Pre-Wedding Celebrations

Okay, okay... before I get to the good stuff, I wanted to share some exciting things that happened during the week of the wedding.  Yes, I WAS running around like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to get everything done and taken care of in time...but when I wasn't doing that I took a little time to celebrate with the people I love.

The toasting started Wednesday night.  By this time, the majority of the Bridal Party had arrived into Orlando and we wanted to have an outing for everyone to meet each other and go out (since there was no way I was going to be going out the night before the wedding - duh!).

Scott and I held a VIP party for them at one of our frequented spots downtown, called Baby Grands and it was truly a fun time all around.

Me with my sister (MOH), Court & Lauren

By this part of the wedding planning process and week, it was so nice to finally have mostly everyone there and let loose for a night.  At this point in the game, there wasn't TOO much more I could be doing...and what was left to do Lauren sure did help me get done the next day (can't thank you enough for that!!)

I know both Mr. Hess and I had a great night...and somehow - still don't know how this happened - I was convinced to sing a karaoke song for everyone on stage.  Well...at least Scott supported me at the end...you only celebrate your bachelor/bachelorette once right? ;)

Embarrassment on stage.

KDO & I ready for a fun week!

Thursday morning was the day for pampering!  The guys were headed to a laser tag outing, but I was excited to get beautified instead with the girls.  My two aunts and mom hosted a Bridal Brunch & Pedi Party and treated all of the girls in my bridal party to pedis. 

By this time, I had transitioned from stressball bridezilla into a relaxed and anxious bride & I was excited to continue toasting with all of the girls!  Since a lot of Mr. Hess's family was in town by now, they all came to the nail salon too.  It turned out to be such a great morning and great way to kick off the start of the wedding events.

Getting our toes beautified!

 My aunts and mom had been working on making it special for me and I thought the set-up turned out adorable.  There were  mimosas, fruit parfaits & even some mini muffins and cinnamon buns....what's not to love about that?!

It's important to have the "beauty" time for every bride and even bridesmaid to get ready for the big day & I was so grateful to have everyone there with me, as well as Mr. Hess's gals.  That was the first time I truly felt like they were going to be a part of my family, and I would be a part of theirs.  Even my niece (the flowermaid) and Mr. Hess's 3 nieces who did a reading at the ceremony got mini mani-pedis.  They were all absolutely adorable and I had such a nice morning spending time with everyone.

Just another day in paradise...

Me and Scott's momma and step-mom :)

Me with Mr. Hess's nieces

 After everyone's pedi's it was time for Lauren and I to get some things done.  She was honestly my saving grace during this entire day getting everything done and running like rabbits around town.  Finally, we got home and I set my alarm for 4:30pm - whatever I was doing had to STOP or I would have been late for our ceremony rehearsal & rehearsal dinner.  So, when the alarm rang I knew there was no turning back...time to put the paper and pencils down - the time was finally HERE!!!

For some reason I didn't get any pictures of the ceremony rehearsal on my camera, so you will have to see those later on when I get them from my friends.  For now...I can share the rehearsal dinner pictures with you.

Finding a rehearsal dinner venue had been a crazy task for us.  Originally, we wanted to have it at a nice restaurant downtown.  After menu pricing and comparing, we realized that just wasn't going to happen in our little budget we had saved for it.  We finally got the idea of having a backyard BBQ theme, and literally found a great country club to host it in our backyard.

We ended up having barbecue ribs, chicken, corn on the cob, baked beans and coleslaw on the menu.  I'm not sure if my side of the family appreciated it as much as Mr. Hess's but it turned out to be exactly what we wanted.  I found a perfect little black and white "country" lace dress for the occasion and was so excited this day was actually here.

Me and my mom - happy MOB

YUMMY BBQ!

My favorite part was definitely the strawberry shortcake!!!

 But before we cut the cake, my dad wanted to give a speech.  He thanked everyone for being a part of our special day and made me a little bit teary-eyed.  After that, Mr. Hess and I had a video to share with everyone, which if you haven't seen it is on my previous post: HBSH Video Interview & Slideshow.

After the video, it was finally time to cut the cake and dig into the banana pudding and cheesecake (yup - there was an entire dessert table!) lol.  I should have known that Lauren had something up her sleeve...this was the point in the night where she had a surprise guest for me.  She asked me to close my eyes and after a lot of anticipation I turned around and found Austin Powers!

It's a long story, but basically Lauren and I purchased him in middle school, back when the first movie came out and he eventually even came to a school dance with us!!! Anyone who was at that dance remembers him and I was very excited that he made another debut 10 years later!  Mr. Hess and his family wasn't quite sure what this whole thing was really about...but my family knew right away and understood the crazy friendship Lauren and I have, still to this day.

Groovy, baby...Yeah!

I guess Scott had a crazy side to let out with his buddies too, because by the end of the night the boys started doing a funny photo shoot on the club bar.  First it started out as a totem-pole and later turned into a group planking shot.  (See, I told you 2/3 of the groomsmen are basically clones of him).

The faces here are priceless...

Apparently "planking" is the new thing to do...google it!

What a crazy few days!!! By this point of the night, both Mr. Hess and I couldn't have been more excited for the wedding day to get here already!  We huddled our bridal party up and finally gave them their presents we had been working hard on.  You will see the final product when I get my wedding photos back, but for now I can show you how I packaged them. 

I wanted them to have lots of crystals on and had necklaces and earrings made for each bridesmaid (hence, Wedding Hint #1).  I had them hand made by a friend's mother and she did an amazing job.  The picture I took of it really doesn't do it justice, so I'll just show you the cute jewelery travel bags I found for them to wrap them in.

And just like that the day was over...it was show time! We headed off to the hotel and eventually the girls and I fell asleep to wake up to the WEDDING DAY!! 

There's SO much I can't wait to share.  But, while I'm waiting to get photos back, I'll share some of the crafts and projects we had displayed as well as a few other things I didn't want to let out before the day arrived.