Southern Grace Wedding: Reception II

These reception pictures will be more people oriented! After the ceremony, hubby and I headed over to the marina that is across the street from our church. We hopped on a family friend's boat that is absolutely stunning. The sun started to get that orange, sunset glow and I couldn't think of a more perfect way to spend the first few minutes of our wedded lives together than with fresh, ocean air and salty sea spray greeting our smiling faces.

Even though it was our wedding day, we had to wear the appropriate non-scuff shoes so of course Mr. SG and I rocked our Sperry's for the boat ride.

One of my favorite pics.

Doesn't she look beautiful!!



Our shoes were awaiting our arrival at the Ritz's dock.

As were all of our fabulous wedding guests!!!


After a quick champagne toast on the dock, we walked straight to our first dance (Sunday Kind of Love by Etta James) Funny story about the dance ... the shoes you saw on the dock were my "reception shoes" and about 2 inch shorter than my "ceremony Manolo's" ... Mr. SG and I spent 6 weeks perfectly choreographing our first dance and when we hit the floor, I was suddenly tripping all over my dress. I was able to cover it and I whispered into his ear "I'm stepping on my dress, we have to improvise!" So we threw our dance out the window and freelanced! Everyone kept saying how they were so impressed - little did they know it was our Plan B!

At least we were able to nail the dip ... I was still a little scared since the mister had dropped me during our practice two nights prior (on concrete no less) but we pulled it off perfectly!!

Then came time for the Father- Daughter dance ... same issue with the dress so once again we had to wing it! We had a blast dancing to "How Sweet It Is". Throughout the week leading up to the wedding I made some incredible memories. Some of theme were positively grand like arriving to my reception on a boat but some of them were deliciously simple. For example, on the Tuesday night before the wedding, Mr. SG and I took our parents, my sister and our grandparents out to dinner to exchange presents of gratitude and share our thankful hearts with them. Before joining together, I met my dad at the hospital where he works for some last minute dance practice- I will never forget just the two of us, dancing in an empty conference room and singing to ourselves "How Sweet It Is".

About 3/4 of the way through the dance, Mr. SG and his mother joined in and really surprised everyone with their moves!

The rest of the night was filled with toasts (as seen above) ...

Cake cutting ... (no smashing cake in each others faces ...)

And dancing!! We had a fabulous band called The Venturas ... our guests could not stop talking about how great they were!!

My sweet mom and her new son-in-law dancing!

My grandparents, Gaya and Geedad kicking their heels up!!

Dancing with everyone ... this may have been on of my favorite songs "Shout"!

Husband and I were able to steal a few private moments throughout the night.

Tossed the bouquet and guess what ... my sister caught it!! So not only did she get the silver ring charm in the bridesmaids cupcakes but now this?!?! She must be next .... uh oh!!

I love the pictures where I can see the whole scene like this with the palm trees and the night sky ... it just takes me back to such a magical night!

This is us at the very end of the night ... one of our friends snapped it. It completely summarizes how we felt ... happily exhausted!!

Southern Grace Wedding: The Reception Details

After our nuptial mass, guests traveled to the Ritz Carlton, Sarasota for the celebration!! The reception site was perfection. Mr. SG and I elected to have our reception on the lawn by Sarasota Bay. We always had the back-up plan of a ballroom which made us more comfortable risking the elements. But when November 14th came, the weather was by far one of the most beautiful, Florida days. Not even close to being hot, hardly any humidity in the air and only got a tad chilly once the sun set.

Here is the reception site being set up by the illustrious Ritz staffers.

The hotel as viewed from our boat approaching the reception post Mass.


Guests were greeted by a table filled with silver trays holding their place cards ... you can see the little green alligator for a touch of Florida whimsy.

Continuing on with our Florida theme and fitting right into the coral color story, a sweet Flamingo graced the bottom of the menus, tucked into the guests napkins.

Later in the evening, Mr. SG and I toasted our first toast as husband and wife in these beautiful, crystal champagne glasses from 18th century France, given to us by my grandparents, Gaya and Geedad.


Our cake was covered in a simple ecru fondant and adorned with clusters of coral-hued flowers and kumquats to give it that Florida flare!

In lieu of guest books, guests signed the same vintage Florida post cards that had been our Save-the-Dates. They dropped them into an old suitcase bearing a sign that said "Best wishes for the new Mr. and Mrs. " Also on the table are silver picture frames filled with wedding pictures of family members.

This is the head table. I am not a fan of the head table that sits on a platform and looks out over the party with members of the wedding party on one side. Instead, we had one enormous table running down the center of all of the guests tables where all of our wedding party, including ushers, and their dates could sit with us. Now realistically we were only able to talk to those sitting closest to us, but it was so cool to be able to look down the table and around us to see our loved ones. During dinner were were able to make rounds to about 75% of the people to personally thank them for being there and to see how their evening is going. With a reception as large as ours, it was impossible to have a receiving line. Our parents were able to take care of anyone else and as the hosts of the event, it all worked out how it was supposed to.

The flowers were mostly antique green hydrangeas, English Garden Roses in shades of coral, and kumquats - my personal favorite.

Each arrangement was done in a piece of silver. No container was exactly alike as I had been collecting them for over a year from various thrift stores. We used Revere bowls of all shapes and sizes, julep cups, trophies, and even little silver serving sets like sugar bowls and creamers.

The flowers for everything were done by Tiger Lilly. I wish there was a Tiger Lilly in Dallas because I would use them for everything!! They provided the tall silver vases for the arrangements. Having arrangements in all different containers was a somewhat risky move that could have made the arrangements look disjointed. But it since the containers were all silver and the flowers were all the same, it was actually very visually interesting!

And I realized that y'all have never see pictures of the rings! So I will leave you with that ... stay tuned, because the next post will be the Reception with people!! (Dancing, toasting, chatting, bouquet tossing and cake cutting!!)

Southern Grace Wedding: The Ceremony

Silly me ... the ceremony is next, not the reception!! I skipped over the most important part! After getting ready we headed over to the church for our Nuptial Mass, which means wedding + Communion. Our guests (a little over 200 when all were counted) received these invitations below with my favorite script, Bickham. They are Vera Wang by William Arthur which we found again at Write On.The little stamp you see is an Alligator (for the RSVP envelopes) and a Flamingo, which you cannot see but is found again on our menus (so you'll see later) was on our main envelopes. I wish I could show you a picture of the beautiful calligraphy we had (but I can't without totally revealing an address!) The paper was ecru with chocolate brown script. The lining of the envelopes were a terracotta/coral - which was the "color" of the wedding.

The guests were told to be at the church for a 3:00 wedding. With a service that lasted an hour and a half, this timing lent perfectly to cocktails starting at five, a first dance danced while the sun was setting over Sarasota Bay, and an evening filled with dinner and dancing under swaying palm trees and a twinkling Florida nighttime sky.

Below are some very important men in my life - the ushers. Front and center, my darling friend MEH - a bit lower, is the ring bearer ASB, next with the beard, the future Dr. BCP and finally my sweet cousin CLS.

Here is a close up of ASB, preparing for his walk down the aisle as ring bearer. He is carrying a silver tray that we found, covered by the handkerchief my grandmother carried in her prayer book during her walk down the aisle to my grandfather. So no ring pillow .. but I loved this mode of transportation instead!

My Dad and I as the doors swung open and everyone looked back!!

Here is a view of the whole church - so neat!

Below is one of my favorite pictures, even though you can't see our faces. We are listening to the homily given by the Rector of my childhood church. He has known me for many years not just in the capacity as our Rector, but as a family friend. Our families used to get together for holidays, birthdays and special occasions. His daughter babysat my sister and I, and his wife was my 5th grade teacher who might even be reading this blog!! It was so special to have him officiate. His homily was beautiful and a true testament to how Mr. SG and I choose to live our marriage daily.

Here we are saying our vows ... such a beautiful memory.

Now we are officially married!! Mr. and Mrs. SG!!!

Post ceremony pictures ...

Outside with the whole gang!!

Now its just us (and the photographer and the videographer and our wedding planner etc .... )

Gangs all here!! Cheers to a beautiful ceremony filled with spiritual love and pure joy.

Southern Grace Wedding: Getting Ready

Sorry for missing yesterdays wedding post! Blogging just completely slipping my mind ... BUT I am back with a bang because today is Wedding Day! These pictures below are of the Bride (me) and the Groom (Mr. SG) getting ready for our big day!

Getting ready at the hotel! Little known fact about me ... I love suspenders!

Almost ready ...

All the boys looking good!

Mr. SG and his best man, and friend since he was 5 - JBB.

Picture time with his momma!!

His precious grandparents, Grandma H and Dan Dan.

Officially on their way to the wedding in the trolley!! (Mr. SG didn't actually drive ...) In the mean time, the girls were getting ready at chez Southern Grace ...


Above we are standing in my kitchen - the girls are sporting their monogrammed waffle robes - and we are snacking on finger sandwiches, fruit, quiche etc .. and obviously mimosas! I limited myself to just one which was enough to feel festive and not get woozy! My grandparents were staying with us and lovingly prepped this delectable spread for us - it was so special to have them around and added so much to the day. Overall, getting ready was super relaxed - we just lounged, munched, got our hair done and even got in some pool time out back! It was a beautiful day!!

More relaxing in my childhood room ... it was so special to be able to get ready where I grew up!

Finally getting the dress on - it was quite a task! Check out my bridesmaid ACR giving me support as I stepped in my beautiful, white wedding dress! (Romona Keveza from Stanley Korshak)

Lipstick touch ups - gotta have kissable lips!!

My beautiful sister pause for some close-up shots and sister time! She was the first to make me teary -eyed because she started to choke up during the pictures!!

Me and the girls - I loved their dresses!

Mom fluffing my veil - my sweet grandmother Gaya (pictured below) made this veil over 40 years ago for my Aunt. My mom then wore it in her wedding and now me! We all wore it different ways, representative of our decade (my mom had a ring of daisies attached to it. Below is how I did it. I found these two antique shoe buckles and wired them together on a clip - voila!! The results. The total cost was no more than 40$ ... this was one of my favorite details.

My dear grandparents, Gaya and Geedad - Geedad was another crier! Made it a bit difficult to stay composed with all of these precious people getting choked up!

STAY TUNED for tomorrow - the reception!!