Weddingbee Blog

After we were properly fed, everyone headed downstairs to play a game! BM Jess put together a game where Mr. Socks and I had to answer a series of questions about each other, and our guests had to guess whether we would answer each question about each other correctly.

Our status was tracked via a game board that BM Jess’s little brother made for us:

It was Mont Blanc, the mountain where Mr. Socks proposed to me, and for every answer we got right, we moved up the mountain! It was a super fun game, but boy was I nervous! I answered a few questions that were SO obviously wrong, and I felt like a complete idiot and a bad wife!

Here’s Mr. Socks,  trying to justify one of his incorrect answers!

After the game, it was time to open presents! We called up Sister Socks and put her on speaker because I wanted to open her gift first, and it was a big one!

It was the BEST gift ever! It had goodies from Cincinnati to munch on, a bridal emergency kit, humongous sunglasses for our honeymoon, and just about every other little thing you could possibly imagine in it! She also wrote a rhyming poem for each item in the basket! Even though Sister Socks couldn’t make it to our civil ceremony, her presence was definitely there and I felt so lucky to have such a wonderful and creative sister!

I opened a few other gifts…

Can you tell that I was out of my mind with excitement over my new Villeroy & Boch serving platter? Thanks TJ and Lauren!

After that came something I did NOT expect! Some of our guests had brought a bottle of wine and dressed it up to represent a stage in our relationship. It was probably the cutest. thing. ever.

Lea and Matt gave us a bottle decorated with hearts, orchids, and the logo of where we went on our first date, and Jay and Jill gave us a bottle decorated with a fireman outfit for Ladder 15! It had a little hat, a ladder, and an axe! It was perfect!

Momma Socks gave us two bottles with HAND-SEWN aprons on them! This is quite a feat for Momma Socks, seeing as she never sews. Each apron was decorated according to our hobbies: my apron had “Chef Mandy” written on it with little pots, pans, and kitchen gadgets attached, and Mr. Socks’ apron said “Gardner Mike” with gardening tools attached to it! Momma Socks really outdid herself!

Two bottles we didn’t get individual pictures of were from BM Jess, who didn’t have time to dress hers up (the cupcake wine in front) but come on…she was probably busy making that amazing cake, right?

The other bottle is the second from the left was given to us by our friends Gary and Danielle, was in hopes for our future little anklet Socks! It was dressed in a diaper and had little baby stickers on it. ADORABLE, right??

One last gift that was given was a wine time-capsule…

BM Jess and BM Lea researched some wine that was supposed to be age-worthy and put it in this adorable suitcase! They had everyone at the party write us a little note to put in the suitcase, that way when we open the wine years from now, we can read everyone’s notes to us and relive the day!

Right after the presents, we cut into our GORGEOUS cake (it pained me to do so, but it was DELICIOUS).

Sigh…it’s just SO beautiful!

After the cake cutting, our photographer left, but the party didn’t end! We went up to my parents’ loft, played pool, darts, poker, and chatted! It was such a wonderful day, it was so full of love, and I’m so happy to have the pictures that I have from that day.

All Photos are courtesy of Corrine Banks Photography.

We haven’t received pictures from our big wedding yet, so I’ll probably dive into some honeymoon recaps and before-the-wedding projects soon!