Before the Blog: Bridal Showers

Since I attended my little sissy's bridal shower yesterday, I thought it'd be fun to bring back Before the Blog and take a walk down memory lane! Below are photos from two wonderful bridal showers and some beautiful, strong, hilarious, and fun women I have in my life.

Shower One: Bridal Brunch 

My fabulous kindergarten teachin' teammates. Kindergarten is the best. :)

Family! All of my aunts and girl cousins. #GCRtheFFP

My angel sissy and MOH

Things are always better when Tina gets a gift too.

 

My bffie Lizzie even made it fresh from her honeymoon!

Shower Two: Set the Table
(This is the exact shower I attended yesterday for my sista thanks to our aunts and Mimi!)

Mama and sista. And the asos dress I'm still obsessed with. Little did anyone know it was a cheeky preview to my wedding gown! (No one knew what "the dress" looked like except for my sister, mama, and my aunt and cousin who were with us when I said YES to the dress!)

Cheesin.

It's blurry. But Mims was extremely feisty with the knife and it was scary and hilarious. I want to remember little moments like this and how we all kept laughing about Mimi's knife intensity.

With Ma and her GNO crew. Such a rockin' group of gfs!

Some of my girlies :)

Cheers to the blessing of friendship!

Frankly, my dear...you should pop over here to visit my sweet sponsor, Jenni!

Before the Blog: Our Rehearsal Dinner Slideshow

We had our rehearsal dinner at Dressler's Restaurant, one of our most favorite places to dine in CLT. It's absolutely perfect for a dress-up-and-splurge-a-little [on dollars and calories!] date night. We love it there...the service, the food, the skyline view, and especially the desserts. And we used to be able to walk there from our old place! So lovely. :)

But this is less about rehearsal dinner and more about the a little throwback in time to the slideshow we played before toasts that night. Truthfully, I hadn't thought about the slideshow in ages until this song came on the radio yesterday. It flooded me with rehearsal dinner memories and inspired me to document this part of our story.

So here goes a happy peek into our entire lives...from our baby selves to growing up to falling in love...

I won't say I've converted my Englishman to a country boy, but did I mention that he loooves him some country music!? He even picked the last song on the slideshow. :) Eeee! Bless. And lucky me!

You can read more about how our story over here on Tara's blog. 

Thank you sharing in life with me! I am glad to have a place were this little video exists besides on a DVD crammed into the back of a cabinet. :)

Life set to music always makes me swoon.

What song epitomizes your life?

Happy Wednesday, sweet friends!

Pop on over to The Birdie Bowl to visit my sweet February sponsor, Khala!

Before the Blog: English Wedding Blessing

So as I alluded to yesterday, we had a bit of a mini-moon. And the reason why? We flew back over to England and had a wedding blessing that was held exactly one week after our wedding in the States!

On August 18, 2012, we celebrated our wedding with Mark's extended family and closest family friends in England.

I mean...I know. Could it get more picturesque?!
This is St. Mary's Church in Dunstall. It's a short walk from the village where Mark grew up.

This time we walked down the aisle together!
Our beautiful bridesmaids, Mia and Evie, led the way.

The church hall fit our celebration perfectly. My mum-in-law is a visionary!
I gave her the reigns on deciding every detail, and can we just say that she nailed it?! 

Not gonna lie, I totally felt like Kate when we sat down during the ceremony.What? I didn't know the English did that until the Royal Wedding. ;)

This little bit was an African tradition our vicar incorporated into the ceremony.
Little did we know we would be traveling to Burundi together less than one year later!

Saying our vows again 1 week later was incredible!
And did I mention that this lovely dress was my sister's prom dress years ago?! Thanks, sista!

 

My mommy, brother, and Mimi came over from NC to the England for the event!! 

 I love this of Mark and his beautiful mum.

  
More newlywed pictures!

  The flag theme continues in our house today too.

Do y'all know about Pimms? Because I didn't until this exact moment. It's my jam.
 

With Grandma, Nana, and Granddad. Grandparents are the best.

 

Our English family

We love and miss y'all so, so, so much!!!!!!! xxxxxxxx

The whole gang at the blessing! Wahoo!!

When in England...get a wedding photo by the sheep. So English, right?! ;)

The perfectly lovely and delectable cake Katherine made...! Baking queen!!

One of my most favorite pictures from the day.

  

I love how English weddings last all day. The ceremony began at 2:00 and we stayed until late at night. I so appreciated the quality time we got to spend with the friends and family we do not get to see as often!

Thank you immeasurably, Debbie, for planning this absolutely unforgettable and day!! I love you! It was way beyond my wildest dreams to have this as a part of our wedding! (And we all know that I started dreaming about my wedding loooong before Mark was ever in the picture!)

All photos above were taken by Lucinda Smith Photography.

P.S Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a free 8x10 custom photo canvas!

Now go visit my lovely sponsor, Khala!

 

Before the Blog: The Honeymoon

Y'all know all about our wedding thanks to the lovely tab above. But what about our honeymoon?! I just have to share some little tidbits with you because it was the best. And because winter makes me daydream of tropical beaches with white sand and clear blue water.

Of course, pictures are always the best way to share. That way I don't ramble on and on. :)

We went to Secrets Maroma Beach just outside of Cancun.
It was #1 on Trip Advisor. I completely understand why. A-mazing.
And ridiculously awesome customer service.

 Our first night!!
 Hello, blonde hair. Sometimes I miss you. Like now.

 View from our own personal balcony hot tub. Pinch me.

Swim up bar.
And check out the beautiful white linens and all in the background. Chic and fabulous.

Because sometimes you just wanna chill with your feet in the water?! Why not?

 My honeymoon drink of choice: mint julep as a daiquiri. Whaaa? Brilliant.
The staff would literally come up to you in the pool and ask if they could bring you something.



 We also frequented the coffee shop.

The food. Die.
My favorite foods in the world on one plate: sushi, fries, chips and salsa/guac.
The only food fave missing? Pizza.

 At the hydrotherapy circuit at the resort's spa. The resort is beautiful.
That mint water was the most refreshing thing I've ever tasted. (And so lovely looking too!)

 Our own personal room and hibachi chef.
For real?! For real.

 Our resort was the last in a string of resorts. So when we walked towards the right of the hotel, there was a whole lot of nothing-but-beach. It was flawlessly gorgeous!

 Selfies are a honeymoon must.

As are ring pics. We were finally both rockin' some ringythings!

And at night we ate like kings. All inclusive is my jam.

We were basically on the Bachelor/Bachelorette with this setup, right? ;)

We only stayed for a few nights (so we savored every second!). It was a mini-moon. I'll tell you why in the next Before the Blog post...tomorrow!

P.S. We're going back on our 5 year anniversary. Yep, already planned it. Can't wait!!! 3.5 years to go...

P.P.S Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a free 8x10 custom photo canvas!

Now go visit my lovely sponsor, Khala!