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 :)
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