Our Wedding: Bridal Brunch & Rehearsal Dinner

On the Friday morning before our wedding, my mom hosted the most perfect Bridal Brunch for my bridesmaids and me, plus a few other close family and friends. It was held at DiPrato's in downtown Columbia ... picked solely for their pimento cheese & piping hot, fresh pita chips that are served with it.

Seriously. That's the reason. The pimento cheese + pita chips are that good! I stayed near them a good chunk of the time that morning which is why half the pictures of me include the pimento cheese. Couldn't get too far from it! ;)

It was an opportunity for the girls to get together before the wedding and for me to be able to thank my bridesmaids for being a part of our wedding day. I was a terrible blogger... and failed to get a picture of their gifts. Oops!

  {Bridesmaids minus Abby}

Each bridesmaid received: a navy & off white striped tote bag {monogrammed}, a wine tumbler {also monogrammed}, and a robe to wear while getting ready {... yup, that one was monogrammed, too!}

My mom & Patrick's mom both received: the same navy & off white striped tote bag {monogrammed!}, an engraved sterling silver picture frame with our wedding date, a wine tumbler {monogrammed!}, and a note.

My mom gave the sweetest, most tear-inducing toast of all time. I'm pretty sure she and I cried through the entire thing and that she got most everyone else in the room a little teary-eyed. Champagne and tissues were definitely needed after her toast! Luckily, she had it all written out so I've got it saved :)

The Bridal Brunch was perfect - it gave me an opportunity to spend some time with my favorite girls. I was able to hang out with my aunt from Florida {who I don't get to see all that often!}, with Patrick's sister {who lives in London!}, and I got to spend some time with my grandmother who I don't see nearly enough even though we live 20 minutes away from one another.

{mom & Aunt Lynn}

I remember walking into our Rehearsal Dinner later that night and my jaw dropping - Patrick's mom {& her friends} and his sister Amy did the most amazing job decorating the Vista Room at the Blue Marlin.

There were lights strung up across the ceiling.

There were so, so, SO many pictures everywhere! Y'all know how many pictures I have and Patrick's mom & Amy managed to get a whole lot of them printed up and hung around the room. I loved checking them all out, too.

There were sweet little details like the custom Chicken Man Bride & Groom painting and the beer glasses {used to hold flowers at each table} that were etched with our wedding logo.

Patrick and I could both tell immediately how much time and effort went into planning our dinner! The whole room was awesome.

After a little bit of cocktail time, we all sat down to dinner. I've already told Patrick that I'm pretty sure we're going to have our anniversary dinner here every year - the blackened chicken pasta {with bacon!} was that good.

Then came the toasts. Patrick and I opened up with a welcome and then invited anyone who wanted to talk to have at it.

We had toasts from Patrick's parents, from his sister, his brother, my brother, one from each of my maids of honor, Patrick's roommate of the last four years, my freshman year college roommate, one of my best friends from high school, from one of Patrick's and my childhood friends, and from the husband of my bridesmaid Ashley. Whew. All of the toasts made us laugh and all were so sweet and were so full of love {& one highly inappropriate inside joke}.

{Patrick's dad had us giggling throughout his entire speech}


 {Amy's opening line: "I'm probably not going to get through all of this without crying. So I'll email it to y'all!" ... but she made it through!}


{I spy a co-maid-of-honor finishing writing her speech!}


{Meet Andrew - he gave the toast that caused Patrick & I to laugh so hard we cried!}


{& Drew who gave such a sweet, heartfelt toast that it got both my mom and I a little teary-eyed}

After our dinner was complete, we opened up the doors for our Welcome Party. We had invited any out of town guests {plus a few friends from Columbia} to stop by and socialize for a bit Friday night. I know that I was grinning from ear to ear the entire time... I had a room full of awesome family and friends who were all there to celebrate Patrick and me!

 

Some people do a "last single kiss" or whatever. We take one last goofy picture together with a sign before going our separate ways for 20ish hours.



Want to see more posts? Check out the new wedding page in the links at the top of the page {or just click here!}