New Baby Alert!

We had to pause from our regularly scheduled honeymoon blogging to bring you this warning:There's a feisty red head on the loose! She's not lean..she's not mean..and most certainly not lacking in the cuteness department! Briggsley Mae Grant was born to our good friends Nick and Shaylynn this past week. Our hearts are overspilling with love for this little chunker and we've never even met her! Lee is constantly on the lookout for new pictures of the "Briggmeister" on a daily basis. Looks like someone's got baby fever! But, how could you not when you see dis wittle beauuuuuuuty!



Congrats Grant Family...keep em'comin :) We love you guys!!

*Photos Courtesy of the Grants*

Everyone forgets about Epcot..Honeymoon Day 5

On Honeymoon Day five we headed to Epcot? Remember? Everyone always forget it because its supposedly not as "COOL" as the other Disney Parks! I got news for you, my sadly mistaken followers..Epcot is a hidden Disney Gem. Give yourselves lots of time to Enjoy this park! As an Epcot Virgin I was actually really excited for our day. We arranged something a few months before that had me all giddy about the land surround Spaceship Earth..This Guy:



As it turns out, I decided it would be super fun to take a Segway tour around the World Showcase at Epcot. Yes, I said SEGWAY. The World Showcase at Epcot allows you to travel through several different countries and experience the different cultures...this part of the park doesn't open to the park-goers until 11:00 so we opted to go on this two hour tour that began at 9. There were so many other things we wanted to do at Epcot and we figured this was a fun way to get ahead of the game and see it before everyone else did.
Let me start by saying, I underestimated the power of a Segway. At a whopping 6 miles an hour, its no stranger to wicked sharp turns, pedestrians, the ability to crush one's toe, or even a small child. No one stands a chance. Not while I'm driving anyway. Apparently Segways can go faster, even up to 12 miles an hour but ours were programmed to max out at 6. Its a good thing too..that's fast enough!
We began our tour before the park opened to the general public. We were led to a "Segway Training Facility" If you will, and put on our helmets and watched a couple of videos. I felt like an official member of the geek squad. Next came the training. This is all I remember. There were cones. There were ramps. Hilarious. Honestly, during the training, I was a little scared. I thought these things were going to be easy to maneuver but they are VERY tricky and I'm glad they train you first. I almost chickened out when I realized it was all about balancing, but somehow I pulled through and here's where I ended up. This is for all of you who didn't believe I really operated one of these machines



..yeah thats for you! :) Of course there were a few close calls..very close calls, but I remained in tact and without minor scrapes or bruises.
After our amazing Segway tour we decided to get on a little ride called "Soarin!" I'm pretty sure this is one of Disney's best rides. I'd been on several rides LIKE it before and they don't hold a candle to Disney. I wont spoil the fun, but its a must do when going to Disney! After Soarin' we took a little cruise around Disney's gardens and learned how they took care of all their plants and fruits and veggies that they grow and use in their restaurants throughout the park. We enjoyed this wholeheartedly since we've been living a more organic lifestyle for the last year or two..Disney goes out of their way to be awesome...love it!
For lunch, we had reservations at the Coral Reef. Its a restaurant thats underwater and surrounded by aquarium. We literally went there for the experience and to eat something different. We enjoyed the meal and our free dessert..another newlyweds perk!



After lunch we rode several other rides that tickled our fancy..such as: The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends, Mission Space (I highly recommend not eating before this ride..and count it out if you're motion sick prone or claustrophobic..this one's pretty rough on the body and made both of us a little sick) Test Track, and one very interesting ride starring Ellen Degeneres and a bunch of Dinosaurs! We even managed to get in a little shopping...We loved Epcot and managed to head home a little early that night. We toyed with the possiblity of going down to the Disney Boardwalk or Downtown Disney..but we felt Disney fulfilled for the day and headed home to relax before our last full day of our honeymoon! I will say though..If I'm ever feelin' down or blue..this image will forever be burned and etched into my mind and will forever bring a smile to my face:


Yup. That's my Husband! :)

Epcot Stats:

Greatest MPH on our Segway Tour: 6
Segway accidents/injuries: 0
Almost Segway accidents/injuries: Too many to Count..at least..er.. 12
Mickey Sightings: 0
Hidden Mickeys: Who even cares anymore?
Free Desserts: 1
Number of pounds of this amazing lemon we saw: 9
"Countries" visited in Epcot: 11
Number of times we wanted to vomit on Mission Space: 2

Honeymoon Day 4

Time to Relax! I knew doing Disney for our honeymoon would be somewhat..manic! I figured since the two of us would be constantly on the GO we would need at least one day to do something a little more low key. Several months before the wedding, I booked an all-inclusive day at Discovery Cove! An all inclusive day includes total access to the park, all food and alcohol products and even a chance to mingle and swim with the dolphins! This is something I've always wanted to do!
When we arrived to Discovery Cove..it was like we entered a private tropical oasis! I felt like we were back in Mexico. Ahhhhhhhh..it was gorgeous! We immediately made our way to the locker rooms to get our vests and snorkel gear. They have a huge lazy river that flows around the park full of caves and waterfalls and its all natural! We took a slow spin around the lazy river and headed over to snorkel :)





I'm a huge fan of snorkeling as long as there are no boats and choppy ocean waters involved as I got seasick in Mexico. There were so many beautiful fish in their reef..I was surprised that there were even a few sharks and barracudas! Yikes! Those things are mean..I came face to face with one in Mexico and I thought it was a shark..I freaked out! But, I think they're pretty well fed at Discovery Cove..at least that's what I kept telling myself..haha :) After a swim around the reef we headed to have lunch and a few drinks. They even had a live Carribean steel drum band playing during our lunch! After lunch we went to our orientation before swimming with dolphins. We had to sign a consent and watch a video before meeting our dolphin, CJ :) We had so much fun playing with the dolphin and then we each got to swim and take pictures with them.



I am so grateful for having this experience and even more excited to share it with my new husband!
After the dolphin swim, we headed over to the sting-ray lagoon and back to the coral reef for more snorkeling. Our Discovery Cove ticket also gave us a ticket to Sea World. We almost went to Sea World for the remainder of the day but decided to head back to the condo to relax. I had a surprise for Lee that night!
With Disney you have to make food reservations months in advance. I'm glad I did, because everywhere we went was completely booked. I booked a dinner reservation for us at the "Spirit of Aloha Luau" and Disney's Polynesian Resort!



It was amazing! After I booked the reservations, I read some reviews on it and was worried. A lot of people had bad things to say about it so then I thought maybe I was ripped off! I couldn't have been more wrong. We had a blast! The food was incredible, the show was off the charts and the experience alone was worth it! To top it off, during desert we could see the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom. It was over the top :) I highly recommend this experience if you go to Disney. The Polynesian resort is gorgeous..Lee and I would love to stay there sometime! Honeymoon day three is for the history books! Loved it!

Honeymoon Day 3 or "the many adventures of Lee and the Rockin' Roller Coaster"

We again woke up early on Honeymoon Day 3 to head to Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios). There are four Disney Theme Parks. I had only been to the Magic Kingdom so I was excited to see the other parks! Hollywood studios is based on Old Hollywood and modern movie-making "magic" (there's that word again!) After arriving to Hollywood Studios we took a right and began walking down Sunset Boulevard :) Lee insisted that we ride the Tower of Terror first and foremost. I was a little nervous to ride this first thing in the morning, for fear that I would lose all that yogurt I ate for breakfast. I will have to say that the Tower of Terror is an amazing attraction and the detail and everything that goes into it really captivated me. It was also thrilling and I did almost lose my breakfast. Totally worth it. It actually scared me a little! We went straight from the Tower of Terror to the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster. I love this ride because of the details! You find yourself in a recording studio with Aerosmith and they decide to give you backstage passes to their show! When you pass through the doors, you're in an alley waiting to catch a stretch limo..complete with dirty streets, traffic lights and anything you would think an alley in NYC would look like. Your "limo" shoots off from 0-60 in about 2 seconds and you're flying around in the dark through neon lights, traffic signals, black lights..its crazy. When the ride is over you exit under a tent of lights and a red carpet. I just thought the concept was so cool! Lee loved that ride..in fact we have a video of that on our new video camera of his face when we take off! After that crazy ride we slowed it down and went to see the Beauty and the Beast stage show..that's another favorite of mine :) By this time, it was already lunch time! We made our way to The Brown Derby. This is an old Hollywood replica of the Brown Derby in Hollywood and was frequented by old singers and movie stars like Lucille Ball and Frank Sinatra :) The food here was incredible and it wasn't the least bit crowded with little children because its a little fancy and very expensive (Thank Goodness for all that wedding mulah!) We finished off our fabulous meal with the infamous "Grapefruit Cake!" Yummo!
After Lunch, we headed over to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and The Great Movie Ride. During our adventures at Hollywood studios we also managed to hit up all these great attractions: "Light's, Motor, Action Stunt Spectacular," The Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Muppetvision 3D and several others I cannot remember unless I skim through the thousands of pictures we took! Those are just a few that stood out :) I once again made special dinner reservations for Hubs and I. We had dinner at the Sci-Fi Drive-in! He LOVED this one :) We sat in little cars in what appeared to be outside under the stars but it was really inside and AIR-CONDITIONED (most importantly!) We watched old school "horror" flicks and were served by a cute little car-hop! So much fun! Very cool experience and another "totally worth it" moment :)



These are the little details we'll remember when we think back on our honeymoon!
After dinner, I was extremely tired and my feet blisters had blisters. By this time it was dark and Lee wanted to ride the Tower of Terror one more time! I agreed to do it one more time, of course after that he wanted to ride the Rockin' Roll Roller Coaster again. He wanted to video himself shooting off into the darkness. Since the line wasn't very long, I decided to let him have his fun so we stood in line again for the ride. We got on the ride and he whipped out the video camera! When the ride was over, we got off to view the footage and guess who forgot to press record? That's right! He looked at me with those stupid puppy eyes and begged me to ride it YET again! UGH! FINE! I rode the dumb thing a third time so he could get his "footage!" The video is hilarious and someday when Lee figures out how to get it on the computer I will post it! You know how they say the third time is a charm? Well the third time we rode that ride, I pulled a muscle in my neck. Yup..It didn't start to hurt until the next day..but that lasted until a few days after we got back from our honeymoon..haha! That's what I get :)
After the roller coaster incident we saw that the fireworks show "FANTASMIC" was getting ready to start so we figured we might as well stay to see it. I'm so happy that we did! I have no words to describe Fantasmic except..you have to see it!



We were blown away! If we ONLY went to Hollywood Studios and saw that show and nothing else, it would've been worth it! Not kidding! :) Another great night in the big DW :)

Disney Hollywood Studios Stats:

Shows/Musicals: 5
Characters met: 1 (Mater)
Blisters on Megan's feet: 4
Blisters on Lee's feet: 1
Number of times on Rockin' Roller Coaster: 3
Number of times attempted video on Rockin' Roller Coaster: 2
Mickey Sightings: 1
Hidden Mickeys: 0 (apparently we didn't care too much about this)
Screaming the top of our lungs: Take it away, Buzz...

"The Happiest Place on Earth!"..honeymoon day 2

Let me tell ya folks, I was excited about going to Disneyworld but I had my doubts. Was this really going to be that great of a honeymoon? Are we far too mature old to enjoy this? Make no mistake, we had been looking forward to this but I never in a million years predicted the amount of fun we would have.
Bonus: Our condo was literally less than five minutes from all the Disney Parks.
We left early in the morning to get to the Magic Kingdom (when they say magic, they mean that literally!) Warning: When you go to DisneyWorld, be prepared to chuck out the cash. Parking at each park for our little mid-sized vehicle was 14 bones. Yup. At first you're a little upset that you feel you're being robbed but believe me Disney makes up for that. It's completely worth it and Lee and I agree that we would've paid 10 more dollars to park.
After parking, we boarded the tram and were told that we could get to the Magic Kingdom one of two ways. By Ferry or Monorail. We chose the monorail because we decided it would be way more cool to take the Ferry at night as I read that they do the Main Street WATER electrical parade through the Disney resorts that boarder that Lagoon. That's right, I did my research..and I'm glad I did because my research paid off!
As we exited the monorail and walked down the ramp I heard a familiar little ditty playing on the loudspeakers..."Let's Go Fly A Kite" from Mary Poppins. That's when things got magical! I AM OBSESSED with that song..and that movie. Just ask Lee how many road trips we've taken where I sing about that nanny and her kites. It was like it was meant to be. Lee and I held hands and looked at each other like we were about to skip up to the the will-call turn-style, but we didn't. You know I tried wanted to. We walked through the turn-style and immediately I start snapping pictures. Disney has this awesome little thing they offer called "Photopass." This is a must-have when you go to any Disney Park and it's FREE! There are photographers all over the park at all the prime picture taking locations. They give you a card with a bar code on it. They take several pictures of you in one spot and then scan your card. Keep the card with you while you are at Disney and at the end of your trip you can go online and purchase any of your pictures, CDs, Gifts, you can add borders and everything. Bonus: A lot of the photographers will OFFER to take pictures with your personal camera as well so then you don't feel obligated to buy any of the photos. Its totally worth it, DO IT!
After jumping on the Photopass bandwagon we headed into the park and found ourselves on Main Street and direct view of Cinderella's castle. Lee and I had business to attend to before things got rowdy :) We walked over to "City Hall" and got our "Newlyweds" buttons. When you wear these buttons you get extra perks from "cast members!" (not to mention they're absolutely free!) Everyone congratulates you all day long and will occasionally invite you to the front of the line or offer you a free desert..things like that :) BUT, of course we went a step above that. We bought the bride and groom ears. I know, I know, it's cheesy (but Mickey and Minnie love cheese right?? ..womp womp)but we had to do it. As you can imagine there were a lot of newlyweds there that week, being it was one of the most popular weekends to get married, so we had to stand out a little. Not only that, but it kept our heads from getting sunburned. We were so glad we bought them!
When we walked out of the store on Main Street we noticed a very stylish looking group of people pull up in a trolley. Que the music. I did a double-take and they all got out and started dancing and singing in the middle of the street. I was blown away that I'd only been in the park for 15 minutes and I already felt like a kid again. (I've been to Magic Kingdom 3 times before and never had as much fun as I did this time, and I hardly remember ANYTHING from my previous trips)We continued walking thinking, if we stopped to look at everything that caught our eye, we'd never leave Main Street. I'd like to add that Disney was in the process of being decked out for Halloween which made me extremely happy! Lee and I cannot wait to return with our future children to take them to "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!"
We decided to make our first stop Frontierland. Two of the three most popular rides are in this "land" and since we didn't know how the lines would be, we decided to go there first. Luckily the week we were there, the lines were almost NIL and we never really had to wait more than 10 minutes. (Always go to Disney in the Off-Season, you will get to do more) The first thing we rode was on the way to Frontierland in Liberty Squre. The Haunted Mansion. Lee had never ridden most of the rides in Magic Kingdom and this was one of them. He usually geeked out and spent all his time in Tomorrowland riding futuristic-ky things like Space Mountain (Shocker). The Haunted Mansion is some kinda crazy fun with all its "scary" special effects...my favorite being the ghost in your car at the end of the ride...eek! :)It's hard not to get caught up in all that is Disney when you're here. I managed to wander into a Christmas Shoppe and of course wanted to buy everything in it. Then I realized, GORSH (in Goofy's voice) I don't want to carry souvenirs around all day. Yet another BONUS: Anything you purchase during the day can be shipped back to your resort or to the package pick-up in front of the park! On that note, Lee and I purchased our "Christmas Ornament" something we do on every trip! We also try to always purchase a post-card anytime we go somewhere together and we mail it back to ourselves with reminders of what we did, where we ate. It sounds corny but its a nice surprise when you get home and we keep them in a special jar in our home to read for years to come! :)
We continued our trek to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain and then headed over to Fantasy Land. Yes, this is for the little kiddos but Its one of my favorite places in Disney World. I made sure we did EVERYTHING! Mickey's Philharmagic was a 3D show that I'd never seen..that's a must see! We rode everything from Dumbo, to Peter Pan's flight, the Carousel, Snow White's Scary Adventures..I didn't leave one pirate ship or flying elephant unturned.
After our sprint around Fantasy Land we were just in time for our lunch reservation at Tony's. Tony's is based on the restaurant from the movie "Lady in the Tramp" (another favorite)The food was pretty yummy and they even decorated our table for our honeymoon! We even got a signed card from Lady and the Tramp...paw prints and all. I was all giddy about it...like I'm seven years old. We even took the famous "Spaghetti and Meatballs photo" for all of you with weak stomachs..look away :)



Hey, they offered! Apparently its a tradition there, so get over it! Plus, there's nothing like digging through a big pile of spaghetti, searching for the largest string!
After our "Romantic" lunch we went over to Tomorrow Land (yawn) Just kidding. We of course immediately rode Space Mountain and then Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. I knew Lee would love that one since you get to shoot targets and rack up points. I'm not lying when I say he probably broke records on that ride. I had like 6,000 points or so...he had over 120,000...how in the world does that happen?? He's naturally skilled in the art of video games and there's nothing I can do about it! We rode the Carousel of Progress (I've always wanted to ride it because its my friend Jodi's fave and its not open year round so we got lucky) then we rode Stitch's Great Escape which apparently replaced Alien Encounter because it was too "Scary?" Settle down, Disney! We sat in the audience for the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor and even managed to be part of the show! (It's the ears, I tell ya) Then, we took a little spin around all of Tomorrow Land on the People Mover.
Next was Mickey's Toon Town. We got to meet the Big Cheese and his Wife! Minnie loved my ring and Lee kissed Mickey on the nose..he's still contemplating whether or not that was a good idea. Our last "Land" of the day was Adventureland! We rode the Jungle Cruise and the Pirates of the Carribean. We literally got to do everything we wanted to do in each "Land" We headed back to Main Street to grab some souvenirs and some ice cream and settled into a perfect spot for "Wishes", The Magic Kingdom's fireworks extravaganza! I've always said it. Nobody does fireworks like Disney. All set to music..it really does feel magical. I must admit that the Magic Kingdom really nailed it. The quality and detail is incredible! (Things you don't notice when you're a kid) They give it 125 PERECENT! We had a great time on our first full Honeymoon day, and as we made our way back across the Seven Seas Lagoon on the Ferry, we watched the Water Electrical Parade. I was a little saddened by the fact that I probably wouldn't be back to the Magic Kingdom until I had a couple of kids in tow...what were we waiting for?? Back to the condo for some baby-makin'! Hahaha...j/k ;)

Magic Kingdom Stats:
Characters met: 9 (Princess Tiana and her prince, Stitch, Mickey and Minnie, Donald, Pluto, Chip and Dale)
Mickey Sightings: 4
Hidden Mickey's found: 2 (we suck)
Number of random outta no where singing and dancing: 3
Souveniers purchased: 5
Newleywed Ears spotted (couples): 26
Number of times Megan shrieked with excitement: Too many to count!
Number of times Lee wanted to ride Space Mountain: 12
Number of times Lee actually rode Space Mountain: 1
Number of random downpours: 1
Number of times we want to go back: To infinity and Beyond!!!! ~Buzz Lightyear

All honeymoon pics can be viewed on our Picture Website :)

Honeymoon Day 1

I decided to break our honeymoon into day by day posts so it would not take three hours to read one post. You'll thank me later. :)
Lee and I woke up from our wedding night..in disbelief that it was over! Sadly, we wanted to do it all over again, but then it hit us that we needed to get moving because we were catching our flight for our HONEYMOON! We were happy again! We packed up and Dad picked us up from the Hotel Roanoke and dropped us off at the airport! We flew to Atlanta for an hour layover and then to Orlando. I love short quick flights! I hated my flight from Cancun to DC...UGH Long flights freak me out. After landing we picked up our rental (courtesy of my grandparents) We ended up with a 2008 red honda civic. We love our hondas :) We then drove to the resort to check in. The resort was awesome. It was full of little villages of condos. The landscaping was beautiful..fountains, waterfalls and flowers. There were 13 pools, three of which were adult only. There were several restaurants, putt-putt, a general store, even a place to rent games and movies. In my heart of hearts I knew we would not be able to spend much time at the resort so I was a little sad about that, you could easily enjoy two days at the resort alone and never get bored!
Our condo was amazing! (GOOD JOB, parents!) We had a large kitchen and living room that led out onto our own private, screened-in patio. Two HUGE bathrooms one with a whirlpool tub, and two bedrooms! It was amazing! Perfect way to start a honeymoon ;) After "Settling" in we headed over to the pool to one of the bars and had dinner and a couple of drinks to toast our marriage! While we were eating under the cabana a huge downpour thunderstorm roared through! Gotta love Florida weather...meanwhile a hurricane and storms lurked out in the Atlantic! Was this a foreshadowing of our week to come??
We decided to spend the night in to rest up for our trip to Disney the next day. We rented one of our favorite movies, went to the general store to stock up on snacks and breakfast items and headed back to our condo to enjoy the evening :) Perfect start to a perfect life together.

Wedding Day

Our wedding day was perfectly amazing!! I don't know how to describe in words that it went better than perfect. I don't think anything even went wrong (not that I was worried if something happend) but if something did, we didn't know about it!
On that morning, I awoke from a very rested sleep at Hotel Roanoke! Those mattresses are amazing..I seriously slept like a rock! I woke up and got ready to go to the salon. At the time my toe was infected and I needed to go over to Hope's to soak it in some Epsom salt. The toe was driving me insane but I didn't want it to hurt on our honeymoon! I also got to see the kitty cats one last time..they were so precious. I took a video of them on my phone to show Lee later that night because I knew how much he missed them already.
Hope, Andie, and I headed over to the salon. Hope went to Panera bread and picked up a variety of bagels..and I brought champagne and orange juice to make mimosas (my favorite since staying in Mexico!!) My friend Krystle was doing my hair and makeup so I went first. We pretty much had the whole salon to ourselves. We were all chatting and laughing and drinking and having a great time! Krystle was so sweet! While she was doing my hair, she gave me my wedding gift! She purchased a couple of things off my registry but she also got me a bare minerals starter kit with everything in it. She wanted to give it to me because she was going to do my makeup with it that day! I'm obsessed with it now! I don't know why I haven't used it before! I love it! Thanks, Krystle :) After my makeup was done, it was getting closer to time to go to the Kyle House..Britt and I left so we could start putting on my dress because it took awhile to lace up. The other girls were going to meet us when their makeup was done because we had to get pictures done!
Britt and Andie and I arrived around the same time to the Kyle House and started getting ready. Shortly followed by Suzanne, Julie, and Keri. The guys had already started getting their pictures made. Lily showed up and we were ready! Sam took us all through the town taking lots of gorgeous pictures of us! We had a great time meandering around town. After much debate, Lee and I decided to see each other before the wedding. We knew we wanted to take family photos after the wedding, but because the wedding was at 6:30, we would only have good light for another half hour. We decided to take our "couple photos" and group photos before the wedding. We set up a moment where Lee could see me for the first time and the photographer would record it! We went into this goregous garden/courtyard and all the bridesmaids lined up behind me. The groomsmen also lined up around me. When they told Lee to turn around, he was SHOCKED! He was overwhelmed with emotion and ran to me! It was a beautiful moment. He still says that was his favorite part of the whole day, and for the bridesmaids it was also a favorite. After that, Sam took us in the car up the hill overlooking the Mountains and Fincastle and took a few more gorgeous pictures. Those pictures of just us, are our favorites!
We headed back upstairs in the Kyle House because guests were starting to wander in! I couldn't believe it was almost time! I'd been nervous the whole week leading up to this moment and I mean VERY NERVOUS. All of a sudden, my nerves vanished and I was as cool as a cucumber. Bouquet in hand, we headed outside to head into the "barn!" It was all happening so fast. Lee's mom and brother played the harp and oboe, I couldn't even hear it from outside but I heard it was gorgeous! Thank God, we have a wedding video..I can't wait to see it! When I walked in, I don't remember anything. I didn't see anyone around me, I didn't hear the music, I just looked at Lee. I am AMAZED at myself for holding it together. I didn't cry at ALL. I think after seeing Lee cry so much, my crying nerves just went away. He did manage to shed a tear or two but nothing like he did in the rehearsal. Geez :) Love my sentimental man. Ok let me back up with the music. I wanted pretty traditional music for the wedding ceremony. I'm not even sure what was played during the pre-music but Lee's mom has played in so many weddings that I knew it was amazing. For the seating of the grandparents, she played the harp and sang "How Beautiful." One of my favorite songs. For the Bridesmaids, it was "Canon in D" and for me it was the "Bridal March!" During the unity candle she played and sang "Two Candles." I can't seem to find this song anywhere but on her website but I love it so much! I remember during the ceremony, just staring into Lee's eyes and focusing on repeating the words without crying. It was hard, but I managed :) When we were announced as husband and wife..I couldn't believe it was over! It was a beautiful ceremony and I couldn't believe my WEDDING ceremony was over, forever! It was perfect! Loren (Lee's cousin) did a wonderful job. He had a few funny stories about us that he threw in there along the way which made it really special. After a wonderful kiss, we headed out to the side of the barn to "Ode to Joy" and waited for everyone to head into the reception! We went out back for the family photos. They turned out really well.
After the family photos, the wedding party, including parents were to be announced into the reception! Russell P. was our DJ and did a great job! What a cutie..we were friends from High School and he was perfect! I also got to meet his sweet fiance, Shay..I'm so happy for them! We lined up outside the Kyle House and were introduced one couple at a time to "I gotta feeling" by Black Eyed Peas! I loved the energy in the room..I could tell it was going to be amazing! After the intros, Lee and I shared our first dance to "Love Is Not A Fight." This song actually came from the movie "Fireproof" Lee and I watched that movie a few years ago and it had strong significant meaning to us. That song was very special to us. Dancing with Lee was once again just me and him. I didn't notice anyone else in the room! We moved on to the champagne toasts. BTW, that champagne we had was amazing..and I didn't get the name..durn it! John, Lee's brother gave a toast first, and then my Hope gave a toast. A friend of Lee's family, Hunter Dockery did the blessing and we headed upstairs to enjoy some food! My wedding planner had already made us two huge plates so we sat down to have a bite. Both of our stomachs were still a littl in knots so we didn't really eat that much. I will say that the food was incredible. We had yummy things like..mini lobster blt's, fried green tomatoes, beef au jus, shrimp and grits, ..it was insane I can't even remember everything, but basically a southern girl's dream! The ballroom at the Kylehouse was located upstairs. There's also an outside patio upstairs and a second bar. Downstairs there is the main bar and dance floor. Lee and I put 1000 dollars down on the bar and were going to switch to cash bar after that ran out. Suprisingly, the alcohol lasted pretty much through dinner, and my dad at that point decided to put more money down to have the bar open all night! We were thrilled because he was so against paying for alcohol and when he realized what a good time everyone was having, he decided to pay for the rest of the night! Thanks Daddy! After dinner we came downstairs to cut the cake. I chose the song "Today I met, the boy I'm gonna marry!" I love that song and remember it fondly from the movie "Father of the Bride." Since it was my dad and Tina's 23rd anniversary and Lee's mom and stepdad's 1st anniversary, we had little cakes made for them as well. After we fed each other cake, they also fed each other their little cakes. It was very special to them, especially my dad and Tina. The cake was sooooooo yummy. My friend Katie recommended Jane, a sweet little "Aunt Bee" who made the cake! It was four-tiered. The bottom layer was red velvet. The next layer was lemon (our fave!) the third layer was chocolate and the top layer was lemon (our one year anniversary we will eat this..hopefully!)
After the cake I had the DJ go straight into the anniversary dance since we just celebrated two anniversaries. (shout out to Loren and Lizzie also celebrating their anniversary!) The DJ played "Nobody Loves me like You DO" by Anne Murray. This song was sang at my parents wedding in 1987! I wanted this to be the song they danced to at our wedding. As a gift, I even gave them a gift certificate to eat at the Peaks of Otter where they spent their honeymoon! After the anniversary dance Lee and I danced with our parents (father-daughter, mother-son) We decided to both dance to one song because I didn't want the formal dances to drag on and on so we all danced to "My Wish" by Rascall Flatts. It was perfect. I even got to sneak in a dance with my grandaddy! After this, the party really started! We had a blast dancing with everyone..and everyone was REALLY getting into it! This went on for a while and we stopped for a moment so that Lee could do a speech. I knew NOTHING about this, so I was suprised when he got up there to talk. He thanked everyone for coming and talked about how we met, pulled up his pants legs to show everyone his MISMATCHED socks!! I couldn't believe it! Hilarious! You can read about that on our wedding website if you don't know the story :) Lee's mom also gave a little speech and his dad even read a poem that he'd written. My old-co worker, Lisa G, prepared a speech as well. She was the one who'd introduced us and basically responsible for our whole relationship! Love her!! Thanks, Lisa G!
The party continued on and we got ready to do the garter and bouquet toss! Lee went first and went up my dress and pulled out two socks tyed together..go figure! This was set to "Hungry Eyes" and he tossed the garter to "Another One Bites the Dust!" I got ready for my bouqet toss to "Final Countdown" by Europe. This was actually an inside joke between Suzanne and myself and I knew it would make her entire night! She about DIED laughing when she realized what was playing! Its a long story that I wish I could share but..I just can't! After the bouquet toss, all the girls danced to "Single Ladies"--total girl power moment..haha! The party continued into the night for a couple of hours and we shared our last dance to "This Year's Love" by David Gray" another favorite of mine!! My wedding coordinator made a special moment for us. She had all our parents go upstairs into the room where I had gotten ready earlier in the day with my bridesmaids! We all got to say our goodbyes in private which was a really nice thing that she did for us. She sent them downstairs and the DJ announced for everyone to go outside. The sparklers were lit and we bolted out through them and got into the car! Nick was a driver for the evening..hehe :)He drove us back to our immaculate SUITE at the Hotel Roanoke where we spent the rest of our amazing nite ;) The whole night was almost magical, and really a blur. I don't remember that much. I also know that I didn't get to talk to all of my guests, and I feel really bad about that. We THE BEST time with wonderful family and friends and couldn't have asked for a more perfect evening! Thank you to everyone who was a part...there aren't enough words to express our gratitude!! Especially to all of the travelers from Cali and Minnesota! That meant the world to us! Love you all! Stay tuned for blogs from the Honeymoon ;)

PS: I didn't include really any pictures in this post because there are too many to choose from so be sure to visit our picture website on the sidebar of this page! this a small amount as I chose about 120 pictures from the 800 taken..very hard to do! We have them all on a disc but I didn't feel like downloading SO MANY! Enjoy!!!

pre-wedding

Well...its over. I must say that the last couple of weeks have been amazing! I of course have to go into great detail regarding the wedding because I don't want to forget anything. I want to thank anyone and everyone who was involved in ANY way. The weekend was absolutely PERFECT. I couldn't have asked for anything to go so well. The weather was amazing...70's and sunny all weekend, making it seem almost like fall.
It all started on Wednesday the first of September. Lee and I headed to Roanoke from Virginia Beach. I spent the ENTIRE day packing our stuff. There was so much to pack and a certain way it had to be packed. All our gifts for family and attendants, (bridesmaid gifts: Vera Bradley makeup bags w/philosophy "Everything's coming up Rainbows" lip glosses, Necklaces from ETSY, Plump it up eye makeup from Sephora, Bon Bon coconut bath wash from Dylan's Candy Bar and mini bottles of champagne! Groomsmen Gifts- Initialized flasks with cigar holders, cigars, and mini bottles of champagne!) clothes for the weekend, clothes for the honeymoon, wedding dress, cats, decorations. We were crammed into the honda and didn't make it to my Dad's until almost 1am. Thanks to Hope for watching our precious children (Simone and Pumba) for two weeks!
Thursday, Lee and Andie and myself headed over to my mom's to finish our favors. We made little jars of apple butter for everyone. It symbolized for us, the ending of summer (Labor Day Weekend) and transitioning into fall (Our favorite Season). They turned out beautifully. Here's a picture my friend Caron took of the favors at the wedding...



Thursday night, Lee went to his groomsmen Jeff's house to hang out and go to the baseball game. Lee's brother, John, drove up from High Point with our friend, Spencer. Thursday nite, Lee, John, Spencer, Andie and I, all had a little sleepover at my dad's house. So much fun! :)

Friday morning the guys headed out to go beer tubing and hang out at Jeff's cabin with some of the groomsmen. I know they had a great time..and I will say that beer and guns don't usually mix, but they somehow made it work. The video Jeff made of John and Spencer is priceless..I will have to try to get a copy of those! Meanwhile, Andie and I headed over to Salon Del Sol to meet Krystle for my hair trial. Krystle did a great job..I love her! Afterwards we headed over to the nail salon to meet Suzanne and Hope and got our nails done. I decided it wasn't priority for my bridesmaids to have nails/hair/makeup done. I let them decide which of those they wanted to do..if any at all. I didn't want them to feel like they had to spend a ton of money to be in my wedding! After the nails appointment, Suzanne and Andie and I headed over to the Florist in downtown Roanoke to see the flowers! Everything looked amazing..I couldn't believe how beautiful the flowers turned out! We then had lunch at Panera Bread and I headed over to Hope's to soak my toe (it was still infected).

Later that night, Hope and I went to the airport to pick up Lee's cousins, Nick and Austin. I LOVE THEM! From the moment I met them in Minnesota two years ago I've loved them. They have been so welcoming when it comes to me and joining their family! I'd do anything for those two! We immediately whisked them off to the tuxedo place for them to try on their tuxs. Hope and I were going to drop them off downtown at Macados for the Bachelor Party. Lee told me to come on in and have a drink with everyone. All of Lee's friends, and groomsmen, and my cousins, Troy and Robert were there. Lee's dad and future step-mom joined up with us as well. We were going to call it a night but we were having too much fun. Let's just say that later that night, I found myself surrounded by about 10 of Lee's friends/groomsmen on the dance floor at Cornerstone. Lee's cousins, Rachel and Ellen had made their way downtown too and it turned into ONE BIG Party! We had a blast!! I couldn't believe Lee and I crashed each other's bachelor/bachelorette parties..we wouldn't have had it any other way. :) and Nick, I'm dying to see pictures from that night..I know they're crazy! :)

Saturday was the day of the Rehearsal. All day long I'd been hearing hilarious stories from the night before. One inparticular about Jeff waking up in a random hotel room by housekeeping...no one was checked into this room, so how he got in there was a huge mystery. Lee has a hilarious note that he saved from the maid in the room..talking about how she found Jeff and cleaned up the vomit on the floor..my goodness, those poor maids :( Hilarious. We all showed up for the rehearsal at the Barn at 1:00. I was worried that there would be stragglers since the night before was pretty wild. Of course everyone but Jeff was there. My cousin Robert was a stand-in..when all of a sudden "Boom!" Jeff slams through the door doesn't say a word and just walks right to his spot. Everyone was laughing so hard...he'd had a hard night :) The rehearsal went really well...except for the part where my dad was supposed to be helping me up the steps to walk down the aisle and left me at the bottom. I was so afraid he would do that on the wedding day! Gosh, Dad!! Here are some pics of the rehearsal:









Andie and I headed over to the Hotel Roanoke where I had gotten a room for the next two nights. We got ready and went down to the Rehearsal dinner.




The dinner was incredible. The food was TOP NOTCH and amazing. I wasn't expecting the Hotel Roanoke food to be that great, considering I'd been to several banquets there and the food was below average. I was so impressed. Lee loved his Groom's cake. It was a huge mountain of Lee's favorite (chocolate donuts) It was made to look like a mountain with a river and trees and even a few deer here and there. He loved it. I HOPE someone got a picture of it, because I didn't! We had open bar at the rehearsal as well. That got people moving around the room, and then the speech's and toasts started. Nick, Rachel, Aunt Linda, and a few others got up and said a few words about Lee and myself. Lee tried to get up and thank everyone, but of course (as usual) started bawling like a baby..he gets so emotional!








After an amazing dinner the whole party headed to the pine room for drinks on the veranda. My plan was to have a bubble bath that night and relax so everyone and I do mean EVERYONE, headed downtown to do Karaoke. Unfortunately, I missed all of this..but I heard it was amazing and a great time! I think the Hammarbacks, Millers, and Rennichs pretty much took over downtown Roanoke! Party animals :) Meanwhile, I started looking for my cousin, Andie who dissappeared with Nick's Cousin Austin. At one point they were spotted in the courtyard making out...(oooooooooooo) but didn't show up until a couple hours later ;) They were so cute all weekend :) Finally, I made it to bed...I couldn't believe I was getting married the next day!