Wedding Welcome Bags

I was so excited about the welcome bag for the guest staying at the Beau Rivage for our wedding! I thought they turned our super cute, and we had fun making them too. Rick and I went to SAM's Club an stocked up on goodies, and it cost much less than I expected. So here is what we put in them: Cheez-it, bottled water, granola bars, chips or smartpop popcorn, Advil, mints, laffy taffy, assorted mini candy bars, sweetarts, and a weekend itinerary. I got plain white gift bags, navy and aqua tissue paper, and I printed labels myself. Here is the finished product:

Here is a close up of the label. Sorry I don't have a better picture, but after making 60, we were over it.

Let the Wedding Weekend begin!

After our night in Meridian, MS, we drove straight to the Beau Rivage, dropped off all our stuff (LOTS OF STUFF! We couldn't even see out of the windows in the car), and headed to the airport to pick up Rick's college roommate Eric and his fabulous wife Rachel. Rick talked about "the Erics" all the time, and I had never met either of the Erics before the weekend, and was pretty pumped to meet these people that meant so much to Rick. Rachel and I had become besties on facebook, so I was beyond thrilled to FINALLY meet my new bestie! Rachel and Eric came all the way from Appleton, Wisconsin to be there with us for 4 days in Biloxi, were the first to book a room, and the first to book flights, I knew I would love this couple! Below are the famous Eric & Rachel.

Aren't they adorable??? I LOVE THEM, and can't wait to see them again soon. We took them to one of the Biloxi staples, the Old Biloxi Schooner for lunch, and caught up, then it was back to the Beau to unload again, then Rick & Eric headed back to the airport to pick up the other Eric. The other Eric is the other college roommate I had yet to meet. Rick, Eric, Eric, and James all lived together at Auburn, and oh the stories they tell. Below is a pic of the 4 of them back together 10 years later.
They were like little kids, so excited to see each other. I was super excited to meet Eric H., but we were sad his wife couldn't make the trip. She stayed home with their 3 kids for football games, back to school, etc. AMY WE MISSED YOU! They live in Cape Coral, FL, by the way. All of Rick's roommates were groomsmen in our wedding as they were all 4 in each other's weddings. They are quite the crew, and it was so fun to see them all together again reminiscing about the good ole days on the plains. To the Erics and Rachel, thank you SO much for coming so far to be there for Rick and me, you have NO IDEA what it meant to us!
Here are Traci, Rachel, and me at eight75 in the Beau.

Our sweet friends Kristen and Brad also made it down from Hattiesburg to get the weekend started early, as you can see Traci, Kristen, and me below.

We had quite the crew on Thursday night, Matthew, Jordan (who came from NYC to be a part of our wedding), Walker & Heather (it was H's birthday!), James & Abnous, Beth & Kyle, Charles & Jennifer all made it down. The few of us that were there in time for dinner went to my dad's (now my step-mom's) restaurant Manhattan Grill. It was so nice to have all these new friends of mine in a place that meant so much to my dad. The dinner was EXCELLENT as always, as was the company. It was a PERFECT way to start off the weekend. Then it was back to the Beau to meet up with the late arrivals at eight75. We had a FABULOUS night, and were so thrilled to have so many amazing friends there to celebrate with us on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the place I love so much. THANK YOU ALL for a weekend we will NEVER FORGET! We are so blessed!

OK, so I had to put this pic on here because it cracked me up when Rachel sent it to me. Apparently, Rach was trying to find something in her purse, but had too much stuff in there. So I helped her out. All the stuff in my hands, and the sunglasses are from her purse. I LOVE IT!

Mississippi Marriage License

Let me just say getting a Mississippi marriage license while living in Alabama is no easy task. First, Rick and I had to go to the Birmingham health department to have a blood test. Yes, I said a blood test in 2010. I think Mississip is one of the only states that still requires this, and while you may think it is to be sure we are not cousins, it is actually a syphilis test. Is this not the craziest thing you have ever heard? Two weeks later our results came in as "non reactive" so I guess we passed? Then the fun part, we drove to Meridian, MS on a Tuesday night (because it is the closest MS city to Bham), had to get a room, wake up bright and early go to the Meridian Health Dept, to have our blood results verified by the state of Mississippi. As you can see from the picture, Rick was super excited about this. He was seriously asleep in the health department.

We got there at 7:30am, and were about 10th in line. After waiting about 1 1/2 hrs, they called us into a booth, only to tell us "the lady that does that aint here today, you will have to come back another day." WHAT!? I immediately start crying, as the reason we did it this was is I have no vacation time left and had to get back to work ASAP. I told the girl with tears streaming down my face in total panic since we were 2 weeks out from the wedding, we can't come back. I explained it to her, and she said "well I can try to do it, please don't cry." She brought us back a form that literally had 4 blanks she had to fill in, our names, and our current addresses. Now seriously, only 1 lady in that office can do this? On to our next stop, the Lauderdale County Circuit Clerk's office. Filled out a few forms, this took about 3 minutes, and we were done! Well, not actually done, but close. You have to wait 72 hours, then come back to pick up the actual marriage license. SUPER! So the Wednesday before our wedding, after a 3 day work trip for Rick, a 9pm arrival at Bham airport, loading the car (to the rim!), and a 2 hour drive, we were in yet another hotel in Meridian, MS at 1am. Finally the Thursday before the wedding, we wake up bright and early, head to the court house and pick up our official marriage license!!! YAY!!! Then it was off to the Beau Rivage to get the wedding weekend started!

I will be back!

My computer broke the week before the wedding, so I have been without!!! Just got it back, and I promise I will back to the blog this weekend will all the pics, and details of our FABULOUS wedding weekend! WE HAD THE TIME OF OUR LIVES!!!! Can't wait to share it all! STAY TUNED!!!!