Southern Sweethearts: Dinner on the River

As soon as the rehearsal wrapped up, we hopped in cars and raced through Savannah's historic squares to River Street. We had a boat to catch and it was scheduled to leave the dock any minute!

Quick photo op before boarding!

Some of the guys must have gotten lost on the way to River Street because we had to hold the riverboat to wait on them. (Like, I literally kept standing on the ramp to the boat to make sure they didn't depart without my entire party!). They all made it and we were able to leave just a couple minutes late.

But we were still missing four very important people.

My oldest brother and his family didn't make it in town in time for the dinner. Not only did we not get to catch up (he was on a rare leave from Iraq), but MIL Lab paid for 4 unused and very expensive dinner tickets. :(

Once on the boat, I found my ladies who had saved a spot AND a cocktail for me!

The classic Cosmopolitan. My girls KNOW me. :)
PS. Who's ready for SATC2?!? THIS girl is!!!

My right hand gals.

Before I knew it, we were off and sailing away into the night!

Look! We're moving!!!

I wish I had thought to take photos of all the yummy food! It was served buffet style and I scarfed all of mine down since I had hardly eaten the entire day.

After dinner, it was photo time. Our always conscientious groomsman Jimmy took most of the photos in this post. Thanks Jimmy!

Mama Lab and I pose with our pastor and his wife. He just retired this Easter and I'm so sad I won't hear his great sermons anymore. :(

Of course Mr. Lab and I have to take photos together!

Best man Don and his wife Meredith.

Bridesmaids Ashley and Brooke!

Family time!

Mr. Lab with his mom and sister.

Me with my siblings and mom. Just missing my oldest brother... :(

I'm a sucker for photo-in-a-photo photos! :P

Mr. Lab's family is very small. It's practically just him, his mom, and his sister. But my family's size definitely makes up for it! He had fun taking photos with his soon to be nieces! (And this isn't even ALL of them! There's two more plus a nephew!)

Haleigh, one of our flower girls and probably Mr. Lab's biggest fan. I'll have to watch this one when she gets older because I'm convinced she's in love with him!

Abbi, one of our Junior Bridesmaids.

Autumn, the other Junior Bridesmaid.

The riverboat had a live band that broke out some sombreros and maracas and encouraged Mr. Lab and his brother-in-law to make fools of themselves on the dance floor.

Forced awkward booty shaking in front of mothers and small children. Mission Accomplished.

And then Best Man Don bought a round of tequila shots. PATRON tequila shots. That kid is a balla.

This...


...led to this:


We ended our cruise by going upstairs to the deck and watching the other boats on the river pass us by as we docked. We might have also pulled up I'm On A Boat on someone's iPhone and had a sing-a-long...maybe.


We had a blast on the Savannah River Queen and no one even got seasick!

Previously on Southern Sweethearts:
Southern Belles Do Tea in Labrador in Wonderland
A Rude Vendor Interrupts Our Rehearsal
Next up: The Ghost Tour

A Savannah Riverboat Rehearsal Dinner Cruise...and a Ghost Tour?

I've been missing in action for almost a week because I've been completely swamped in school work. I'm in the midst of a bonafide "hell week". When it's all said and done, I will have finished 2 projects, 2 quizzes, a mock show (for my broadcast news program), an online homework, and 2 tests in less than a week! Whew!

So, in the spirit of procrastination, I figured I'd stop in for an update before Grey's Anatomy begins and I must resume the studying. Gotta keep my sanity somehow, right?

My wonderful future sister-in-law came up with an idea for the location of our rehearsal dinner: the Savannah Riverboat! She then proceeded to say things like "But we can look around!" or "You don't have to do this if you don't want to!" But I absolutely love the idea! I assured her that I think this would be the most fun for the wedding party & limited guests (I'm having a very intimate rehearsal dinner of wedding party & immediate family only).

It's even better knowing that I don't have to worry about planning for the dinner. Leslie & her mom (my FMIL) are putting the entire thing together and my FMIL has offered to foot the bill (as is the tradition of the groom's parents). I know I can trust them to put together a fabulous evening!

Photo Sources

We'll do our rehearsal less than a mile away at our actual ceremony square, then we'll probably just walk back to River Street for the dinner cruise. I think we may try to park in a deck halfway between the two locations to split the difference on the walk back to the cars. Parking can be a little crazy in downtown Savannah and moving the cars too much may not be feasible.

After the dinner comes the REALLY fun part. I want to go on a ghost tour after the dinner cruise! I'm hoping that my budget will allow me to treat at least my wedding party to the hearse driving ghost tour, but I may have to do a walking tour instead. I'm still not sure whether I will invite the out of towners along with us (if I could find the correct wording in an invite to indicate that they're welcome but will have to pay their own way, I definitely will). I know that traditional etiquette calls for having OOTs attend the rehearsal dinner, but I'm just not feeling that. I already have a tight budget and don't really want a ton of people seeing me "practice" for the real deal. So in place of invites to the rehearsal dinner, I will make sure to give OOT care packages full of things to do while in Savannah. Hey, it's my wedding and I'll plan how I want to! :)