The REAL Wedding Photos

I haven't forgotten that I promised y'all a few of the professional photos from Birdie's wedding. It just took us forever to get them back.

They're here now, though. And I'll share some with y'all.

Here's what I have to say about them:

1. There were TONS of photos and I have been through each and every one of them.
2. Going through 1600 photos was exhausting.
3. I did narrow them down to 173 for the slideshow.  
4. I chose the first song for the slideshow because Birdie is such a major Beatles fan, the second one is the one they had their first dance to and the last song is just one I picked because I was tired of thinking and it seemed like a good one. :)
5. This thing is LONG! Consider yourselves warned! LOL

In all seriousness, the photos do tell a story.

Here it is:

Create a free photo slideshow

Friends

They're great, aren't they? They come in all shapes and sizes. They come in all ages. They live far, they live near. Some we see at work. Some we see on our way to the mailbox every day. Some we know only via blogging.

Regardless of how we know them, what they look like or their age, friends are great.

Let's take Bestie, for example (that's her and her hubby and Birdie at the rehearsal dinner). I know y'all have read and read and read all about my Bestie. It's easy to write about her though, because she's such a terrific, all round person. There are times that I know for a fact, without a doubt, that I would not be able to get through without her. And I'm not talking about special times like the two weddings that she's pulled off for our family. This is a person who listens and, while we almost always agree, she is a true friend in that she tells me the truth and not what I want to hear. This is a person who lets it be known by her actions that she is a great friend. This is someone who will drop everything in a split second to be there when needed. This is a person who possesses great wisdom and a most wonderful sense of humor. She is one of the most caring people I've ever met and possesses southern charm beyond compare. She and I are so different- I stand 5'10", she's, maybe, 5'0". She's nice to everyone, I'm standoffish. She's warm, generous and inviting, I'm critical, sarcastic and skeptical. She has the patience of a saint and I had to look up how to spell the word 'patience.' She loves a party and I love to stay home alone. We do have our similarities as well- we both LOVE football and we both yelling during football games. We both also love to share our opinions during our yelling about what the stupid coaches should be doing instead of what they are doing. We both will take each other's secrets to the grave. We both needed to lose weight--(she did it, I didn't). We both think politicians suck (though she's conservative and I'm liberal). We both have daughters that we love more than anything else in this world. We both love animals and hate child molesters and we would both like to make the laws regarding the fate of those who are guilty of either act. We're also quite good at solving the world's problems though the world never asks us what to do. :)



Bestie's hubby (can you see him in the picture? You'll see more of him when the professional pix arrive) is a gem. These two work together like the proverbial well oiled machine. He's got her back and their teamwork, not just during a wedding but in all things, is like none other I've ever seen. He's kind and nice and keeps plugging no matter what life throws his way. AND, when needed, he steps right up and beautifully officiates your daughter's wedding. And he'll do it well! It adds something a little special when the officiant has known said daughter since she was a toddler. :)








And my neighbor, Tina. I would wish for everyone of you to have a neighbor like her. Y'all know how I am about my sweet pup, Tucker. Birdie has a dog too, Strider, and most of you probably remember him. And y'all probably know that, in our family, we are THOSE kind of dog owners. Our pets are part of the family and that's just that. Why did we not have to stress over our beloved pets during the wedding? Because my wonderful neighbor came over 4 times, FOUR, to check on them, let them out, and give them love. Most folks would have just come over the one time I asked them to so the dogs could go out. But not Tina. And that was one of the MAIN reasons we didn't have to worry on the day of the wedding. It doesn't stop there. Tina and her sweet hubby are always ready and willing to help out whether it's a next door neighbor or a far away friend. They are quick to show community spirit and pride in our neighborhood. They never pass you by without waving and/or chatting and always making you feel loved. I realized while writing this post that I do not have a picture of Tina---why is that Tina??? I do have pictures of their dogs but, shocker, can't find one to put up. I thought of stealing borrowing one from her Facebook page but wasn't sure if that was kosher.

The friends of the lovely Bride and the wonderful Groom. Beginning with the moment they became engaged, the Bride and Groom had to know that they were surrounded by true friends if they didn't know it already. I love each and every one of these young adults. I've mentioned before that knowing your kids' friends in an empty nest is not remotely the same as when they are still living at home. When the chicks have flown the coop, you hear about their friends way more than you actually meet or get to know them. With exceptions, of course. I knew a lot of their friends already but met the rest at the wedding. I was impressed. Pleased. Excited! Inspired! Birdie and NewSonInLaw have the most wonderful friends! These people hit the dance floor about 7:30ish and didn't leave it until 10:30. The energy was contagious. Before the wedding- including all events leading up to the wedding- their friends were there offering support, encouragement, laughter and lots of love. Even the ones who live out of town. Hugs and a huge 'THANK YOU' to each and every one of you!

My friends at school who listened to my wedding concerns (family members who might not behave themselves) with sincerity and who were quick to sent congratulations our way. And who, on a daily basis, reminded me of how to find the humor in every situation and to breathe. And who show every day that I am loved.

And all of you in the blogging community who have been supportive and encouraging and positive in your comments  before and after the big day and your patience with all these dang pictures. :)

And, speaking of pictures, the photographer has yet to give us the disc of his shots. I guess he's regretting taking 1600 photos after all. I'll get those up ASAP!

Cause I know y'all want more. Ha!

Bridal Portraits

Since Birdie is a true Charleston girl, we went downtown Charleston for her bridal portraits. We hit Waterfront Park, Rainbow Row, Water Street, the Battery, the old Charleston museum and several little off the beaten path streets and alleys. It was rather warm that day, but the photos turned out great!

Here are the ones I took:

You might notice that, when she was looking at me, the poses were a bit more...expressive. LOL

The pineapple fountain is at Waterfront Park---

Iron gates make a nice background---

Cobblestone streets are better for pictures than they are for cars---

Rainbow Row---

The Marilyn poses. Thanks to the wind which blew up strong and Birdie played right along.

And here are the professional shots:

I can't believe I can't find the photographer's site. He is the BIL of Bestie's hubby! We do try to keep as much as we can in the family. :)  Anyway, he lives in Wilmington, NC. Lucky for us, he has grandchildren right here in Charleston he loves to visit so we threw a bridal portrait shoot in the mix.

I'm getting to the end of these wedding posts, I promise! The next ones might be more writing than pictures but I'll incorporate some pix in here and there!

Thanks so much, y'all, for being so kind with your comments and patient with my pictures!

Wedding Hilarity

No wedding is complete without a photo booth. Those things are a RIOT!

I'll let the pictures do the talking. Sort of...

Deanie and Ben---I swear they are so dang cute!

Groomsman Jason and his sweet Claire- love them!

This one is Breezy, my brother Tony and me!

That sweet best man, Mark and his lovely Melissa! Adore them!

Anna and Caleb! Best people EVER! And funny! They BOTH possess great humor!

This is Bestie's hubby, their daughter, their SIL and Bestie herself!

The adorable Bride and Groom!

These next ones are a hot mess! Just like the crazy kids that are in the shots! I love each and every one of them to pieces!

And again---

Oh, Lord. This is my mother (Mimi), DoodleBug, Me, and Breezy!

Cousins! All my girls, Robert and April and the new, six week old, Penelope! Jed didn't come. I don't think they wanted to chase him around. LOL

Ok, this is my mother, her sister, me and all the lovelies except the Bride...not sure where she was!

My dad and step-mom and the lovelies!

When you're in Charleston for your wedding, I happily suggest you use Charleston Photo Booths. The booth is bigger than any others we've seen at other weddings and it was BIG FUN! They give everyone in the picture a strip of the photos and then they put one in a scrapbook and let the folks in the picture write something to the bride and groom. They also put a DVD in the back of the album with all the pictures on it. And that's how I was able to make the collages on PicMonkey!

The Wedding

So, now for a little confession which, they say, is good for soul. Nah, not THAT kind of confession. Ha! Truth is, I thought it best to put the wedding festivities into several posts so that, a. y'all didn't have to look at THAT many pix all at once and, 2. because I have so much to say and knew it needed to be condensed. What can I say. I was the Mother of the Bride, after all.

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook can skip this post altogether or just do the reading part. LOL Those who aren't, can stick with the post or friend me on Facebook and see all the pix that I took. The photographer took 1600 photos. Yikes! Wish I had known this before I promised the bride that I would do something with the wedding photos for her. Yikes, again!

Also, I want to say, again, that none of this would have come together without the hard work and brilliant planning of my BFF, Leslie. If you want a wedding in Charleston, and you want it done right, you NEED her. She pays such attention to detail and gives the bride what SHE wants not what anyone else wants. To Leslie, it's all about the bride (and a bit about the groom...LOL) and that's who she pays attention to. She can do teeny tiny to elaborate and everything in between. And she does is well. It will be perfect, just like the two she's help us with and her own daughter's wedding in April, 2013. She knows people and places so she knows who is good and who not to bother with. AND, if you need an officiant- her hubby will do it! Which was great for us since he's known Birdie since she was a wee little thing. Thank you, Leslie and Jack! Y'all ROCK!

I would wait until I get the professional shots to write this post, but who knows when that will be. So- here you go. And, be forewarned, it's lengthy.

The wedding venue was Edisto Hall at James Island County Park. This bride and groom are so laid back and causal, that this was the perfect place to have their wedding. I got a cottage at JICP for the girls to stay in so they'd be close to the site and the boys stayed in one as well.

Here's the view from the girls' cabin--

The cottages are nice and the weather was as well. We never saw 80 degrees on Saturday. So nice!

Here's a shot of the dress and the shoes. Yep, the shoes are orange with gray bows. Birdie loves the color orange and the Clemson Tigers and BESTSonInLawForReal graduated from Clemson so, there was a bit of orange at the wedding---

Friend of the bride, Hillary, came to help with the hair---

She told us that it was going to get ugly before it got beautiful. I think she meant funny. :)

So pretty!

  Birdie and bridesmaid/good friend, Anna, with lovely hairdos---

Birdie with four of her bridesmaids---

Everyone except the groom's sister- she has a five year old so they were running just a bit late. We might be empty nesters, but we remember those days, don't we?

Here they are in all their splendor--

 My dad and step-mom with Birdie.

Deanie and her sweet Ben--

Sister of the groom, Katie and her daughter, the precious flower girl. With her orange shoes.

 The cake! Having a wedding in our area? I HIGHLY recommend our cake lady! She's so sweet and the cake was delicious! She incorporated a little message from her to the bride and groom on the back of the cake. The real photographer got that so I'll share when we get the real photos.

I will also share the bridal portraits in a future post. This is the portrait Birdie chose to display--

Orange and gray and pretty flowers! I also HIGHLY recommend our florist. We used the same one for Breezy's wedding.

Our lovely bride--

 I just had to get Mike, father of the groom, in a shot with the girls. He's the sweetest man and has he got humor!

Y'all know those shots where the bridesmaids encircle the bride with their bouquets? Well, that's one thing that got a lot of laughs at this wedding. They encircled many heads with their flowers. Including the groom's father.

And the flower girl-

Who LOVED it!

The kiss! Please notice the groom's shoes.

Here they are- Mr. and Mrs. at last!

Since I had been taking pictures of the picture taking (haha), I decided to continue post ceremony.

Maid of honor and Best Man with the Bride and Groom.

The sun was shining through the huge oak during the ceremony and the pictures and it was just lovely.

The jungle (as they started calling it because they said the bouquets reminded them of the rain forest) surrounding the groom-

 And again with the bride-



I have so many things to say about these friends of the bride and groom. I am gathering my thoughts and will devote an entire post on the subject. Just let me say, for now, that I have never seen such wonderful, supportive friends. These kids are fantastic! I feel blessed just to have been in their company. And not just the ones in the wedding party, every single one in attendance.

And there's the groom's dad doing his best photo bomb! Told you he has humor. LOL

How cute was this?! The flower girl ran in there to help! What a cutie!

And now, the bride--

The happy couple with my dad and step-mom-

 First dance as Mr. and Mrs.

I'll share the professional pix when we get them. NOT all 1600, I promise. LOL But I wanted y'all to see some of our special day now.

Ok, recommendations if you want to have a wedding in our area:

If your bride and groom are outdoorsy/laid back and on a budget, I HIGHLY recommend Edisto Hall at James Island County Park. EVERYONE at the park is nice and helpful. There's a campground right there in the park and several of our guests took advantage of this. We also secured two cottages for the wedding party which was quite convenient. They have a dog park and beautiful walking trails as well. AND, it's less than $1000 to rent the venue. WHAT?! Yep. No joke.

Need a florist? Call Karen at Keepsake Florist. She has this uncanny ability to read a bride's mind. And she's VERY reasonable.  I don't see us ever using a different florist for anything.

Cake? Yes, use our cake lady! The cake will be EXACTLY what you ask for and the taste will be that flavor explosion that I love to experience! Cost- the most reasonable in our area. She is Janie at Charleston Cakes etc.

DJ? YES! Ours was fantastic! Birdie used the same company, Jay Maxwell Music by Request, because one of her bridesmaids had used them for her wedding. They sent us a guy named Mike and he was FABULOUS! He had a big personality and enjoyed being up on the stage! He was funny, personable, a true delight! He took requests but stuck, mainly, to what the bride and groom wanted- which was perfect! I think I remember hearing that he is a high school chemistry teacher. I can just imagine how entertaining he is in the classroom! KUDOS, Mike! You were a big part of why the wedding was so much fun!

Photo Booth? YES! Don't even think about not having a photo booth. Details to come in the next post!

Photographer? OMG. He was great and so was his second shooter. They kept showing me things they had taken and they made sure everything was just right. I doubt they missed anything since they took 1600 pictures! I'll post his information when I am able to post his shots!

Rentals. We used Event Works. They don't stand apart from anyone else we could have used. I really think anyone rental place around the area is just fine. I can say that everyone we talked with was super nice and helpful! Would I recommend them? Absolutely.

YIKES! I nearly forgot the caterer. They used the Crazy Dutchman. I know they were absolutely wonderful in dealing with Birdie and that they have a very nice selection from which to choose. I also know that they are quite affordable. They showed up on time and did everything they agree to do and did it well. That being said, I thought the food was fine. Nothing great and wonderful. No great taste explosions in the mouth. But it was fine. If you find yourself here for a wedding, you're on a budget and you're not particular or not wanting gourmet food, then the Dutchman is fantastic!

Ok, there's so much more to come. Photo booth pix, the bridal portraits, the real photos of the wedding...and a few things that I want to put out there about friends and family. I'm overflowing right now so I need to settle down first. :)

Stay tuned----