I can’t believe that Matt and I got married over a week ago! I’m starting to get photos back from our official photographers and will be sharing recaps throughout the week of each section of the big day, but before I do that, I thought I should first talk about the day before!
Last Friday, October 12th, the day before our wedding, I started my day with my beautiful bridesmaids. 🙂
My mom treated the five of us to manicures and pedicures to get ready for the big day. It was such a relaxing way to spend the morning! We went to Hollywood Nails in Ballston, VA. It was great – very sweet staff and very reasonably priced, too! I’ve only had a couple pedicures before so I don’t have a ton of comparison but this one was pretty awesome. They did all sorts of stuff includes leg massages and scrubs, a wax coating, and of course some lovely nail polish. 🙂
They had us dip our hands and feet into a wax and then peeled it off – apparently it made the skin nice and soft? It also made whatever it coated look like a corpse until they took it off. Hot.
After our hands and feet were all pretty, we hit up Sweetgreen for lunch. They have an AWESOME October themed salad on the menu right now – kale, apples, white cheddar cheese, etc. I didn’t get it but some of the other girls did and I was jealous! Must go back for it before the month is over…
After lunch, it was time to pack up and hightail it out to our wedding venue, Rosemont Manor in Berryville, VA! In addition to having the wedding ceremony and reception there, we also had our rehearsal dinner and a meet & greet there on Friday night. The main manor house was large enough for our immediate family and the bridal party to all stay there which was great – it made it very easy that we didn’t have to go anywhere the whole weekend. There were also some cottages on the property where a group of the groomsmen and their dates stayed plus some other close family and friends.
Shortly after we arrived and got changed, we had the ceremony rehearsal!
My matron of honor Jenny’s mom threw together this fun bouquet for me using a bunch of ribbons from my bridal shower. So cute!
After the rehearsal, it was time for dinner! Matt’s parents did an absolutely beautiful job with the rehearsal dinner. We were originally going to have it outside on the beautiful front portico at the manor, but it was a little chilly so they made a game time decision to move it inside. Good call!
Loved the table numbers. 🙂
But the star of the night was these gorgeous table settings.
Matt’s parents put these together by hand and literally brought all the separate items down with them from Pittsburgh. I was so impressed with their creativity. In the baskets were fresh herbs, flowers, vegetables, and even bread and wine! We loved the monogrammed napkins, too. 🙂
I so wish that I had taken some pictures of the food at dinner – I was so distracted with chatting that I completely forgot! Blogger fail. The food was a BBQ/picnic theme – we had kebobs of meat and vegetables, pulled pork on whole wheat buns, baked beans, and more. Plus apple pie with ice cream for dessert. 🙂 Both our wedding reception and the rehearsal dinner were catered by Celebrations Catering. They were great – highly recommend! More on them in the reception post.
Matt and I felt very loved surrounded by so many family members and close friends. We gave our groomsmen and bridesmaid gifts out and Matt’s family and some of our friends gave lovely speeches. We were so touched.
After dinner was over, Matt’s parents hosted a meet and greet at the manor for some of our close friends that we knew would already be around on Friday night for the wedding festivities. The meet and greet featured local Virginia wine and Pittsburgh beer!
A local Virginia wine expert was there offering tastings – awesome!
We had a blast – great turnout! It was really nice to get a chance to spend some extra time with friends and family since we knew our actual wedding day and reception would be so crazy.
The party ended around 10:30, everyone left by 11, and I retired to my room to attempt to get some sleep before the big day. 🙂
Stay tuned for more!
