#HappLILLYeverafter

I don't know where to even begin on this post!  What a CRAZY couple of weeks it has been!
I reluctantly returned to work yesterday after being off since the 15th.  Wahhhhh! Although I must say that in a way, I am kind of relieved.  I know this may sound weird, but sometimes I need to go to work to get a break.

I digress, back to the topic - Wedding week! Wednesday was "me day" :)  I got my hairrr did, got my nails did, went to Zumba, got a Spray Tan - I was feelin' maself!  Thursday was "décor day," so I took all of the reception décor to the hotel, and spent the evening decorating the church with a lot of help from a lot of people! (Thanks everyone!!) THEN Friday was rehearsal day!

After we sorted everything out for the wedding we were off to Sleepy Hollow for dinner.  Oh, and we arrived in style! Pastor Jeff gave us a ride in his old convertible Bentley.  SO cool!  When we got there a "Priest" was walking around quietly.  Everyone was starting to whisper a little trying to figure out which one of us was Catholic and why the wedding was in a Baptist church?  After Matt's dad gave a REALLY sweet toast, they started to serve dinner.  Then a woman came in and introduced herself as "Detective (something)" leaving everyone even more confused - until she announced that we would be helping her solve a murder.  That's right - our rehearsal dinner was a surprise Murder Mystery dinner! I think once everyone figured out what was going on they had a great time.  Christi Gordon and I ended up being the two who cracked the case!







Grooms Cake made by Sandi Payne!







Poor Sarah Mullens spent the day rescheduling flights and going here and there, so she ended up missing the rehearsal and dinner.  Even worse - she had to rent a car in Charlotte and drive the rest of the way to WV!  Bless her heart.  She's a good friend!  Brittany, Amber, Jess, and I popped in the Sex and the City movie (duh.), opened a couple of bottles of Vietti, and waited up for her - just like in the movie - an "old gals sleepover." ;)

I've had a TON of questions about the rompers!
They are from Old Navy, and my friends at
Gunther's Logo Works in Winfield did the
purple sparkly monogram! :)
I opened my eyes Saturday morning and immediately had butterflies in my stomach - IT WAS WEDDING DAY!  We threw on our rompers, did a quick dance to "Let's Get Married" - Jagged Edge (the Run DMC remix, of course) and headed to the salon to meet all the girls! My girls at Strand Salon made the morning just perfect! They had Spring Hill Bakery hotdogs, (if you don't know what those are, I'm going to suggest you find out REALLLL soon) fruit, mimosas, and all kinds of goodies! There was A LOT of hair and makeup to be done, but we had fun hanging out and stuffing our faces all morning! Our friend Charles arrived at the salon with a letter from Matt, and all I have to say is - thank the Lord it was pre-makeup! #waterworks (Seriously just teared up typing that because I started thinking about it!)



Moving on - we headed to the church to eat some Chick-fil-A boxed lunches (we didn't stop eating all day) then we just chilled out and took selfies until it was time to get ready for pictures.  Ozzie came to hang out too so that we could have some snuggle time since we wouldn't see him for a week! He is our baby afterall! :)



So - there were some mishaps, but isn't that what makes weddings fun and interesting? We had a bridesmaid dress zipper break, a groomsmen fainted, and then a bridesmaid almost fainted - I mean, I know I looked good, but I didn't realize I looked THAT good. ;) Seriously though, everyone is okay! My poor Mamaw, however, was very confused.  She was certain that people were protesting the wedding and that the preacher was bartering with them. How she came up with that I will never know.

After the ceremony and a few pictures we were finally ready to PARRRTTTAAAYYYY! I have to say that I highly recommend our reception venue.  That ballroom was GOREGOUS and PERFECT and EXACTLY what I had envisioned and explained to them.  Best part?  I didn't lift a finger.  It turns out that they loved our peacock décor and centerpieces so much that they bought all of it from us! Very flattering...and even less work for us!

We made our grand entrance to the Run DMC remix of "Walk this Way" before dinner was served!  We had house salad, tomato bisque, balsamic chicken, beef burgundy, rice pilaf, roasted red potatoes, marinated grilled vegetables, and dinner rolls.  It was all fabulous! Our seating arrangement was super fun.  Each table was assigned a song, and when that song played the table was dismissed to the buffet.  I loved when a song would start and a table would jump up and cheer! So fun!
Our first dance was to "I Get to Love You" by Ruelle, our Father-Daughter dance was to "The Girl You Think I am" by Carrie Underwood, and the Mother-Son dance was to "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts.  I think we couldn't have picked more perfect songs! When it was time for toasts, the groomsmen were a little nervous, but Shawn stepped up to the plate and gave a great toast on the fly! My 2 MOHs knocked it out of the park on their toasts! I mean...I still can't get over just how perfect they were!

And now, the cake story.
When we met with our fabulous cake artist we discussed my hatred for how fondant icing tastes, but my love for how it looks.  I am a buttercream kind of girl, and she had the perfect solution. The cake everyone saw in front of the giant peacock tail was fake. Yes, it was a beautifully decorated foam cake.  BUT there was a slit cut in the foam where real cake would be - or so I thought.  Matt and I pretended to cut the cake, and slid out the secret piece of cake.  It was wrapped in fondant, so we took the knife and cut it in half, then proceeded to shove it in each others faces. We quickly realized something wasn't right when it didn't smash.  We started chewing, and watched each others eyes get bigger and bigger.  It suddenly hit me that the cake artist and I had a MAJOR miscommunication.  Matt mumbled "What is this?" and with huge eyes I said "IT'S FOAM! What do we do? Do we swallow it!?" Then I saw a napkin at the end of the table, grabbed it, turned my back to all the eyes and cameras, and spit.  Matt did the same, and we quickly opened the bottle of champagne and washed down the bits of foam still in our mouthes.  After it was all over we told our photographers what had happened, and they got a new REAL piece of cake and did a do-over - the real cake was delicious by the way!

We danced and partied the rest of the evening until they turned on the lights and kicked us out of the ballroom.  It truly was the most perfect day with the most perfect man, and the most perfect family, and the most perfect friends.  I still feel overwhelmed by all of the love in that room.






I still haven't been able to catch my breath.  I thought life would drastically calm down post-wedding, but that really hasn't been the case.  I am working on changing my name, switching insurance, sending out many many many thank you cards, getting our home organized while Matt is moving all of his things in, and just adjusting to married life.  So far being married has consisted of hanging out with my best friend all the time.  What could be bad about that?  I will do a separate post about the honeymoon because it's just too much to have in one! :)



OH, and I am going to list all of our local vendors below with a link to their website or Facebook page, so be sure to check them out for any events you might have!




Photography - Memory Lane Photos (Randy and Cherie Carter)
(We don't have enough wonderful things to say about them.  Aside from just being amazing photographers, they were so incredibly fun!  I couldn't imagine a more perfect team to capture the day.)
All Wedding Paper Products - Rock Paper Sisters
(Again, I can't say enough about how fabulous Megan and Lindsay are at what they do.  HIGHLY recommend these two paper geniuses!)
Program Front
Program back
Invitation
Save the Dates
Videography - Amanda Buskirk
(Amanda does this on the side for fun, so she doesn't have a business page *that I know of* but if you want to get in touch with her, just let me know and I can make it happen!)
Cake - Ilyana Kano Buffalo Diner Desserts
Murder Mystery Dinner - Murder and Merriment
Spray tan - Sarah Brown
(No business page, but she uses Younique :D )
(They are just the most fabulous girls I know. I always leave that place feeling like a rockstar!)

My Make-up - Samantha Browning
(Again, I don't think she has a business page, but SHE IS AMAZING. Let me know if you need a fabulous face and I can hook you up!)

My Dress - Nandels
(They won't steer you wrong.  The nicest women!)
Bridesmaid Dresses - The one and only, Helen G. Lewis. :)  Need I say more?


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