The day

Our wedding was absolutely beautiful. It was everything we imagined and more. I can't even begin to describe my emotions the morning of August 2nd when I woke up and realized it was the day I had been looking forward to for years and the day I was going to finally marry my best friend! I woke up to horrible weather outside my window...I'm talking gray skies with nothing but rain clouds and lightning to boot. But somehow that wasn't enough to put a damper in my day and I maintained my euphoric state. In fact I never once turned into bridezilla or teared up over the fact that we wouldn't be able to take pictures in all the gorgeous outside locations we'd chosen because of the weather. I was too blissed out! Even though I'm not one to let a little rain ruin my day, I must say I was made even more happy when after getting ready in the bridal suite I was about to walk outside with umbrella in hand to get some things from my car and discovered the sky had miraculously cleared and the sun was shining as bright as ever. Things just came together wonderfully and everything right down to the very littlest details turned out perfect!

The preparation

Getting to the venue and getting ready was no easy task. Firstly the check engine light randomly came on in the car my sister and I drove to the wedding site. It was shaking uncontrollably and we were afraid it was going to die before we made the one-hour drive to Asheville. On top of that the rain and moisture was trying to wreak havoc on my hair, my dress was completely wrinkled after being transported in a cramped car with my honeymoon luggage, and some bridesmaids forgot to bring parts of their wedding day attire like the matching jewelry I'd bought them to wear! Someone was looking out for me though. The car made it to the venue (wouldn't start afterwards but DH's parents took it to get serviced and we drove his car to the honeymoon so we were good!), my usually stick-straight hair somehow held up the entire night with the liquid concrete hairspray my stylist used, our wedding venue happened to have a garment steamer to revive my dress, and my cousin who had traveled for our wedding had a pair of pearls in her suitcase that were darn near identical to the ones I had bought the girls. Divine awesomeness at work people :)

The details

It seems like everyone tells you not to stress over the details of your wedding day. Well obviously those people were never brides because if they ever were they would know that not stressing is not an option! Personally I can say that I am glad I spent hours obsessing over the details of our wedding because when the day came everything was exactly as I envisioned. The favor boxes that were hand-cut from cardstock turned out adorable, the centerpieces looked beautiful, our unity candles looked like a professional made them, and the vases we wrapped in vellum had the most gorgeous glow to them with the tealight candles inside. I'm proud of how everything turned out and I'm glad we decided to DIY most everything even though I wondered if I was crazy at times!

The special

Our wedding day was of course filled with many special moments, but there were a few that really stood out. DH and I each wrote personalized messages to each other on cards and exchanged them before the ceremony. I must say I composed myself quite well the entire day (I am not a pretty crier so I tried my darndest to avoid tearing up at all costs!) but when I read that card the waterworks started. The only other time I got a little choked up is when he decided to sing to me at the reception. He sang Brad Paisley's song "Then" and it had pretty much all the ladies in the room boo-hooing so at least I was in good company! The whole day was just so amazing. I'm glad we decided to keep the guest list small because everything felt so much more intimate. The individuals we had there were so happy for us and it was great to be surrounded by people we care about. The trivia game we played during dinner got everyone mingling and laughing uncontrollably which was our ultimate goal. A great time was had by all! I've posted two other pics that I really like from our photographer's online gallery. Our dads loved their unique cufflinks and were proudly showing them off all night and our photographer got a picture of them along with DH's. She also got a group shot of us with our guests on the stairs after our bubble sendoff. It was a wonderful end to a perfect day!

The dancing

My biggest fear for the wedding day was that no one would dance. I've been to a few weddings where it just didn't go over well or where I'd awkwardly be the only one out on the floor shaking my ass all by my lonesome. Luckily our DJ was wonderful and our crowd was even better. Sure there were some people that didn't dance, but they were the kind of people that you're just not going to get to bust a move no matter what. For the most part though the dance floor stayed quite full and everyone had a great time! Surprisingly the favorite song of the night was the "cha cha slide." We had kids and the older guests alike up doing and learning the dance. Loved it!

The two of us

We pretty much had smiles plastered on our faces the entire day. After years of talking about getting married and months of planning we were just so happy to make it official. I didn't think it was possible for us to be any more in love with one another, but on that day we were just beaming. Our wedding day was a blast and we both agree if it was an option we'd definitely get married more often!

The ceremony

The ceremony was probably my most favorite part of the wedding day. DH and I didn't see each other before me walking down the aisle so it was such a special moment to see him trying to peer around the guests to get a glimpse of me as I entered from the hallway in the right of the room. His face was priceless :) The best part of the ceremony was that we wrote all of it ourselves, including our vows. It was so much more meaningful that way and I'm glad we took the time to personalize every bit of it. We received a lot of great comments afterward from our guests too which was nice. DH was cracking me up the whole time; he looked so nervous! He assured me it was only because he was in front of a bunch of people though and that it was not because of cold feet haha

The bridal party

DH and I freakin' love the people we had in our wedding. They came from near and far to be with us on our special day and having them there relieved a lot of stress and made the day more fun. Our photographer got a lot of group shots of everyone that turned out really good. And the best news is that we got to take them outside where we had originally planned since the weather decided to cooperate with us!

The flowers

Loved the flowers at the wedding. My bouquet was exactly what I envisioned and it also smelled lovely thanks to the freesia. The bridesmaid bouquets were cute, preppy-looking mixes of orange carnations and dainty little flowers that I have no idea the names of. Our florist made them the perfect size so that we could reuse them in some of the table centerpieces after the ceremony. Yay for thriftiness!

The cake

I was so pleased at how our cakes turned out. Our baker is an amazingly talented woman. The wedding cake was simple yet elegant just how we wanted, and DH loved his groom's cake. There were a few Gator fans there that weren't so impressed but whatever ;) The cakes even tasted great which is obviously important. The chocolate marble with ganache filling was perfectly rich, the yellow with pastry cream and fresh strawberry filling was absolutely delicious, and the almond flavor with fruit preserves that I insisted on was a favorite with our guests. Unfortunately most of the cake that I had at our wedding was shoved up my nose! The hubby decided he would be cute and shove the cake in my face after some of his friends urged him to do so. Better believe I got back at him though!