Southern Sweethearts: The Grand Finale

After the last dance, our DOC quickly organized our guests outside for the grand exit. I knew I wanted a sparkler exit, but didn't plan on actually having a "getaway" car. I figured we'd already spent money on two forms of special transportation (our trolley and horse carriage) and didn't need anything else. We'd just take photos walking through the sparklers and that's that.

But our groomsmen other plans.

We walked out of Savannah Station and immediately realized that something was up.

As we got closer, our guests spread apart to reveal the handy-work of our mischievous groomsmen.

What we saw was Mr. Lab's car.

Okay, so before I go any further, let me explain Mr. Lab's car to you. He got this thing in high school. He was (is still) your typical "fast and powerful" car type of guy. Mr. Lab's had his fair share of speeding tickets "back in the day", and even more days logged at racing tracks with his buddies. And the car to get "back in the day" was any LS1 powered F-body, like his Pontiac TransAm. I had a Chevy Camaro myself in high school, another F-body but it was just a V6 for any of you car enthusiasts.

The thing is, he's seriously outgrown his car and even feels embarrassed to drive it anymore (he now drives a Hyundai Sonata but dreams of a still powerful yet more sophisticated 500hp BMW M5). Soooo....some of us pick on him about it. I like to call the car the "Teen Batmobile" myself. ;)

Alright, back to the wedding night. This is what we found:

Car paint, Vaseline under the door handles, cans dragging behind, toilet paper, foam, some expletives, THE WHOLE NINE YARDS.

And this is how it got there:

What are all the guys looking at? Oh, that would be our security guard getting in on the action!

We had no idea the boys had slipped out of the reception at some point to buy supplies and "decorate" Mr. Lab's car! You'd think we'd be mad, but it was all in good fun and it's SO funny to look back at a year later.* But I must warn you, the sooner you clean a car in that condition, the better. And pray that no one puts Vaseline under your door handles because it takes FOREVER to get off!

So hive, this is the "grand finale" of my wedding recaps. I will be around a little longer to share some things I never got around to before the wedding, vendor reviews, and our 1st anniversary celebration.

But I promised in previous posts to share a little project that we did with our photographer during the dancing portion of the reception:

Will you have a planned getaway?

PS. I hope you've enjoyed my wedding journey and recaps! Thanks for sticking with me for an entire year to get to the end. ;)

The Full "Southern Sweethearts" Saga:

• 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
• We Nom on Publix and Sanford Stadium Cakes
• Dancing with Our “Stars”
• Toasts & Tosses
• We "Thrill" the Reception and Dance the Night Away
• A Serenade and the Last Dance

Next Up: Our 1st Anniversary

*You may be reading this after November 7th, but I actually wrote it on our anniversary. And I can't believe I actually got all of the recaps done by then. Go me! :)

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

Southern Sweethearts: The Wedding Party Line-Up

Mr. Lab and I finished our private meal and gave the DOC the go-ahead to move guests into the ballroom. We snuck back out the side door and waited until the parlour cleared before sneaking back in for introductions.

Now, let me tell you about our wedding party (aka our best friends). But I'm going to do that using songs.

If you can remember way back to this post, I used a newsletter to ask our groomsmen and bridesmaids to pick out songs that summed up their personalities. Our baseball-style line up came together and one-by-one we were introduced.

Our best man Don got things started with a dramatic, double-fisting entrance:

Carl Orff Carmina Burana Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi O Fortuna
Skip to 1:25 to get the full effect!

Our matron of honor, Amanda, followed Don with a fun take on her favorite past-time: playing poker:

Poker Face by Lady GaGa



I love that the girls were already putting the "sole mates" to use!

Who's next? Is it a bird? A plane? No, it's just Super Jay!

Superman Theme Song

His wife and my new sister-in-law, Leslie, showed off some leg when she came in:

Starstruck by 3oh3

Trey, the same guy who posed backward for his mug shot, tried to make a smooth entrance but got tripped up on the door ledge. He just laughed it off like he meant to do it:

Jambi by Tool

Brittany, who I joke is my sister from another mister, got down with a choreographed dance:

Diva by Beyonce

Like Trey, Jimmy tried to play it smooth. And also like Trey, he tripped on the door ledge (even after laughing when Trey tripped!)

The Joker by the Steve Miller Band

Jimmy's wife, Brooke, unlike the boys, really did make a smooth entrance:

Super Massive Black Hole by Muse

Then my little brother, Phillip, got crunk:

All The Way Turned Up by Travis Porter

And Ashley got a little bossy:

I'm Bossy by Kelis

Finally, it was our turn. But wait! What's that I hear?

Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley



Doing my best Rick Astley shuffle. Mr. Lab was supposed to be doing the same but bailed and left me looking like an idiot. Way to support your new wife! :P

Did my wedding guests just get Rick Roll'd? Why yes, yes they did. :)

After the introduction we went straight into our first dance.

Better Together by Jack Johnson

Yes, we just did the awkward middle school sway as our wedding party looked on. Although I used to be a member of a dance company, Mr. Lab just isn't coordinated enough to attempt the awesome choreographed first dances...

Guest photo.

...but our first dance was perfect just the way it was.

Will you use a special way to introduce your wedding party?

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
  

Next Up: We get our nom on!

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

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.

Southern Sweethearts: Our Wedding Papa...Paparazzi (and Party)

Apparently Mr. Lab and I are kind of a big deal. Look at the paparazzi that showed up for our wedding!

So what if we tipped them off ourselves. Don't celebs do the same?

Okay okay! We paid them to be there! :P

But we also had a member of the paparazzi in our wedding party. GM Jimmy caught some "behind the scenes" action for us.

BM Brittany sipping on a Sofia mini.

Best Man Don STILL getting ready. I told you the guys took forever to get dressed!

I thought this was funny. The boys took forever to order their suits (do you see a trend here?) so they didn't have time to perfect fittings and had to improvise.

Mama Lab. :)

FMIL Lab taking charge and showing the wedding party where to go for photos.

Everyone began making their way to Forsyth Park for formals.

Newly married BM & GM Brooke & Jimmy.

A little motherly love:

Look who's finally dressed!

Soon enough, it was time to take photos with my gals who've been with me through thick and thin.

Special love to MOH Amanda! Friends for over a decade!

Clockwise from top right: Ashley, FSIL Leslie, MOH Amanda, Brittany, & Brooke

Remember these? Yeah, I finished them less than 48 hours out from the wedding!

Now it's the boys' turn to work the camera!

Clockwise from top right: Little Brother Lab Phillip, FBIL Jay, BM Don, Trey, Jimmy (Side note: The order of photos matches with the girls' photo to show who paired up down the aisle.)

Mr. Lab doing a little last-minute flirting with my gals. ;)

While the boys were off getting their photos taken, I asked our second shooter to capture my FMIL putting on my "something borrowed" necklace. I was so thrilled to be in on the new tradition of handing down FMIL's engagement diamond to the ladies in the family getting married!

Now that my wedding ensemble was 90% complete (STILL missing my Loubs), it was time to take group shots.

The first time I looked through my pro photos, I literally LOL-ed at this one.

No, that's not my brother getting fresh with a BM. I've never seen that kid before in my life!

Okay, okay! I kid, I kid! That really is my little (well, not so little anymore...) brother who had double-duty as a GM and my escort down the aisle.

Speaking of the aisle, our ride was waiting to take us there:

I was about to take my last ride as a single gal! But I didn't want to walk down the aisle barefoot! Would my Louboutins show up in time?

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
  

Next Up: All The Small Things (Or: Details, Details, Details!!!).

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