You know I have never blogged about our gorgeous wedding day?!
Holly and
Melanie are hosting a linkup just for that! Any reason to look back on our gorgeous pictures is fine with me!
We got engaged March 17, 2006. He surprised me by taking me to Grove Park Inn, after tricking me by turning into a couple of places on the way. We took the really long way around.
He couldn't have picked a better place. We enjoyed the spa that weekend
and the views. I mean, look at those views! He did good! :) This was right after he proposed on the front porch.
A little background- Alan's grandmother used to have a house on Lake Wylie near Charlotte NC. They were members of this botanical garden and enjoyed going there. One day we went with them. As soon as we saw it, I knew this was where we wanted to get married. I didn't care what we had to do! I knew it was far away(2 hours for most of our friends/family) but I was determined to get married there.
I didn't want to wait to get married. We called
Daniel Stowe and they had an open slot for September 8, 2006. Put us down! Planning an out of town wedding in 6 months? Easy! It was on a Friday night but it really worked out because we were able to leave for our honeymoon on Saturday and would get back on a Saturday and have that Sunday to rest. We still like vacationing Saturday-Saturday. Call us crazy. Plus Friday was cheaper than Saturday and Lord knows we needed all the help we could get since we were paying for it ourself.
Somehow I ran across a one stop shop for weddings. She did the cake, tables, flowers, music, photographer, set me up with a local hairdresser, the works. Being that it was far away and I had no idea of who was good and who wasn't, we were game! We met with her, gave her our details, went over food, music, flowers, etc. It was SUPER easy.
Thursday, we had our rehearsal and then a dinner at T-Bonz on the Lake with our immediate family. We elected to not have a bridal party and I'm so glad. It was just him and I. All the focus and attention was on us. The one time in my life where I wanted it that way. :) That night, I stayed with my mom in Fort Mill and Alan stayed at a hotel. I didn't sleep a wink! I tried sleeping on the couch but my brain heard it raining outside. Since the wedding was planned for outside, I started freaking out internally. I got up to look outside and it looked like it was raining. The next morning, I got up and it hadn't rained. The window I looked out of had some sort of tint or coating on it that made the window look wet. Whew! A quick lunch at McDonalds and the day was to begin around 3 I think. Alan played golf with his brothers and dad.
My mom and I got our hair and makeup done at a nearby salon. She and my stepdad walked me down the aisle. We got to DSBG at 4 to get ready for pictures. We got this tiny room! I later found out that Alan had a huge room. I'm the one with the big dress, people!
About 30 minutes before our ceremony, it started raining. It only rained a few minutes and people were able to wipe the seats out and it was gorgeous the rest of the night! I walked down the aisle to The Feather Song from Forrest Gump. We had a string orchestra that played and I loved it. I still can't hear that song without tearing up!
People told us while we were saying our vows, hummingbirds kept fluttering around, chirpping. You can hear it on our wedding video!
We danced to "Some People" by Leann Rimes. Some people may not know that we ran out of wine during our reception. As in, fast. We were walking back from taking our pictures right after the ceremony and our coordinator comes running out "Someone needs to go get wine, we're out".. Luckily his brothers made a wine trip!
Guests had access to walk around the gardens and I hope everyone got to see it. It's a gorgeous place and we have been back at least once a year since then.
We stayed in Charlotte for the night and left for Barbados the next morning!
