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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Couples Shower – New Orleans Style

With only four months left until we make things official, this weekend was time for our very first shower! Tres and I traveled to his hometown and where a lot of Tres’ family and our close friends live, Knoxville, TN. Our wonderful friends threw us the most amazing wedding shower I have ever been to. Set at Getteysview Country Club, the vibe was classy and fun, the food was melt in your mouth amazing, the drinks were free flowing, and the company was more than we could ever ask for!

We had friends travel from Memphis and Atlanta to be there, and my family came all the way from Mississippi while Tres’ mom came all the way from Florida! One thing about being engaged and having people celebrate you is realizing how many people really love you and would do anything in the world for you. It’s easy to forget and to take it for granted, but once you see every person who loves you in the same room together, it becomes so clear, and it makes you never want to take it for granted ever again.

While we had approximately 50 of the people who love us most there, I couldn’t help but imagine how many more would be there at our wedding and how loved we will feel on that day four months from now. Loved… excited… and overwhelmed. Can I just say that feeling a lot of love is sometimes very stressful! I got a little dose of what wedding day would be like at this shower: the stress of getting hair and makeup done – pretty and on time, running around talking to everyone in the room at the party, hoping everyone is having a good time and is well-entertained, NOT EATING, and the most heartbreaking part of all… how it all goes by so quickly. This shower was 3 hours – same as our wedding reception will be – and it FLEW by. It felt like a mere hour from the time we walked in the shower until my parents were packing up our gifts and heading out the door.
I have to say, this was the perfect practice for what the wedding is going to be like and I learned five things:
1) I need to calm down... and do it on my own – not by downing two glasses of wine in under 30 minutes.
2) If people want to talk to me, they will come talk to me. I don’t have to run up to every person in the room I make eye contact with. They have friends there and don’t need me to entertain them.
3) EAT! Everyone knows food is always my #1 priority, well when you are too busy talking and running around, it’s true – you don’t eat. I cannot let this happen at the wedding!
4) Stop for a minute alone, look at everyone in the room, enjoy the setting, and take it all in – realize how blessed I am to be getting married to someone so wonderful and to be celebrating with so many wonderful people.
5) Have Tres beside me all night. With two people trying to talk to so many people, it’s easy to split up – Tres and I didn’t see each other for the first half of the shower. We can’t do this at the wedding!
With a few lessons learned, a mountain of wonderful gifts to take home, and speeches and toasts that will remain in my mind for a lifetime, I feel so blessed to have the family and friends we had at our shower Saturday night. It means the world to me that my parents and grandparents would make the trip to meet everyone and experience the shower with me. It was a true blessing to have Tres mom come from so far away and enjoy it with us. It was so wonderful to have Tres’ Knoxville family there are well. And as for Tres’ friends… he is so blessed with the group of friends he has – it’s truly a unique and uncommon group – there are so many of them, and they all love him so much. I have never seen anything like it with a group of guys – they are truly his second family, and I am so grateful to say that they are now mine!
Thanks to Lori and Elise for all the décor – it was straight from “The Big Easy” and perfect! Thanks to the guys involved in throwing the shower: Trevor, JG, Mike, Cole, Boog. And thank you to Tres’ mom, Carol, and Tres’ sister, Renee for completing the New Orleans theme by getting authentic cakes and desserts delivered straight from New Orleans all the way to Knoxville. You guys are ALL THE BEST! We loved everything!

FAMILY

Grandmother, Me, Momma
Family and Soon-to-be Family
FRIENDS
The girls
After hours... Martini Bar
Me and the HOSTesses with the MOSTesses! The Guys
Hip, Hip, Horray! Hip Hip Horray... FOR TRES!
CHAMPAGNE TOASTS
Mike's speech Us laughing at one of our friend's toasts! GIFTS
Can you tell how much we love wine?
Adore our china!

34 comments:

  1. Looks like so much fun, and I adore your dress! Where did you find it?

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  2. Your dress is so adorable! Looks like yall had a great time!

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  3. Oh my goodness, I loved this post! You are soooo beautiful in your dress, your family and friends are so attractive, and a lovely setting! Andrea, you are a true Southern lady! Love it! xo!

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  4. What a great blog post! You did a wonderful job of summing it all up, complete with photos! I love looking at the pics, it reminds me of how much fun we all had :) Love you and cannot wait until the wedding!

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  5. how fun! Im dying over your dress...Ive got to know where you got it! your adorable!

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  6. Thanks for stopping by my blog :) Congrats on getting married, these pictures are great, and I love your dress!! Looking forward to following you!

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  7. you too look absolutely adorable!

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  8. i love this! after living in knoxville for almost 10 years, i'm embarrassed to say i've never been to gettysvue. you were gorgeous in your yellow, miss thing! xoxo

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  9. What a FANTASTIC shower and I absolutely love your blog! You looked amazing! I'm now officially a follower! :)

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  10. love..love your dress! Thanks for stopping by! Can't wait to hear more about your wedding!!

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  11. I'm so glad you found my blog!!! :)
    That is absolutely the only sad thing about your wedding day - after it's over, you can't do it over and over again! My husband and I always talk about how we wish you could have THAT much fun and have ALL of the people that you love in one place at least once every few years! :) So ENJOY every minute of it!!! :)
    And by the way I am in LOVE with your dress - it is fabulous!!!

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  12. you guys are a gorgeous couple!

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  13. What a fabulous shower! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and for the sweet comment. Hope you are having a good weekend! :)

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  14. What a beautiful shower!! And your dress . .WOW it is SO fabulous!! So cool that you live here in Memphis and you are with a magazine too!! How neat! So glad you had such an amazing shower!! Congrats and I look forward to us following each others blogs!!

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  15. What a beautiful family and friends you have! Thanks for posting on my blog, because now I'm a new follower and I look forward to reading!

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  16. Thank you so much for visiting and commenting on my blog! BLUE wedding shoes, I knew when I read that I would just love you!
    #4 on your list is the MOST important!
    Have a pretty day!
    Kristin

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  17. Love your pretty yellow dress. :) I went to a wedding in NOLA in the fall- and it was amazing. I'm sure yours will quite the party!!!

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  18. How fun! I love your yellow dress! It's so pretty!

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  19. Hey Andrea, thanks for stopping by my blog : )
    My husband and I just got married at Mater Dolorosa church in NOLA (my hometown) on March 20th. I see you're getting married at Southern Oaks. One of my best friends used to work there for years and years. It was actually one of my top picks for a reception site but it ended up being a little too far from the Quater where all of our out of town guests were staying. Here's a link to our wedding website, in case you need some ideas for attractions to keep your guests busy during the wedding week.

    http://www.mywedding.com/lizmitch/

    Good luck with everything! I know people always say "soak up every minute because the day goes by so fast", but as a recent bride, I can tell you it really is true. So don't forget to slow down and enjoy every moment!

    PS: when I evacuated for Katrina I ended up staying with my Aunt in Chatanooga for about 3 months... your fiance comes from a great state!

    If you have any questions about planning or the city let me know : )

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  20. LOVE LOVE LOVE the party dress!! great choice sweetie...

    and the party looks like it was a hit--GREAT theme and so fun!! sit back and enjoy every minute and i am so glad you're learning that NOW rather than after the wedding--thanks for the tips sweetie!!

    p.s. as for the bmaid dress, i've got 2 POB contenders--just need to get 3 more of my girls to try them on so we can see what works the best on everyone

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  21. Hi!

    How adorable are the two of you?!?! I would love to help in any way I can with rehearsal dinner planning. You can email me at imanolagirl@gmail.com. What an exciting time in your life! Enjoy every minute of it!!

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  22. you look beautiful!!! your dress is incredible!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

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  23. So much fun!! And that dress is to die for! You look stunning!

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  24. What a super fun Shower! I agree with everyone; your dress was AMAZING! :-)

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  25. that yellow dress is stunning. amazing. :)

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  26. Your dress is beautiful and so are you! :)

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  27. Your shower looked AMAZING and I LOVE the yellow dress, you're right! Isn't this just the best time ever?! just so much love from all directions :) Happy planning!

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  28. You look gorgeous! I love your bright yellow dress. I agree with you on the important things for the big day. My two big ones were staying with my husband all night and eating! Looks like you had a wonderful shower full of love and laughs.

    xo
    Valerie

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  29. Gosh, I am in love LOVE with that dress!! Its the best thing ever. Perfect!!

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  30. You look so pretty! I love your dress!
    Thanks for stopping by my blog!
    www.poolovesboo.blogspot.com

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  31. You look great in your dress wow! Very pretty congrats!

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  32. Looks like you had an amazing time! Love your dress! eee!

    www.meg-land.blogspot.com

    xx

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  33. Looks like you two had a blast! Cute dress!

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