Southern Sweethearts: Spooky Guests and One Last Fling

The riverboat docked and we said goodbye to some of our rehearsal dinner guests who wanted to call it a night. But a few brave souls stuck around for the next event on our jam-packed wedding eve: the ghost tour!

Just before we hopped on the Old Town Trolley Tours to go on their “Ghosts and Gravestones Frightseeing Tour”, I heard a loud popping noise in the distance.

I turned around and saw this:

Fireworks!

I felt like the Savannah was congratulating us! It was so random to see fireworks on a Friday in November. We stopped to enjoy the show before boarding the trolley.

Mr. Lab and I get ready to be spooked!

That ghost tour didn't know what hit it. Our group took up more than half the seats and we were quite the giggling, tequila-liquored bunch.

See what I mean?

I've been on a ghost tour before in Savannah and it was pretty creepy. But with all of us cracking inappropriate jokes about the poor souls the tour was about, it was actually just plain funny most of the time.

BUT...there was some convincing creepiness. Like photo evidence of a "Confederate ghost":


Oh, you don't see it? Lemme highlight that for ya. Don't forget to click the photo to make it bigger and scare the mess out of you.


And then the was the famous EVP recording in the basement of the Sorrel-Weed house. The show "Ghost Hunters" visited the home and did all their "testings" to prove paranormal existence.

The last photo we took before screaming like little girls.

As the tour guide was telling us the story about the recording Ghost Hunters did, she exited the room, closed the doors, and turned off the lights. Then we heard the famous recording. Clicky below to hear it.

The recording ended and I had goosebumps at this point. We were in complete darkness and out of nowhere the doors to our right started rattling!

Everyone screamed bloody murder!!!

Come to find out, groomsman Trey (a Savannah native who'd been on the tour before), had locked our tour guide out of the room and she was just trying to get back in! He swears up and down that he thought he was unlocking the door, not locking it! Whatever Trey. Thanks for the tinkle in my pants.

We made our way outside to finish up the tour and compose ourselves.

Ahhh, we're soooo scared!

Um, is that orb a ghost trying to follow us home so it can crash our wedding?

The ghost tour was over and it was time to make our way to the hotel to end the night. But my girls weren't having it. It was my last night as a single lady and we couldn't just go to bed!

So the first thing we did was "get back" at Mr. Lab for having an over the top bachelor party at a strip club in Atlanta. We spotted some hot firefighters and decided to get a picture with them to make Mr. Lab jealous.

But the really hot ones didn't want to pose for photos. :( They probably had an inkling it would end up on a website somewhere... ;)

When we finally arrived at the hotel, we made our way to the bar and had a free round of cocktails thanks to a coupon we got at check in.

And after my girls told the bartenders it was the night before my wedding, they offered me a "blow job".



And you know me, when I haz the drinks, I haz to dance:


Since the firefighters let me down, we got the bartenders to make up for it!



Don't worry, Mr. Lab has seen these photos and thinks we're even now! ;)

Finally, it was time to start calling it a night. Brittany and I made a quick stop to the ladies' room on the way back and naturally, we had to take a photo while in there. (Don't hate. You'd take photos in every nook of the gorgeous Mansion too if you were there!)


When we got back into the room, we all decided to order a pizza. Good thing we were starving:




I took my pizza over to the corner and got to work on the final last-minute items and emails. I probably stayed up until about 4 am that night. I don't know how in the world I was functioning on the wedding day...


How late did you stay up the night before your wedding? Brides-to-be, are you setting a curfew for yourself?

Previously on Southern Sweethearts:
Southern Belles Do Tea
A Rude Vendor Interrupts Our Rehearsal
We Have Dinner on the Savannah River
Next Up: Our Wedding Day!

Adding A Little "Thrill" To Our Wedding

Because our wedding is only a week after my favorite holiday, we decided to incorporate some "spooky" Halloween fun into it.

Source

We're starting off by having a ghost tour after the rehearsal dinner for any interested guests. We secured a group rate with Old Town Trolley Tours to go on their "Ghosts and Gravestones Frightseeing Tour". The tour is about an hour and a half long and is (according to their website) "an evening of fun, scares, humor and ghost stories as you are guided through America’s Most Haunted City.”

Source

But the fun doesn't stop there! For the wedding day, we've let our guests know that we are "Thrilling the Reception"! I linked up the website "Thrill the World" to the guest update page of our wedding website so our guests can learn the ever popular Thriller dance. So far, we have most of the wedding party and a few of the guests committed to reenacting the dance in its entirety on the dance floor! I'm especially proud of Mr. Lab for taking an interest in rehearsing it and surprised at how quick of a learner he is (especially for someone who claims he can't dance!).

Photo from our personal wedding website!

I can't wait to see how our practice pays off. But even if we don't perfect the dance in time, we'll do as the instructor says and play it off by acting like a ghoul for a few dance counts. No harm, no foul. :)

By the way, since yesterday was Halloween, I figured I'd share a photo of Mr. Lab and I's costumes! Special thanks to the hive for helping me decide on an costume!


Mr. Lab was a nerd and I was his mail-order bride! Pay close attention to his name and address on the shipping label. ;) And nevermind our friend "Heidi" in the back. It's just one of our wedding guests who flew all the way in from Germany! lol :D

If your wedding is close to a holiday, are you incorporating it somehow?

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! :)