Hitchfest 2010: Thursday Night Fun & A Pig Roast

Let's start with Thursday. Because that's when the actual fun & magic started to happen.  We started off the day getting stuff ready for checking into the hotel downtown. Shortly after settling in, we were dressed and down in the lobby to meet our photographer, Nicole Polk, for the very first time -- it was time to do our engagement shoot! We were very excited and a tad nervous for the shoot, but all the nerves went away when we started walking and talking with Nicole.  She's mega rad, and after only one minute of shooting with her, she made Mike and I totally comfortable and actually excited to shoot more pictures of us in the city just bein' in love. It was fabulous, and we cannot wait to see how the images turned out. Definitely more on that to come soon!

Right after the shoot, Mike and I got cozy comfortable and headed over to our friends Sara and Tyler's home for a hosted gathering of our friends and family.  First off, let me just say right here and now that Sara and Tyler are amazing people.  Not only did they throw this party for us out of the kindness of their hearts, but they roasted a whole pig, cooked a ton of delicious sides, lit up their gorgeous backyard, and basically entertained (and totally impressed) 20 of our friends and family just because they love us and love entertaining good people. They even housed 4 of our friends who needed a place to crash that night. Their generosity reminded us how lucky we are to have built such a strong foundation of love and friendship in Los Angeles. And there will be much more to be said about Sara and Tyler in the coming posts. They basically hosted Mike & friends the entire week of the wedding: as in, together they made the Hitchfest signs, the beer bottle chandeliers, etc. all in Sara and Tyler's backyard.  Their kindness has been out of this world. Thank you, guys!!  And now for some pictures! Also taken by Sara!

The chefs -- toasting to a great evening! Sara and Tyler are the two in the middle. 

All the side dishes were made fresh from their garden.

Our friends and family feasting!

There's the pig!

I swear we didn't wear these shirts together on purpose... But oh so fitting, no?

Their amazing garden!

The delicious sides!

A pig roast is a fantastic (and cheap) way to feed a crowd.  The pig cost 80 bucks. The sides came from the garden for the most part, and everyone brought their own bottle of red to share. So if you all are interested in a little tutorial from Sara and Tyler on hosting a pigroast, let me know. I'll get them to work up a lil post on it (if that's ok with them! tehee!)

After we left Pigfest, we headed back to the hotel and pretty much passed out. There was still work to be done the next morning, and it had to be done before 5 PM for the start of the rehearsal... More to come on that soon!