Our Wedding: The Details

It's been a long standing tradition at Peace College to fill the fountain with bubbles when a big celebration is to occur. This was done when I graduated and I've seen it done when a new president joined the Peace College family. Weddings are a big celebration so it was only suitable to request bubbles in the fountain for our day and our wish was granted!

I love details. They always seem to make the ordinary things feel a little more extraordinary. So when it came to planning our wedding day, this area was really fun for me. My mom and mother-in-law are DIY-ers through and through and went out of their way to help Will and I save money in a lot of areas. For one, these two busy bees helped make the signs used at both the ceremony and reception, helped me paint all the mason jars and items used as centerpieces at the reception, and helped print and prepare all the wedding programs. On the wedding day, they also took charge in making sure everything was transported on time and was good to go. God bless them.

We were able to cut more costs by providing our own vases for all the flowers, as well as reused the altar flowers and aisle markers from the ceremony for the reception on the bridal party and cocktail tables. I mean, why waste flowers that are used at your ceremony when you can designate someone to help transport them and have them reused at the reception? Instead of leaving them behind, you can also give them away to guests or donate them and have them taken to a local nursing home.

When it comes to details, I don't want anything to go unnoticed. Most people put a lot of time and effort into wedding planning, so I knew I wanted the details to really stand out as much as possible so I took a lot of time thinking of how I could achieve that. The idea was simple. Make the details personal. Include photos and use things that people are familiar with such as baby's breath flowers which everyone in the South knows of. And don't go overboard. Find areas where you can go BIG and make a statement. We did this by using gold sequins table clothes at the reception, and went subtle on details for the rest. That way nothing felt overpowered. I think this worked in our favor.

That's all for today y'all! What did you think? Are you caught up on my other wedding posts? If not hat's okay! You can read about our preparation on the morning of our big day and see some of our formal photos here, take a peek inside our ceremony here, and experience a fun filled night at our reception here. What's your favorite part of a wedding? Is it the ceremony and the sweet vows that are spoken? Or is it everything at the reception, from the food, to the music and dancing?

Our Wedding: The Reception

Happy Wednesday, y'all! If you missed Monday or Tuesday's blog posts you can read them here and here if you want to get caught up on my past wedding posts! Today I'm excited to share our reception with you as it was one of the most fun parts of our whole wedding day! For our reception venue, we knew we wanted to find a space that had a rustic feel to it, with exposed brick, floor-to-ceiling windows, and had an open floor plan that we could customize to our liking. The Cotton Room in Durham had all of the above and more. It was just what we had been dreaming of and ended up being the perfect reception venue for us.

We also put a lot of thought into our menu selections. Some of the most talked-about items were the pimento cheese sliders with fried green tomato and BBQ pork puppies that were passed out during cocktail hour, along with the goat cheese smashed potatoes. Will's favorite item of the night was the beef tenderloin which was one of the main dish items. I'd have to agree that it was defiantly the fan favorite of the night!

Our wedding cake and desserts were just as delicious and came from The Cupcake Shoppe. We decided to go with one small cake to cut, along with four different mini cupcake options for all to enjoy. The choice to have a smaller cake and cupcakes saved us money in the long run and allowed our guests to have multiple options to choose from which I think they appreciated. If you are wondering, the flavors we went with were called Big Red, Black and White, Cookie Monster, and What's Up Doc.

Our first dance was to Ray LaMontagne's You Are The Best Thing. Doing our first dance was something we both really looked forward to because we had been taking dance lessons weeks leading up to our big day, and even had it choreographed so it was fun having something to "perform" for everyone! My dad and I danced to The Way You Look Tonight by Frank and Will and his Mom danced to My Wish by the Rascal Flatts. Dancing occurred from the minute we arrived, all the way up to our sparkler exist. I think this had a lot to do with our amazing band, The Troupers. They did such an amazing job, played all the songs we asked them to and were interactive with all of our guests. They defiantly brought the party to life!

Backyard Bonfire

There's something about backyard bonfires that brings a smile to my face. Actually, bonfires anywhere speak sweet words to my soul. I just love them! The smell. The sound of wood crackling. Making s'mores and nestling close to those dear to you. All of these things are simply wonderful. I've already been thinking about the day that Will and I buy a house and can make a bonfire of our own in our backyard and have all of our friends over on a regular occasion to enjoy it with us. I love entertaining and haven't always had the right amount of space to be able to do so, but when Paperless Post reached out to me about creating a summertime entertaining inspiration post, I knew the task would be right up my alley since I've already been dreaming up the perfect backyard bonfire. Here's what I would say you need to create just that:

1. First you'll need to round up some chairs. They can be chairs of any kind but preferably the kind that has a back to them so your able to sit and relax without your back starting to ache. If you don't have the money to invest or space to store a bunch of chairs, you can ask your guest to bring their own but it's really not too expensive to snag a couple of these plastic chairs or these camping chairs. You are able to fold both types, and while your at it, pick up some fluffy pillows. You can't go wrong with extra layers of comfort.

2. After you've secured a handful of seats, I would invest in outdoor lighting. Cafe lighting or market lights please! That will always be my first choice. They give off just the right amount of light, set the mood and remind me of Paris (even though I've never been). If those aren't your style, there are a number of other options to choose from, along with in-ground lighting if it's really hard to see the ground when it gets dark outside.

3. We can't forget about blankets to snuggle up with! Temperatures always seem to drop as soon as the sun goes down, so it's a good idea to have blankets in tow that will help you to stay warm and cozy throughout the whole night.

4. When have you every gone to a gathering of any sort where there's no food? I hope you haven't been to many and you sure wouldn't come to a gathering of ours without a few dishes and snacks for you to munch on! At any bonfire in my opinion, there should always be s'mores and other "campfire food"like mini bowls of soup, chili, trail mix and candy bars to satisfy your taste buds as you enjoy the night socializing. It's also wise to have a few refreshments to go along with the food. These could be anything from hot chocolate, to apple cider, sweet tea, flavored water or of course beer and bottles of wine too.

5. Depending on the time of year, the sun may set earlier in the evening or later in the day so it's nice to have a few lawn games to help pass the time before it gets dark. Some of my favorite games are ring toss and cornhole. And an old favorite nighttime game of mine is flashlight tag!

6. You might think that is pretty much all that you would need to enjoy a backyard bonfire but I've learned from experience that it's not. Something handy to have is bug spray or Citronella Filled Candles to keep the pesky bugs away. There's nothing worse then waking up the next morning covered in mosquito bites.

7. And lastly, instead of just making phone calls to spread the word about your backyard bonfire, why not go the extra mile to make the gathering even more special by sending out invitations? Paperless Post has both paper and online options and not all of them cost money! I used Paperless Post to send out my Bachelorette Beach Getaway invitations and they cost me all of ZERO dollars. A few other free options that I think are adorable include this, this, this, and this one.

Photo Sources: Circle of Chairs via 100 Layer Cake-let // Campfire by Nathan Abplanalp Photography via Style Me Pretty // Vintage setting by Brook Schwab Photographer via 100 Layer Cake // S'mores via Domestic Fashionista // Ring Toss via Two Shades of Pink Blog

This post is sponsored by Paperless Post.
No compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

Bridesmaids Luncheon

I can't believe I'm finally a Mrs. and back from an amazing honeymoon which I am still uploading all of our photos from and can't wait to share them with you soon! The days leading up to our wedding were fairly stress free and felt very much surreal. We got married on Saturday, June 13th, drove back to Charlotte the following morning, and left for Saint Lucia early Monday morning. To be honest, I was a bit worried that all of the wedding festivities, along with our big day, would be a big blur to me but luckily that wasn't the case! Of course there are some aspects that I don't remember distinctively but one of the things I prayed for regularly leading up to the wedding was to have a peace of mind and heart and the ability to savor every sweet and intimate moment that passed me by. God was very gracious and answered my prayer and I'm so appreciative of that.   

The afternoon before the big day, Will's Mom Mary Lou, Grandmother and close family friend Michelle hosted a bridesmaids luncheon for me and my favorite ladies. It was held at a lovely French Brasserie in Raleigh's North Hills shopping center at a place called Coquette. I was so anxious for the luncheon because it was a time that I got to personally thank everyone for their love and support throughout the whole wedding planning process. It was also the perfect time for me to hand out gifts I got for everyone to show my appreciation for them and all they have done for Will and I. I was especially excited to give my bridesmaids something I made them. You might remember this post I posted on Instagram about a month ago secretly showing something I was making for my bridal party while at Beads in Charlotte. The final product? Gold earrings for them to wear at the wedding. You can kind of see what they looked like in the picture below!

The luncheon as a whole couldn't have gone better and it was everything I could have ever wanted and more. Everything from the food, to the lovely toasts made, all the way down to inside jokes shared and photos taken, I had a wonderful afternoon.

Stay tuned next Monday and read the first part of our St. Lucia honeymoon!