Emotions are running wild today as the rain continues to fall outside. I made gluten free quiches and banana bread yesterday, so as everyone got up, they served themselves some breakfast and we all enjoyed a lazy morning. Around 10:00 my parents headed out to see a friend that they haven’t seen in a long time, while the rest of us started concentrating on things that needed to happen for the wedding. Most everything was done by now, so it was just those last minute things that we didn’t want to forget, like umbrellas!
All of the girls left the house for their 1:00 hair and makeup appointments, the boys were all out getting professional shaves, and target practicing, and Steve was busy practicing his toast speech on me. He had written an incredible speech and just wanted it to be perfect!
At 2:00, it was still raining, and the couple had to make the call on whether or not the wedding would be outside. They said that yes, it would still be outside. When my parents got back from their outing, they got dressed, and we headed out in separate cars. They went directly to the hotel, and we stopped by the hair and makeup salon to see the girls, but we just missed them, so we too headed to the hotel. We got all of our stuff settled into the room and the girls came up to say hi and have a glass of wine with us before leaving for the venue. We then picked up our parents and headed to the Chateaux.
When we got there, the Chateaux staff was working busily to get set up for the wedding. It was pouring rain by now, so there were a lot of prayers going up. Our daughter and the groom had confidence that the rain would clear, and the wedding could still go on outside. Brenda Booze (Booze Photography) quickly started taking the girl’s “getting ready” pictures in the bride’s room, which was so much fun.
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| This one was actually on the balcony, not in the brides room |
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| Our sweet girls |
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| A special moment with her beautiful flower girl |
And Brenda's assistant photographer took pictures of the men.
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| The groom and his brother/best man |
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| The groom and groomsmen |
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| The groom and his swordsmen |
Then when our daughter was ready, Steve got to take his first look at her. It was very emotional as he saw his beautiful daughter for the first time ever as a bride.
Soon after that was the moment that the groom got to see her for the first time. It was a beautiful moment as she peeked out from behind the doorway, and then made her way down the hallway toward her soon-to-be-husband.
As he turned around, his face lit up, and the moment was all theirs.
We then finished up all of the family pictures before the start of the wedding. As we made our way out to the main reception hall, we noticed that the rain had stopped, and the staff were all outside drying the chairs. Guests were beginning to show up, and were being seated out on the lawn by the gazebo. It was still very cloudy, and stormy looking, but it was not raining.
As the last guests were seated, the grandparents were seated and the groom proudly walk his mom down the isle followed by his dad and then his groomsmen.
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| A very touching moment between mother and son |
As the bridesmaids, one by one, walked down toward the gazebo, the flower girl and ring-bearer were getting antsy, so our youngest daughter ended up walking down with them, all holding hands; with the ring-bearer holding the maid-of-honor bouquet upside down most of the way, and the flower-girl proudly carrying her own flowers. They were so precious! Kids are what make weddings special!
Steve and I then walked our beautiful daughter down the aisle. It was such an honor as the mother-of-the-bride to be a part of this!
Watching her groom's face was priceless. He was so emotional and teary eyed as he watched his bride walking toward him. As we reached the gazebo, Steve lifted her veil and kissed her, I gave her a kiss on the cheek, and Steve handed her hand to her soon-to-be husband.
My stomach was a ball of emotions as we took our seats. I was having a hard time composing myself, and then I looked over at Steve, as he smiled, laughed a little, and then proceeded to zip up his pants. Apparently, he had forgotten to zip them up before walking his daughter down the aisle. I hope the photographer has good editing software! Our youngest daughter saw him, and a huge smile came across her face. The mood was now lightened enough for all of us to get through this. Thank you Steve!
The wedding ceremony was very pertinent and special to them. It was so beautiful! The exchanged vows and rings, and before we knew it, they were pronounced husband and wife. It was such a beautiful ceremony!
The bridal party all headed inside to finish pictures, as the guests filed down stairs for a quick cocktail hour. As the last guests left the gazebo, the first rain drops began to fall again. Our prayers were answered!
My sister and her son had both come to the wedding, but weren’t able to stay for the reception, so I had a nice chance to talk to both of them before they left. We had a chance to mingle with all of the guests before we were asked to move upstairs for the presentation of the bride and groom.
Their entrance was very grand, as six of the groom's Army Officer friends made a sword arch for them to walk under, and then the groom's friend gave the bride the traditional tap on the butt with his sword.
They cut their cake (with his military sword of course), and had all of the traditional dances, including the anniversary dance, where both sets of the brides grandparents were the last couples dancing. They have both been married 55 years this year.
Plated salads awaited each guest as they found their tables, and then one by one, tables were invited to the buffet to get their dinner. One of my favorite parts of the reception was the dinner buffet. Instead of a reception line for greeting their guests, the bride and groom chose to have a buffet, and personally hand out plates to each of their guests. This gave them a few personal moments with each guest. I thought it was a great personal touch!
A fabulous dinner was served, and the rest of the evening was perfect as we danced the night away.
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| Father-Daughter dance. These two love to dance together! |
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| These two love to dance together too! |
A few more pictures for those who are interested:
Such an amazing day, all made possible by The Chateaux at Fox Meadows, Brenda Booze Photography, A Hearts Desire Catering, Nancy Best Cake Design and Elite DJ.
Some Comments from the bride:
My wedding day was absolutely everything I had always hoped and dreamed it would be. After first touring the Chateaux with Savannah on a Saturday morning in September, we absolutely loved the venue. From the beautiful backyard gardens to the dramatic floor to ceiling windows and sparking chandeliers, the Chateaux was elegant, classic, and spoke for itself. Four days later, we signed our paperwork to book the venue. At the time we booked, the Chateaux was running a special so we received upgraded Chivari chairs, silver chargers, sashes tied around the chairs, and a coffee bar free of charge - love it when that happens!
One of the things my husband and I most loved about the Chateaux (beside the beauty of the building and the AMAZING staff) was how upfront the pricing was. Everything was done in a package which included catering and cake for 100 guests (additional guests over 100 were a set rate per person), florist credit, photographer, and DJ. Couples pay the venue their lump sum over time and the venue ensures that all of the vendors are paid accordingly. Not only did this help us understand the overall price of the wedding upfront, but it also removed the hassle of paying individual vendors at various times throughout the planning process.
Our wedding coordinator at the Chateaux was Marissa. Throughout the wedding day and leading up to it, Marissa was our go-to-gal. She was absolutely amazing, helping us stay on budget and have the wedding day of our dreams. On the wedding day, she handled all of the details and helped coordinate all of the vendors, staff, and keep everyone running on time. Marissa was fantastic.
A few weeks after booking the Chateaux, they hosted their biannual bridal show in which they showcase their vendors to help brides decide who they want to select for catering, floral, photography, and DJ. While at the bridal show, I met a wonderful woman named Brenda who was one of the photographers working with the Chateaux. We hit it off right away, booked her right then and there, and even picked a date to do our engagement photos with her a few weeks later. During our engagement session with Brenda we got to talking about her connection to the Chateaux. Turns out, she worked there about 15 years ago, initially she worked setting up and staffing weddings and was then was promoted to a wedding coordinator. After being a coordinator for several years she decided to follow her passion and become a photographer and is now the owner of Booze Photography. Not only that, Brenda was also getting married at the Chateaux in October 2015. So I asked her who she was using for catering, DJ, and cake (I knew she would use the dream team!). We then booked all of the vendors she was using and started setting up appointments with each of them to begin planning. Below are some thoughts about each of them.
A Hearts Desire Catering is owned and run by a wonderful woman named Sandy. She is a sweet, warm hearted mom who loves her family and loves to cook. For our tasting, she packed a feast of food up for us to try in the comfort of our home. everything we ate was beyond delicious and made it difficult to make decisions. Sandy was easy to work with and happy to help us build the perfect dinner and appetizer menu for our day and work to meet all of the dietary needs of our guests. Throughout the evening of the wedding, Sandy made sure that my husband and I had plenty to eat and drink.
Nancy Best Cake Design is owned and run by an enthusiastic sweet woman named Nancy. We first met Nancy during our cake tasting where she discussed our vision for the cake and showed us tons of pictures of past work of hers. She took our Pinterest inspiration and talked us through the options we had. Nancy then sent us home with about a dozen different types of cake and killer options to try. We then told her what we had decided and she made us a sample cake! The sample cake was one of the flavors we had decided on that was decorated in different ways as you turned the cake. This helped us make our final decisions and we were able to see and taste what a tier would be like. A few months before the wedding, I talked to Nancy about doing a grooms cake for our guests with dietary restrictions and a cookie bar as a thank you to our guests. She happily agreed and gave us a generous military discount to thank Stephen for his service. Nancy was amazing and our cake was AMAZING!
Elite DJ was such a fun business to work with. All of their DJs are young, fun guys, who we would love to hang out with on any given day! The business offers an online planning portal, which was so useful. My husband and I were able to create playlists, pick our songs, and give the DJ important information like names of family members and bridal party members. Their tool was so easy to use and made planning so easy. Our DJ for the night was Josh. We met with him a few weeks before the wedding to grab a beer, confirm everything and get to know each other more. The day of, Josh did a fantastic job! The music was spot on all night long and our dance floor was packed. I danced the night away and have had multiple people ask for the playlist he made for our cocktail hour and dinner.
The Bloom Room did our beautiful bouquets. We decided to not do boutonnieres because my husband couldn’t wear one with his uniform so we did pocket squares for the groomsmen instead. We also decided to do romantic candlelight centerpieces so instead of flowers we did about 12 candles on each table. So the only flowers we had were the bouquets. Sarah from the Bloom Room did a fantastic job. The flowers were perfect and very affordable.
I really can’t say enough how much we loved all of our vendors. Our day would not have been as wonderful without Brenda's recommendations, I am so grateful!
Booze Photography was amazing! Brenda is such a fantastic woman to work with. She made my husband and I so comfortable and we had such a great time whenever we were with Brenda. She kept us updated as she edited our photos so we knew when to expect them. Both our engagement and wedding pictures are absolutely stunning. Brenda did such an amazing job that our pictures are currently being used in the Chateaux’s online marketing campaigns!
Book Booze Photography! You won’t regret it.
Overall, our wedding day was perfect. I would highly recommend The Chateaux at Fox Meadows and all of our amazing vendors!
