Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Wedding Recap: Rehearsal Dinner

The day before our wedding is when we had the bridesmaid brunch (read here) and the rehearsal dinner. The realization that wedding time was actually here had already hit me a few days before when I was heading to Wilmington but the brunch/rehearsal dinner day is when all of the stress was gone and it was just time to have FUN celebrating!! Justin's parents hosted the rehearsal dinner at Blue Water Grill in Wilmington. The entire night was  absolutely perfect. There was a great view, amazing food, lots of laughs, toast and some {happy} tears. There is something SO special about having your closest family and friends all in one room. There is truly nothing quite like it!! 

Justin and some of the bridesmaids

Last night as an engaged couple!

The weekend wouldn't have been possible without me sister, aunt and mom!! 


Justin is a HUGE Carolina basketball fan and his cake was a perfect reflection of that. 

Justin's parents who hosted this AMAZING night!! 

Lots of tears followed by laughs thanks to my best friends toast!





Just thinking back to the whole weekend brings me so much joy. I'm so thankful for my family and friends who helped make everything possible! 

In case you want to catch the other wedding recaps you can here:


Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Bridesmaid Brunch

I knew I wanted to kick off the wedding weekend in a festive way to thank all of my bridesmaids for everything they have done. That's where the bridesmaid brunch came in! My Aunt graciously agreed to host the brunch in the house my family rented for the wedding weekend. It was such a special day.. I wish I could relive it all over again!! 

My mom and I started the day out extra early making a quick trip to Castle Hayne to scope out flowers for the wedding centerpieces. We found a wholesale flower market and had the absolute BEST time!! It was so fun to see everything start to come together the Friday morning before the wedding. It was definitely a feeling I will forever cherish! When we made it back to the house my aunt had everything set up for the brunch. The house looked beautiful (lots of pink, white and bows!) and smelled divine. She had set up lots of brunch food, a drink called The Charleston and a homemade cake ready. All of my bridesmaids attended as well as some other special ladies such as my mom, future mother in law, and some of our mothers best friends who Justin and I call our "second moms". 


All smiles here! My mom kept playing Going to the Chapel and dancing. Ha! It surely set the mood. (: I knew two things I wanted to include in the brunch were gifts for my bridesmaids and the cake tradition. Having a cake at a bridesmaid luncheon is a very southern tradition. Charms are tied to strings and placed around the cake. Each bridesmaid then pulls a charm out from the bottom of the cake and reads the meaning of the good luck charm. 







my mom, and my now mother in law! 

all the "second" moms and real moms! 

the best friends and bridesmaids I could ever ask for!

I gifted my girls a monogrammed bathrobe, a special ordered necklace and a Jane Austen quote I had hand lettered and water colored. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of the gifts!! It's been fun recapping the wedding so far!! The whole weekend was so perfect. I never want to forget that feeling or those memories. After all, that is how you should feel about your wedding weekend, right?! (; 


In case you missed the first wedding recap you can catch it here:

Monday, September 21, 2015

Football, Chili-Cheese Corn Muffins and Corn Chowder

This weekend was just what the doctor ordered.. restful and productive mixed with friends, family, football and Netflix. Friday night Justin and I celebrated a friends birthday with dinner at Flying Fish. Oh my word, they have the BEST shrimp and grits on the planet. Seriously- amazing! On Saturday we ran some errands to get our house a little more ready for Fall. We picked up flowers for the front porch and even found a new rug for our living room! I have to brag on my husband for the rug. He picked it out completely by himself and convinced me that it was a good purchase. I can be so indecisive, especially with such a big purchase. He did so good!! There were tons of football games on this weekend so I decided to get busy in the kitchen and some of Justin's family came over to enjoy food and football with us! Aren't nights like that seriously the best? We had wings, corn chowder and chili cheese corn muffins. The corn muffins and chowder were a hit. I'll definitely be making them again this fall. 

Chili-Cheese Corn Muffins
via Paula Deen


Ingredients 
1 3/4 cups self rising yellow cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour 
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup seeded and chopped poblano pepper
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted 
2 large eggs, lightly beaten 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin tins with vegetable spray. 

2. Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, cheese and poblano pepper. Make a well in the center of the mixture. 

3. In another bowl combine the milk, butter and eggs. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring with a spoon until moistened. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin filling 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes, until the muffins are lightly browned. 

This was the first time I used my new Kitchen aid Mixer so of course I had to document it!! 



Corn Chowder


Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter 
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped celery 
2 white potatoes, peeled and diced 
4 cups chicken broth
4 ears of corn
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/4 teaspoon pepper 
1 can condensed cream of celery soup
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

1. In a medium stockpot , melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and potatoes and saute for 2 minutes. Add the broth and boil the vegetables over medium high heat for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes are very soft. 

2. While waiting, cut the corn from the cobs with a sharp knife. 

3. Add the corn to the soup and cook for 5 minutes. Add the half and half , salt, pepper and cream of celery soup. Stir well to combine. Simmer until hot, serve immediately.Garnish with the bell pepper.  



There really is nothing like Fall, football and good food!