Andy and His Groomsmen

Here is my handsome groom and the men who mean the most to him.

All photos by Evan Laettner

Me and My Girls

I was so honored to have my best girlfriends stand next to me on my wedding day. Each girl means so much to me and comes from different parts of my life. My gift to them was a long sleeved white shirt with their initials on it. They were perfect to wear while getting ready and made for really cute pictures. I even wore mine on our honeymoon as a swimsuit cover up and I got a bunch of compliments on it. The dresses were from The Limited and were perfect since all the girls lived in different states. Plus, we didn't have to worry about the dreaded "bridal sizing". I love my girls and I hope I didn't drive any of them crazy during the wedding planning process.

All photos by Evan Laettner

Getting Ready

I haven't had a chance to share many of my wedding pictures yet so I figured I would share a couple with you over the next couple of days.

Getting Ready for the Big Day

Andy And The Boys

All pictures by Evan Laettner

Friday Favorites

Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart - This book has been on my Must Read list for a long time. It's super sweet and I can't wait to read the rest of it on the beach this weekend. It's about a girl from Iowa who moves to New York City for a summer to work at the famous Tiffany and Co. Who wouldn't love that job?

Custom Crab Mallets - If Andy and I had gotten married in Maryland I would have insisted on these being the favors. I love them! Thanks to Bayside Bride for introducing this idea to me.

California Dreaming Salad - Oh how I love this salad. Mixed greens, shredded ham and turkey, cheddar and monterey jack cheese, chopped eggs (none for me thanks), tomatoes, toasted almonds, and topped with their signature hot bacon and honey mustard dressing. Healthy it is not, but delicious it most definitely is!

Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Nail Polish - Y'all this stuff is amazing. It really does dry quickly. I don't love it as much as some of my Essie ones, but this is great if you forgot to paint your nails and you are about to run out the door. Plus it's a little cheaper than some of the high end brands, so if you want to test out a new color range this is a great trial brand before you plunk down the $8 for the real deal.

Have a great weekend!!!

We Are Residents Of Columbia, SC

We survived moving day this weekend. With the help of two of Andy's coworkers in Charlotte we were able to have everything loaded up before noon and then with the help of my brother and a handful of his 19 year-old buddies we were able to have everything unloaded in the storage unit and the truck dropped off by 5:00pm. I haven't been that tired, dirty, or sore in a long time. But I'm happy everything went so well and we are here and settled.

While Andy started his job nice and early Monday morning, I have a week off before I start my new job. However I haven't been just sitting around, I've been running tons of errands. I FINALLY was able to legally change my name. Yes I know it's been three months, but I just didn't have time before. But I braved the Social Security office and was in and out in 30 minutes flat. I got a new drivers license in 30 minutes as well. It was insanely quick and I was so pleased. I also changed my name at the bank and at the library. (I know I'm a dork, but when both of my parents were librarians it is important to update my library card.) I still need to update my credit cards and passport but I'm happy that I got a good chunk of it done. Now that my initals are officially SOS I'll share some of my new monogrammed items with you soon.

Here is a great check list of what you need to update and change after you get married. What would I do without Pinterest?

We are headed to Myrtle Beach tomorrow to see Andy's family. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Words to Keep in Mind

I saw this sign on Emily Maynard's twitter feed and I now want to hang it somewhere in my house. I love it!

Wedding Wednesday - Those Moments You Never Want To Forget

Have you ever been having a moment and thought “I need to remember this moment forever”? I’ve been blessed with so many “rememberable” moments in my life and many of my most recent ones happened during my wedding. For posterity reasons I figured I would share some of them with you.

• The night before the wedding, going over the last minute details with my mom in the living room and knowing everything would be fine.
• Some how I actually slept through the night. When I’m stressed, and sometime even when I’m not stressed, I do not sleep well. My mind just will not shut off and I end up going over every detail over and over. But I slept like a baby that night, which was exactly what I needed.
• Sitting around the bridal room at the church with all the bridesmaids and having Rebecca redo my hair and makeup since it was already looking a little rough after a morning of picture taking.

Photographer: Evan Laettner

• The church ladies closing the doors and mom and I standing there waiting to walk down the aisle. I could not wait to see Andy’s face. I was so sure of my decision and I wanted to get this show on the road. When they opened the doors all I could see is Andy. There could have been a bunch of people I didn’t know in the pews and I would have never noticed. All I could see was his smiling face.

 Photographer: Evan Laettner

• Feeling incredibly loved during our reception. This probably is a DUH comment but I never put it all together. You are surrounded by all the people from both of your lives that love you the most. It’s a little overwhelming to realize that you know every single person in the room.

 Photographer: Evan Laettner

• Taking a couple minutes to eat just with Andy before we were introduced at the reception. We joked about how maybe no one would notice if we just left for our honeymoon right then. Obviously that would not have worked and I’m so glad we didn’t miss out on such a great party.
• Dancing with my ESA girls. I have being looking forward to dancing with all my college girlfriends at my wedding for as long as I can remember. That is always my favorite part of ESA weddings. When all the girls are on the dance floor we are in our own little world. They are the best!

Borrowed from Celia G Photographie

• My brother’s face when I gave him one of my dad’s old handkerchiefs with his initials on it. It was an incredibly sweet moment for just our family.
• Being totally surprised that Andy stuck his head up my dress to retrieve the garter. To be fair, I couldn’t for the life of me remember which leg it was on and I did have a lot of dress for him to search through.

Photographer: Evan Laettner

Your wedding day really is moment overload. You want to remember as much as you can but you can’t process everything. (This is why you hire a photographer and videographer.) But my advice is to take a moment and try to remember exactly how you feel during parts of the day. You may surprise yourself at what you remember for your special day.