Our Wedding Celebration-Guests and Dancing

Scott and I has the age old struggle getting our guest list where we needed it to be.  We ended up with about 125 people at our party-which was perfect.  Even with that few people though we felt we didn't get to spend allot of time with every single person.  Nature of the beast.

We knew we wanted a band-and we had them picked very early on.  At the end of the night guests kept paying them to stay longer, and play the same songs again-which I think is a sign of a good party.

I danced and danced and danced.  I even got Scott, the anti dancer on to the floor for a slow song or two.  I truly had so much fun.  It was the best party I have ever been too!!

I want to comment though on the amount of time and effort that goes into something that looks rather effortless.  I had a ton of family and friend help.  My dad and uncle hung the Chinese lanterns.  Heather made the door letter-hot gluing moss for hours.  Jen sewed all the pendant banners and created my cake topper.  She also helped me convert my black and white logo into the colors I wanted.  Kara wrangled all the formal portrait people and finished the dessert buffet.  My mom and grandma handled everything from cocktail stirrers to setting up all the tables.  Scott's Aunt Ann did the guest book table and many bows and wreaths.  Every single person there catered to Scott and I at the party-we never had an empty drink which was kind of fantastic-until the next day;)  Everyone pitched in which was fantastic.  I tried to relinquish control and let people do what they do best.  The results were better than I anticipated.  It was my vision-but so much better.

Our first dance.  We laughed through the entire thing.

Shaun and Alison...this had to be before 9:30:)

A middle of the dance floor toast-friends coming together....kumbuya....

The dance floor from above.  That's me in the center.

Later in the evening we had some synchronous dancing.  Like a flash mob-but smaller and likely to the tune of Rocky Top.

Some of our guests enjoying a dance floor slow song.  This is the only proof I have that Scott and I took to the floor after the "first dance."  This is like seeing a lion in the wild, very rare.  Scott NEVER dances.  He refused to believe it was true-until he saw the picture.  It was that kind of night for many of us-pieces slipped away:)

I love seeing friends cut loose.  It reminds us all that they used to not have children and they still are pretty cool when they get the chance to go out and have fun! 

One of my favorite pictures from the evening.  Scott is missing, but this was on the dance floor so this is not uncommon.  It was a fantastic night!!!

Wedding Party- Fashion

I had an epic hard time finding a wedding dress.  I tried on GADS.  I went all over town.  I knew what I didn't want but could not figure out exactly what I did want.  I started out leaning toward something short.  I prefer short dresses because of my height and I knew I didnt want to wear heels because of Scott's height;)  I was swayed to consider a long dress since this might be one of the only times I get to wear one.  I went with many different people.  I ended up with something I liked but was it my dream dress-not exactly.  But the dress wasn't my biggest priority-and I was OK with being 90% sure on it.  Like I said previously I cared allot more about the feel of the party than my wardrobe.  Even though I was a bit obessed with having mild curls and a fun birdcage veil-both of which I had!!


Full view of my formal wedding dress. 



Slight close up of my formal dress.  Obviously one shoulder-silk chiffon with embellishment on the strap and hip.  Ruching as well.



A pretty good picture of my fascinator and birdcage veil. 

Good side view of the fascinator.  Bad picture of me-but for the sake of documentation I wanted you all to see how cute it was!!!

The short cocktail dress which I changed into after the first dance.  This was also what I wore for the wedding.  I kept my fascinator in but took off my veil for dancing.

Our Wedding Celebration-Food

Scott and I knew we wanted the food at our wedding party to be casual, fun and most important-GOOD!  How many receptions do you go to where the food is awful?  He wanted BBQ and I readily agreed because I knew I could make even ordinary food look extraordinary.  When it came to dessert-I knew I wanted cupcakes and a small slicing cake.  I wanted upscale casual.  Fun but nice.  I think we knocked it out of the park!  Everything raved about the food-especially the mac and cheese for weeks afterward.

A wide shot of our dessert table.  I used cake plates to stagger all the cupcakes.  I ran burlap runners from front to back to add texture and interest.

My slicing cake on a vintage milk glass cake platter.  My brilliant friend Jen crafted my cake topper using my fabric from the pendants as inspiration.  I was putting it together with coffee stirrers at the last minute, while getting my hair done.

I made simple placard to tell guests the flavors of the cupcakes.  I used this as another place for my custom monogram.

Close up of the cupcake flags.

All the strawberry cupcakes lined up with their green flags.

The food buffet.  I opted for several smaller chafing dishes and split the food into two lines.  I repeated the burlap runners here and used candles, mercury glass, vintage wood boxes and lanterns liberally.  Most of the decor was from my own home.  I have collected these things for years and decided to use what I have and what I love.

The silverware in a vintage box.  I love this display.

The entire food buffet from the head of the table.  I used a three tier tray from Pottery Barn for the BBQ slider rolls.  I registered for this piece and was so excited when I received it.  I love it and can think of a million ways to use it in the future.

Our Wedding Celebration- Decor

In the midst of house renovating we also managed to get married, as referenced here:
Scott and Carrie's big day

We came home and had a big, local party a couple weeks later.  It was fantastic to celebrate with all our families and friends.  My theme was a mix of preppy and nautical.  I stole some other brides line "I wanted my wedding to feel like you walked out of a J. Crew catalog into an Anthropologie catalog and had an intense desire to play croquet.”    The decor was very important to me.



A vignette on the dessert table.  I found these letters on clearance the week of the party and thought they played well against the vintage box,mercury glass and lantern.



I went with casual flowers in mason jars.  I also sprinkled my small mercury votives on the tables as well.



I made a photo guest book with pictures from our wedding and engagement photos. 



We created beer coozies for party favors featuring our custom monogram.  I stored them in a vintage drawer on the bar.

I placed mason jar luminaries on the cocktail tables.  Here they are pictured with the cocktail stirrers.  Shout out to my grandma who tied them the day before the party.

A square boxwood wreath that was one of two hanging on the doors into the bar.  I used my navy and white ribbon and the custom monogram to adorn them.  Sadly-in this picture the sticker is a bit crooked.

Over the gift table we strung a clothesline with pictures from our childhoods.  This one of Scott on a boat as a little boy is one of my favorites.

The two moss letters on the front doors of the club.  These were a craft project-which caused some serious hot glue gun blisters.  Then I discovered cold glue guns and got Heather M to do the "S" for me.  It was teamwork!

The Chinese lanterns from above.  I knew I wanted them over the dance floor.

The lanterns at dusk.

The vignette on the food table.  I used the vintage wood boxes and mercury glass here, too. 

Simple mason jar luminaries and small mercury glass votives made a perfect backdrop for the band.

The gift table set up.  I had a pendant banner made with "thank you" on it to use for our thank you cards as well as here(in the frame).  I used a vintage locker basket for cards.  This is a wide shot of the kid pics as well.

Here is a shot of one of the pendant banners that my fabulous friend, Jen M, made for the party.  I knew very early on that I wanted them throughout the venue.  I like this pic-Ben is dressed to coordinate with my party colors.

Wedding Party Week

I feel it is time to feature our wedding reception...since it happened months ago.   I am naming this week-WEDDING PARTY WEEK.  Many posts coming.

Side note- I know most celebrity match ups are doomed from the beginning.  They break more often than they last.  I know Scott and I will be married much longer than most celebrities.  However-I didn't think we would beat our first celebrity couple after being married a mere 83 days.  Kim K just announced her divorce from Kris H after 72 days.  She got married a mere 11 days after me-and she could not make it work.    This is a total coincidence..at the beginning of wedding week-but I wanted to point it out. 

Scott and I-still going strong!!!

The return trip, our time at the Treasure Cay airport, Day 7

We flew home on Saturday our of Treasure Cay-across the bay from our island.  We had to take a ferry and because of our flight times we arrived at the airport about 2.5 hours prior to our flight.  It was a small airport-think Wings small.  There were about 7 people working and when we showed we were 1 &2 of 7 customers.  We checked in and took a seat.  To wait.  And wait.  Luckily 45 minutes before our flight the entertainment began. 
1.  About 30 more people showed up for both two other flights leaving out.  So the small airport got crowded, fast.
2.  They cancelled our flight and rescheduled us for another flight that left 2.5 hours later.  Which meant we had to wait in the crowded airport for an additional 3 hours.  YAY!

Scott looked at me and said "could be worse, we could not have air conditioning."  I knew it was a sign of bad things and chastised him for even saying it.

About 20 minutes later the lights started to flicker.  Then they went out.  Shortly after the generator kicked on-and we were back in air conditioned business.  Note-small airport, gazillion people and it was very hot outside.  No air conditioning was the worse case scenario from my perspective.

About 2 hours prior to our flight leaving we heard a crackling noise.  The lights flickered again.  Then we lost power for the second time.  Scott went out to investigate.  The airport fire truck was shooting water on the small out building next to the terminal.  When I say next to the terminal-think 10 feet. 

To recap-the generator which was housed 10 feet away had caught on fire.  That was the crackling noise.  The fire truck was dousing the shooting flames with water.  And we officially had no air conditioning for the last 2 hours of our wait.

IT. WAS. FANTASTIC.

We got home around 2:30 am.  It was a long day but at least we had Sunday to recover:)

Wedding/Honeymoon Trip Day 4-6

The day after our wedding it rained.  Not a little shower.  A downpour. 

The view from our honeymoon suite on day 4. 

At least we had tv, the ipad, and each other!!!

On day 5 the rain let up.  It was still a bit overcast but we could venture out-which was good because we were a bit stir crazy.  We took our boat over to some other island, the name of which escapes me.  We had lunch right on the ocean and than the unthinkable happened.  I convinced Scott to GET IN THE OCEAN.  Neither of us are big beach people, but this water and beach were too lovely to avoid.

The view at lunch in Treasure Cay

Us on the boat on the way back to our island.

Our last full day was the most beautiful day of all.  The sun was shining.  No threat of rain.  We decided to venture out to Guana Cay, home of the world famous Nippers Bar.  There is a pool at the bar and a rum drink that should be illegal.  We boated over and spent the day at the bar more or less.  It was heaven,  It was perfect.

Scott and I at Nippers....

The bartender took some pity on us for all our self portraits so she took a photo for us.  That drink in front of me-the NIPPER.  That far away look in my eyes-officially "NIPPED."

Scott in front of the tractor/art on the walk to Nippers.

One of my favorite photos from our honeymoon.  Us both on the way back to Green Turtle Cay.

Our wedding day-Day 3

A couple of things about eloping, from my experience:
1.  It really is no stress if its just you and the future husband.  Even with the comedy of errors we went through to get out license-it was never really stressfull-just kinda funny.
2.  Without a bunch of people around you can take the day and do what you want.  We chose to sleep in, eat breakfast and then meander on our boat and then on to the pool. I think it was 4:30 when I figured I needed to go back to the room and shower.
3.  Getting ready without the fanfare is a bit odd.  You get ready-and then you sit and wait in your room until its time to go.
4.  I highly reccomend it.  HIGHLY!!

On our wedding day we decided to do what we wanted to do.  Period.  It was weird telling each other, this is our last single breakfast, our last single lunch etc.

We got ready for the wedding and were about 20 minutes from leaving when there was a knock on our door.  It was the man we rented our boat from telling us a big storm was coming in.  He wanted us to move our boat somewhere safer.  Scott said he was a little busy, about to get married and all, so he handed over the keys.  Storm?  What storm?

We get in our golf cart on the way to our ceremony site-a previously selected beach.  On the way there our preacher pulled us over to tell us the "storm" was blowing a hard wind.  The ceremony site we had selected was across from the island dump and since the dump was burning the beach was essentially smoked out.  Um?  Ok-new location.  We followed him.

We got there and you could tell he was concerned about the weather.  He had the witnesses sign the papers before the ceremony which i guess is unusual?  He put us in place with our backs to the water and he started the ceremony.  He kept glancing over our heads to watch/worry about the storm rolling in.  Favorite parts of the ceremony:
1.  When Scott said his full name in his vows there was a HUGE clap of thunder.  Like a sound effect.  We laughed.
2.  Right as he pronounced us man and wife it started to sprinkle.

They say that rain on your wedding day is lucky.  I say a wet knot is much harder to untie.  Either way it was wonderful!!

Scott and I smirking after a well placed thunder clap interrupted our vows.

Note how excited Scott's face appears as he receives his wedding band.

Sealed with a kiss!!

Our first official photo as man and wife.  Big kudos to our witnesses, who were both our something borrowed and our photographers!!

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><></table

The sun came out after the ceremony so we had drinks on our dock.  A very relaxed cocktail party for two.

Wedding/ Honeymoon Trip Day 1 &2

Scott and I ran away to Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos to get married.  The story of our trip is fairly entertaining, at least to us, so I am going to share it in small chunks.

We went down to Atlanta on Saturday night and flew out of there Sunday morning to Fort Lauderdale.  We got into Green Turtle Sunday late afternoon after two plane rides, one airport shuttle, one airport tram, a cab and a water ferry.  It was a long day.  Our hotel was lovely and Sunday night we stayed at the resort to eat dinner and unwind.

The completely safe and reliable plane we took from Fort Lauderdale to Treasure Cay.  That is what I chanted to myself the entire flight:)

The Green Turtle Club-our honeymoon home base

Monday morning we went to the little town on our island to apply for a marriage license.  We go to the administrators office and there is a "we will be back later" note on the door.  No worries-we are on island time we thought.  She returns some 30 minutes later only to tell us the only person who can sign our papers in on vacation, I guess with no confirmed return date.  Um?  She said we could go across the bay to the bigger town and try there.  We called-that administrator was in, so we decided to take our rental boat the 12 nautical miles to get our paperwork sorted.  The trip was uneventful until we pulled within a mile of our location and saw a fairly ominous storm blowing ashore.  Um?  OK-we waited for 20 minutes and it passed.  We arrive, dock, and step onto the face of the sun it felt like.  The recent heavy rain has steam rising from the sidewalks.  YAY!!  We walk two blocks to the "other" administrators office only to be told he was "out to lunch."  We said fine-we will wait-here, in this air conditioned office.

Mr. Cox arrived and filled out our papers, no muss no fuss.  I would like to point out that Scott had three options to choose from- bachelor, divorcee or widower.  I had three options as well- divorcee, widower or SPINSTER??  Um????  Whatever-we got out forms and proceeded to eat lunch in a place the administrator recommended.  It looked like someones living room.  It wasn't air conditioned-see above on what the temp felt like.  The food was divine and we took it outside and ate at a table overlooking the ocean.  It was divine!!

We got back and met with the bishop who was doing our ceremony.  Scott liked him immediately be cause we was wearing a jesus hat that was camo.  Not something you see everyday.  We arranged to get married on Tuesday.

The storm blowing on to the island we were planning to visit.  It was gone in 20 minutes and was pretty impressive to watch from our spot in the middle of the bay.