Our Fairytale Honeymoon!

I must say that it was quite different waking up the next morning as Wifey instead of Fiancee'! We were thankful for the advice from some friends to wait a day to leave for our honeymoon so that we could sleep in and relax before having to up and rush off. We spent the morning after the wedding lounging around the house and looking at pictures that people were already posting online. We checked in with the bridal party and thanked everyone for everything! Later that morning our parents stopped by to drop off all of our gifts that they'd picked up the night before they went back to the venue to finish cleaning up.While they were gone we packed for the honeymoon. That's right! We packed the day AFTER our wedding! Eventually the family came back by the house for a lunch of wedding day leftovers and saw us off for Orlando!

 Our flight to Cancun left super early Monday morning so we wanted to go ahead and get to Orlando the night before. We opted to go cheap since we'd only be staying there for a few short hours, but let's just say we went TOO cheap! While staying in the hotel we realized that GASP! I left my phone charger at home! This was going to be a long week without my music!

On Monday morning it was up bright and early at 4:30 to head to the park and ride spot and eventually the airport! We really like the Orlando air port and flying with Jet Blue was lovely! Upon arriving in Cancun I was SO thankful that we had been to the same airport the year before with JD's family. It was our first time traveling internationally without "adults" to handle everything, so it was nice to at least be familiar with our surroundings. Our shuttle was waiting and we were whisked off to Paradisus La Perla in Playa Del Carmen!

When we got to the resort we were quickly scurried off to the VIP check in section of the resort and checked in. Our room wasn't ready so we went to eat breakfast at the VIP only restaurant and to explore the resort. We knew when we booked our honeymoon that the resort was only 1 year old and would probably still be working out some kinks, but for the great price that we got we figured it was worth it! Well... I guess you get what you pay for! There was major confusion with our room, the romance package that we booked, and some of the details we had been told we would have waiting. But, it was our honeymoon! We were determined to not let that get in our way!

We spent the first two days just lounging around the resort either on the beach, at the pool, or taking lots of naps! Again, so thankful for the advice from friends to not schedule busy excursions those first days so we could recover from the wedding! The second day we and a full 3 course breakfast served in the room and quickly learned that the reviews were right about this place being known for it's fantastic food! We were in for a treat!

On Wednesday we went out for our first excursion... a chartered fishing trip! We went through this same company the year before when we went to Playa with JD's family so we had high expectations. We shared the boat with another couple who both got incredibly sick (it was really rough that day) and fortunately for us passed up on many fish! I caught several bonitos and grouper and JD snagged a nice yellow fin tuna! That night we ate at another fantastic restaurant (I ate cactus!) and saw the only "show" that the resort offered. It was a Michale Jackson show that was just held in one of the outdoor courtyards. I now know that the next time we go to Playa I definitely want a resort with a theater and shows every night!

On Thursday we went on the excursion we were most excited about... XPLOR! Xplor is a big theme park that has 2 huge zip line courses, amphibious vehicles, and underground rivers that you can float and swim through. You had to wear this atrocious orange helmet the entire time that you were there, but it was still so much fun! The best part was the zip lines, and I even did them without crying! The underground rivers were clearly supposed to be a big deal because of all of the stalactites and stalagmites, but having grown up going to Ruby Falls and the Mt. Rushmore Caves these caves were a little underwhelming. That night upon returning to the resort we went to the swankiest of all the restaurants which had some super world famous chef and 7 courses. We didn't realize it would be a nearly 3 hour dining experience so we were nearly falling asleep by the end! We also realized very quickly how small and "unique" the portions were! Clearly we aren't the "foodie" types!

Friday we went off to go snorkeling! This year I wasn't nearly as panicked and nervous as last year! We got to go out three times during the day so that you could see different lighting and fish at different times. The highlight of the day was definitely seeing the giant puffer fish that our guide found! All in all it was a really nice and relaxing day!


Saturday we headed to Xcaret which was more like an environmental/ecological park. Of course I fell and cut my toe open within minutes of being there and had to be seen by the medical staff. We spent a good part of the day hitting up first aid stands to get free band aids so we wouldn't have to buy some at the resort :) I really enjoyed seeing all of the different plants and animals while we were here! The best part by far was doing our SeaTrek! You wear this big helmet over your head that weighs you down and has an oxygen line pumped in. You get to walk around on the bottom of the ocean and be right there with the fish! Nothing is touching your head or face so you don't feel claustrophobic at all, which is why I usually struggle with scuba/snorkel. I would definitely say that for this poor swimmer and fish lover it was the best part of the entire trip! SO fun! We were so exhausted after that day that we canceld our dinner reservations and just had take out in the room :)

Sunday was our last day at the resort and to help us wind down before returning home we just gave ourselves another lazy day around the resort. With our romance package we had a 30 minute couples massage, and without me knowing it, JD bumped it up to an hour! So nice! That evening we also got to have our private candlelit dinner on the beach with our own personal butler and everything. Once we got back to the room we had champagne and chocolate covered strawberries waiting. It was the perfect way to bring the trip to a close.

Monday morning was the best day we could have left because it was so foggy and cold! We wouldn't have wanted to stick around in that weather! We made our way back to Orlando with no problems and then eventually found ourselves back in our sweet little house in Valdosta. After a few days my parents came down and brought our dogs with them. We had missed our babies so much! We celebrated Thanksgiving and enjoyed my last few days off before it was time to head back to work and the real world!

Our Fairytale Wedding: Photos & Video

We couldn't have been more pleased with our photographer and videographer.

You can see our full wedding blog post on our photographer's website here.

Jessica & JD: Romantic Plantation Wedding

 

And you can see our AMAZING wedding highlight video below!

 

Jessica & JD's Wedding Highlights from Shining Star Media on Vimeo.

Our Fairytale Wedding: The Music Post to End All Music Posts

Many people just give their DJ or band free reign to pick music. Not us! Picking music to represent the entire day was VERY important for us! We are both big music fans and had the day planned from start to finish. Our DJ even said our wedding was one of the easiest he had ever done because he didn't have to come up with much on his own!

Bachelorette Bash 

 I'll start with the Bachelorette Party. Now this wasn't "technically" part of the wedding day, but a lot went into it just the same!

The Wedding Morning Playlist  

Next up was the music for while we were getting ready. I definitely wanted some fun stuff to get us through the morning. I stayed away from my phone for messages and phone calls, but we were blasting music all morning!

Pre-Ceremony Chill Playlist

Next I had a playlist for the downtime before the ceremony. My fabulous photographer made sure to schedule in an hour before the ceremony to just relax. During this time we were fluffing my dress, eating a few snacks, peeking out the windows as guests arrived, and praying with our pastor. I definitely picked some calmer music to get me focused in on the wedding's most important guest... JESUS!


Prelude


The prelude probably took some of the most thought! We had to have as close to exactly 30 minutes as possible. We wanted it to gradually build over time as more guests arrived. I fell in love with The Vitamin String Quartet and opted to use them throughout the whole day! Each and every song had some sort of special meaning to us! Most of the guests had already arrived before they even got to the Disney song, and our wedding coordinator wanted to just skip it and move on. I politely told her we would absolutely NOT be skipping that song! It was my favorite song in the prelude (and maybe even the whole day), and it also gave me 8 more minutes alone with daddy :) There are some SERIOUS Disney fans in my family, and it was so fun watching their reactions as they realized which songs were playing!

Can't Help Falling in Love by VSQ
Your Song by VSQ
From This Moment On by VSQ
Let It Be by VSQ
The Cave by VSQ
Haven't Met You Yet by VSQ
Disney String Medley by Music Inc.

Processional, Ceremony, and Recessional 

Then there was the processional and the ceremony! Again, every single song had special meaning :)

Seating the Mothers: Hallelujah by Vitamin String Quartet
Wedding Party Entrance: Love Story by Vitamin String Quartet
Entrance of the Bride: Just the Way You Are by Vitamin String Quartet
Ceremony Music: How He Loves by David Crowder
... but it was performed by some very close friends :)
Recessional: All You Need is Love by Vitamin String Quartet
(Link isn't by VSQ, but in the wedding it was)

Cocktail Hour Playlist

I'm not positive that all of these were played, but this is the list that we gave the DJ for the "cocktail hour." We took 90% of our pictures before hand, so the cocktail was maybe 30 minutes long, if that!


Dinner Playlist
  

During dinner we gave him a list of "suggestions." We wanted a very chill atmosphere! Again, I'm not sure exactly which ones were played, but here's our list we gave the DJ in case anyone needs tips!


"Special" Reception Songs


Picking our "special" songs for the reception was VERY easy! Some of them had been decided years in advance!

Wedding Party Intro: Peanuts Theme Song
First Dance: I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz
Father/Daughter Dance: My Little Girl by Tim McGraw
Mother/Son Dance: My Wish by Rascal Flatts
Longest Couple Married Dance: Love Never Fails by Brandon Heath
Last Dance: You're Still the One by Shania Twain
Exit Music: Today Was a Fairytale by Taylor Swift

Do Not Play

We didn't give the DJ any other must play songs for the reception, but we did give him a list of DO NOT PLAY songs! He ended up playing the YMCA much to my initial disappointment. One of JD's cousins requested it, and JD approved it, because they had danced to it at his cousin's wedding. Apparently it is now a "Dillard Wedding Tradition." The DJ also managed to find a way to get that dreaded conga line in, even though I specifically didn't want one. Again, I was quite upset, but went along with it any way! Because I went along with it my dress got ripped!!! JD accidentally stepped on my train and ripped my bustle! Lets just say I was LESS than thrilled!

Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton
YMCA
Cotton Eyed Joe
Locomotion
Celebration
Chicken Dance
Macarena
Stayin' Alive
Love Shack
And all of those other SUPER cheesy songs ;)

All in all, the music absolutely made the whole day perfect from start to finish. I couldn't have been happier!

Our Fairytale Wedding: The Details Pt. 2

Fair warning... this will be another picture heavy post. Oh well! On to our ceremony and reception details :)

As guests arrived the first thing that they saw was our guestbook table. We didn't want a traditional guestbook where people signed a book that we would never look at again. Instead we opted for a beautiful piece of art that proudly hangs in our dining room to serve as a daily reminder of our wedding day. We also thought it was important to honor our grandparents who are no longer with us and to also celebrate the long family legacy of strong marriages. Therefore we rounded up everyone's wedding day photo, labeled them, and proudly put them on display. From what I understand this was a big hit!

The next thing guests saw was our "program." I refused to spend money printing out programs that would end up on the ground or in the trash. Stationary was not a top priority throughout wedding planning. We also felt strongly about there not being a "bride's side" or a "groom's side" and had a sign letting people know that they could sit wherever they would like! 

We were fortunate enough to have attended a wedding at Alcyone before ours, so we knew that it would give us the perfect setting for our late fall wedding. The Spanish moss covered oak trees with the sun setting behind them were the perfect frame for our ceremony.

 

We used the venue's arbor decorated by our florist for the central focus piece of the ceremony. We also had two of my very dear life long friends sing "How He Loves" by Davis Crowder. It was one of my most favorite parts of the day :)

We also had this fun little sign made up for some decor and pictures. After 7 years of being together we were FINALLY married!

On to the reception! Guests headed around the back of the house for the cocktail hour and were invited to play a little cornhole.

I have been to far too many weddings with unassigned seating and every single one of them has been mass chaos. David Tutera says that it's rude to make your guests feel uncomfortable by having to find seats and worry about splitting up their party. I couldn't agree more. Of course there were some snafus with the seating... mainly being that I ordered/paid for tables that seated 8 but half of the ones delivered only seated 6.... But thankfully it was handled and the bride never knew until 5 months after the big day ;)

Drinks were some of our favorite selections, including wines from the winery that is about 30 minutes north of Valdosta. These were a huge hit and completely ran out before JD and I even got out back! The menu was hand picked and catered by a local group here in town. JD had very few requests for the wedding day and a shrimp and grits bar was one of them! I also loved that the caterer offered to use my family recipe for corn pudding instead of their own. That was such a personal and special touch that really meant a lot to my mom! 

 Table numbers were all pictures of JD and I at the same age as the number of the table. It was SO much fun picking these out! Our florist was completely on board with my idea of the whole reception feeling mismatched and like we just opened up our grandparents cabinets and pulled out whatever they had. He might have been incredibly difficult to work with, but I would use him again if I had a wedding day redo.

 

My cake was SOOOOOO good! We alternated tiers between a white cake with chocolate and raspberry filling and a red velvet cake with cream cheese filling. We ended up using fondant even though I said I wouldn't, but it still ended up being so yummy!

 The serving pieces and toasting flutes were gifts from my mom and my aunt and went perfectly with the pearls we used throughout the day. I know they will be a treasured piece for years to come!

JD's other big request for the day was that he could have cookies and milk for his groom's cake instead of a regular cake. Fortunately I knew that Starbucks bottles look like old time milk bottles and gave it just the special touch that it needed!

 As the night began to wind down I changed for our grand exit and wore the same dress that I wore for the rehearsal dinner. I didn't want to fool with that big ol' wedding dress when I got home!

 And we made our grand exit through confetti poppers with our sweet babies by our side. Unfortunately the poppers scared them half to death! Such troopers!

 We said our goodbyes and drove off in my mom's convertible Solara. It was a perfect ending to the perfect day :) 

Our Fairytale Wedding: The Details

I have been a wedding fan for many years now and I know that one of the most important things for the day is the details! Details were very important to both me and JD because we knew there were little things that while they might mean nothing to others were hugely important to us. Details can do so much to tell a couple's story! Enjoy looking at what we included in our special day :)

To start things off we had what I consider to be the most beautiful wedding venue I've ever seen. We were one of the last few weddings to be held there, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Because it was off a dirt road and in an unfamiliar area for most people, we had chalkboard signs (nod to being a teacher) directing guests all along the way. And I just had to share our schedule for the day. I'm not detail oriented at all!

 

I loved my jewelry! My necklace was hoenstly just something pretty I found on Etsy. My bracelet and earrings were my Something Borrowed. The bracelet was my mom's from her 30 years of service to the hospital banquet, and the earrings were borrowed from my jeweler, Steel's Jewelry. Steels let's all of their brides and the MOH and MOG borrow ANY jewelry that they want for the big day!

 

I also had a special surprise waiting for JD when he put on my ring!

 

To catch any falling tears I carried my baptismal bonnet which changes into a handkerchief. For the reception I wore a simple flower clip in my hair. And while my garter was BEAUTIFUL it kept falling down after about 30 minutes. It ended up in JD's pocket pretty quickly :)

I wore two different pairs of shoes for the wedding. The sparkly flats were for photos and the ceremony while the pink TOMS were for the reception. Flats were a must so as not to sink into the grass!

 Then there's my dress... I was OBSESSED with my dress and I would wear it all day every day if I could! I knew early on that I wanted to be an Allure Bride!

Inside my dress were some of my favorite details. One of my earliest memories of my daddy is him always having a handkerchief. I used one of his handkerchiefs to embroider my maiden monogram and have it stiched into my dress. This would be the last time I could use that monogram! As my Something Old/Something Blue, we cut a small piece out of my mom's wedding dress and stiched it with her wedding date and initials. We then put it into my dress with my date and initials. The plan is to cut it out and pass it on to my future daughter!

 

I also made sure that everyone had nice personalized hangers. No cheap plastic nastiness here! Funny fact- My hanger ended up breaking because my dress was so heavy!

 My last real "detail" was my bouquet. It was wrapped with the lace and pearls that were around my mom's bible which she carried down the aisle instead of flowers. That made it another Something Old! I also included pictures of all of my grandparents as a way to have them there on the day of the wedding even though they were watching from Heaven. I also included a blue sapphire pendant from my granny. Ever since I was old enough to understand Something Old/New/Borrowed/Blue I knew that the sapphire would be my Blue! I also had yellow roses in my bouquet because the first flower that JD ever gave me was a yellow rose. We made sure that we had yellow roses, but no one else in the wedding party did :) This pic also shows my new pearl ring which was my wedding day present from JD!

JD had some pretty fabulous details himself. His wedding ring has been passed down through three generations of Dillards and all three men's wedding dates and initials are engraved inside. 

I also gave JD some custom cufflinks with his III, an embroidered handkerchief which he used as a pocket square, and a new Breitling watch. They paired nicely with his purple polka dot bow tie and his boutoneirre that sported the same flowers that were in my bouquet.

JD's socks were also a big part of the day. He decided early on that he needed to have something secret for me to look forward to seeing since my big secret was my dress. He is known for wearing super fun socks so he found some that matched our wedding colors, but also had a secret pop of pink just for me! He even went a step farther and bought his dad, the Best Man, a pair of fun socks too! 

Stay tuned for another post with the ceremony and reception details!

Our Fairytale Wedding: The Big Day Part 2!

I love, love, loved that our pastor and very dear friend, Shannon, came to pray with the whole wedding party before the ceremony. It was a wonderful time to refocus on why we were there and who the most important guest was of the whole day.

Just before the ceremony the whole wedding party lined up downstairs to head outside. I got to spend my last few moments as a single girl with the first man that I ever loved. My daddy got so emotional in those 15 minutes before the ceremony and I will treasure that special time with him for the rest of my life.

I loved that my cousins, who are really more like brothers, both walked my momma down the aisle so that Daddy could be with me.

I've waited my whole life for that look :)

As far as I was concerned there wasn't another soul there. I couldn't take my eyes off of JD, or stop smiling!

I'm so glad Shannon told me to turn around and take it all in, especially since I didn't look at anyone as I walked down the aisle!

Oh the feels! So many feels!

SO excited to be announced as Mrs. Dillard!!

So excited, in fact, that I jumped in the air!

Bestest Best Forever Friend.

We opted to have communion as our first act as husband and wife. Such a special intimate moment.

I loved that JD changed me into my "Something New" necklace for the reception... My first chance to use my new MARRIED monogram :)

First dance to "I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz. Singing to each other the whole time :)

Promised to smash cake in each other's faces years ago!

There are no words for how much I love that man.

No tacky garter and bouquet toss here! Instead we presented the bouquet to the longest married couple present and asked them their advice for a successful marriage.

Dance off with JD's Aunt Pam. It had to happen.

Dillard Family Traditions...

Last Dance to Shania Twain's "You're Still the One"

Fun popper pictures with Jenny before we left!

So long everyone!