Happy Mother's Day

To my sweet, sweet Mama!

C and I hosted our first little family function as a married couple yesterday. 

We had my mom, sister, BIL and nephew over for supper! 

Don't worry we didn't leave dad out on purpose; he was in Darlington for the big NASCAR race. :) 

My sister marinated some mojo chicken and made a fresh salad from her garden. 

I whipped up this yummy mac-n-cheese found on pinterest 

and this delicious chocolate brownie trifle stolen from my girl Megan. 

I was so excited to put my new trifle bowl from Alex to good use! 

I will say it was a great success -- I received compliment from both mom and sis on my two dishes. That's a big deal, y'all. They are both super cooks. Then C and I volunteered to keep my sweet nephew for the night as a happy mother's day gift to my sister. 

I know, I know, we are too good to her. :)

Now, we are off to celebrate with  C's mom for Sunday Supper. 

Hope you all had a great Mother's Day!

xo,

Mrs. H

My Wedding Day: Part Two

Before I get going again, I have to tell y'all that I attempted to read Part One to C last night. I don't know why I thought that was a good idea, maybe it was the three glasses of wine I consumed while cooking supper, but C thought it was just about the most boring thing ever.

Why are boys so strange?!?

It is seriously beyond me.

Anywho, back where I left off.

The taxis arrived, two mini vans, and we all piled in with our day of essentials packed into the bags I gifted to the bridesmaids. Here is a picture of Alex's. So glad she has been using it post wedding!

The salon was so great! We arrived a few minutes early and all of the stylists were standing at their stations just waiting to work their magic on us. We had the salon to ourselves for the majority of our 4 hour appointment. We were joined by another bride and her mother for the last hour or so.  My mom and sister made me a plate of one of my all time favorite foods, Ms. Hamby's chicken salad sandwiches. Y'all, these things are to die for. If you are from Charleston and you have not had them, give me a ring, I will ship you a box.  A plate of Ms. Hamby's in one hand and a mimosa in the other, I was a happy, happy girl as the hair teasing began.

My tummy was still feeling a little uneasy, those nervous butterflies can really get the best of you! Time flew by as my hair and makeup were taking place. Our photographer joined us at the salon and was busy documenting every moment. I cannot wait to share these photos with yall! Once my beautification process was complete, I had a chance to walk around andvisit with everyone else while they finished up their own hair and makeup. I was really glad that I was the first to be complete! When everyone was done we took a few last minute photos of the entire group, fresh-faced and ready to go! One last cheers with our mimosas and before we knew it the trolley was out front waiting on us!

Here is a photo of a trolley like the one we had.

We all loaded up and headed to the church!

More to come..

xo,

Mrs. H

My Wedding Day Part One

I will warn you now, this post is pretty much lacking photos.

I wanted to take a chance to document the actual day of my wedding.

Although a month has passed, I think I can still remember the little details of the day.

So, here we go.

I woke up EVERY hour on the hour from about 4:30am to 7:30am.

At 7:30am, I could hear a band playing out on the street (we stayed at my friend's home South of Broad) so Broad Street festivities for the Cooper River Bridge Run were already taking place.

At this point, I gave up and climbed out of bed.  I had spent the night in a twin size bed, with my bestie girl, Marla, just a few feet away in a twin of her own. I crept out of the room as to not disturb because she seemed to be snoozing peacefully. I made my way down two flights of stairs to the kitchen/ sun room to get a glass of water. Much to her demise, my bestie Alex was snoozing on the sun room couch.

At first, I tried to be quiet, but then she stirred, lifted her eye-mask, and I took full advantage of the situation: "Al, are you awake?!" Groggy Al responded with a huh? and I immediately sat down for a chat.

When she realized what time it was she told me that I better be glad it was my wedding day, otherwise she may have hurt me. Such a sweet girl.

We chatted about God only knows what and took some last minute peaks at my registries. Last minute shoppers always leave a bride on her toes. My mom still says it is not fair that you can view what someone has purchased. I say.. I love it.  We waited patiently for the delivery person to arrive from the bagel shop. I had ordered bagels, cream cheese and coffee for all of my ladies to start their mornings off. Poor delivery person had to WALK to us because of the bridge run, but I made sure we tipped her well for her hard work. Finally, she arrived and I dove into a bagel and made a delightful cup of coffee in the sweet Mrs. coffee mug that Alex made me.

I don't have a photo of mine on hand, but this is similar.

Mine is better of course, because Al made it :)

All of the other bridesmaids slowly began to wake up and join Alex and I for breakfast.

We chatted and talked about the day's events.

A while later, I hopped in the shower, blow dried my hair, clipped it up in a mess, and put on my getting ready outfit, an over sized men's oxford with my soon to be monogram on the pocket with leggings and Jack Rogers. I got these shirts made for all of the bridesmaids and for my mom. They were given as bridesmaids gifts.

Here they are before I gifted them, my girl Frances over at Barry Beaux made them for me!

Mine on the day of.

Everyone else showered and prepared themselves for the day while Marla, Paige, Courtney and I ventured over to our reception venue, South Carolina Society Hall, to drop off some last minute items. These included our toasting flutes, a couple extra handles of Maker's Mark, my bridal portrait, and the sparklers for the send off.  We giggled and danced around the empty ballroom before heading back over to the house. 

It wasn't long after we arrived at the house that my mom and sister arrived with the food and mimosas for the salon, we all sat around and chatted some more while we waited for the taxis to arrive to take us to the salon. Meanwhile, I should mention, I am a NERVOUS wreck. Actually, that may be an understatement. I was just so ready to see C that I thought I may pass out/throw up. Is that normal??? I drank water/ and chewed ginger gum until the taxis arrived.

We piled in and headed to the salon, more on that tomorrow!

xo,

Mrs. H

Wedding Advice

With almost four whole weeks of marriage under our belts,

I have started to reflect back on some of the little and not so little things

that I loved and did not love about our wedding day.

I thought it would be nice to share some of these things with y'all

so that if you are planning your own wedding, helping your bff plans hers,

or just dreaming of a big day, some day, you could have a little insight.

So here it goes:

1. We did not do a first look, and I stand by that decision 100%. I absolutely loved seeing C for the first time when I rounded the corner to walk down that big, beautiful aisle.

2. If you are a bride, you have most certainly heard this one before, but I have to say it:

Shit will go wrong. A lot of this shit you will not even notice, but inevitably it will happen.

I diligently planned for 2 photographers for 10 hours on the day of our wedding.

Photog number 2's child drank something from under the sink the morning of our wedding.

Therefore, we were left with just 1 photographer, and I am sure that I will still be very happy with our professional photos, but of course, had we had 2 photographers, we would have more photos.

3. We did not hire a coordinator. Granted, our caterer was a full-service catering company and they provided us with a sort of go to guy for the reception. This worked out fine. BUT, be sure you prepare a detailed timeline. Make sure your band has it, your go to guy has it, and your photog. has it. Make sure they make you stick to it! That being said, if my budget had allowed for the hiring of a profession day of wedding coordinator, I would have certainly hired one.

4. Make sure your dad knows that you two dance right after you and your groom are finished.

My old man was hanging out by the bar snacking on some celery when it was time for his big moment.

I stood in the middle of the dance floor like a lost puppy waiting on him.

I'm sure that made for some great photos.

5. Do not get sick the week before your wedding and lose more weight than you had anticipated. Your dress will be too big, and you will see yourself pulling that baby up a million times in your video.

After getting into this post, I decided this may be a two-part deal.

These five should be enough for you to sink your mind into for today.

More to come soon!

xo,

Mrs. H

Wedding Recap Part One

So, I do not have my professional pictures back yet,

but I am DYING to share some photos with y'all.

To hold us all over, mainly me, here are a few from good ole facebook.

More official recaps to come soon from getting ready, ceremony and reception!

The dress on my sweet hanger.

Finally in the dress, mom and sister adjust my veil.

It was C's sister's.

Waiting...

The Lord only knows how BM Claire was able to capture such a great photo with her phone!

All of my College of Charleston bridesmaids on the grounds of our college gradution.

Making our entrance.

First Dance.

Our Cake.

Feeding each other.

Sparkler Exit.

xo,

Mrs. H



Wedding Recap: Rehearsal and Dinner

Friday evening, the day before the wedding,

our rehearsal began at 5:00pm.

My bridesmaid, Chelsy came by shortly after the luncheon ended

to help a sista out with hair hair because the Good Lord knows

that I have no clue when it comes to styling hair.

I can use a flat iron and well that is about it.

We got ready and headed off the church with ailing C dragging behind.

I may have left this out up until now, but C was sick!

He woke up late Thursday night with a stomach bug.

Poor boy didn't eat or drink anything at the rehearsal dinner or reception.

It still makes me sort of sad that he did not get to truly enjoy our special day. :(

Changing subjects...

I must say that the Wedding Guild at our church were like little angels.

They made my life SO much easier on this day.

I was in such a tizzy about how to get all of the girls/my

dresses to the church, but those sweet women struck a deal with the church custodians

on my behalf, and we were able to bring them to the rehearsal.

We locked those babies up in a Sunday school classroom over night so that all of our essentials would be there waiting for us the next day.

SO nice.

They were a tremendous help in every way and I think I would have been about 100 times more nervous than I already was if it were not for them.

Anyways,

I am a serious slacker and have pretty much, um zero, photos from the rehearsal.

This is the only one I could find!

Although, I am sure someone, somewhere has more...this will have to do for now.

As you can see, I am diligently listening to every words the Priest has to say

while C is off in the corner goofing around.

Typical.

Loved this Lilly dress, btw.

The rehearsal dinner was at C's godmother's home.

She seriously has the most beautiful backyard

which she fondly refers to as "The Conch Garden",

all around the yard you can find little hidden nautical treasures, conch shells!

On large table was set on the lawn.

And the patio was tented with several tables, lighting and a critical space heater.

We served barbecue and all of the fixins from JB's Smokeshack on John's Island

and it was seriously delicious.

We rounded the meal out with a family favorite for dessert, banana pudding.

Y'all, who needs a groom's cake when you can have pudding?!?

Bridal Party and dates boozin after the delicious meal.

My sweet family.

Left to Right: Two sweet cousins, My fabulous Aunt, Cousin who is getting hitched in November,

My baby nephew, my sister, and our incredibly awesome Granddaddy, 92 years old!

C's godmother, "Contessa" and I

Sweet bridesmaid, Marla.

C and his mama enjoying the amazing slideshow of our lives.

That's all I've got for now.

Be back soon with more recap!

xo,

Mrs. H

Bridal Portraits

My mistake,

I said I was recapping this wedding in the correct order of events,

but I left out my bridal portraits!

Here are a few of my favorites from

my awesome photgrapher,

Heather Manukin!

More to come soon when I get this CD loaded!

xo,

Mrs. H