The Day We've Been Waiting For...The Reception Part I

Somehow we made it from the Chapel to the Ridge Club for our reception without getting drenched. Even today I can hear the pine trees at the edge of the woods cracking and falling as we ran into the reception. My wonderful stepfather Noopie escorted me in under an umbrella...all the while wrapping my veil around his leg! Eek!
Everything turned out just fine...

Our guests were greeted with a yummy pomegranate martini.


Peggy McKinney did a fantastic job incorporating the design from our reception invitation into the cake. It tasted even better than it looked!


Our Invitations from Swoozie's:


I wanted Matt's cake to reflect who he is. He's pretty conservative, an Alabama fan and is a drummer. I ordered a custom cake topper reminiscent of the Tide's script A. I also found replica of John Bonham's drums (Led Zeppelin) to display on the cake table. There were also potted pansies courtesy of Jackie in honor of Matt's maternal grandparents- it was their favorite flower.
Matt's only request was a layer of yellow cake with chocolate icing. The cake table (with a houndstooth tablecloth) turned out to be a bit large for the size of the cake but Peggy's bottom layer of peanut butter fudge was the hit of the reception!




He was so surprised by the drums and loved them so much they are now in his law office!


Anticipating August heat and humidity, in addition to the martinis, we served white wine sangria (the Williams-Sonoma mix- it is divine!)


There was also a variety of beer for those not interested in "fruity" drinks. We had some koozies made up that reflected our love of sports: the Colts, the Tide and Roger Federer.

We also served food. Johnny Sullivan of Montgomery Catering and his staff were superb! Thanks to Chef Kelly for his fantastic shrimp and grits, bacon wrapped watermelon rinds and more!


(Note: Although I love how it turned out, I do wish I had listened to Jackie when she advised me to stick with one color- in this case the fuschia- on the table tops. The addition of the green was completely my idea. I just keep thinking about what it would have looked like with solid fuschia in those gorgeous fishbowls!)


Here we are having NO IDEA how to cut a cake! Can you tell???




And here we are REALLY enjoying that layer of Peggy's FAMOUS PB fudge- sure wish I had some right now!


All photos: Kim Box Photography!

ok... that is all I can manage tonight, SO SLEEPY!
More to come later...

Because I Couldn't Wait...

Have you noticed a theme to my blog?
It's always about waiting...or not waiting.
I really need to work on that virtue called patience.

Today I went to pick out the photos that will go in our album.
It was so hard to decide, Kim's talent made it almost impossible to leave out anything!

You've all read how difficult it was for me to wait for my proofs, and then the 2nd set of proofs, and then the actual disc. (I didn't quite make the deadline for the special Christmas gifts to be delivered by Christmas Eve/Day BUT it did make it more fun to give our gifts after all of the Rush was over...then our parents could focus completely on OUR gift!)
Well, I am here to say that I VOW to wait patiently for our album (I've already been warned that it could be a long wait).
I don't quite have the time to blog our reception tonight but I just couldn't WAIT (believe it or not) to post another of my favorites!

and once again....photo credit goes to the fabulous Kim Box!

The Day We've Been Waiting for...The Ceremony

Once the chaos of getting dressed had passed, I was more than ready to walk down that short aisle to meet Matt.

Thanks so much Mary Alise for your help coordinating our families in the chapel!!!


Jackie Gaut of Dana's Floral Designs did a great job capturing my vision of the chapel.




Matt and I have both lost grandparents in the last few years (he lost two this year) so I thought it would be nice to have them be a part of the ceremony. We included framed pictures of each of them on the piano at the front of the chapel.


The ceremony was short and sweet- just how Matt needed it to be. We simply exchanged vows and rings and it was official...and over! Matt is SO not into PDA and everyone knows it so we decided in advance instead of a first kiss that we would bump fists (and THEN kiss). Well, that was the plan. Matt decided on his own that it was a serious occasion so it warranted the kiss. So we kissed; the whole time I am saying "hey...what about the fists?" The pictures document it pretty well.







And the audience gave us the expected laugh!

The much awaited presentation of Mr. and Mrs. :


Can you see how thrilled I am????? You can't even tell that we just exchanged vows in the midst of tornado warnings and a tropical storm/hurricane!



Mama and I- her hair is not bad considering the sacrifice she made helping me get in and out of the rain!



Matt and his mom.


Because of the torrential rain, we were obviously limited to the tiny chapel for pictures. After all of the family groups were taken care of, Matt and I stayed for some of just the 2 of us. Here are some of my favorites from the indoor session. (I'll do the outdoor session in a separate post)


Matt looks particularly serious in this one for some reason! Did I mention he is not exactly a fan of having his picture taken?

(Notice the raindrops on his shoulders)




Not a typical pose for us, but with limited options we got a little bit creative.




And finally, we were off to enjoy the reception!!!

Stay tuned!

All photos provided by Kim Box Photography.

The Day I've Been Waiting For...

I started the day by waking up at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Montgomery. It is so beautiful and was such a comfortable room. I woke up super early, so excited. I texted Wendy first thing, thinking she would not be up yet. She and Anderson stayed at the hotel too. She responded immediately with a text "How 'bout that train?" Apparently the train across the street is what woke me up at daybreak! It was just as well since Wendy and I (Wendy) have a tendency to be REALLY late for everything and we had massage appointments for 8:00. Kristin met us there and we had the most relaxing start to the day.(Thanks girls...I owe you!)

Overnight, Tropical Storm Faye had made her arrival in the Capital City. It was FLOODING. I had expected her to make an appearance at the wedding so I wasn't tragically upset. Just a little disappointed. It mostly affected my schedule for the day as it was really difficult to drive at lightning speed in torrential rain.

Kristin played driver. We ran to Nails by Elizabeth at East Chase first. Next stop- Van Leez and the incredible Winston. The girls ran to get my rings cleaned as I got my hair done. (They spent a little extra time at the jeweler "playing". They had no intention of me finding out but when they came to Winston's to get me they received a phone call from the jeweler letting them know someone had left their diamond stud in one of the jackets they were trying on...busted!!!) So, after a quick trip back by Cronier's we were on our way to Lake Martin!

I drove the 45 (or so) minute drive because I had too much nervous energy at that point. I think I scared the girls to death. We hurried to Willow Point Villas where my Chanel makeup artist was meeting us. Elizabeth from Chanel did a great job putting up with me! It was a little chaotic by the time we got there so I was all over the place while she was trying to do my makeup.Matt's mom loaned me HER mother's jewelry:

The hairpiece was actually a pin that she wore with the set. She wore it to one of the inaugural celebrations for Eisenhower and when she arrived, Mamie Eisenhower was wearing the same pin! I just love history and to be able to wear a family heirloom with such an interesting background was so meaningful. Thank you Rhea!

The earrings were the kind that screwed on and we had quite a time getting them on.

I tried to put them on by myself, but required help from Mama to put one of them in.This one was so loose and I was really scared of losing one; Mama got a little carried away...
Don't worry, I recovered quickly:
My favorite bottle of Pinot Grigio, Santa Margherita!


Matt was in another part of the villa getting ready. Kim (the photographer) ran next door in time to see him open his wedding gift from me.


I gave him his first pair of cufflinks, a monogrammed sterling oval set from Red Envelope. He loved them!



My favorite from the "getting ready" shots:

and the Dress:

Due to the hurricane, there are no shots of me putting my dress on. I waited until everyone was seated in the chapel (and facing forward) and ran in the back door in my sundress with a Dillard's bag over my head! Mama carried the bagged dress in (and got herself soaked). The Dillard's bag and the weather overall are responsible for the stray strand of hair that DRIVES ME BONKERS in so many of my pictures.

Dressing was a little tricky since it was a ONE ROOM CHAPEL! I dressed in the stairwell to the balcony with Mama's help. Have you ever gotten naked in a sanctuary??? The stairs were only as wide as my dress and we could see the top of Matt's head from where I stood in the stairwell. He was seated in a pew, thank goodness. I was laughing so loud that Mama shushed me. Not exactly the easy, laid back day I had intended to have...but it all worked out!

Up next, the ceremony!

(all photos, except the dress, from the oh so talented: Kim Box Photography)

APRIL, I will have to get you to help me return to the normal background after all of my wedding posts are complete, the solid black just looked better than my pretty background!

Gobble Gobble and ROLL TIDE ROLL !!!

We had a great Thanksgiving! First, lunch with my family and afterward, dinner with his! If there are an estimated 3,000 calories in a Thanksgiving meal, we had DOUBLE! Yuck! I mean, YUM! I have a LOT of running to do this week.
My mom and my sisters after lunch:


We went to the Alabama/Auburn game yesterday. It was the BEST Iron Bowl EVER!
36-0, the streak is over!!! Now... on to Florida!

GUESS WHAT?!?!?

PROOFS ARE UP! (the 2nd set)
YAY!!!!!!!

I seriously couldn't be more happy! And it couldn't be at a worse time.

I have a HUGE deadline at work (took a 2 minute break to post this) so I can't PLAY with my pictures right now! I am not posting them until I have the actual negatives because my maneuvering doesn't do Kim the justice she deserves. She did an incredible job!

But I will give you another sneak peek (understanding of course that this image is distorted from my manipulation).

Now I can be happy!

Whew, where did the weekend go?

Since I don't have any wedding pictures to post, STILL, I'll just bore you with my busy weekend.
I went to an office friend's birthday dinner Friday night. Matt went to Atlanta to our nephew's 2nd birthday party. I stopped at Blockbuster on the way home and rented girly movies that I would otherwise not get to see- P.S. I Love You and What Happens in Vegas (is that the name?). I fell asleep pretty early on in P.S. I Love You but I'd read the book so I wasn't upset that I missed anything and would have to try again Saturday.
I got up pretty early and went to Home Depot. Miss Xena has become quite the wanderer.


She has been disappearing into the woods for 15 minutes at a time. So, tired of arriving late to work in the mornings and freaking out at night, I decided to "build a fence". It's one of those little iron garden fences- she won't put any effort into getting through it- she just needs something to block her way. They didn't have any black ones, just green and pink so I bought some spray paint too. It took me all weekend but it's up. We'll see if it works!

After spending the entire morning spray painting (my glasses lenses, my fingernails, my forehead, etc) and not being anywhere near finished with my "fence", I decided to go watch the UA vs. LSU game at the Henderson's. Wow, was I nervous. I mean, being #1 the week before going into THAT stadium was not exactly what I would call ideal. BUT, they managed to win. ROLL TIDE!!!

On another Bama note, People has a photo of Sara Evans and Eva Longoria (theirs is without Jay) at the game last week. (Most of you probably won't see it in People unless you have a subscription because it has Obama on the cover and you wouldn't have purchased it.) They were wearing #7 Bama jerseys with Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Barker on the back. I have to admit when I saw the email picture floating around last week (see below), I was kind of impressed with being in Bryant Denny with Gabby Solis...but the writers at People are idiots- I mean, do your research PEOPLE! They captioned the photo they used with "sporting Alabama wide receiver Will Oakley's number". OK- maybe it is Oakely's number now, but that isn't exactly why they are wearing the #7 jersey!!! Geez.


Sunday I helped give a baby shower for my friend April. Her little fella's name is Trent. I ordered the cake from Batter Up and was so nervous that it wouldn't look as good as a Cake Designs cake. But they (unlike Cake Designs) did EXACTLY what I asked for; it matched her invitation PERFECTLY and the white cake with cream cheese icing was SO YUMMY! I will definitely use them again!

Beth made the diaper cake centerpiece- isn't it fabulous?


My only regret is that if I had known about that CUTE fabric, I would have had them do the T in baby blue to go with Beth's centerpiece fabric instead of the aqua stripe in the invitation.
Isn't April looking WONDERFUL???

This week will be WORK, WORK, WORK, checking for proofs, and painting the rest of the fence!

Have a great one!!!

P.S. Matt is home safely and Football has taken the TV back! I sure did miss him!