Our Wedding Day: The Toasts

I hadn't originally planned on doing an entire post on our Matron of Honor and Best Man toasts but I thought that we got some really cute pictures and I had to share. Both of their toasts were very, very funny as well as thoughtful and sweet. Enjoy the pictures!

Our Wedding Day: Reception Entrance & First Dance

Sorry about the little posting delay... it was a crazy (bad) week here last week and I didn't have a chance! Here are some pictures from our reception entrance, a couple of our favorite wedding party entrances our and first dance. Our wedding party entrance song was Jimi Boys...a Dave Matthews Band and Jay-Z remix that was kind of a joke intended for our best man and matron of honor... he loves Jay-Z, she loves Dave. Everyone loved it. And our first dance song was Nothing Fancy by Dave Barnes. It has always been "our song" and I cry every time I hear it! Enjoy the pictures!

Our Wedding Day: Reception DIY Details

I thought it would be fun to show some of our DIY projects "in action" at the reception! Many of you have been with my blog for the long haul and have seen the creation of so many of these items so I thought you might like to see them on the big day. Enjoy the pictures!

Our Wedding Day: Practice Makes Perfect!

I know everyone just wants to see wedding pics, but I decided that I will do the recap of the big day in order, so today I am going to share the details of our rehearsal!

Our rehearsal was on Friday May 22nd on an unseasonably muggy night! It took place outside, so we were definitely going as fast as we could to get things figured out and get out of the heat! Now that it is over, I can honestly say that we would have NEVER made it through the rehearsal (or any part of the weekend, for that matter) without our awesome Day-Of Coordinator, LeAnn. She was definitely not afraid to get everyone where they needed to be, when they needed to be there... which was definitely a huuuuge relief to me!

Onto the pictures! First up is one of my favorites. You can see my nephew Jake, the ring bearer, being his usual wise-guy self and cracking up 3 of the groomsmen, Ryan, and our minister:

I'm pretty sure this was taken when Leann made the announcement that we were going to do one more run-through, and his response was "kill me now." Funny what you can get away with when you're 7!

And here is another one of my favorites, with all of my girls and our minister, Kyle, who had apparently just said something really funny!

And although he will kill me for this, here is my new brother-in-law with my fabulous practice bouquet. He definitely would have been a great flower girl!

After the rehearsal, our rehearsal dinner was held at A.P. Roots Restaurant here in Lexington. The private room is a gorgeous space with dark cherry wood wainscoting and equestrian themed art. I wish I had more pictures of the details, because Ryan's mom Debbie did an amazing job decorating it, in pink & green of course!

Ryan & me:

My matron of honor and her husband (and a groomsman), John:

My mom and older nephew, Josh:

Another favorite... here are the boys working on the laptop & TV to make our DVD play correctly. We were having some SERIOUS technical difficulties and I really thought Ryan might have a nervous breakdown. Luckily, they got it working and everyone loved it!

Ryan and his aunt (who is really more like a 2nd mom/sister combo), Vicki:

Ryan and his mom, Debbie:


Those are just a few of our pictures from the rehearsal night, but they are some of my favorites. Everything was absolutely perfect... even the technical difficulties. We had a wonderful and easy rehearsal followed by a fun and relaxing rehearsal dinner with great food and drinks!

Next up... Wedding Party Gifts!

It was perfect.

Our wedding day has come and gone. Everyone was right... it goes by so much more quickly than you can ever prepare for. Everything was perfect. Even for my high (read: extremely anal) standards, it was still perfect and I wouldn't change a thing.

I'm currently blogging from the airport at 5:00 a.m. as we are heading to Maui for a two-week honeymoon! So, blogging will be light for a couple weeks but I can't wait to get back and share pictures and recaps as they come along.

Thank you so much for all of your support, advice, ideas and love throughout the strenuous planning process. We couldn't have done it without you!

Let the Bargain Shopping Begin!

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to find a good bargain. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem spending a few hundred dollars on a new bag, or $50 on bowls for my dog, but I am like the Croc Hunter (r.i.p.) of bargains- I just can't let a good one get away! So, one night when I had to run to Wal-Mart (hush) with my niece, I noticed these great Libbey vases on clearance:

I LOVED the shape and simplicity of these vases and thought they would be perfect for holding the centerpiece flowers at our reception. Well, it is Wal-Mart after all, so the original price per vase was like $5.97. BUT.... they were on clearance.... for $1.20 EACH!!!!!! We bought one that night to take home and get opinions on, and then Ryan & I went back the next day to buy 50 more!! So, I got the vases for my reception for about $55-$60!! Hopefully that is the first of many bargains to come... but somehow I doubt it! I am thinking of doing a grosgrain ribbon around the center of each vase, and then having some bright flowers inside. Here is the ribbon we picked out, and what the vase looks like with the ribbon. Anyone have any thoughts or opinions on this? I mean besides the fact that they are from Wal-Mart?