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!

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!

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!

I included a Traveler’s Guide to Charleston, a Charleston map, a “Greetings from Charleston” postcard where we handwrote welcoming notes to our guests…

…homemade benne wafers…

…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!