Niki and Scott

Brian and his childhood friends from Racine, truly have an amazing thing. Over the years, we've shared so many memories with "The Bomb Squad," and this weekend, we added another. Our friend Scott (aka, Shank) and Niki got married! Our adventures began when we met the Elsmo's and Dejan, El & Z in Madison on Friday for lunch at the Old Fashioned. That evening, we were invited over to the bride & groom's house in Baraboo for a bonfire. Their house is absolutely amazing. Most of the work has been done over the years with their own two hands, and they have created such a special place for themselves and their two daughters.

On the day of the wedding, the boys picked up Shank and took care of some wedding details, Dejan gathered the kids for some water park fun at The Wilderness and El, Melissa and I went to the farmer's market and local grocery store to buy a carload of flowers. We were honored to get to help out with some of the wedding details, but had a little surprise of our own in store for them. The wedding took place on a bridge in Mirror Lake State Park, and thought it would be nice to incorporate some sort of garland along the bridge. It was a l o n g bridge, but Melissa found the perfect thing -- flowers in tin cans that would flank the entire length of the bridge. Little did we know that Shank has been building beautiful birdhouses that are clad in cans, and was using them as their centerpieces at the wedding. Truly, the guy is artistic genius. We've all received amazing pieces from him at our own weddings, and I think it's really cool that we ended up using materials that he currently incorporates into his art. Shelly met up with us at the bridge to assemble the garland, which really turned out amazing. I think it was a really nice surprise.

The trees were exploding with color -- it was the epitome of a perfect Autumn weekend -- and the entire setting was just stunning. Leif was the officiant and put together a powerful ceremony. The band, consisting of Brian on djembe and Dejan on dulcimer, filled the forest with sweet sounds. The bride and groom looked beautiful, and their daughters were absolutely gorgeous. The reception was held at Ishnala Supper Club overlooking Mirror Lake, and was breathtaking. Needless to day, it was absolutely a great evening, spending time with friends and celebrating Niki & Scott and their family.