The Wanderlust Wedding June 2014

[Guest]

Ah what a lovely story. The bridal shoot photos are amazing!
Looking forward to hearing more.

[Guest]

What a great read that was...and such lovely photos.
Not long now you must be zoo excited

[MmmBlondie]

Originally Posted by LaurenYorkshir

Great start and a lovely story

See more...

Thank you

Originally Posted by tiggs300

Ah what a lovely story. The bridal shoot photos are amazing!
Looking forward to hearing more.

See more...

Thank you. I think my photographer did a great job. At least I know she take some good wedding photos lol.

Originally Posted by DisneyBride2Be

What a great read that was...and such lovely photos.
Not long now you must be zoo excited

See more...

I am super excited! Everything is coming together nicely.

Once I work out how to do an index and link the rest of my installments to page 1 I will add the next 2 installments. This is my first "trippie"...so as they say in Miranda, bare with

[juliab]

Ahh such a lovely story. Love your wedding plans and your bridal shoot photos are beautiful

[MmmBlondie]

The Cocktail Hour

After our ceremony has finished our bridal party, Josh, our photographer Ashley & I will momentarily leave our wedding guests while we take photos around the golf course. Golf Carts will be picking us up around the front and then we shall be off!



I'm secretly hoping they have a cart just like this...especially as Helena is deathly afraid of anything shark related. She even ran out of the cinema during Finding Nemo when Bruce showed up lol.

The scenery around the golf course is beautiful and I'm actually hoping to swing by hole 15 to take some photos if possible as Josh & I are having a house built there. Once he's back from Afghanistan were looking to sell our current home and then move once our new house is finished. I might actually try and sell our house myself as I passed my real estate exam tuesday night! I did it while hunkered down in the bathroom, with the dogs, hiding from a tornado lol.

You can just see our venue in the background here


And here is hole 15


As you can see from previous weddings the backdrop is just divine and I cant wait to be sitting out by the pool watching the world go by. I love to people watch so I can easily picture myself watching some enthusiastic golfers while they try desperately to get their ball out of the sand haha.







Weve given ourselves about an hour to an hour and a half to have these photos taken while our guests enjoy our cocktail hour. We didn't want to leave them too long but they should be well entertained.

The main lounge/dining room will still be closed off at this point but they will have the 2nd lounge, bar area, outside areas and foyers to explore.

We will be having 2 signature cocktail's for our guests to try...both with a little travel twist on the name.

The first will be a Long Haul Iced Tea which is basically just a Blue Long Island



And a Wanderlust Woo Woo. Which is just a woo woo but we might make it strawberry flavored.



Music will be playing but not too loud as I would like people to be
able to mingle, talk and actually hear each other lol. I've witnessed some extremely loud weddings and I doubt my guests would enjoy shouting at each other all afternoon

Were aiming to have an open bar and 2 kegs for the wedding so along with the 2 signature cocktails I'm sure we'll have enough alcohol



Along with the alcohol we will be having a selection of hot & cold Hors D'oeurves which include:

• Smoked Salmon Canapes
• Caprese Salad
• Chicken Cordon Bleu Bites
• Coconut Shrimp

plus 2 Hors D'oeurve displays which are an International Delight display (assorted cheeses, fresh fruit & crackers) and a Little Italy display (salami, prosciutto, olives, peppers, baguettes & olive oil).

They sound so yummy but as were going to be out on the course taking photos I will have to get my friends to stash some away for us

Just before we get back, the doors to the dining room will be opened & our guests can finally see where they will be seated My cake will also be in this room, the DJ and a s'mores bar I've created.

The DJ will ask for everyone to find their tables, be seated & once were ready announce us as husband & wife were we will make our big entrance. Then the reception can begin!

The Reception Dinner

We are having a sit down meal for the reception dinner and I recently went for the food tasting with Helena as Josh isn't here. With my wedding package with the venue our guests have a choice of 3 entrees.

I have set up a Facebook poll to find out what the majority of our 92 guests want to eat. Hopefully the non fb friends will let us know soon

I had considered having a buffet style dinner but I always worry with buffets. I get worried about food sitting out too long, going cold, people waiting in line too long etc. Plus with the amount of people who will eating I was worried that some people would over eat and some people wouldn't get anything.

The choices of entrees are:

8oz Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon



Lemon & Herb Chicken



Eggplant Parmesan Pasta



It was all delicious as you can tell by the half eaten pasta and I hope our guests enjoy their food too.

Starch wise we have chosen garlic mash potatoes and rice pilaf. For the vegetables it will green beans with grape tomatoes and broccoli spears. The venue will pair up which entrée goes best with which starch/vegetable and my guests will have the choice between a traditional salad or a caesar.

So far were decided that once were introduced into the reception we will have our first dance followed by the food. As much as were looking forward to the food, were more excited to get the reception party started

NEXT UP...THE CAKE & S'MORES BAR

[MmmBlondie]

After our reception dinner we've decided against having any formal deserts. Instead our guests have a few other options which include cupcakes, a s'mores bar and our wedding cake.

The Cake

Originally Josh & I were looking to have a 3-4 tier cake that matched our color scheme but upon looking around we changed our minds and decided to have it match our theme instead.

I was roaming around my best friend Pinterest and came across this beauty of a cake!



I fell in love straight away and Josh really liked it too. I called up my cake maker and asked if she could bake something similar and she said yes

We will be keeping with the 4 tiers and as tradition we will keep the top tier for a year until our anniversary. The actual cake will be a vanilla sponge cake with peanut butter and chocolate ganache filling between the layers. I LOVE peanut butter & chocolate. Hand me a bag of reeses pieces or a few peanut butter cups and watch them disappear

The suitcase and map tiers will be very similar but I'm looking for a different cake topper. I've seen a few I like and Josh doesn't mind which one we choose so I'm thinking of purchasing this one from Etsy.



I like Etsy as they have some awesome wedding items. As the cake topper is customizable, like a lot of things, it's going to take 3-4 weeks to get here so I better order it soon!

Along with the cake, one of my close friends is baking me around 3 dozen red velvet cupcakes (with Malibu blue butter cream frosting) to surround the cake. We love red velvet and I cant wait to eat one. My friend is an amazing cupcake baker!

The S'mores Bar

For an extra sweet treat we decided on a s'mores bar! We knew we wanted some type of candy bar and thought a s'mores bar would be perfect as its soooo American A lot of my UK friends and family have never had a s'more I'm super excited for them to try one, or 2 or 3!

If you're not sure what a s'mores bar is, its basically this...



Some kind of fire, chocolate, graham cracker and marshmallows

I've actually already made part of my s'mores bar - the fire



It was a really good fun DIY project to do and I did it with Helena while she was visiting. The 2 boxes are just wooden planters from Lowes, then we filled the bottom up with hard foam so it wasn't too heavy, put some gel sterno cans on top then filled around them with blue fish stones. I think they really came out great!

I have already bought A LOT of marshmallows and made sure I bought the square ones so they s'more perfect.

Chocolate wise I will be buying milk, white and dark chocolate plus peanut butter cups!



Fingers crossed the sweet treats go off without a hitch and no one burns the venue down...or even worse...chocolate on my dress haha.

NEXT UP...DIY PROJECTS & THE WEDDING FAVORS

[rens]

Such a lovely story about how you met and got married- it would make a fab movie!

Your bridal shoots pics are beautiful and I love your travel theme.

The S'mores bar sounds amazinggg!

[Twentyyears]

Lovely plans and love how you met and moved, wonderful heartwarming story.

[Guest]

Love this! When I saw what you were walking down the aisle to I was like, "what?!?!" but I've just listened and it's SO perfect!

[Guest]

All your plans look amazing and I just love the s'mores bar we are having s'mores shooters at our reception