Wedding Weekend - Part II

Ok, moving on to Saturday. We woke up the next morning with a slight headache (that might of had something to do with the champagne, sangria, margaritas and oh maybe a few beers that had been consumed the night before) but for the most part we were pumped that the big day had finally arrived. The guys headed out to make their tee time and Nicole and I met all all the girls at Alison's house before our day of pampering begun. I want to first say that I have never seen a bride as calm as Alison. We did have a slight freak-out on the way to the salon when we realized we didn't have Alison's "hair" and her veil but other than that she was all smiles. We arrived at the salon a little after noon and soon the girls were working their magic on us. We sipped on wine, ate yummy snacks and enjoyed ourselves while being pampered.

When we left the salon we came back to Alison's house for a late bridal luncheon and relaxed before we left for the church. Once we got to the church we got dressed and started taking pictures with her photographer. Before we knew it Alison was walking down the aisle and we were all tearing up as they said their vows. After that it was off to the reception which was absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately I did not take many pictures after this point as I thought I would leave that up to the real photographer.....

The calm bride

Nancy and Lauren

Rochelle

Nicky T and her wine

I loved how she did the back of my hair!

Ready to get dressed

Nicole and I at the church

Loved her dress!

We're all married now! Ryan & I, Ali & Mark, Nicole & Aaron

My handsome husband

Best friends :)Loved all her cakes!

Best friends since high school

All the centerpieces were different and absolutely beautiful!

All the groomsmen and Mark serenaded Alison

Nicole, Tyler and I at the end of the night. By the way, we rocked the dance floor :)

It was such a great weekend and Ryan and I were honored to be a part of their big day. Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do to occupy my weekends since their wedding is over....

Ali & Mark's Wedding Weekend - Part I

Yes, Part I. I took so many pictures this past weekend that I can only put Friday's wedding festivities in one post. I just finished up my photography class and this was a great opportunity to try out some of the different functions on my camera. Besides, two of my best friends were getting married and how could I not document this once in a lifetime event without taking 300 100 pictures :)

Scroll down for a recap from Friday.....

Alison & Mark

Alison's parents hosted a champagne toast at their house before the Rehearsal

Love these girls!

Some of the groomsmen sipping on Sangria

Pouring the bubbly

Cheers to Alison & Mark!

Alison with her beautiful sisters and parents

After the rehearsal Mark's parents hosted a dinner at Iron Cactus

Some of the details from the tables

Everything looked great!

Loved the Bride & Groom pinatas

Ryan and I

A few of the guys

Room shot

Aaron, Nicole, Ryan & I

All the Laurens :)

Alison's sisters gave such a cute speech

The groomsmen all received monogrammed cuff links and the girls received pearls

Mmmm dessert was delicious

All of the girls in the wedding party

All of the guys

Nicky T! Back at the hotel before we went out

Ryan's practicing for their golf game the next morning

Ryan and I at City Tavern

Some of the gang out after the rehearsal dinner

Stay tuned for Part II with pictures from their wedding day!

Ali B is getting married!!

This weekend Ryan and I are headed up to the Big D for Alison and Mark's wedding and we couldn't be more excited. We have been celebrating their upcoming wedding with showers, parties, and crazy bachelor/bachelorette trips and now we're looking forward to the big day.

To kick off the wedding festivities we are having a champagne toast tomorrow night at Alison's parents house before we head to the rehearsal and then to dinner for some delicious fajitas and margaritas. On Saturday the guys have a tee time, the girls are headed to the salon before a late bridesmaids luncheon and then it's off to the church. A reception is being held afterwards in downtown Dallas which I'm sure will be nothing less than fabulous!

I promise to take way too much pictures and bring back fun stories to share!

Sweet Tea Vodka

Sounds gross, right? Actually, it's fabulous! Here's a fun little story...

So back in February when we were in Charleston for a girls weekend we decided we would venture out to find a winery we had read about. It turned out to be quite the boondoggle and much farther away than we thought. We ended up on Wadmalaw Island and we were definitely in the sticks. We finally found the winery that we had been looking for, Irvin House, and it was actually really cute. Not quite like the wineries in Napa but it definitely had its charm.

These are the bathrooms at the Winery and yes we used them :)

The girls on the trip, my Grandmother, Mom, myself, Aunt Debbie and my cousin Katie. If you look closely you can see all the Firefly vodka bottles on the top shelf.

So while we were at the winery they kept talking about this Firefly Vodka that they produced at the winery and at the time we were much more interested in the wine and not the vodka. Who would drink sweet tea vodka, right??

Well since that trip I kept hearing about this vodka and it still didn't quite appeal to me. So last weekend while we were in Kentucky Robyn and Chris actually had a bottle of this at their house! I didn't believe people actually bought this stuff. So I of course had to try some and let me tell you, it's GREAT! I don't even like sweet tea and I couldn't believe how good it was. I mixed it with a splash of water and it was perfect. I was envisioning sitting out by the pool this summer with a glass, err bottle, of this.


I hear that they sell this in Houston so we're definitely going to be hitting up Specs to pick up a bottle :)

To clean, or not to clean?

That is the question. Well the answer is clear - not to clean! I feel like Ryan and I have barely been home lately and our house is a mess. I won't go into details but trust me, it could use a good scrub. However, it's Thursday night and Ryan and I are both home with nothing to do. So we must live on with the Thursday tradition of pizza and wine and plant ourselves on the couch!

Sorry house, you're going to have to wait until tomorrow (err Saturday or Sunday)....

Kentucky Trip

I can't believe it's already Tuesday evening! Ryan and I arrived back home from Kentucky late Sunday night and this is the first time we've had a chance to sit down and relax. I'll keep this post brief but I will say that Ryan and I had a fabulous weekend with Ryan's sister and her family and we LOVED Lexington! In fact, Ryan has decided his new dream is to own a horse farm and train a horse to ride in the Kentucky Derby :)

Unfortunately, I did not take as many pictures as I would of liked but I did get one of Ryan and I dressed up for the horse races. It was a beautiful day and we had a blast! I think Ryan and I are officially hooked and plan on visiting at least every April for these races. I hope they don't mind the company....

We truly had a good time visiting with them and can't wait to go back!

New Look!

I'm so excited that my blog finally has a new look! Marina over at Penny Lane Designs did a fabulous job coming up with this header and I love the design and the vibrant colors. I've actually known Marina since High School and she has always been so creative. I've loved all the designs she has come up with for other girls and I knew she would be perfect to give my blog a much needed face-lift.

Thanks again Marina!

A Day at the Races...

Ryan and I are headed to Kentucky this upcoming weekend to spend time with Ryan's sister and her family. They have the cutest two kids and we couldn't be more excited to spend Easter with them!

They've only been in Kentucky since last Fall and we are looking forward to seeing the countryside, drinking some bourbon and spending a day at the races. This is our first time to see live horse races so of course we have to dress in our best.

Ryan picked up a new sport coat, slacks and a preppy tie while I picked up this fabulous dress while I was in Charleston, SC. It looks like it is going to be cold (think 40's) but I think once I have a few Mint Juleps in me I'll be fine :)

Pictures at the Park

I've been attending a photography class the past few Wednesday evenings and this last week they gave us an assignment. We must take 5 pictures on the manual setting with our SLR cameras using different apertures and shutter speeds. I had one week to complete this assignment and I thought surely this couldn't be too hard. Well turns out, taking pictures on the manual setting is much more complicated than I thought.

Ryan was a trooper with me this weekend as we tried different locations so I could capture that perfect shot. We ended up this afternoon at Memorial Park where I think I managed to complete at least half of my assignment. I won't share all the pictures as I'm not even sure I used the right settings but I will share with you a few fun pics from this afternoon. We started with a jog around the park and then tossed the ball to Bennett while I tried to capture a few shots. Enjoy!

I used a fast shutter speed to make Bennett appear frozen while running.

Bennett clearly can't keep his eyes off the ball :)

Haha - I can never get a good pic with Benny.

Taking a much needed water break.

Happy dog. Just ran 3 miles and played fetch at the park. It doesn't get much better than this.

Oh and a few of these were consumed after our fun afternoon...

Have a good week!