My baby sister is getting married this summer and I don’t even know h0w I feel about it. I guess my emotions are bittersweet. She has always been my cute little baby sister, and now she is going to be a married woman with a home and family of her own. Her fiancé, Eddy, is a wonderful guy and we all love him already. I couldn’t have handpicked a better man for her if I did it myself. Karina is the last one in our family to get married. We are all so thankful for the wonderful spouses that each one of us original Goncharenkos has married. They are all amazing and I genuinely feel that they are part of our family, just as much as all my siblings.
Even though Eddie and Karina live in New York, they decided that they wanted to have a tropical, Floridian wedding, which is definitely convenient for us. They came down this week do take care of some wedding preparations. My parents are also here to help us with the move, Dad helping Sergi finish the last, final renovations before we bring all of our things from our apartment to the new house, and Mom helping with the children, cooking, packing and generally helping out with anything that needs to be done. This week, if you enter into my premises, you will find yourself with a job:).
We girls started scheming of a bridal shower, since it was only logical that the timing was perfect. We had an intimate, lovely shower for the last little chick in the family nest. My sister, Milana, hosted the party at her house and she and her husband, Andrey, did a phenomenal job with the decor, don’t you think?
While the menfolk all got sweaty and used their muscles at my new house, the girls enjoyed an evening of elegance, lots of great food, gushing over all Karina’s new household possessions and of course, girl talk.
It’s so peaceful in Grandma’s arms.
I absolutely LOVE the lighting. It was beautiful.
The Food:
Our menu was simple but SO delicious. Since it was only the 6 of us, we didn’t make an exorbitant amount of different dishes but chose foods that we all loved.
Flavored Water (with lemons, strawberries and mint)
Creamy Chicken Salad Bites
New potatoes with butter and fresh herbs
Baked Salmon Fillet (I used the same recipe as my Baked Steelhead Trout Fillet). I’m so glad we made extra salmon, since we had some party crashers at the end of the night:).
Spinach Strawberry and Avocado Salad
Desserts:
My amazing sister-in-laws, Vitaliya and Marina
Fruit Salad
Caramel Cake – I’m not even sure what this cake is called, because Vitaliya made it, and I forgot to ask, but the thin cake layers reminded me of caramel. The cake just melted in your mouth. The frosting was made from dulce de leche. YUM.
Chocolate Cake Roll (Recipe coming soon) This was my creation and I loved how it turned out. I will try to recreate it for you soon. I didn’t have a chance to take a proper picture, but you can see it hiding in the back, behind the fruit salad.
Strawberry Souffle – “Many hands make light the work.” I love this quote, especially when it comes to food. With everybody pitching in, the food was a cinch. Marina made these elegant, cold Strawberry Souffles, in such an elegant presentation.
Don’t you just love watching the bride to be open all her presents? It’s so much fun to see all those household beauties:). I’ll just show you a small glimpse of the present opening.
Karina with Mom
It was a lovely evening. At 10 pm, I got a phone call from my husband, telling us that they were all hungry and on the way to join us. We ended the evening with the whole family reunited again (except for our sister, Elina, and her family, but they were with is in spirit and on Snapchat).
Whenever I take pictures of an event, I later realize that I don’t have any pictures of myself there. Here’s the only one, and from my phone too. Does this happen to anyone else?
We love you Karina and Eddy! Congratulations on your engagement and May God bless your future marriage!
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