Our Sweet Beginning: Photo Booth Fun!

Early in wedding planning, I went to the Swan Harbor Bridal Expo with my mom and three of my fabulous bridesmaids. While we were there, we stepped into a photo booth with some ridiculous props and acted silly. While I hadn't considered having one prior to that moment, a photo booth was suddenly one of those things I had to have at our wedding. After some discussions with the powers-that-be (my parents), we booked that same vendor from the bridal show!

It was an awesome booth because it printed out two strips, one for the guests to take and one to leave for us! Even though some people took both strips, we got to see those too because the vendor later sent us a flash drive with all of the pictures that had been taken throughout the night.

One of my favorite parts of the day after our wedding was looking through all of the strips that people had left for us. So much hilariousness! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. The logo at the bottom was very cute, but has our last name (heart flutter...our last name!) so that part has been deleted. :)

First up, our families!

{Rachel and flower girl Zoë}  {Brian's cousins/ring bearers}  {my dad and cousin Jenna}

{My sister Jennifer and cousin Jenna}     {my parents}      {Rachel and cousin Jordan}

 Some cute couples...

{Joella and Bobby}     {Jennifer and Jon}     {Amber and Antonio}

The rest of our friends got in on the action too!

 {Me, Joella, and Amber}     {A group of crazy Phi Mus}     {Brian's groomsmen/WP friends}

{Me and Amber}   {Julianna, Megan, and Angela}   {Me and Shannon (cameo by Brian)}

  {Amber and Kristi}      {A group of Brian's friends}      {Brian and his best man Pat}

 And of course, the newlyweds had to make a couple of appearances!

I am pretty sure the photo booth was one of the most fun parts of our wedding! 

Honeymoon in St. Lucia: Day 4

The fourth day of our honeymoon in St. Lucia was probably the one we were looking forward to the most...the day of our treatments at the gorgeous Rainforest Spa!

We started the morning with breakfast at the Bayside Restaurant, and I decided to order two meals (it's no wonder I gained a couple of pounds on this trip!) Blueberry french toast, with a side of eggs and bacon. Yum! Brian enjoyed his favorite smoothie, the Wake Up, which was a delicious combination of Baileys, chocolate, and coffee.

 

After our yummy breakfast, we went down to the beach to do some snorkeling. 

 The water was so clear, and we were able to see a lot of coral and colorful fish. However, when I saw an eel swimming a handful of feet beneath me, I had seen enough! I immediately headed for the shore. :) 

Then, it was finally time to head to the spa!

The Romantic Renaissance package included our own private tree house treatment room with watsu pool and waterfall...

...hydrotoning facials, a 50 minute full-body massage, a light lunch of salads and smoothies, and relaxation time in the watsu pool with a bottle of champagne!

It was absolutely perfect, and definitely the perfect splurge for our honeymoon! Nothing compares to a massage laying in the middle of the rainforest listening to the chirping of the birds and the rushing water of the river. We left the Rainforest Spa completely relaxed and happy! :)

That night, a French couple was being married on the beach at Jalousie. We sat on the beach and watched all of the wedding guests arrive by boat into the harbor while the sun was setting. It was so neat!

Because their wedding reception was held on the beach at Bayside, we headed to the Great Room for another delicious dinner overlooking Pitons Bay.

I swear we ate more than just dessert on our honeymoon (in fact, this night Brian had the most amazing steak ever), but that's seemingly the only time we remembered to take pictures. :)

Honeymoon in St. Lucia: Days 2 and 3

The second and third days of our honeymoon in paradise were all about relaxation! The month leading up to our wedding was STRESSFUL, and the thought of laying on the beach or at the pool at Jalousie was something I looked forward to during that time. It was just as amazing and relaxing as I had hoped, if not more so. :)

We woke up each morning for a delicious breakfast at the Bayside restaurant on the water. Yummy french press coffee, omelettes, blueberry and banana french toast, pancakes, and chocolate croissants....it was all SO good. On our second day at Jalousie, we spent lots of time in our private infinity pool. I am pretty sure it was Brian's favorite part of our honeymoon location.

We also got acquainted with the Rainforest Spa for the first time for a relaxing foot massage...after which we immediately booked more treatments for later in the week.

Of course, I had to spend some time by the pool in the comfy hanging beds I had seen in pictures.

That night, we got dressed up for our second dinner at Bayside.

...which we ended with dessert and coffee, of course.

Day 3 started with the requisite breakfast at Bayside and some time at the beautiful Jalousie Beach, which had some of the bluest water I've ever seen! People from all over St. Lucia head to this beach because it is one of the best on the island...we were lucky that it was right down the mountain from our villa!

Not to mention that the beach chairs are more like beds...

Of course, the afternoon consisted of more time in the infinity pool.

That night, we decided to get a little more dressed up and try out the other restaurant at the resort, The Great Room.

While Bayside was more casual, this was probably the fanciest restaurant I've ever eaten at. We were seated out on the balcony with a gorgeous view of of the Carribean Sea.

We ate our meal in four courses and tried our hardest to remember which silverware to use first. :)

After two very relaxing days, we went to bed excited to find some adventure in St. Lucia (and anticipating our spa treatments the next day, too!)

Honeymoon in St. Lucia: Day 1

his past weekend, I got to see all of the beautiful pictures from our wedding! I can't wait to share them all with you...I have so many favorites that I don't know how I will ever be able to choose! While I wait for them to make their way to me, I'm going to share a bit about our honeymoon. As I mentioned, we traveled to beautiful St. Lucia and stayed at the Jalousie Plantation.

Brian and I have been blessed enough to do a lot of traveling together, but our honeymoon was by far the most relaxing, enjoyable, and incredible trip we have ever taken. Looking through these pictures almost takes me right back to our beautiful villa between the Pitons. But, let me start at the beginning...

Brian and I decided to give ourselves a couple of days after the wedding to recuperate and spend some time with family and friends who had traveled to see us tie the knot. On Tuesday, we headed to the airport (at 2:30 in the morning!) to catch our 6 a.m. flight to Miami. From Miami, we were off to St. Lucia!

One of the best things about honeymooning in St. Lucia is that we were there before we knew it! After just a 3 hour flight from Miami, we landed at Hewanorra International Airport to meet our transfer to Jalousie. Our driver navigated the very treacherous roads of St. Lucia (seriously, I cannot imagine how they drive there!) and pointed out some of the local sites, and we arrived at our resort by late afternoon!

As we pulled into the resort, we were given our room number: 803. I don't think we were even remotely prepared for the amazingly gorgeous private villa we pulled up to.

We immediately met our butler(!), who brought us glasses of rum punch, got us checked in, and made us dinner reservations for the night. We quickly explored our home for the week, turning every corner and reacting with excitement over how ridiculous this place was! We arrived in the sitting room to find a plate of fresh fruit, plantain chips, local rum, and a bottle of champagne waiting for us.

We were in awe of the bedroom...

...and the huge bathroom with claw foot tub and chandelier (because obviously bathrooms need chandeliers). Our villa even have a huge walk-in closet (with another chandelier, of course!)

But, our absolute favorite part was the terrace overlooking the Caribbean Sea with our very own infinity pool!

 

 

After relaxing for a bit and taking everything in, we got ready for dinner and headed down to see the beach and our first sunset in St. Lucia.

Just after sunset, it was finally time for our first dinner on the island! We were starving after our day of traveling and enjoyed an amazing dinner at the Bayside restaurant right on the water. I wish I had taken more pictures of the food, because it was incredible and I can't even remember all of the amazing dishes we had! Because we were on our honeymoon, we went all out! Appetizers, salads, main courses, and desserts at every meal...and it was all delicious!

It was an amazing first day in paradise!

Our Sweet Beginning: Practice Makes Perfect

The day before our wedding, Brian and I met our families and wedding party at the Concord Point Lighthouse in Havre de Grace, MD to rehearse our wedding ceremony with Brian's minister. I spent the day with some of my favorite ladies, getting my hair done, making our nails pretty, doing some last minute shopping, and totally failing to document it in pictures. For our rehearsal, I exercised my bridal right to wear white a day early, just for practice!

We ran through the ceremony twice, and I used the pretty ribbon bouquet that Amber and Zoë made me at my shower. Brian and I wrote our entire ceremony, and it was crazy to hear the words we had written months ago imagining our wedding day, as we were standing in the place where we would very soon become husband and wife. Crazy and surreal moment!

We had absolutely beautiful weather for the rehearsal, but when I checked the weather on my phone for the following day, there was a 60% chance of thunderstorms. I was incredibly nervous, but figured that at least we had one pretty mock ceremony and got 'pretend married' at the lighthouse if things didn't work out.

After our run-through, Brian's parents hosted an amazingly beautiful rehearsal dinner at MacGregor's. We enjoyed some delicious food, including Maryland crab cakes, blackened chicken pasta, stuffed crab claws, and (Brian's favorite) cannoli chips and cream, in a private banquet room overlooking the water.

We took the opportunity to say a few words, thanking our family and friends for being with us on the most important and exciting weekend of our lives, as well as for their support throughout our lives and journey together.

At the end of the night, my favorite Phi Mus and my adorable flower girl headed back to my house for a good old-fashioned sleepover before the big day! I actually got in bed around midnight and was (miraculously) able to fall asleep, despite my nerves and excitement about what was to come. :)

Our Sweet Beginning: My Bachelorette Party!

Now that things are starting to settle down and we are getting situated in our new home in the lovely Peach State, I really want to get back into the swing of regular blogging. I hope I remember how! :)

I do want to do a couple of recaps of our big wedding events. Our wedding day was the the most perfect expression of us as a couple and probably the happiest day of my life, so I am really excited to share the details! I don't have my hands on all of the professional pictures from our amazing photographer yet, so those posts might wait just a little while. In the meantime, I wanted to share pictures from my bachelorette party, which was held exactly one week before our big day.

My lovely bridesmaids planned a fun-filled night to celebrate my last official outing as a single lady! We had a yummy Japanese hibachi dinner (my FAVORITE!) with the bridal party and my mom and (soon to be) mother-in-law, and then headed Girl's Night Out event at my favorite local vineyard, Boordy, with some of my very favorite people!

We sat on the lawn, sipping wine, eating cupcakes, and listening to some live music.

Then, we headed over to a local bar for some good old fashioned shenanigans. It was a night that reminded me of our fun college days. :)

Such a fun time! I am so lucky to have these girls in my life, and I have definitely already felt the sadness that comes with having to say "see you later" and move away from such amazing friends.

IT'S HERE!!!!

AHHHH! Our wedding day is here! I can't believe at the end of today Brian and I will finally be married! We had a beautiful rehearsal yesterday and the sun is shining this morning. I am so ready to be Brian's wife!!!!!

 

For the LAST time as a MISS,