Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Wedding Recap 2: Ladies Lunch, Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

Friday morning started out nice and relaxed. We woke up at a decent hour but not too early, and enjoyed breakfast with Mary Catherine and Kevin before getting ready for our fun day ahead!
I headed to downtown Charleston with the ladies of our wedding party for lunch and mani/pedis. We had a delicious lunch at 39 Rue du Jean right off King Street, where we got to chat, make any remaining introductions, and I gave my bridesmaids their gifts!
I gave them a fuchsia pashmina, a necklace for the wedding day, and a redneck martini glass! Also included in the bags were personalized huggies with each girl’s initial, so thoughtfully gifted to them by my sweet friend Suzanne! I also wrote each girl a note in a card thanking them for being a part of our wedding.
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After lunch we walked down King Street to get our nails done! I got pink on both my hands and toes. I love pink polish!
After our mani pedis and a stop at Starbucks, we headed back to the suite at the hotel and got to relax with the groomsmen before making our way to the rehearsal! The groomsmen had been out at lunch and picking up their tuxedos!
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We had a fairly quick rehearsal with gorgeous weather. I took charge of the rehearsal and gave overall instructions, we practiced once, fixed any kinks we ran into, practiced a second time, and called it successful.
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Our huge an amazing wedding party (minus Dan, who was en route!)
On to the rehearsal dinner!
We had a Mississippi State tailgate for our rehearsal dinner, and we held it at the Sweetgrass Memorial Arts Pavilion in Mount Pleasant. It was a gorgeous venue with plenty of outside space for tables, tailgating tents, and cornhole games!
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We served lowcountry boil and barbeque pulled pork for dinner, with mac and cheese and green beans as the sides. Our caterer, Erica Davis Lowcountry Catering, did an amazing job! The food was delicious and they served everything hot and on time! For drinks we served sweet tea, Lazy Magnolia beer (a Mississippi original) and Coke and other soft drinks.
The overall feel we were going with was completely informal, fun, laid back, maroon and white tailgate. Our friends and families had a great time playing cornhole and chatting.
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The venue was gorgeous and had an amazing view of the Ravenel Bridge.
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We decorated using maroon tablecloths with burlap runners and MSU centerpieces, which included mason jars, pom poms, and an MSU item.
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We had a special table for the grooms cake, which was made by Publix. I had drawn pictures of what I wanted the cake to look like and they did an amazing job! Zach was very surprised!734321_10100607176630226_1099700833_n - Copy  IMG_1640
I had napkins made for the rehearsal dinner!IMG_1605 - Copy
 Everyone was really into the theme of the event. My parents’ friends even came in MSU shirts they ordered online!
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We had so much fun getting to visit with everyone that came into town and loved getting to be able to catch up with everyone and welcome them before the hectic few hours of the wedding!
After the rehearsal dinner, the bridal party and a few close friends went downtown with us for a ghost tour! It was a fun way to hang out with each other as well as see downtown Charleston! We had such a great time with our friends!
After that it was back to the suites to get some sleep-tomorrow was wedding day!

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Monday, April 29, 2013

Wedding Recap 1: Off to Charleston!

I have several wedding recaps lined up for y’all! Thanks so much for being so patient with me while we recuperated from our wedding and settled into our new house (and I moved positions in my company yet again-more to come). It’s been a huge adjustment period but nevertheless, here come the wedding recaps!
The Wednesday before the wedding was the last day of work for both of us. I had been running around all week making sure everything was packed up and ready to go to Charleston! After work on Wednesday I got a massage, then headed home to eat dinner with Zach and wait for our best man, Shawn, to arrive from Kentucky!
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Thursday morning we all woke up, got ready, and packed up Shawn’s truck full of our wedding stuff. We had tons of decor items for both the wedding and rehearsal dinner. We headed out to Charleston to meet up with our families and friends who were starting to arrive!
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As soon as we arrived at our hotel in Mount Pleasant, Zach and Shawn brought Zoe to Zach’s grandparents, who were so kind to watch our sweet girl all weekend. My mom and I got down to business making the welcome bags for our guests. I also had my wedding gown steamed in the hotel while we were working on the welcome bags. Cacky of Cacky’s Bride + Aid steamed my dress and she was awesome! She was such a lifesaver and did a wonderful job on my gown-it looked perfect! She was also funny and as sweet as can be! I highly recommend her for any brides in Charleston!
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I included a Traveler’s Guide to Charleston, a Charleston map, a “Greetings from Charleston” postcard where we handwrote welcoming notes to our guests…
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…homemade benne wafers…
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…a water, a glass bottle Coke, Charleston chews, an itinerary for the weekend, a Charleston Breakfast tea bag from Charleston Tea Plantation, and a nip of Firefly vodka in the welcome bags. I hand stamped A&Z on the welcome bags as well!
Zach and Shawn arrived back at the hotel and we headed out to meet with our weekend coordinator, Shannon (A Timeless Event) to give her our decor for the weekend and pick up Amanda from the airport! We then headed downtown for dinner. We met my mom (dad was en route at this time with sister), Zach’s parents, Zach’s sister Emily and brother Jonathon, Zach’s Aunt Beth (Shawn’s mom), and Caitlin! It was a fun dinner and a great way to unwind before the craziness of the next two days began! It was also great to be able to get some introductions started before more people arrived the next morning/later that night.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel and got to see Mary Catherine and Kevin arrive, as well as Brianna and my sister and dad, and see them for a little while before crashing. We needed extra sleep for Friday and Saturday’s busy schedules began!
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