The Missing Groom and Groomsmen

....And the wedding memories continue!  We have ANOTHER week all about the wedding!! There is just so much that happened and I don't want to forget any of it!

So...as promised...What did the Groom and Groomsmen do after the rehearsal dinner? They went to Kenneth's house (Jake's brother) and played some poker.  Yes there was some gambling and guess who won! JACOB!!! YEAH for $70 bucks.  Well not really...they all went out to Waffle House and Jake bought everyone's meal with the money he won!  How Sweet.  Then Jake's younger brother, Patrick said, "How about we go to the BEACH!!!"  This was around 4:00 AM!  So, everyone piled into Kenneth's truck and they drove down to the beach.  If you are wondering...Yes..they did listen to the youngest one in the group!  So I have been told...all they did was drive to the beach, walk out on the sand, ask someone to take their picture, go to the bathroom, and pile back into the truck and were home by 8:00 AM for breakfast.    

As you might be wondering, what did I do when I found out they went to the Beach?  Well, I was posting on Facebook that it was my wedding day and how excited I was, etc.  When I was scrolling down my news feed...i saw the picture.  I flew into my parents room, waking up Janessa (I forgot she was sleeping in there OOPS), telling my mom that all the boys went to the beach!! All we could do was laugh!  It definitely added to our wedding day story!    

Rehearsal/Rehearsal Dinner

As some of the girls were decorating the fellowship hall for our reception, Mrs. Debra, Mr. Kenny, Amanda, and Thomas were decorating the smaller room for our rehearsal dinner.  Mrs. Debra decided to do a luau theme.  I LOVED the dark tablecloths and chairs with the bright colors!  She also had our engagement pictures scattered around the tables too.  

The best Mother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law EVER!

At Rehearsal waiting to be lined up.  There seemed to be an Orange and Pink color scheme even at Rehearsal! HAHA

The food was so good!  

Us in our Orange!  NOT planned! I PROMISE!

Groomsmen

Bridesmaids

 One of the neatest things we did at the rehearsal dinner was everyone that wanted to stood up and told a story about Jake, me, or both, or gave us marriage advice.  It was fun to listen to the stories about us growing up, us meeting, college stories, family stories, youth group stories, etc.  I love our family and friends so very much!  I am so thankful for all of them and I loved seeing all of them come together to celebrate in our special day!!

If you haven't heard yet what the Groom and the Groomsmen did after the rehearsal dinner...don't forget to come back on Monday!

Bridesmaid's Brunch

As we were planning our wedding week, my Aunt Mac wanted to do something special for me.  She volunteered to host the Bridesmaid's Brunch at her house.  Some of my favorite foods revolve around breakfast, so we decided to do a brunch instead of a lunch.  This was fun to have all my bridesmaids around the same table, fellowshipping and having fun!  

Grandma B, Aunt Vic, Granny, and Aunt (Cousin) Linda

Aunt Mac, Mrs. Debra, and Aunt (Cousin) Pat

The Bridesmaid Table

Yummy Food

Waiting for their gifts

 As a thank you for each one of my girls, I gave them a beach towel with their name or initials monogrammed on them and their jewelry they would wear on wedding day.  The jewelry included a necklace, earrings, and a broach they would wear on their dress.  

The Bridesmaid's Brunch was so much fun!  There was much laughter, good food, and some of my very favorite ladies!  

Bridal Portrait Proofs (Unedited)

The day I took my bridal portraits was one of my favorite days leading up to the wedding.  I took a half day off from work, had lunch with my mom, and had my hair and makeup done.  It was defiantly a day of "This is what I am going to look like on my wedding day."  It was really setting in that our wedding was getting closer.  I remember looking in the mirror and thinking, "Yep this is what I always pictured myself looking like on my wedding day."  It was such a wonderful feeling.  I was one of those girls that DREAMED of my wedding day even before I had a groom.  I knew what I wanted and had it all pictured in my head and what a neat feeling it was when the ideas in my head became a reality.       

This is the one we used as my portrait.  

Granny and Mr. Kenny's favorite

One of my favorites, and I would have actually chosen this one if you could see the detail in my dress better 

I LOVE that you can see the lace all the way around the bottom of my dress with the white dress and the dark background!  Had to do some traditional inside pictures.  I really wanted my portait to be outside since we were having an indoor Church wedding. 

LOVE this one!

This is the one we chose for our wallet pictures.

After we chose the one we would use as my portrait to hang in my parents house, we had to wait for our photographer to make a large print and then we had to pick out a frame.  When we took home the finished product my daddy made me feel so special.  All he could say was, "WOW that makes everything feel so real.  You are so beautiful!  I mean it!  You are so beautiful!"

Bridesmaid's Jewerly

As part of my bridesmaids gift, we decided to make the jewelry they would wear at the wedding.  Jake's Aunt Jackie LOVES to make jewelry so she jumped right in to helping us come up with ideas and helping us make the finished product.  We all met at Michael's, put our ideas together, bought the beads and other things we needed to make 10 necklaces and 9 pairs or earrings.  My mom, Mrs. Debra, Aunt Jackie, Grandma B, Amanda, and I had a fun girls night spending time talking and making pretty jewelry.  I am so thankful for all the talented people we had to help us with our wedding stuff.  

Aunt Jackie hard at work!

Stringing beads!

Girl talk and making jewelry!

Lets just say, the later it got the funnier my mama was.  Ladies, the older you get the harder it is to string beads??? HA My mama became entertainment!