Wedding Week - Bridesmaid Luncheon!

Despite being in the midst of my first full work week back since all of the wedding festivities, and knee deep in a kitchen renovation project, I just could not contemplate sleep tonight without knowing that all my blog readers had heard all about my Bridesmaid Luncheon.

Umm, okay maybe not...maybe I will sleep like a baby either way, but regardless, you're here and I've got pictures, so shall we??  Okay good.

Our wedding week festivities continued on Friday morning, with all the hungover idiots (the men) heading out to the golf course for a scramble in the blazing heat, and all the ladies heading downtown for my Bridesmaid Luncheon at Theater Square Marketplace.  Three of my lovely aunts played hostess (all the planning happened from Georgia, Texas and California!) and they did such a great job planning the venue, menu, and the decor!  All of my bridesmaids, and our out of town, and close female relatives were in attendance which made it all the more special!

When I arrived, I quickly placed all the bridesmaids gifts at their seats while one of the waiters poured me a glass of wine.  It was such a great time to mingle with everyone and just relax before the craziness of the weekend got too crazy.  Once everyone arrived, lunch was served...on the menu was a choice of shrimp & grits, fried chicken sandwich with pesto aoili, and a yummy Cobb salad.  I opted for the fried chicken sandwich which I had tried there before and I knew it was absolutely delicious!

Me and my bridesmaids! Aren't they gorgeous?!

Wine chit chat...

Candid

girl talk!

Miranda and Me!

I LOVE this little man!

Aunt Karen giving a speech - the beginning of the waterworks for the day for me...

The boy's mom and my mom!

Aunt Karen and Aunt Patty - two of my lovely hostesses!

The beautiful flower arrangements!  We used these at the wedding too!

Cousins

My mom!

Sassy maids!

Grandmothers!

My Mom and her sisters!

 During lunch my Aunt Karen gave a sweet and lovely speech which brought on the first of many tears for the day.  My luncheon could not have gone any better, and it was such a great way to relax with a lot of wonderful women! 

My bridesmaids gifts were earrings I had especially made for them from a bead shop in Louisville called AfterGlow (this is the same place I desinged my wedding jewelry and hair combs too).  I also gifted them each a unique floral robe to wear getting ready and for all the pre-wedding stuff on Saturday.  Lastly, I got them each a matching pair of flip flops for them to change into when it was time to start dancing.  More pics of those to come soon!

Next up...rehearsal dinner!

Wedding Week - Family Arrivals!

Our wedding week was quite a jam-packed event!  On Wednesday (4th of July) Keith and I headed home to my parents house in Louisville with our cars loaded up with all of our wedding clothes and necessities, along with our honeymoon luggage.  I gave the pups a few extra treats and some wuv time (love time) before sadly heading out and promising to be back in 12 days.

While I normally quite enjoy the 4th of July, I actually despised it this year because it stupidly prevented me from getting a ton of my wedding errands taken care of (like printing the guest list at Kinkos and picking up gifts for my bridal luncheon hostesses).  All was not lost though, because my sister and brother in law and my sweet little Mason arrived around 8pm and we poured some wine and relaxed with my Aunt Sherri, Uncle Ara, and cousin Summer who had flown in the day before from Cali.  We had a big time hanging out in my parents backyard while the boys smoked cigars and the gals chatted it up and watched the neighborhood fireworks. 

If you can't tell, this is my favorite way to sit...legs draped over the boy.  I do it at home, at the movies, and pretty much everywhere, including the gate at the airport while waiting for our flight to leave on Sunday, and on the plane.  Can't help myself!

On Thursday, the real festivities began!  I woke up early and went on a run with my sister before the boy and I headed down to the County Clerk to get our marriage license.  We thought it might be a time-consuming errand, but once we got there, it actually only took about 15 minutes, and I might add that despite some long-standing stereo-types about people from Kentucky....you cannot marry your cousin there (they verify if you are related when you apply). 

By Thursday evening, pretty much all of our out of town family had arrived in Kentucky, including a plane with 14 family members on it, flying in from various parts of California, and my aunt Patty & Uncle David from Georgia, Aunt Karen from Texas, and the boy's family from Georgia as well.  As has become the tradition, we welcomed everyone to my parents house for a cook-out, some adult beverages, and a little corn-hole.  We probably had about 40 people at the house, and with it hovering somewhere around 100 degrees, it was HOT, HOT, HOT inside and outside of the house.  Even though we were pretty much melting, spirits were high and we had a great time.  I will admit though, that seeing how miserably hot is was had me freaking out all week because our wedding and reception was outside.  It was hard to put that aside and try not to obsess about it (which I did anyways) but I tried to just enjoy the evening for what it was.

Cousins Jayme and Summer, and myself

A mix of my cousins, the boy's family, and members of the wedding party

mom and brother

Me and future husband

A little cornhole action

Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mike

Cousin Kevin and Uncle Mike

We found some hilarious pics of my aunts in the 80's while looking through my baby pics...we blew them up and made them into fans to use at the cook-out...it was really quite amusing, though somewhat less amusing to Aunt Patty and Karen

Me chatting it up with the boy's mom and looking like I have a baby bump (a just to be clear, I do not have one and won't for a long while!)

The point in the evening where Brynn started just holding her wine in everyone's face while she was talking to them...just for funzies

brothers, cousins, and mom being ridiculous

I will say that of all the great conversations and catching up I got to to with mine and the boy's family, the real highlight of my night was coming out to say goodnight to everyone after I had washed my face and put my glasses on, only to find my mom, dad, sister, brothers, fiance, and several members of the wedding party shotgunning beers in the backyard.  Apparently I just don't know how to party. 

It was a fun evening had by all, most especially my dad, who the next morning said, "The last time I felt like this after drinking was in college..."  And let's just make a round-about guess about how many years back that was, shall we?  Unfortunately for my Dad, he had been working on a golf scramble for the last month with about 25 of our friends/family members for Friday morning, and they had 9:30am tee time.  Did I mention that it was about 104 degrees on Friday?  I'll let you imagine how that went...

Next up will be a recap of Fridays events, starting with my bridesmaid luncheon!  Can't wait to share more!

No words

"I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep, and  there are no words for that..."

Our wedding day was absolutely perfect.  It was the second hottest day on record in Kentucky at our outdoor venue, and we had several minor catastrophes and mini-meltdowns (literally and figuratively), but we did what we came there to do.  We sang, we danced, we said "I do!" and "Me too!", we ate, we drank, we laughed, and we loved....and at the end of the day, we left as husband and wife.  It was a truly beautiful thing, made all the more wonderful by the people who showed up to support and love us on this journey. 

I can't wait to tell you all about it (you can pretty much bet that's what the remainder of July's posts will be about), but for now, here's a sneak peak at some of our photos from the day. More to come!

One Month

Exactly one month from today, I will be walking towards the man I love in a beautiful white dress.  I literally can. not. wait.  I know I have made a lot of posts about how stressful wedding planning is and how much I despise the weight of it all, and all the things that have gone wrong.  I can't guarantee that there won't be more of those kind of posts between now and July 7, but for now, I will give you a little insight into what our big day will be like.

We are getting married at Historic Locust Grove in Louisville, KY.  If you remember our engagement photos from this post, you may remember how gorgey our wedding venue is (in my opinion at least).  Originally we had planned to get married on the porch of the historic Georgian Mansion for which the property is known for, but we are leaning more towards a different area of the property now considering the sun will be beating directly down on us at 6:00pm on the porch.  A shaded area might work better.  What do you think?
  

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Or in the shaded area...

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It's a tough call.  The good thing is that regardless of where we have the ceremony, the porch on the house is still going to be a great area for photos.

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And speaking of photos...how much do I love this laid back pic of a gorgeous wedding party at our venue?  I love that the bridesmaid dresses and groomsmen suits are monochromatic.  We have light suits and light bridesmaid dresses as well and I am so anxious to see them together!  This certainly makes me feel better about my color decisions...

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What do you think of monochromatic??

Anywho...that's just a little insight into the big day.  I know I haven't shared a ton, but I fully plan on posting all the fun pics from the wedding and doing full recaps of the wedding events. 

And speaking of wedding events...can we talk about the honeymoon?  With so much going on and so many "to-do" lists and check writing and dress fittings, I literally keep forgetting that I get to go to MEXICO the day after the wedding!  Every time I remember that I get so happy.  We booked our honeymoon at Secrets Resort - Maroma Beach in Mexico.  The boy literally cannot handle himself when it comes to the honeymoon.  He texts me once a week to ask me what the name of the resort is (he can never remember) and flips through our resort pamphlet nightly.  It's pretty much all he can think about.  With scenery like this, how can you blame him?

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Source: google.com via Taryn on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Taryn on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Taryn on Pinterest

So pumped!  I've never done the all-inclusive thing before, but I am looking forward to not having to think about money or meals while we are down there.  And yes, we did splurge a little and go with the rooms with the swim out pools in the top photo :-).

Aside from our honeymoon, I am also really pumped to get our wedding bands in.  My engagement ring was definitely an investment, but after looking at countless jewelry stores and not finding what we were looking for, it was 100% worth the expense after walking into Rivard Jewelry and seeing the beautiful Tacori rings.  After nearly a year of careful budgeting, we went back about 3 weeks ago and purchased our wedding bands.  I was disappointed to see that the cost of my band had definitely gone up over the 10 months we had been engaged, but what are you gonna do?  I really really really want a matching band to go on the top and bottom of my ring, but the boy keeps telling me "No."  I guess I will have to wait for an anniversary or babies to get more diamonds :(.



There was a brief moment in time where we looked at the Matching men's Tacori rings that had the same pattern on the inside of the band, but after finding out there were $2K and up, the boy and me agreed that they were outta their mind.  I love ya Tacori, but if I'm paying $2K, there best be some bling on that ring!  We settled on a great simple Tungsten ring that will be durable and super comfy.  I think K is secretly excited to get his wedding band too!

I am curious...how many brides out there have a band on the top and bottom of their ring? Am I cray for wanting that?  I can't seem to convince the boy that "the ring was clearly meant to be worn that way"...lol.

In all seriousness though, I am so excited and lucky to be marrying by best friend.  30 days from now I won't be thinking about how much we stressed, how much money we spent, how much money my parents spent, or how many times I cried out of sheer frustration throughout this whole planning process.  None of that will matter because I get to spend my life with K, and that will have made it all worth it.

Happy almost Friday loves!