Twas the Night Before Marriage...

I have so much to share!
My mom came up last week and we had a great time,

but today I want to share a little story about one of the best times in my life, two years ago.

We were to be married 7.10.10

{don'tcha just love the ring to that?!}

My closest friends and family drove quite the distance, to a little town of Hammondsport, NY.

It is right on Keuka Lake, a gorgeous little area full of vineyards and wineries.

We decided that since we had our rehearsal dinner on Friday night, we'd stay at a 

Bed and Breakfast that night, and be right in town the day of our wedding.

My husband loves to drive, so he drove down for the rehearsal, then back home, then back down again for our wedding.

My friends and family rented out the entire B & B and we were so excited when we pulled up at the house,

only to find out that we were in for an interesting night!

The house was full of family photos and very much lived in. 

I had never stayed at a B&B before, and so I had no idea what to expect.

It was super hot, muggy and the old house had a certain stench to it...

We were shown our bedrooms, by a strange old lady, and as she escorted us around the house,

we met an even older lady in a half shirt, still cleaning up the rooms...

The first few bedrooms weren't terrible, but certainly not 'nice.'

We were kind of in a rush, and simply stashed our suitcases and wedding accessories,

and headed up to the vineyard where we were to be married the next day.

 It was so nice to have it a winery!

We were able to meet, have a few complimentary drinks

 {that we paid for by having our ceremony there, I am sure!}

And we practiced walking down the aisle...

 I wouldn't say I was a Bridezilla...

But I knew what I wanted, and wanted to make sure it all happened just so!

;)

{Dress & Shoes: Black House White Market}

Once we got that out of the way, we relaxed for a few,

took some pictures...

 My Fam

Then headed down to the local pub for our dinner.

Hubs-to-be making a speech.

 SO excited!

 Hard to believe that the next day, I'd be his wife!

For our bridal party gifts, I thought long and hard about meaningful gifts 

that I hoped my girls would use, time and time again.

I decided to give them each their own Coach wristlet, 

my favorite Victoria Secret lip gloss & a bottle of OPI nail polish.

I love seeing them use their wristlets, even to this very day!! 

I picked each one out that I thought represented their personalities.

I think they loved them!
{Sorry no picture}

For the guys, I bought beer mugs from the $1 store, had their name painted on

and inside each mug was a gift card to a store that person frequented.

I stuffed the mug with orange and pink tissue {our wedding colors}

and the boys used the mugs at our wedding the next day!

It was hard to say goodbye to Joe, but I knew the next time I saw him,

it'd be walking down the aisle to marry him.

He went home with his friends, and I returned to the B&B with mine!
It started to rain,which broke the humidity and cooled down the temperature a bit.

We got back to the house, changed into our suits and enjoyed some adult beverages...

Swimming and acting like a bunch of teenage girls talking, painting nails, and relaxing

all together.

It was absolutely perfect to have my dad and step-mom 

and all my friends with me the night before my big day.

 After dieting months ahead of time, I was a tad excited over these....

 Matty's creeped out expression of this weirdo place

 Cheers! I'm getting married!

After our rain swim session, and a few bottles of wine later...

we toured the house and discovered that the upstairs rooms,

which we had to pay the same amount for, had really strange items 

like the creepy doll room...

 The other room was full of little boy toys:

Toy Soldiers?

 I don't even know what part of the house this was!?

My friends and I tried on the weird shoes and clothes in the closets,

and were being rather inappropriate about what a crazy place we were staying!

Little did we know, that crazy didn't begin to describe this stay...

The next morning we awoke, finding NO ONE around the house

{other than our wedding guests}

After several phone calls, and peeking into the kitchen

that said Keep Out,

we realized we were not getting breakfast at our Bed and Breakfast.

 Thank goodness I have such awesome friends.

My matron of honor had brought coffee/pot for us to drink and 

as we all showered and got ready for the day, some of my friends ran to the grocery store

for bagels and fruit for us to eat while we decorated for the wedding.

On the way up to the winery, I finally received a phone call from Cathy,

one of the owners, informing me that there was a miscommunication 

And that she and her brother assumed the other were taking care of breakfast,

as she and her mother were already on their way to a family reunion...

So, in order to try and make up for it, she offered to buy me pizza.

Pizza on my wedding day.

For realz?
I politely declined, and she continued to insist, I became a little rude and told her

that this is my wedding day, I could not believe that this was something I had to deal with,

that if she thought sending a pizza for lunch would make up for her irresponsibility she was terribly wrong.

I hung up on her, since she wouldn't take no for an answer,

she continued to call and my dear friend Alison took care of it.

I was done and ready to focus on being a bride!
The stories and countless laughs 18 Vine Inn & Carriage House provided us,

were priceless.

My friends and I still send messages to one another about Cathy wanting to send us a pizza!

They also stole an old Jello box from the kitchen and it's in one of my scrapbooks

that I am determined to finish before baby bean arrives.

How did you spend the night before you said "I do"?
I have a feeling it may have been slightly different, than how I spent mine.

I wouldn't have had it any other way!

Here's a sneak peak of what our special day entailed <3