To kick off our destination wedding weekend, we invited all of our guests to a welcome party the night before. It was such a great way to celebrate with all of our loved ones before the big day. Since some of our favorite memories together are from traveling to Maui, we decided to make the night Hawaiian inspired and asked everyone to dress in their best resort wear. We wanted it to be bright, fun and have a tropical touch!
We worked together with our Wedding Planner and Florist to create a fun pre-wedding celebration with lots of color, good food and great entertainment. This event was also a great way to get our guests familiar with our reception venue. We had the Welcome Party at the WaterColor BoatHouse which was minutes from our reception venue the following day. Having this event allowed us more time to mingle with our loved ones that traveled for our celebration. I am so grateful we were able to have this extra time together.
Bridal Look Details — I wore a FARM Rio palm eyelet dress, clear block heels, pearl earrings with palm detail and carried a pearl clutch. My hair was done by my sister-in-law, makeup done by Jenelle, 30A Makeup Artist (we went for a fun, pink look), and tan by Payton, Elite Spray Tans. I call this Destination Bride Barbie!
Can we take a second for the event design and florals?! Since our wedding day was traditional and mostly neutrals, I wanted to incorporate colorful and boho accents into our weekend somehow. I believe Asher and I have both classic yet coastal/bohemian style, so this was such a great way to have the best of both worlds. The decor included patterned linens, rattan wrapped cylinders with pillar candles, tropical greenery and arrangements of pink and orange flowers. A mix of round and rectangular tables were set up on the venue’s deck overlooking Western Lake. I really loved the wicker furniture and lighting along with the vibrant florals. It all came together so beautifully and we are so thankful for the team behind it.
To have more time to party on the wedding day, we had our maid of honor and best man speeches at the welcome party. It was more casual (yet still a tearjerker!) and I am so glad we decided to do it this night. Asher and I also gave speeches to thank our guests for being along for the journey and coming to celebrate our love. If you know Asher, you know he is very quiet so the idea of a speech was intimidating. He pulled it together and left with a short and simple speech… “Cheers!” This was such a fun memory and couldn’t describe Asher better, lol! The whole weekend was a perfect reflection of us and this night really made such a fun core memory. Another fun note about the night was that it was my mother and father’s wedding anniversary (a reason why we chose the date 10.14 since my parents were married on 10.13!) What a great night to celebrate love!
Throughout the night, we had hors d’oeuvre, drinks and delicious desserts passed around. For entertainment, we hired a local singer, Kyle LaMonica, and rented a photo booth. Both a huge hit! The photo booth was set in the “Glam” filter with our wedding monogram and date in the corner of each photo. If you have seen the parties the Kardashian family members have thrown, you know exactly what I’m talking about! 😉 Our guests enjoyed having an opportunity to take pictures together and take home printed photos…I highly recommend having a photo booth for any event.
To thank our guests for traveling to our destination wedding, we put together some welcome bags. These jute welcome bags included a fun newspaper with details and times of the wedding events, a fun crossword, his and hers favorites (Asher was Reese’s chocolates and mine was an iced coffee cup sleeve), beef jerky (a funny inside joke since I was chilling and eating a jerky stick moments before Asher’s proposal…lol) and a “just in case” kit filled with tissues, mints, electrolytes, sunscreen and other goodies. We had fun customizing these and adding our personal touch.
Bridal Look Details — I wore a FARM Rio palm eyelet dress, clear block heels, pearl earrings with palm detail and carried a pearl clutch. My hair was done by my sister-in-law, makeup done by Jenelle, 30A Makeup Artist (we went for a fun, pink look), and tan by Payton, Elite Spray Tans. I call this Destination Bride Barbie!
All in all, we are so thankful to have had this celebration to kick off the wedding weekend. Nothing beats the pre-wedding jitters, the feeling of excitement over finally having all our loved ones together and the great anticipation of the weekend ahead. Asher and I are truly so lucky for these people and these memories.
Special thanks to our talented photographer, PV Cobia, for these amazing shots!
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