Weddingbee Blog

Midway through our B.V.I. honeymoon, we still hadn’t made it to one of the top attractions on Virgin Gorda - The Baths. So we hired a taxi and bumped our way along the island’s main road to the edge of the national park where a trail strewn with giant boulders hinted at what was to come.

With a little effort, we reached our reward!
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Not many men have set foot in a spa. Willingly. Or would readily admit it. But now we can count my husband in the small number of guys who’ve set a manicured toe inside. In all fairness, I don’t think he would have tagged along had it not been a couples’ massage.

After discovering there was an infinity pool just for spa guests, we decided to show up early. Like 2 hours early! What? You would have done the same thing.
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As part of our trip package, Mr. PaC and I were treated to a sunset dinner on the beach. We had so many awesome things on the itinerary that I really never gave it a second thought. Until we walked out onto the beach and saw this…

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After settling in, we began exploring our little bit of paradise.

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Come with me my love

To the sea

Hey hive, Mrs. Pain au Chocolat checking back in! Before I begin recapping our summertime secret garden wedding, of which there are 2,300 pictures to sift through, I thought I’d share our honeymoon with you. After weighing all our options, Mr. PaC and I decided to honeymoon at Little Dix Bay on Virgin Gorda.

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I must have a reputation for being hard to please because when it came time to make plans for the bachelorette party, BM R asked me what I wanted to do. (Uhm, I didn’t think it worked that way.) After some careful consideration and collaboration, we came up with three options, each with their own pros and cons:

Image via Active Diner

1. Night out in Philly.
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The Pain au Chocolats are married! Although we tied the knot almost two weeks ago, the wedding bliss just continues!

Our wedding was absolute perfection. Neither of us would change a thing. So how did it go?

One barefoot best man, two guests still in need of a designated driver the next day, one very fast convertible, one broken nose, one sprained ankle, two shiny new rings, one “borrowed” sailboat, 42 hairpins, one spontaneous combustion, 250 photo booth pictures, one wardrobe malfunction, two nights of professional fireworks… and one beaming bride!
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Monday:

Bride brain. I walk into a room and forget what I came in for. Frequently. My mind is ping-ponging from one thought to another. Five minutes later I snap to. This foreign behavior is unsettling. Must make more to-do’s. Focus. One thing at a time. Breathe.

Scrambling to get our house ready for my family who’s staying here until the hotel block starts. So much to do. My mind is racing thinking about everything that remains between now and Saturday morning…

Thank goodness Mr. PaC and I are both off from work today. We spent a few hours at the mall purchasing parent gifts, buying bulk items from Costco for the OOT bags and doing as much as we can in advance.

Tuesday:

I want to put my phone and email on Do Not Disturb, and simply chill between now and the big day. We’ve busted our butts to earn this week of nothing to do. It’s been pretty quiet since the 30 day mark. (Hel-lo Mexico trip!)

But the chaos is descending.
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Hive, I need your help! With a week to go before the wedding, I haven’t picked a father-daughter dance song. Well… that’s not entirely true. The two songs I picked were shot down by Daddy PaC. And we haven’t come up with anything suitable since then.

Some helpful background information:

I’m so proud of my dad.

• Daddy PaC is a musician. He taught himself to play guitar in high school, rocked in a band before I was born and continues to play music in a band and at church. He really has an ear for music! The man owns enough guitars to fill my old bedroom—just ask Mom!

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Here’s another project has been crossed off our to-do list! This can only mean one thing—the end is near. No, not that end. The end of wedding planning! And with every end, there is always a beginning to look forward to. Ah, but that’s a post for another day. You’re here to see latest project, right?

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The last time we talked about this project, I’d just found the silk flowers to honor our grandmothers. Because we’re short on time (OMG! 10 days left!!), how about we fast forward a bit?

This is the hunt table where our photos, guestbook and escort cards will be displayed. Lest you worry like I did that it won’t be large enough, let me tell you this is one beefy table. As in, 10.5 feet long by 3 feet wide. Plenty o’ room.

We did a mock-up of just the family photos and guestbook last night on the largest table we own—a 6’ folding table typically reserved for big parties. Sorry Mr. PaC, the beer pong table will be in use for the next day or so. (Please ignore the silver poinsettia tablecloth. It’s much better than the naked table.)
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My hair trial was a few weeks ago. Today’s the first chance I’ve had to review the photos of the two styles we tried. Now that I’m looking at the pictures…uhmmm, I’m not really happy with either one. (Caveat: I’m my own worst critic. Throw in some lovely hormones mixed with under 12 days left until W-Day and you get a stomachful of knots.) The good news is I re-looked at my inspiration images and have isolated what needs to change. The bad news is I no longer trust my own opinion so I need to see it on me to know for sure. What I think would look good on me could be a disaster and there’s only the morning of left to figure this out.

Both images via Style Me Pretty / Photo by Bliss Wedding Studio

The first hairstyle we tried was the detailed, interwoven updo (above). Because my gown has so much detail already, we downplayed the amount of detail in the hairstyle. The detail is what I liked about those styles.
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Our final head count is due to our caterer today, but we’re ahead of the game! Because our guests are the kind, responsible sort, they returned their RSVPs promptly. The last of our RSVPs were waiting for us after our Mexico trip. It’s taken me a little while to compose this post because I wanted to supplement the stats with pie charts. That’s right. Pie charts!

The Yays and the Nays: Who’s in

Total # of guests - 101

Yes responses - 85 (not including us)

No responses - 14

Nom nom nom

With such a trim guest list, we were surprised (but understood why) a large group of people couldn’t make it. Part of my extended family would have driven between 15-18 hours to make it to our shindig. Quite a haul! Others wanted to join us and were bummed to decline because of health or work reasons.

Our first draft of the guest list was close to 120, which did not include kids. Which leads me to the first statistical topic!
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Table names are one of those details where the personality of the couple can really shine. I had lots (!) of ideas. Many of which Mr. PaC shot down quickly. Hrmmm.

yellow things - this one takes commitment! Also, I’d rather leave the thematic education to Sesame Street.

random things that we love - under apothecary bell jar cloches for a museum or terrarium feel. I just wanted an excuse to buy/rent 10+ bell jars.

via Remodelista / sourced from Restoration Hardware

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After what seems like forever, I’ve finally found jewelry for my sister and BM R! You see, it’s not that we couldn’t find jewelry we liked, it’s that we found TOO much jewelry we liked. How do you narrow down hundreds of awesome pieces when the choice is left up to you… and you’ve never done this before?

A marathon shopping trip (six hours in new wedges—ouch, dummy!) a few weeks ago turned up a few possibilities. BM R, who trends toward classic and blingy, was coveting this lovely pair:

Nadri CZ Drop Earrings via Nordstrom

They were even more sparkly spectacular under those Nordstrom lights, but $88/pair was more than I wanted to spend. (The girls’ dresses and jewelry are my wedding present to them.)
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