Southern Sweethearts: Posing for the Camera

Right after the ceremony, we were supposed to take a quick, romantic trip around downtown Savannah in the horse and carriage. But when we got to the end of the aisle, we discovered that it was already gone! I found out later that it was mistakenly booked 30 minutes earlier than we needed it for (which explains why it was at the hotel early), so the driver took off before the ceremony was over.

So we used the extra time to grab a few more photos before our family formals. Only this time, we were husband and wife!

Come away with me!

Yeah, we totally took photos in front of some random house on the square. Hope they didn't mind!

At this point, I'd only been wearing my shoes for a total of around 30 minutes. And I would only wear them about another hour. I'm still sad about not getting be with them most of the day. :(

Once the trolley cleared all the guests out of the square, we started taking formals with our families.

Lab brothers and Mama Lab.

With Mr. Lab. For some reason, my sisters left the square before photos, so I never got a full family photo. I had no idea they were gone until we started taking photos! :(

Mr. Lab and his family. He married into a HUGE family compared to his.

Me with Mr. Lab's family and his BIL.

I wanted one with my oldest brother, his children, and his fiancee (who's now his wife!). He was on leave from Iraq, so I love that I got this photo especially since he's still over there.

Us with the younger members of our wedding party (junior bridesmaids, flower girls, and ring bearer). All of them are my nieces and nephew! Mr. Lab went from having no nieces or nephews to having 6!

Aren't they the cutest things EVER?!

And while we were taking photos, our second shooter was off being silly with the rest of the wedding party. From what I hear, they were told to make their best mug shot faces!

The trolley finally came back from dropping off the guests for cocktail hour. We loaded up, snapped a pic, and were on our way to the reception!



Are you planning to take any photos right after the ceremony, or will you head straight to your reception?

Previously on Southern Sweethearts:

• Southern Belles Do Tea
• A Rude Vendor Interrupts Our Rehearsal
• We Have Dinner on the Savannah River
• A Spooky Ghost Tour and My Last Fling
• Our Wedding Trailer
• Becoming a Blushing Bride
• I Slip Into My eBay Wedding Dress
• The Fellas Get “Sessay”
• He Got Boudoir, I Got Bling
• An Unplanned First Look
• Our Wedding Party…and Paparazzi
• Details Tell the Story
• Years of Waiting for This Moment (Ceremony Part: 1)
• We Tie the Knot with Faith, Hope, & Love (Ceremony Part: 2)
  

Next Up: We sneak in a quiet meal together during cocktail hour!

*All professional photos by Lindsi Jones Photography. Some images may have been slightly altered by moi.

DIY Bridal Bouquet Part 3: Getting a Grip!

My bridal bouquet is officially complete! Remember way back when I hinted to the handle decoration and even gave a sneak peek to my "something blue"? Well, I've finally received my special adornments from my Ebay shopping excursion.

Source

I planned to do two gold lockets to display photos of family members that will not be able to join Mr. Lab and I on our special day (although I know they'll be there in spirit). One locket would hold a photo of my grandmother who passed away a couple years ago and a photo of my dad who passed away when I was 14. The other locket would hold a photo of Mr. Lab's late father and his mother's twin sister who passed shortly after FSIL's wedding. But when the seller backed out of my purchase because he had misplaced the items since the close of the auction, I decided to go another route.

I was just doing a routine "locket brooch" search when I came across the Coro locket. These gorgeous lockets hold not 2, but 4 photos at once! And many of them are more fancy looking than regular brooch-style lockets. Isn't it just fabulous?

The locket on my bouquet handle.

Then there's my something blue (and something sparkly) on the front of the bouquet:


With these small additions, I am officially done with the bridal accessories! I'll let you know soon what my other accessories are (jewelry, clutch, and shoes, oh my!)!

Will your bouquet have any special or sentimental adornments?

A Rare Summer Shower in Georgia

It didn't rain this weekend in south Georgia but there was another kind of shower: my first bridal shower! Despite the 100+ degree heat, a handful of women braved the elements and made the trek over to my FMIL's friend's house. Isn't it beautiful?

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the fabulous spread laid out on the dining room table. There was quiche, pin wheels, petit fours, fruit, candied pecans, and more! Nom nom. And of course we drank sweet tea like the true southern belles we are! ;) We also took a moment to marvel over the centerpiece that even included real apples!

Two of my flower girls tagged along with my mom to the shower. Here is Morgan (honorary flower girl because of her age) and Haleigh, my older sister's daughters. Their older sister Autumn (one of my Jr. BMs) was spending the night with a friend. I was impressed with how well-behaved they were the entire time. They even helped me unwrap gifts! Can you believe they are just 2 of my 5 nieces?!?

Soon it was gift time! Here's a quick run down of the afternoon:

Click to enlarge!

I absolutely loved my shower hostesses! Mr. Lab grew up with all of their children and his mother is great friends with them. They take turns throwing showers and parties for each other's children so the mothers can relax along with the guest of honor. How thoughtful is that?

(l-r) Ms. Jo Ann, Ms. Sharon, me, & Ms. Vickie.

When we got back to FMIL's house, we decided to take a photo in the same spot we did 2 years ago after my FSIL's bridal shower (thrown by the same ladies). I'm going to print off this photo to put in a frame next to the earlier one for my FMIL.

FMIL, me, & FSIL

Leslie's 2007 bridal shower (brace-face alert!)

As we were leaving the shower, I snapped a photo of the balloons and bow tied to the mailbox in my honor. I didn't realize until later that there were only 2 out of 4 balloons in the picture. The temperature had risen so quickly in the two hours of the shower that the helium expanded and popped the other 2!

I loved all the gifts I received, but I must admit that I'm especially anxious to try out this puppy. Margaritas anyone? :D

Source

My MOH just told me today that the invites for our north Georgia (co-ed) wedding shower came in! I'm excited that Mr. Lab will be attendance at that one: it's a home & garden shower! Hopefully he'll rack up on some much needed power tools and lawn supplies while I continue collecting housewares. We need to update our registries now that one shower is out of the way so we can avoid duplicates (we registered for the same items at different locations so everyone had a chance to get to a local store). Hey, this registry thing isn't as bad as I thought after all! ;)

Our Wine & Cheese Engagement Party

My wonderful bridesmaid Brittany threw Chris and I an amazing engagement party a couple weeks ago. Another bridesmaid, Ashley, and my MOH, Amanda, helped out with the decorations and food setup as well as some of Brittany's roommates. I could not believe how fabulous the party was. I expected just a few bottles of wine and some cheese (since I knew the guests were expected to bring either a bottle of wine or a block of cheese), but I had no idea that they would have so many delicious hors d'oeuvres as well! The girls really outdid themselves. They made me wonder if hiring a caterer for the reception is really necessary...lol.

Brittany started out by sending adorable evites to the guests. Here's the main banner of the invitation:

Image Source

As I said, the food was absoluting amazing and yummy! There were mini burgers, mini strawberry cheesecakes, herbed potatoes with dip, fruit, & stuffed mushrooms. Brittany even went so far as to find napkins with a damask theme! How thoughtful is that?!?



Of course I can't forget the great wines & cheeses. The girls set up a display with balloons, a banner, and pictures of Chris & I along with the wine & cheese. They even put cute little bride & groom outfits on a couple bottles!



Me and the fabulous hostess!



And you'll have to excuse Chris's face in this one, but I wanted to show off how handsome he looks in his all-black ensemble. Grrrr... ;)



We topped off the party with a game of toilet paper wedding dresses! We split the guests up into groups and they had to design a wedding gown out of toilet paper on their "models" (which were all guys!). I then picked my favorite one by calling it pageant-style with runner-ups until the winner was announced. Trey's team (which ironically consisted of Brittany & Amanda) won! He's the second from the left with the "veil" covering his face. I picked them because he had a sweetheart, trumpet style gown which was closest to what I'm looking for in a gown! But I do have to say that the bow on Chris's butt was fabulous as well! ;)