Our day started bright and early with hair and makeup in the hotel suite. We all rotated between a makeup lady and two hair stylists.

Jen came right as my hair and makeup were finishing up and she got right to work capturing our wedding day!

The bride and bridesmaids bouquet had all pink flowers in varying shades with palmetto roses for South Carolina and cotton for Mississippi. My sister in law Emily.
Mom doing the buttons on my gown. 

Amanda <3Tying my sash.Putting on the veil!Off we go!

My sister the maid of honor looks like she’s having so much fun carrying my train!We headed downtown to the Battery/Whitepoint Gardens for some pictures. 

My beautiful bridesmaids: Emily, Brianna, Danielle, Chelsea, Amanda, Caitlin, and Mary Catherine. 

A few example shots of me with individual bridesmaids: ChelseaAmandaand Caitlin. 

Don’t they all look beautiful in pink!Zach and I didn’t do a first look, but we did a photo where we can’t see each other but we’re in the same shot. This was the place and time I got emotional-I knew it would happen at some point during the day! I was anxious and very ready to see my groom. Knowing he was there made me want to peek at him!Then we swapped for me to take photos with the groomsmen while Zach took a few pictures with the bridesmaids. 

Our groomsmen are hilarious. I couldn’t stop laughing the whole time!Off to the ceremony we go!Here are a few pre-ceremony pictures of Zach and the groomsmen:Zach and his dadI love this picture of his mom pinning on the boutonniere!The groom had a cotton boutonniere and the groomsmen had palmetto roses. 

Scott is an absolute riot! He was stretching in preparation of the day’s events. 

Zach and Dan (Caitlin’s husband)!Zach and the best man, his cousin Shawn. Zach and Scott

Next up-the ceremony!

I headed to downtown Charleston with the ladies of our wedding party for lunch and mani/pedis. We had a delicious lunch at 39 Rue du Jean right off King Street, where we got to chat, make any remaining introductions, and I gave my bridesmaids their gifts!

I gave them a fuchsia pashmina, a necklace for the wedding day, and a redneck martini glass! Also included in the bags were personalized huggies with each girl’s initial, so thoughtfully gifted to them by my sweet friend Suzanne! I also wrote each girl a note in a card thanking them for being a part of our wedding.

After lunch we walked down King Street to get our nails done! I got pink on both my hands and toes. I love pink polish!

After our mani pedis and a stop at Starbucks, we headed back to the suite at the hotel and got to relax with the groomsmen before making our way to the rehearsal! The groomsmen had been out at lunch and picking up their tuxedos!

We had a fairly quick rehearsal with gorgeous weather. I took charge of the rehearsal and gave overall instructions, we practiced once, fixed any kinks we ran into, practiced a second time, and called it successful.

Our huge an amazing wedding party (minus Dan, who was en route!)

On to the rehearsal dinner!

We had a Mississippi State tailgate for our rehearsal dinner, and we held it at the Sweetgrass Memorial Arts Pavilion in Mount Pleasant. It was a gorgeous venue with plenty of outside space for tables, tailgating tents, and cornhole games!

We served lowcountry boil and barbeque pulled pork for dinner, with mac and cheese and green beans as the sides. Our caterer, Erica Davis Lowcountry Catering, did an amazing job! The food was delicious and they served everything hot and on time! For drinks we served sweet tea, Lazy Magnolia beer (a Mississippi original) and Coke and other soft drinks.

The overall feel we were going with was completely informal, fun, laid back, maroon and white tailgate. Our friends and families had a great time playing cornhole and chatting.

The venue was gorgeous and had an amazing view of the Ravenel Bridge.

We decorated using maroon tablecloths with burlap runners and MSU centerpieces, which included mason jars, pom poms, and an MSU item.

We had a special table for the grooms cake, which was made by Publix. I had drawn pictures of what I wanted the cake to look like and they did an amazing job! Zach was very surprised!  

I had napkins made for the rehearsal dinner!

        Everyone was really into the theme of the event. My parents’ friends even came in MSU shirts they ordered online!

We had so much fun getting to visit with everyone that came into town and loved getting to be able to catch up with everyone and welcome them before the hectic few hours of the wedding!

After the rehearsal dinner, the bridal party and a few close friends went downtown with us for a ghost tour! It was a fun way to hang out with each other as well as see downtown Charleston! We had such a great time with our friends!

After that it was back to the suites to get some sleep-tomorrow was wedding day!

The Wednesday before the wedding was the last day of work for both of us. I had been running around all week making sure everything was packed up and ready to go to Charleston! After work on Wednesday I got a massage, then headed home to eat dinner with Zach and wait for our best man, Shawn, to arrive from Kentucky!

Thursday morning we all woke up, got ready, and packed up Shawn’s truck full of our wedding stuff. We had tons of decor items for both the wedding and rehearsal dinner. We headed out to Charleston to meet up with our families and friends who were starting to arrive!

As soon as we arrived at our hotel in Mount Pleasant, Zach and Shawn brought Zoe to Zach’s grandparents, who were so kind to watch our sweet girl all weekend. My mom and I got down to business making the welcome bags for our guests. I also had my wedding gown steamed in the hotel while we were working on the welcome bags. Cacky of Cacky’s Bride + Aid steamed my dress and she was awesome! She was such a lifesaver and did a wonderful job on my gown-it looked perfect! She was also funny and as sweet as can be! I highly recommend her for any brides in Charleston!

I included a Traveler’s Guide to Charleston, a Charleston map, a “Greetings from Charleston” postcard where we handwrote welcoming notes to our guests…

…homemade benne wafers…

…a water, a glass bottle Coke, Charleston chews, an itinerary for the weekend, a Charleston Breakfast tea bag from Charleston Tea Plantation, and a nip of Firefly vodka in the welcome bags. I hand stamped A&Z on the welcome bags as well!

Zach and Shawn arrived back at the hotel and we headed out to meet with our weekend coordinator, Shannon (A Timeless Event) to give her our decor for the weekend and pick up Amanda from the airport! We then headed downtown for dinner. We met my mom (dad was en route at this time with sister), Zach’s parents, Zach’s sister Emily and brother Jonathon, Zach’s Aunt Beth (Shawn’s mom), and Caitlin! It was a fun dinner and a great way to unwind before the craziness of the next two days began! It was also great to be able to get some introductions started before more people arrived the next morning/later that night.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and got to see Mary Catherine and Kevin arrive, as well as Brianna and my sister and dad, and see them for a little while before crashing. We needed extra sleep for Friday and Saturday’s busy schedules began!

Wedding planning is going really well. We only have small things left to finish plus packing everything up. Our to do list is long but I can tackle a good amount of small tasks in a short amount of time. However, this weekend, next week and next weekend will definitely be busy!

Since our rehearsal dinner is an MSU tailgate, we have been stocking up on maroon and white around here! We also made two sets of cornhole boards! I still have one left to paint but here is the first set:

Our giant pink letters are finally completed! A&Z is a recurring theme in our wedding.

The signs are all made, clear coated, and the posts built and painted. Check!

Groomsmen and bridesmaids gifts are all purchased. I wrapped the groomsmen gifts last week and will finish wrapping the bridesmaids gift this weekend!

We had an appointment in Charleston a few weekends ago to do table setups and make sure everything works well together. Here is the cocktail table setup:

And the guest table setup (picture more napkins for each guest):

We also setup a rehearsal dinner table as well:

Lots to do, so little time! Only 16 days from today I will be a Mrs.!

In other news, Zach and I took the plunge and bought a house!
We were looking for another rental house but after lots of thinking and research and several houses later, we found the one!
We are aiming for a late March closing date so keep your fingers crossed for us that it happens! I can’t wait to take y’all on a tour through the house! It’s a new construction, so the floors aren’t finished yet and it needs one more coat of paint, but it’s beautiful and I can’t wait to see it completed!

How have y’all been? Sorry for my absence!

Mostly wedding updates, but some work and running/workout updates thrown in there.

On the wedding front, Zach and I have been knocking out wedding to-dos like it’s our job over here! We still have a ton left to do, but pretty much nothing left to buy except for vendor payments and our favors.

Invitations were sent out in the beginning of January, and we’ve gotten many responses so far! It’s always so much fun to check the mailbox every day for RSVPs! I do feel like I’ll be having to make some phone calls though, I’m still waiting on 44 out of 79 responses. They only have 9 days left!

In the second week of January, Zach and I traveled to Charleston to do some wedding activties, like meet with our Pastor and our DJ, and take some measurements of things at the venue, and for me to have my hair and makeup trial.

I hope the trees grow some leaves before the big day!

Such a pretty place!

I had my hair and makeup trial on Saturday after meeting with the pastor and going to the venue. Here was my inspiration picture:

And here is the result:

Here are my honest thoughts on the outcome:We chose Ulta to do our hair and makeup because they were affordable for all members of the bridal party for hair and makeup. A lot of other people I  had contacted were out of the price range that was ok for everyone. My stylist was very friendly, funny, and a lot of fun to talk to. I do like very much what she did with my hair. I think it looks very pretty. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that while my trial was very pretty, it wasn’t what I wanted. I’d like more defined eye makeup and I want my hair to look like the updo inspiration I brought, not a bun. The problem is, I have no time at all for another trial. Help! Suggestions??

On another topic, my beautiful hanger for my wedding gown arrived! I just love it!

Zach and I have a lot of DIY projects we are incorporating into our wedding. We have 3 foot A&Z letters, signs, cornhole boards for our rehearsal dinner and reception, etc. Tons of wood work projects!

Zach’s best friend and our groomsmen Scott came to help us out a few weekends ago. Dude kills me he’s so funny.

Zach making cornhole boards, while I painted signs!

This past weekend we hit up TJ Maxx for some additional candy bar jars, and also worked more on our signs. Zoe supervised.

Here is one of the signs we are using! More details to come once they are finished!

We (and by we I mean I) finally decided on the groomsmen attire. We are going through Men’s Wearhouse for our tuxedos, and my original idea was that I wanted pink ties and pink vests on the groomsmen. However, I hated the pink tie they had! It was pretty ugly! After many trial-and-error sessions, we finally found an awesome pink tie that matched the bridesmaids and decided on a black vest. I’m so happy with how it turned out! Best looking bridal party!

A couple of weekends ago, we headed south to good ole Mississippi!

We stopped in Starkville for a couple of hours to pick up the wine for our wedding (MS muscadine-the best there is!) and the beer for our rehearsal dinner (Lazy Magnolia), and we also stopped by a few local stores to pick up a few additional decor items for the rehearsal dinner. We also got to have lunch at my favorite restaurant-The Grille!I miss Starkville! But I LOVE Greenville!

Speaking of Greenville, on the work front:As many of you know, in July I started working for Milliken & Company in Spartanburg. I started in the research division, and while it was a great experience and I met  a lot of great people, I wasn’t loving it. Since I only have a masters degree and not a PhD, I felt like I couldn’t get any further than the job I started in. An opportunity opened up for me right after Thanksgiving to move to the Performance Products division/one of the business sides of Milliken and work on product development for the Milliken Military group. While I do still spend a significant amount of time at the headquarters in Spartanburg, I also now spend a lot of time at one of the manufacturing facilities, the Enterprise plant in Marietta!

It’s been an awesome adjustment and I love my new position! Its much more “up my alley”, with product design, still incorporating lab scale trials, and plant scale up!

On the workout front, this week has been amazing weather for running! I got in 4.25 miles Tuesday and 3 last night! I’m loving the weather and I am looking forward to my Saturday morning run! I’ve also been still going to Body Pump! Gotta pump up those arms for the big day!

I was having a lot of trouble losing weight. I was working out and eating well and frustrated I wasn’t seeing any results. I got a heart rate monitor, and it has been instrumental in me realizing that I burned more calories than I realized and was subsequently undereating. Hopefully the scale will show a positive reflection of my changes this week!

Zoe the running queen hates one of the bridges on the Swamp Rabbit Trail downtown! She crouches low, moves as slow as molasses, and spreads her paws out as far as they will go to get over the bridge! It’s HILARIOUS!

Happy Thursday!

I left y’all off with my bridal shower recap

The weekend after that post, Zach and I headed to Jacksonville to see my sweet beautiful grandmother.

My family learned right before Christmas that she had stage 4 cancer. Within one month, God called her home to be with my grandfather. I miss her terribly-she was such a wonderful friend and a beautiful person. She was just such a loving, wonderful person who was so very much looking forward to my wedding. I hate that she’ll miss it in person-more for her than for me. I know she was so thrilled. But, she’ll have the best seat in the house! Watching from above with my grandfather. I’m glad she and him will get to watch together.

When we went to Florida, she did have the strength to open her eyes and see me and Zach. She knew we were there, which was so special to me. I had brought my wedding gown to put on for her since I know she wanted to see it, but I wasn’t sure if she would be able to get the strength to look. My mom and aunts told me to put it on for her (Zach left the room) and she opened her eyes and smiled and I knew she was so happy to see it, which meant the world to me She mouthed the words “Oh my God” and I knew she loved seeing it. It was so so special to me. I’ll never forget it. My mom and aunts were so happy as well. It meant a lot to all of us. Three days later, she passed away.

Having a packed already-planned schedule was tough when all I wanted to do was lay in my bed at home. After working all week (there is a memorial planned for the beginning of February, just so no one thinks I didn’t attend any services or anything), Zach and I went to Charleston for a weekend of wedding planning. We met with the pastor, I had my hair and makeup trial, and we met with the DJ. On Friday and Saturday nights, we enjoyed Restaurant Week with Caitlin and her brother, Jack. We went to Magnolia’s on Friday and Slightly North of Broad on Saturday. Both restaurants were fantastic-it was so much fun to try out two new places! I also missed Caitlin like crazy!

This past week was busy as well with work as usual, and on Friday, Scott came to visit and we headed to downtown Greenville for dinner. Zach and I always look for the hidden bronze mice when we are downtown (there are 9 bronze mice hidden around downtown Greenville from the book “Mice on Main”) and we found another one this trip!

I think they are too precious!
Saturday morning I ran my first race of 2013-the Greenville News Downtown 5k!

It was freeeeezing but overall it was a good course, well organized, and a fun race! I wasn’t feeling 100% so I didn’t finish with my best time, but overall I enjoyed running around our beautiful city!

Saturday afternoon Zach, Scott and I stocked up on supplies at Home Depot and got to work-we have several DIYs we are working on for the wedding this weekend! Only 55 days to go! More details to come on Wedding Wednesday:)

Happy Sunday everyone!

I was able to help my mom choose her mother-of-the-bride dress, which we found at a local bridal salon and love!! It really looks amazing on her. I am so glad I was able to help her pick her dress! The same day, I finally got a veil! I tried on dozens of veils before I found one I really loved. The bridal salon I was at happened to have my gown in stock so I was able to hold the veil up and see how it went with the gown. It was amazing-the veil looked like it was made for that dress!

I also got all of my wedding invitations put together and stuffed inside the envelopes! Amanda and I stamped all of the response card envelopes with our address stamp as well as put postage on all the response card envelopes.

We also embossed belly bands to wrap around our invitations, response cards, and rehearsal dinner invitations. Embossing 80 belly bands is no easy task!

On Saturday, my mom and sister threw me a bridal shower with some of my closest friends and family members. I had such an amazing time getting to see so many people that are so special to me!

Bride to be!

Pictures of Zach and I.

Just part of the spread of food!

Wedding cake cookies!

Funfetti (my favorite!) cupcakes with rose swirl and bride and groom paper people.

Wedding bells donut cake (amazing…there are no words).

Personalized m&ms!!

The details in the decor were amazing! Pink and white lights and pink and gold balloons!
m&m candy favors in mini jars for the guests!

Beautiful pink flowers from my sweet grandmother!With 4 of my beautiful bridesmaids! From left, Amanda, me, Chelsea, Danielle, and Brianna!

With my bow bouquet for the rehearsal.

Having fun with Amanda, Chelsea, and my aunt Mary Kate (who came from Florida for the shower!!).

Like my MS shower, I was absolutely spoiled by all my friends and family. We were given such beautiful gifts. They all put so much thought and time into the gifts they gave us and were so absolutely generous. I’m so grateful they are here to celebrate this exciting time for us!

Only 73 more days to go!!

In January, we rang in the New Year with great friends Dan and Caitlin in Charleston:

And I ran my second half marathon:

In February, I did a lot of wedding planning and a lot of thesis/defense preparation:

In March, I passed my defense:

And we chose a wedding date and took our engagement pictures at MSU:

In April, we celebrated Easter:

Took our engagement pictures in Charleston:

And had an engagement party:

In May, I graduated from MSU:

And got my wedding dress (no pictures of that though!)

In June, we went to Greenville and I accepted a job:

We also did some wedding planning and friend time in Charleston :

And at the very end of June, we said goodbye to Starkville and moved to Greenville:

In July, we celebrated the 4th with great friends in Charleston:

I turned 25:

And two days later, so did Zach:

I also started work:

In August, I spent a lot of time adjusting to my new schedule and exploring our new city:

In September, we started the month out right with friends and football:

Amanda visited and we went to a Clemson game:

And we went to a Tennessee game with Jim and Margot:

In October, we cheered on the Dawgs in Starkville:

In November, we celebrated Thanksgiving and I had my first bridal shower:

And in December, we celebrated one year of being engaged:

Celebrated Christmas as a little family with my family:

I had my second bridal shower:

And Zoe saw snow for the first time!:

2013 is sure to be an amazing year. It’s our wedding year (!!) plus an exciting year for the people in our lives as well as a great year to reach some goals I’ve set for myself. I’ll be posting about those later this week. I hope you all enjoyed an amazing New Year’s Eve and a restorative and relaxing New Year’s Day to begin 2013. Happy New Year y’all!

Since so many of us will be unplugging this weekend or traveling to see family and friends, I thought I would stop by early to say Merry Christmas! Thank you all for being supportive of my very random blog journey this year. I’m so glad to be more active in the blogging community again after a much needed break.

We are headed north to spend Christmas in New England. Many pictures of our adventure to come!

Safe travels to everyone on the road or on a plane!

Merry merry Christmas from myself, Zach, and sweet Zoe!

After months of thinking about various ideas, I stumbled upon an Etsy seller that had created photo alphabets at several universities. As luck would have it, she had an alphabet for Mississippi State! We knew we had found a winning idea!

We chose letters that spell out WYNNE, for our new family’s last name.

I love that I know exactly on campus where all the photos were taken!
The W is Bully’s paw at the statue at the stadium
The Y is the goal posts at the stadium
The first N is the gates outside the stadium
The second N is the door at the entrance to the dining hall
The E is a Bully paw print near the stadium

We took the images to Hobby Lobby, where we bought a frame and then had them add maroon and white matting so we could put the pictures in the frame. We plan on having a maroon pen for guests to sign the white part of the matting.

I can’t wait to have this hanging on our walls as a wonderful reminder of our big day!

What is the most creative guest book you’ve seen? What did you use for a guest book at your own wedding?