It Felt Like a Dream...

The first of my college friends is married and off on her honeymoon. At the rehearsal on Friday, I felt like I was walking down the aisle in a dream. How did I get here? What's happening? When did I get this old? The funny thing is, I've had more than a year to prepare for this wedding. However, I still had many "pinch yourself" moments. :)

Rachel and I headed up to High Point on Wednesday. We were the first ones to arrive, and it was great to spend some time with Anne by ourselves before the wedding festivities began. Since this is the first wedding I have been in, I was blown away by all the details that go into planning on wedding!!! Seeing Anne's to-do list made me thankful that it was not my wedding! :)

Thursday afternoon we took Anne out for "Bachelorette" activities. We outfitted her with a "Bride To Be" sash and visited the Childress Vineyard, which was beautiful. It's a relatively new winery, but 95% of the wine they sell is produced on site! Since we had time before the tour began, Anne did the wine sampling. I tried the "Classic Blush," which was actually the only wine I have tasted and actually liked! :) We also learned the three steps to "properly" drinking wine:

1) Look at the wine. (To ensure a good color? I can't quite remember)

2) Smell the wine - if you smell wet cardboard or cork, don't drink it!

3) Let the wine roll over your tongue. (Or, if you're like me, and haven't yet acquired the taste for wine, swallow as quickly as possible!!)

Rachel demonstrating the proper way to "sniff" the wine

 

The complimentary tour was lovely - it starts outside, and the tour guide talked about the growing and harvesting process. Then we headed inside to see the room where the wine ferments and the bottling plant. The grapes for the lighter wines are harvested beginning at the end of August. Harvesting continues until the end of November for some of the fuller red wines.

After the winery, we went to Southern Roots in Jamestown for dinner. This place was phenomenal!!! I was a very bad blogger and forgot to take pictures. :( We started with the gouda pimento cheese, which was amazing. For dinner, I had the shrimp and grits, which were the best I have ever had!! Below you can see Rachel with the fish tacos.

Friday started off with a bridal luncheon, hosted by Anne's aunt and cousin. We ate on the patio outside the Brookstown Inn. The weather was perfect, and the food delicious!! Rachel and I sat at a table with a woman from the church and her daughter. They were precious! We had a lovely time meeting and talking to them over lunch. After the rehearsal, we headed over to the Old Salem Tavern for dinner. They served Moravian chicken pie, which was sooo good. It's like chicken pot pie, except without the vegetables. For dessert, we had the grooms' cake, which was a chocolate chip pound cake decorated like a cigar band. I had never had fondant before, but I actually really liked it. It's really chewy, which added a fun texture to the cake. 

 Saturday, of course, was the big day!!! Everything went off beautifully...Anne looked absolutely gorgeous, the flowers were beautiful, and the reception was perfect. In hopes of being brief (and because it's more fun), I've decided to use a photo montage to describe the day. 

On Sunday, Anne and Daniel headed off to Costa Rica while I took off for Boston with the family. After two days of driving (with a brief stop in New York this morning!), we've finally arrived. I'm as far north as I've ever been, and excited about seeing the city tomorrow!!

 

Congratulations Anne and Daniel!!!