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!

Drinks on us! Part 2: The John Hancock of Cocktails.

As you may have guessed by the title, this post is about our signature drinks! ;)

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We're having a full bar at our cocktail hour and reception and thought it would be fun to have drinks that represent the entire wedding party. They'll be a total of three signature drinks: one for the bridesmaids, one for the groomsmen, and then one in honor of Mr. Lab and I.

Our matron of honor and best man will be in charge of creating their respective signature drinks. The only rule they have is that the ladies' drink must be a pink concoction...

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...while the men must have a brown one (again, all fitting into our color palette).

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They've yet to pick out their cocktails, so any ideas are certainly welcome! As well as cute and catchy drink names!

As for Mr. Lab and I's signature drink, we're going with the "yum-o!"-inducing White Russian. We both love love LOVE this drink. And it's white, so it sorta fits the theme of a wedding!

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In case you've never had a White Russian (or you aren't a lush like moi), here's the quick and simple recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Vodka
• 1 oz Coffee Liqueur (ours will be made with Kahlua)
• Light Cream
• Chocolate Syrup (optional decoration-we're having the bartender add the initial of our last name on the drinks!)

Mixing instructions:

Pour vodka and coffee liqueur over ice cubes in glass. Fill with light cream. Add chocolate syrup swirl to top and serve.

We've decided that we're going to use tags to label our ceremony drinks...

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And chalkboards to display our signature drink options!

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These are the two easiest and cheapest display options. I really liked the chalkboard signs, but decided using them inside only will insure they won't blow away or fall down in the wind during the ceremony. I will be hitting up Michael's tomorrow after work to get started on our DIY signs!

I've got plenty of experience working with chalkboards. I've had one chalkboard since I was a sophomore in college that has "evolved" to fit my needs. I'm hoping I can hold on to the ones I use in the wedding for many years just like the one I have already!

My trusty chalkboard as the focal point of my crazily decorated apartment door. All my roommates had similarly-overdone doors! (Hey, I was a sophomore, so don't judge! lol)

Same chalkboard, different location and messages. I love that my little sister and I are rockin' the braces at the same time!

Still the same chalkboard but with the new border I painted to match our updated "Parisian" kitchen when Mr. Lab moved in! I added the sign above it for about $2.

Now comes the hard part: naming our cocktail! Any suggestions? I hope you have some cause Mr. Lab's drink names aren't so great:

Haha! Wait, wut?

Thirsty for more? Read Part 1!

*Have you ever noticed how John Hancock and all the other men who signed the Declaration of Independence have phenomenal, calligraphy-like handwriting? Seriously, where are all the men with GOOD handwriting nowadays?!? I could use one of them, especially when I'm writing thank you notes or addressing invitations! Sheesh.

Drinks on us! Part 1: An infusion of pretty and yummy.

Beverages will be a big part of our wedding. Because our ceremony will be outside in the Georgia heat (but hopefully not scorching heat come November), we are setting up a refreshment table with drinks for our guests to enjoy before the ceremony begins. This will also come in handy while they are waiting on the trolley to take them back to the reception.

So I've been collecting ideas on how to present the drinks and quickly fell in love with infusion jars.

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Aren't these super cute? I love the way they add so much "punch" (*chuckle*) to any table. So I began keeping an eye out for deals on infusion jars.

Last week, while casually perusing Bed Bath & Beyond on FMIL's first ever visit to the awesome-est store in the world (I mean really, who hasn't ever been to BB&B!), I ran into one of those deals.

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They had gorgeous infusion jars with iron stands for only $20. But wait, there's more! We (FSIL and I) had our trusty $5 off BB&B coupons in tow. So we snatched up 3 of these cuties for $15 a piece. FSIL and FMIL both wanted one for themselves, so they offered to each buy one and let me borrow them for the wedding. So I'm getting 3 jars for only $15 for the wedding! Afterwards, I'm going to have a super cute way to display drinks during get-togethers. Double score!

We want the drinks to be not only southern staples, but also in our wedding colors. So we decided on sweet tea and pink lemonade for the infusion jars. They will be joined with water for anyone who doesn't want sugary drinks (although I'll probably make them with Splenda since Mr. Lab and I are very health conscious). We're also serving up bottled Coca-Cola like Mrs. Cherry Pie did for her wedding:

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My oldest brother has an entire guest house/barn decorated in nothing but vintage Coca-Cola items (he's a bit obsessed with the drink), so he'll be loaning some signage for the set up.

I found our jars in action with the colors we're going for:

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We're going to infuse the tea with mint and the pink lemonade with peaches. Yummy-ness! Now I just have to find a way to label the jars with what's in them. Hmmm, chalkboards, tags, or ribbon labels?

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Whatever drinks are left over at the ceremony will be transported to the reception site to be enjoyed there by our non-drinking guests.

And just because this is Weddingbee, I HAD to include this adorable beehive infusion jar:

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