Wedding Recap: Welcome Cookout

I was one of those crazy brides who tracked the weather like crazy starting the Monday before our wedding (hey, at least I held out until that Monday!!) and it turned out that there was not a drop of rain to be had all weekend!! We were SO lucky! In fact, we started everything out with a hot and muggy evening spent at our “Welcome Cookout” held lakeside.

After going to “check” the tuxes with M., his groomsman, and his dad we made our way to the dock near my house to set up for a little early evening cookout. It was SO hot outside, but so fun spending time with our bridal party and family. M. and I picked up traditional NC BBQ earlier that afternoon, so we enjoyed a small feast of NC BBQ sandwiches, slaw, chips, pasta salad and brownies and cookies for dessert! Everyone enjoyed a beer or a glass of wine while catching up and chatting about the weekend ahead.

When the cookout dissolved M. and two of his groomsman and my two bridesmaids who were already in town made our way downtown to watch the second half of the NBA Final game. Obviously the entire time us girls just chatted, but we had some pretty funny conversations regarding M. and my Catholic marriage prep course and some of the things that we learned that afternoon.
M. dropped me off at my parent’s house around 1:00am and I was too excited for the next day to even sleep! I worked on a few last minute things I wanted to do before the wedding and then finally went to sleep around 3:00am. Of course every bride should get her beauty-sleep, but it was all to exciting for me!

Next recap…the bridal breakfast which was the perfect way to start the Friday morning before I became a Mrs.!