The Wedding: Hotel Guests' Gift Boxes, Bridal Tea, Dessert Buffet, and Rehearsal

Prior to the week of the wedding, I worked on 30 hotel gift boxes for our family and friends who booked within the accommodation block we had recommended at our wedding website. The top of the box had a card stock label with our names and the date of our wedding wrapped by a ribbon around the box.

Each box contained my homemade chocolate peanut clusters, homemade jam, a set of note cards with coastal photographs, buttons for our guests to wear to identify themselves as our family and friends (to foster conversation with other wedding guests in the hotels' common areas), and a note welcoming our guests to Richmond and inviting them to a Dessert Buffet we hosted in the hotel's concierge's lounge the night before the wedding. Not pictured, but also included, was a coupon for a local cafe that serves my family's farm's poultry and pork. In keeping with the casual farm atmosphere of the wedding reception, Mama had the idea to use real hay from the hay loft instead of store-bought shred to fill the empty space of the boxes. My grandmother and a very thoughtful mother and daughter came over to help us assemble the boxes several days before the wedding.

The day before the wedding I held an Afternoon Bridal Tea at The Berkeley Hotel for my bridal party.

The wedding rehearsal followed. The view from the balcony as Stephen and I practiced walking down the aisle:

For the rehearsal dinner, Stephen's parents had a delicious Italian meal catered for the wedding party in the church's fellowship hall.

After the rehearsal dinner we headed to the hotel where we held a Dessert Buffet for our out-of-town friends and family. The Dessert Buffet gave us an opportunity to visit in advance with many of our guests who came the furthest to attend our wedding.

My mother-in-law created a slide show of pictures from Stephen's childhood and my childhood that was viewed during the Dessert Buffet and then again during the reception the following day.

After the Dessert Buffet, my dear friend Morgan and I drove back to Amelia together and I fell into bed (exhausted!) for the last time as a single girl in my family's home. The 45 minute drive home with Morgan was so refreshing as we talked about the Lord and how He was working in our lives. It has become a sweet, quiet memory that I will always treasure in the midst of all of the wedding excitement.

Up Next: Getting Ready