Nashville Wife

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East Coast Christmas Wedding 1

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As many of you know, my brother-in-law got married a few weeks ago. The wedding was a beautiful Christmas affair on the East Coast.I recently posted photos of the hairstyles that myself and two of the other bridesmaids wore, and you requested that I share more snapshots from the weekend. Here the are! More coming soon.

The first two are from the rehearsal dinner, and the second two were taken at the ceremony. The last picture shows the church when we first arrived. We put the poinsettias, altar, and two chairs in the back room because the wedding colors were green and gold (not red).

We didn’t need to add extra decorations to the stage because it was such a beautiful chapel on its own. After the ceremony, it took us less than 10 minutes to return the church to the way it was before the wedding.

Bridal Shower Game: Shoe Q&A

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What did y’all think of the purse raid game that I posted yesterday (click here to read)? The ladies I played this game with a couple years ago were extremely competitive and had huge purses stocked with all kinds of random “necessities.” (That experience inspired me to add more items to my own purse.)

This time, the women had much smaller purses. The majority of the points (150) were earned by Mr. Handsome’s grandmother (Gram) and oldest sister (Anne).

In addition to the Purse Raid game, we also held a bridal pumpkin decorating contest (photo coming soon). When the groom-to-be arrived at the end of the shower, I led him and his bride in the Couples Q&A Shoe Game. Surprisingly, their responses were identical for all but three of the questions!

Here are the rules:

Shoe Game for Couples

Have the bride and groom sit in chairs so they are facing opposite directions. Ask both of them to remove their shoes and exchange one of their shoes with the other person, so each of them is holding their shoe in one hand and the other person’s shoe in the other hand.

Gather the guests around, and call out these questions. The bride and groom will each come up with their own responses and will use the shoes to answer. (Example: If the bride thinks she is the pickier eater, she holds up her shoe. If she thinks her man is the pickier eater, she holds up his shoe.)

-Who is the pickier eater?

-Who chose the honeymoon location?

-Who is afraid of heights?

-Who is the morning person?

-Who is a night owl?

-Who is more likely to leave clothes all over the bedroom floor?

-Who is a better secret keeper?

-Who is more likely to burn the house down while cooking?

-Who is more of a dog person?

-Who spends a longer amount of time getting ready for an evening out?

-Who is more likely to overspend while shopping?

-Who loves the outdoors?

-Who has the craziest family?

-Who is the party animal?

-Who is more likely to get a speeding ticket?

-Who is more likely to fall asleep in front of the TV?

-Who is a more trustworthy driver?

-Who will manage the finances/spending?

-Who is the daredevil?

-Who is more likely to lose something?

-Who is more stubborn?

-Who will mow the lawn?

-Who has better organizational skills?

Wedding Planning: A Family Affair

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Mr. Handsome jokes that his family hijacked our wedding. He’s right, although I would say they lovingly hijacked our wedding, with my family’s permission. Let me explain.When it came to wedding planning, I was definitely not your average bride. What I was looking forward to was the actual marriage, so the details of the wedding just didn’t seem to be all that important. The list of what I wanted our big day to look like was limited to the following:

1. Fun and relaxing for everyone (no stressing over the details)
2. Simple but elegant decor
3. Casual, affordable bridesmaid dresses that could be worn again
4. Reasonably priced
5. No tuxedos (too expensive and impractical)

Since the beginning of our dating courtship, I had envisioned walking down the aisle to a guitar instrumental of “Come Thou Fount,” my favorite song, played by Mr. Handsome. A few family members offered to accompany him on other instruments, but I gently explained that I really just wanted my groom up there. That dream was fulfilled, so I was happy.

I did a lot of behind-the-scenes wedding planning, such as designing and addressing the 180 invitations, drafting the order of ceremonies, coordinating with the caterers (aka Mr. Handsome’s uncle and family-friend), and meeting with the photographer (also a family-friend).

Mr. Handsome’s family generously offered to host the reception on their rural acreage, and they ended up taking care of most of the details. Their family is significantly larger than mine, so it’s true that his parents invited more than 300 guests, while my parents only invited 100. We broke from the tradition of the bride hosting the wedding in her hometown, but only because both our families agreed that it would make for the most memorable, relaxing celebration.

The flowers and decorations were planned by my mom, mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, and cousin-in-law. Of course, they asked my opinion on everything, and I maintained a master list of all the plans to ensure that everything stayed organized and did not become too impractical or expensive.

Our friends and extended family were also eager to lend a hand, which allowed us to keep costs down while pulling off such a large event in only three months. By the time it was all said and done, we ended up DIY-ing most of our wedding.

So, yes, in short, Mr. Handsome’s family ended up “hijacking” our wedding, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. In our situation, due to the location and timeframe, it would have been impossible for my family to do everything. And honestly, it was way more fun to have everyone involved.

More details coming soon!