Southern Sweethearts: Time To Stuff Our Faces!

Our first dance song faded out and our DJ announced to our guests that the Lady & Sons-catered southern buffet was now open.

Once again, I wish we had more photos of the nom-worthy food.

Mr. Lab and I had already eaten, so we took that time to move around the room and socialize with our guests.

Bottom right photo by guest.

I also used that time to grab photos with my sisters since they left the square before formals.

Wait a second...what's that buzzing sound? Is that a bee?!?

Mrs. Crabcake and Mini! (photo courtesy of Mrs. CC!)

Mrs. CC drove all the way from the other side of the state to share our wedding day with us! :D

Pretty soon, it was time to do a standard at almost every wedding: cut the cake! Our DOC made sure to move our ceremony wreath to our reception for added decor. Before the wedding, I scoured the internet for a pretty vintage oval cake stand but had no luck. But I still loved the simple cake display, even though it bugs me that the table was off-center.

The cake didn't quite live up to its Martha Stewart inspiration because I opted for butter cream frosting over fondant, but I was still pretty darn impressed with Publix's handy-work.

What I wasn't impressed with was that they messed up my order and made it a completely white cake on the inside instead of one tier of red velvet and the other vanilla with raspberry filling! ARGH!

Mr. Lab and I went into the cake cutting with a firm understanding that there would be no cake smashing. I paid way too much for my makeup to have it ruined!

Little did I know that he had just chatted with the videographer who encouraged him to do it.

And honestly, I didn't care at all! But I did go after him to even up the score!

Next was the Sanford Stadium groom's cake that was my surprise to Mr. Lab. It was soooo hard finding the right baker to create this sweet masterpiece...and even harder to keep it a secret from Mr. Lab!

The score on the jumbo tron was our wedding date. And of course, I was winning! Mr. Lab married a highly competitive person. :) Btw, the real score from that day's game was a 38-0 shutout against [admittedly cupcake opponent] Tennessee Tech.

Photos of us at Georgia games surrounded the groom's cake.

Mr. Lab loved his cake!

And the cake was a huge hit with our wedding guests. Especially the Bulldog fans!

And my semi-DIY cake topper project wasn't lost on guests either!

Guest photo.

Someone wanted a piece of that cake and cut into it before we could! But we still did a formal cutting and this time, there wasn't any smashing. Glad Mr. Lab got it out of his system because bourbon chocolate cake with a Kahlua filling would not have gone well with my wedding dress!

Will you have a special cake for your groom? And are you implementing any cake smashing policies? ;)

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)
• My Wedding Party Poses for Mug Shots While We Take Formals
• We Shared a Private Dinner for Two During Cocktail Hour
• Our Wedding Party Lines Up for Introductions
  

Next Up: We Dance with our Moms!

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

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! ;)

Reception Food & Catering

I'm in LOVE with my bridal party. They're all just as gung-ho as I am about the wedding planning! Two of my girls are already married and a third will be married by the time my wedding rolls around. This means I get to learn from their experiences for free! Who needs a wedding planner?!?

Anyways, I've already told them that I want the theme of my wedding to be "Romantic Southern Charm". In keeping with that theme, I want a sort of upscale take on southern comfort food but without the upscale price.

Well, my soon to be sister-in-law, Leslie, called today to let me know she did some searching of local caterers (she lives in my host city, Savannah). She found out that Paula Deen's (you may know her from the Food Network) restaurant The Lady & Sons is actually very affordable. I can get the Southern Buffet delivered to my site for $18.99 a head plus tax. I pick from 3 meats and 4 sides (including mac and cheese, my fave). I would also get cheese biscuits, one choice of 3 dessert options, and tea (sweet & unsweetened). I can also get fancy chafing dishes and hire their servers if I wish.

I think this is an amazing price considering The Knot.com has my suggested per person food cost at nearly $60 a head. The only thing missing is seafood. Chris loves seafood and because our wedding will be on the coast, it's only appropriate to have some. So Leslie even sent them an email and asked how much more it would be to add items like crab cakes and the shrimp and grits. She hasn't heard back yet, but I thanked her big time for taking the initiative!

I hope this works out. Leslie, who just had a wedding in December of 2007, said that catering prices don't get much better than that.