Rehearsal Day

(*This post was actually written on the airplane ride to Hawaii because I didn't want to forget a moment of it!  I figured I would forget the special details as time went on...)
Well, I'm writing to you as a married woman now! Wedding festivities started on Friday morning (9/23). My mom and I went to get our nails done.  We both got manis and pedis...it was my mom's first time and I think she really enjoyed it!  On the way to run our errands, my mom pulled out 2 cd's and popped them in the player in the car.  My mom and David had put together a list of wedding songs for me to listen to while getting ready for my wedding!  I cried multiple times for a bunch of different songs :) It was such a sweet gesture and I really enjoyed listening to those cd's on rehearsal day and wedding day...in fact, I'm still enjoying listening to them!  

*Some of my wonderful bridesmaids :)

After getting our nails done, we ran to Target for some last minute essentials and had lunch at Zoe's Cafe.  If you've never been there, you should definitely try it.  They have the best chicken salad! Amy and I met at Amanda's house to get our hair done for the rehearsal and dinner that night.  (Amanda was our hair and make-up girl!  She did a phenomenal job both days!) 

*Getting our hair done!

The rehearsal went very well! We ran through everything twice, shared a lot of laughs, and enjoyed being with our friends who so graciously gave us their time.  We weren't able to practice in the same room as we would be in the night of the actual wedding so we had no idea just how beautiful it actually would turn out to be.

*Having fun before the rehearsal started!

*My wonderful cousin Amy and my granddaddy.

We headed to dinner at Maggiano's and it was absolutely perfect.  Their food was so delicious and the service was wonderful.  Just for my future memories, we had a fried mozzarella with marinara and calamari as appetizers, caesar salad and apple walnut salad for our first course, farfalle aglio pasta, chicken parmesan, and eggplant marinara with whole wheat noodles for our main course. For dessert we had their house cheesecake and a fruit platter.  We also had the groom's cake that I had specially made for David.  It was a replica of the Clemson soccer field as he played soccer for them.  I think he really, really liked it :). 

*Go tigers!

*Kenny, Casey, and Jayma enjoying the rehearsal dinner!

*Chatting it up!

We had a slideshow of pictures from our childhood, from the past 5 years of our relationship, and many of our friends and family who were sharing in our special day with us.  Everyone had a good time seeing all of the funny pictures and we thought it was a nice tribute to our friends and family :) David's dad gave a wonderful toast and opened the floor to others for toasts.  I know my grandmother video-taped them so I'm hoping to get a copy of those at some point, but David and I cried a lot!  My sweet cousin, Amy gave a beautiful speech and we were both crying before she even started! (I have since received the videos, so here is Amy's speech!  It still makes me cry when I watch it!)  

It was a wonderful, wonderful day and I am so thankful that our family and friends love us and support us enough to have been there.