Wedding Wednesday: Before the Walk

The night before the wedding (after the amazing rehearsal and some casual drinks with  friends) I did not sleep a wink. I was so overwhelmed with anxiety, excitement, and any other emotion you can think of. Then as the morning rolled around I was so worried I would be exhausted all day. But after a nice long shower and some prayers, I was overcome with the most wonderful emotion! From the morning on, I was the least stressed I'd been in months; I have no idea how that happened.

Getting ready with my mama and bridesmaids, with visits into our hotel room from sweet friends and family was one of my highlights of our day. Then we hopped on the trolley and headed to the venue for our last "getting ready" moments before the walk!

Thanks to our wonderful photographer Eric Boneske, we have all these moments captured in photo:

Signs on the trolleys made by one of my beautiful best friend/bridesmaids!

One of my favorite photos! 

Wedding Wednesday: Bridesmaid Gifts

I knew I wanted to make an extra special "package" for my bridesmaids. But, I also knew I had to figure out a way to do that and transport it via plane back to Wilmington. I ended up getting all the goodies out here in CA, then assembling them in our hotel room back there.

Of course in the midst of the last few days before wedding chaos, I failed to snap many pics of the gifts, but I did get a few! I purchased a few things from Etsy, and sourced the rest from Hobby Lobby and DIYing :) I surprised myself with the hand lettering on the bags, and was very pleased with how they came out!

Etsy Shops <3:

tanks from BaileyWicks

linen clutch from Lucse 

earring from For The Maids

Wedding Wednesday: Invitations

When we got engaged I knew I wanted to handle as much as we could ourselves. A and I are pretty much both passionate DIYers...I love me a good craft. So for our invitations I spent a good bit of time coming up with the perfect design. I was a little overly ambitious thinking I was going to design AND print every single one of them. I succeeded in designing everything and home-printing the envelopes (purchased from Paper Source), but I used Wedding Paper Divas "uniquely yours" function to upload my design and let them do the printing. I was extremely pleased with the end product!

I purchased a stamp off Etsy from Rubber Stamp Press and embossed little tags to add an extra touch (we used this stamp throughout the wedding decor).

This is definitely one of the areas that we were able to save a good bit of money...which was huge because I don't know about you other brides but somehow a handful of other items came in over budget! 

More pics to come once I receive the professional ones :)

Wedding Wednesday: Honeymoon [Exuma, Bahamas]

Well, just like that, our wedding & honeymoon has come and gone. Our wedding was truly greater than I could have ever dreamt and I'm still holding onto the bliss that overcame me that day! I honestly haven't had the time to process how close to perfect that day was yet, and can not wait to see more photos, so I am going to hold off on writing about it for now!

Instead I am reliving our honeymoon which was equally as amazing! My husband (ah) and I went to Exuma, Bahamas and stayed at an all inclusive resort, it.was.awesome.

When we weren't relaxing on the beach [with the most crystal clear water and whitest sand I've ever seen] or laying pool side in between trips to the swim up bar for endless lava flows and pina coladas, we paddle boarded, sailed, snorkeled, golfed on the most beautiful course (well I drove the golf cart and Alex golfed) boated around the islands, and yes even "swam with the pigs," this is a "thing" in Exuma which at first we thought the most bizaree thing ever, but everyone said we had to do it, and it was definitely one of the highlights of our trip!

This was definitely the hardest vacation to come back to reality from. 

I wanna honeymoon every year!

Bachelorette

Last weekend my sister and SIL threw me the most amazing bachelorette party, and thought of every single little detail! A handful of my closest girlfriends and I headed out to Palm Springs. From the moment I arrived at the hotel until the end there were so many fun-filled surprises, including customized shirts (design courtesy of my dear friend Marysa!) We had a blast, aside from the fact that I'm pretty sure this is the first time in history it rained, and thunder-stormed, in Palm Spring in August. But, we made the best of it and had some great laughs and unforgettable memories. And if there's one thing I took away from it-it's impossible not to have a blast when I'm surrounded with the girls who have been side my side through it all...I love you girls!

I know, quite the photo overload, but I'm going to want to remember this forever! Thank you to all these girls for heading from near, and very far, to help me celebrate. 

Wedding Wednesday: Bridal Shower

I requested that everything on my shower day be a surprise, and on Saturday morning I felt like a 5 year old on Christmas morning! I was so excited to put on my new dress and head to my shower because I knew that my amazing hostesses would throw a memorable day and, as always, they didn't let me down. I could never recap all the wonderfulness in a blog post, but here's just a snapshot of the day.

Me and my beautiful hostesses & some of the decor!

Hanging out after & my happiness over the deep fryer Alex will make yummy southern food in!

the food spread!

  

The Bubbly Bar!

The Sweet Treats

Just a few of the amazing gifts I was blessed with!

I can't thank all these women enough for coming to help me celebrate becoming a MRS. and those who live hundreds (and thousands) of miles of way who were there in spirit, too :) 

I am so blessed to have all of you to share this time with!