& We're Back!

Wow.

 

|photo by: Jessica Roberts Photography|

 

The last 11 days were hands down some of the very best days ever. I still haven't quite figured out how to put it into words but y'all, it was amazing.

 

All of our family and friends came together to give us one hell of a wedding weekend. From the bridal brunch to the rehearsal dinner to the ceremony and the reception, everything was outstanding. Unbelievably awesome.

 

{Yes - that's me, in my wedding dress, on an elephant on a carousel at Riverbanks Zoo. And yes, those are growlers on top of a hand crafted reclaimed pallet wood bar custom made for our wedding. And yes, we definitely had a brewery themed wedding. Who's surprised? Also, photo by Jessica Roberts Photography}

 

You know you've put on one amazing party when the band decides to ignore their cut off time and keep playing until the venue told them they had to stop and when half the wedding reception guests ended up staying out in downtown Columbia until somewhere between 3-4am Sunday morning.

 

Our vendors were fantastic. We could not have asked for more from our wedding planner {Melanie @ By Invitation Only Events}, from our photographer {Jessica @ Jessica Roberts Photography}, from our band {The Extraordinaires}, and everyone else that helped make our wedding exactly what we wanted it to be.

 

Wedding weekend started out with my very favorite family from Indiana arriving into town on Thursday. They were the first to town for the wedding which meant that I got to spend some extra time with them which I LOVED. Naturally, I took them to River Rat Brewing to check out some of the local brews.

 

 

There was a WONDERFUL bridal brunch hosted by my mother on Friday morning. It was sweet, intimate, and there might have been a few tears shed. I blame my mother and her super sweet toast!

 

Friday evening, after our rehearsal, Patrick's parents hosted the best Rehearsal Dinner ever. Y'all. The level of detail and planning that went into that dinner was insane. The room was filled with so much love, so much "us", and so many sweet surprises {like the custom bride & groom Chicken Man painting}.

 

 

& then there was wedding day. The day that Patrick & I finally married.

 

It was everything that we could have ever asked for and more. More than one person commented on how calm of a bride and groom that Patrick and I both were, despite all of the emotion of the day. I got emotional reactions from ALL of my bridesmaids when they saw me in my dress for the first time {yay!} but I held it together when I walked down the aisle and when I said my vows. No tears from this bride! Not even when I saw this handsome groom waiting for me at the front of the church.

 

|photo by: Jessica Roberts Photography|

 

Well... there were no tears. Until we showed up to the reception and I went into a full on panic mode and had my only "bad bride" moment of the entire weekend. But that's another story for another day. I'll give you a hint though: it involves showing up to our wedding reception with a fire truck and ambulance behind us and watching paramedics rush into our reception hall {the story ends well - promise!}

 

Best part of wedding day? The first dance with Patrick. We had finally come full circle from meeting/dancing at a wedding reception seven years ago to dancing the first dance at our own reception.

 

 

 

& the honeymoon:

 

 

We traveled down to the Dominican Republic to the Excellence Resort in Punta Cana. It was gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

Here we are now - back to reality. But I'm back to reality with a new husband, a new last name, and a new place to call home. It's pretty awesome, if you ask me!

 

Happy Monday, y'all!

{only 26 days until Clemson football kicks off! I'm allowed to countdown to that now, right??}