiches from Lenny's, and much more. So yummy, and such a great idea.
Kendra was absolutely stunning. She looks great any day of the week, but on Saturday, she absolutely glowed. That girl knows how to rock a strapless white "princess" dress.
Kendra's dad was one of the proudest father of the brides I've ever seen. He looked mighty fine walking his baby girl down the aisle, and he sure put on a good party afterwards!
My friend Mary Elizabeth sang "Beautiful" during the ceremony and it was, indeed, beautiful. Her voice is angelic and the song was filled with emotion. I could listen to her sing all day!
Both the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom wore hats and they did not disappoint. Several other hats were in attendance, with one particular hat arriving on two different heads. The fashion statements made it a true spectator's event.
The flowers decorating both the church and the reception hall were b-e-a-utiful. Huge arrangements of mostly white and green with a touch of pink thrown in. They all had the prettiest white hydrangeas I've ever seen. I really wanted to grab an arrangement to take with me as I left.
The reception was crazy-fun. After a cocktail and appetizer hour, we had dinner from several different stations. There was a catfish buffet, a pasta bar, an asian area that had cute little chinese takeout boxes filled with fried rice, and mini cheeseburgers and fries. Yummy in my tummy!
The dj kept the dance floor full by playing all the right songs. Who knew there were so many line dances? He played several back to back and the dance floor was packed for every single one of them.
The groom ditched his jacket for the reception and it turns out he was sporting a pair of green suspenders. I have decided I like boys in suspenders. That should happen more often.
There was a black jack dealer there. Yes, a real dealer with a real black jack table. It was pretty awesome, and completely unique!
As if the black jack table wasn't cool enough, there was also a table were you could get custom rolled cigars. I am not really the cigar smoking type, but it was pretty cool to watch the professional cigar roller. My dad, and I'm sure many others, was definitely a happy camper.
At one point during the ceremony, everyone on the dance floor made a train and danced all the way around the room, picking up people as they passed by. I've seen this done in plenty of movies, but it may have been my first time to see it happen at a wedding reception.
The bridal cake was two small-ish cake layers stacked on top of a ginormous cupcake tree. There were cupcakes everywhere and they were all different flavors. Doc had strawberry, I had vanilla (though the flavor was probably a much fancier name than that). The icing was fluffy and light. My first thought when I woke up Saturday morning was that I wanted another one of those cupcakes.
The groom's birthday is next week and, to surprise him, Kendra made special arrangements for his birthday/groom cake to be wheeled out than none other than The Grizz! Antonio is a huge Grizzlies fan and the look on his face when he saw The Grizz come out was priceless. His cake was a Florida Gator wearing a Memphis jersey with a Duke basketball in his mouth (I think that covered all of Antonio's favorite teams). After singing and blowing out birthday candles, The Grizz hosted a dance off (hilarious) and then threw out t-shirts into the crowd. It was just as good as being at a game! No, actually it was better than that.
After bustin' a move on the dance floor and completely sweating through all of our clothes, we sent the newlyweds off through a tunnel of bubbles and ribbon wands. It was a perfect night!
Except for one thing: my friend Matt was in charge of putting the groom's bags into the limo. Simple enough, except that it turns out there was another wedding on site in a different hall, which means two limos were parked out front. Antonio's personal items rode off with the wrong couple and poor Matt had to track it down. While completely hilarious to me (seriously, I was doubled-over in laughter), I'm sure it caused a little stress for Matt. I mean, who wants to have to call up a newlywed's hotel room on their wedding night? Awk-ward.

I swore I was going to go to bed at 8:45 tonight, and now it's already 10:23. Crap! There is so much more I want to tell you about this weekend, like how we totally managed to completely surprise my mom and throw her a 60th birthday party. I'm still sorting through tons of pictures, but there's lots more to come!

For now, I'll leave you with this. I think it's the perfect picture to represent Kendra and Antonio's awesome wedding weekend! Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Pickens!

(I completely stole this picture from Antonio's twitter feed [@themrantonio], but I think it was taken by their photographer. All credit should go to him/her, whoever they may be...)