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: Constellations

Mr. Lab and I came back inside from our little photography project mentioned in my last post (it's coming in the next one, I promise!) and we were met by this:

That's college buddy and fellow newscaster Kevin. He promised me a couple weeks before the wedding that he would sing for us.

You see, Kevin has this ah-mazing voice. He was even the winner of our college's version of American Idol, UGA Idol!

Kevin more than lived up to his promise. He sang us the most beautiful song ever.

And I was tickled silly about it! I felt like we had our own personal star serenading us on our wedding day!

We finished the night with a last song by the same artist who sang our first dance song:

Jack Johnson's "Constellations"

We started the dance with some of the kids.

The light was leaving
In the west it was blue
The children's laughter sang
And skipping just like the stones they threw
Their voices echoed across the way
It's getting late

It was just another night
With a sunset
And a moonrise not so far behind

To give us just enough light
To lay down underneath the stars
Listen to papa's translations
Of the stories across the sky
We drew our own constellations

While we were dancing, a couple bridesmaids were outside making this for us:

Our new monogram!

The kids left us alone on the dance floor about halfway through the song. My youngest niece, Morgan, made sure she had one of our mason jar favors full of candy from the buffet.

(guest photo)

And we finished out the song together, just a couple of newlyweds, alone on the dance floor.

Clouds keep moving to uncover the scene
Stars above us chasing the day away
To find the stories that we sometimes need
Listen close enough
All else fades

Fades away

It was just another night
With a sunset
And a moonrise not so far behind
To give us just enough light
To lay down underneath the stars
Listen to all the translations
Of the stories across the sky

We drew our own constellations.

Will you have any special performances at your reception? How about a designated last song?

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

Next Up: We make our big exit!

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

Bubbles and Sparkles

I couldn't decide between having a bubble or sparkler exit, so I got greedy and decided to have both! :D

After the ceremony, we'll walk back down the aisle to a shower of bubbles from our guests:

Source

We were fortunate enough to get hand-me-down bubbles from friends who recently got married and didn't use all of their bubbles. We'll put the basket of bubbles (with cute little bells tied to them already) next to the programs at the ceremony with a note for our guests to start blowing them right before we walk back down the aisle.

Then our second fancy exit will be after nightfall:

Source

It'll be the send off to our after party on River Street! I think the sparklers will totally help accessorize my reception dress. ;)

But we needed a way to display the sparklers! The bubbles practically took care of themselves but you can't just lay out sparklers on a table! So I grabbed a couple empty coffee containers and ripped off the labels:

Used leftover spray paint to give them a face lift:

Stuffed some foam into the center (Mr. Lab did this part for me):

Tossed some very appropriate Savannah-esque moss on top:


Then jammed the sparklers into the cans to form a pretty arrangement:


Wah-lah! Sparkler display on a budget! About $5 for 2 to be exact (the sparklers cost $34 for 60).

Are you doing more than one fancy exit?