Amber gets Hitched: Southern Style

This is the summer of weddings for me. In fact, I'm starting to feel like I could have my own 27 dresses movie...I think I'm funnier than Katherine Heigl too ;-) The wedding summer line-up is as follows: Amber (high school friend from Italy), Christy (childhood friend), Carole (family cousin), and James (my intern partner). I'm sure there are people with more than four weddings this summer, but boy does it feel like a lot!

I am such a sucker for weddings though. My mom keeps telling me that you don't HAVE to go to every wedding that you're invited to, but I can't imagine not going! Who doesn't want to hang out with close friends, eat delicious food, and dance the night away? The best part of weddings though is seeing the personality of the Bride & Groom. I'll recap each wedding I go to, so hopefully y'all will get a good idea of each of these close friends!

Amber and Evan got married in Knoxville, TN, which was fitting because they both went to University of Tennessee. They got married at the Museum of Appalachia just outside of Knoxville and boy was it pretty! The museum contains items and tells stories about the people of Appalachia. There are old buildings and artifacts all over the grounds as well as a little country store to peruse. The wedding ceremony was held outside and then the reception was also outside under big white tents. They had a little stage for dancing along with cornhole boards. It has a country rustic feel and was a very comfortable and relaxing environment. There were peacocks and yaks roaming around as we played cornhole and danced in the grass. They served a delicious traditional BBQ buffet with cole slaw, green beans, and mac n' cheese. Talk about delicious! The signature drinks were Honey Jack Daniels + Lemonade (his) and Vodka Cranberry (hers). The tent with the tables was scattered with baby pictures of them and pictures throughout their dating life, which was a nice personal touch.

They also did a really neat tradition during the ceremony. They both wrote letters to each other and sealed them in a box with a bottle of wine. On their first anniversary, they will open the box, read the letters, and share the wine. Then they will write two new letters and replace the wine until their next anniversary. They will continue this tradition for every anniversary...what a sweet tradition! 

The other fun part about this wedding was reconnecting with all of my best friends from high school in Naples, Italy. We jokingly nick-named ourselves "fruit salad" and each had a fruit name. We realize how silly and immature this may sound, but nevertheless we love to call ourselves "fruit salad" even now. Anyways, the bonds of our friendship have just grown stronger as we've all grown up. Even living several states away from each other we manage to somehow make it work. Amber is in TN, Lynsee in VA, Gabbi in NY, Tia in MD, Michela in FL, and myself in SC...six different states! But best friends can't be held back by anything! :) We love and enjoy any opportunity to get together though since it's not often that we are all in the same place.

Here are some sights from the day:

Mango & Kiwi en route to the wedding!

Waiting for the Bride!

Waiting to see the beautiful Bride!

Ringbearer came down in a little wagon...it was the cutest thing! 

There she is!

Wiping Evan's tears...the most precious thing!

Saying of the vows

Sealing the wine box

Mr. & Mrs. Bingen!

MOH & Best Man

Gift/Card table

"If only Heaven wasn't so far away..."

They had pictures of family and friends who had passed away and couldn't make it to the special day. Very thoughtful and sweet!

Special table for the couple

Cute decorations!

Of course I loved this!

Love my girls!

Cornhole!

Course we had to take a selfie ;-)

Waiting to see our bride after the ceremony!

College Roomies <3

Introduction Dance!

First Dance! 

 When I dip, you dip, we dip

The bling! So gorgeous!

 With our Bride!

Love these girls! Such a beautiful day & Bride!

We all purposely got in on Friday, so that we would have a little bit of extra time together. Lynsee was the MOH, so she had a few extra responsibilities, but we were all still able to hang out a bunch! They had all of the wedding guests at the same hotel, so that was so convenient and great for mingling and seeing everyone! It was also fun because after the wedding we all came back to the hotel and had a pool party. Luckily I wasn't thrown in, but the bride got thrown in along with a few others! Good thing she had already changed out of her dress though ;-)

The next morning we all had brunch together and then we all headed our separate ways. I was off to Virginia Beach for my next wedding! I am actually working here the first half of the week and working on raising support ($$$) for my job. Then I have the end of the week off to perform my Maid of Honor duties for my best friend, Christy! More updates to come on being an MOH and the next beautiful wedding...

XoXo,

Southen Saving Grace