Week 1: Show Us Your WEDDING DRESS
I loved my wedding dress. It was simple, but elegant for an outside wedding. It took what seemed like FOREVER to find the right pattern, because my fantastic mom made it!! Yep, it was super special because she made my dress and veil. The lace on my veil was from my aunt Pam's veil that my Meme made back in 1969! I loved it all. It was very sentimental and special for me!! Here are some pics!
Week 2: Show Us Your WEDDING PARTY AND CEREMONY
We got married September 20, 2008 at the gorgeous Laurelwood Farms on Signal Mountain. It was really the best weekend ever (even with that one little hiccup of locking the keys in the getaway car)!!
My wedding party was made of my bestest 6 friends that I've been collecting since childhood. When it came to their dresses, I wanted them to have something they loved, looked good in, felt good in AND could wear again. So I purchased all of their fabric and each girl picked her own dress pattern (they just had to be knee length) and had it made!! Voila!! A beautiful bunch of ladies!
Matt threw tradition to the wind and chose his best friend Beth for his Best Maid along with his 5 bestest guy friends. She wore a black dress and stood with the boys; she even had a pin-on corsage to match the boys' boutonnieres!! Isn't she just adorable? I felt sorry for her having to hang out with boys all day.
So there you go, our wedding party.
For the music we had a harpist and a trumpet (which I LOVED).
For the flowers I went bright to offset the rich chocolate brown of the dresses. It was fall, but early fall and still warm, so I really didn't want to stick to just yellow/orange that most people do with chocolate brown. Each flower had meaning (almost). The thornless red Jacqueminot Rose is the symbol of my sorority AOII. The yellow rose was my Papaw's favorite (and mine); I remember him giving Meme 3 yellow roses on their anniversary, one for each daughter. The purple iris was Meme's favorite; she planted a sea of purple irises on the bank outside their house. I can't see one without thinking of her. The mango calla lily just made for pretty boutonnieres!! See, I said almost!!
Matt and I had a wonderful time planning the different pieces of our ceremony, especially picking our scripture and planning the foot-washing. Yes, we had a foot-washing. The very first thing we did after exchanging vows and rings was wash each others feet. It was very special and moving, until I couldn't get Matt's sweaty sock off. Oh well, that's just how we roll!
So that's pretty much a summary of our wedding!!
Week 3: Show Us Your WEDDING RECEPTION
Matt and I wanted to throw a hellova party for our reception. It was on the grounds at Laurelwood in their fantastic barn!! We danced the night away to our handpicked play list on the computer piped in through the speakers (GREAT way to save $$). We put together a "dinner music" playlist (lots of Sinatra on that one), a "first dance" playlist , and a "party" playlist ('nough said). I am fairly certain that folks had a blast, but heck you can see for yourself!
THE CAKE was a bit of a fiasco (though no one knew it but us). I'm VERY picky about cakes because my UBER-talended mom used to make them for extra income. NEVER would a cake of mine be frozen before coming to my wedding. NO fondant icing allowed (yes it's beautiful but it tastes like cardboard). I wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese icing for the bride's cake. We even made them do a sample cake for me to taste (I HAD to order it through the caterer, long story). The sample cake was perfect. What showed up at our wedding had about 1/3 the cream cheese in the icing that the sample cake did. But what do you do? It's there, you've cut it and they've screwed you. Not much you CAN do. Anyway, at least they got the decoration right (you can't really screw up putting flowers and cake toppers onto a cake).
My husband was mad because he thought that the groom's cake was supposed to be chocolate. Oh contraire bonjour. I wanted chocolate for MY cake, he had to pick something else! After several weeks of back and forth, I appeased Matt with the idea of a dessert table with all of his favorite pies. Our sweet friend Lara even made the centerpiece as part of our wedding gift, complete with a Buzz mascot!!!
(picture taken by Christie B. Griffin)
Mom kept bugging me about table decorations. I was trying to save money, so I said we didn't need any. She wouldn't leave well enough alone, so I told her she could spend $5 per table. This is what we came up with!
The sheaf of wheat is also a symbol of AOII, so after the wedding I packed them all up and shipped them to my sorority sisters at the Nu Beta house! They use them as center pieces for different events, so I'm told :) It also pays homage to my slight obsession/addiction to coffee!! Lamm loaned us the votive holders, so it cut costs even more!
YAY!! Time for Matt and Jill to leave!! WOOHOO!!!
About 5 seconds after this picture was taken, Matt said "Where are the keys?"...
Well, the photo album looks like it was a perfect day ;) Our photographer even offered us a ride home! Instead, we rode 1 hour down the mountain in the back seat of Lisa and Bill's car (Matt's mom and step-dad). We drove back up the mountain the day after the wedding to get Matt's car, and all of our belongings and IDs. Luckily, we didn't leave for Jamaica until Wednesday!!
So there you have it! More than you ever wanted to know about our wedding!
**picture credit for this entire blog post (except where noted) goes to the FABULOUS Melody Hood of Innamorata Photography**
