Dan & Carleen's Wedding April 13th, 2019

Dan and Carleen were getting married!!

They chose the Edgefield as their wedding venue, which was great because Brent and I have that on our list of places to go, so two birds one stone...

This was the first weekend we left all the boys home with each other. It was a little nerve wracking, but ended up being just fine!

Brent and I headed out Friday when we got done with work. 

We headed straight to the Edgefield eager to check in to our room. I was hanging in suspense because we could get a room with a bathroom, or one without. They have a bunch of "common" or "shared" bathrooms, but only some rooms have their own private bathrooms.

also hoping it would not rain...

Once we arrived it was difficult to find parking and approaching 6:30pm. So we went ahead and found our room and checked it out. We had to get a map because the grounds has several building in which you are able to sleep. Our room was above the power station.
The combination of pictures I have are mostly from mine and the other wedding attendants phones. Hopefully once she gets some of the actual photographers pics I can have some copies and post them...for now, here is the wedding weekend as captured by our phones and a few pics from one red camera.

As we got to our room, I realized it did NOT have a bathroom. In fact it was only a bed in a room...sad times. We called Carleen and they were downstairs getting food. Instead of joining them, we went ahead and got our stuff from the car and settled in. Come to find out our room was right next to theirs. So when they were done eating and headed upstairs in between activities we joined them and headed up to the distillery.

The map we used to find everything

We hung out at the distillery for a little while and met the rest of the bridal party. We made plans to all meet at the soaking tub and Brent and I were going to go get some food. 

When we went to the restaurant we were told it would be a 40 minute wait. They said to order to go and it would be faster. We ordered our food, and since we had a 25 minute wait we headed back over to the soaking tub to check it out and check in with everyone. It really is an awesome place. The soaking tub was gorgeous and there was a conveniently placed bar right there. We went back to get our food and it still wasn't done. In fact we ended up waiting an extra half an hour.
By that time the soaking pool and pretty much everything else was closing, so we just took our food up to the room. I was starving and getting a little cranky. When I opened up the container and took my first bite I was hit with the devastating realization that I had also been given the wrong burger. Nooooo!

I pouted for a little bit, but quickly realized I needed to nourish my bad mood away. I sulkily ate my food and tried to be optimistic about the day so far and enjoy that Brent and I were somewhere we wanted to be without all the kids...with my new mindset Brent and I just decided to stay in. 

Besides it was late and the next morning was going to be starting bright and early.
We were all given the itinerary for the day of the wedding.

Saturday we were woken up by noise downstairs that sounded right outside the window, and a bunch of noise being made downstairs in the restaurant below us.
Try as we might we were not able to go back to bed. So we got up and decided to walk the mile lap around the golf course.

It was gently sprinkling and there were bunny rabbits everywhere....I must have counted at least 20.

There is the Hall where the wedding was going to take place

so many bunnies

After our walk we went and explored the coffee bar and the gift shop. By then it was almost time to meet up for breakfast with the bridal party. Carleen had told us to just roll out of bed and come sleepy and in our pajamas. So that is how Brent and I had been walking the grounds that morning. Since the soaking pools are a main attraction a lot of people were walking around in robes, so we didn't feel too weird. Well...Brent hates being in public in sweat pants, but I felt just fine.

The gift shop was fun and we got a little music box that plays happy birthday. We thought it would be fun during the boys birthday celebrations to pull out and start a new tradition.

Brent went back to the room to change, cause after breakfast he was going straight to golf. I sat around and waited for more of the wedding party to arrive at the restaurant.

Dan got each of his groomsmen different socks to wear for the ceremony

Bed Hair Don't Care

Pictures around the main building and the waiting room of the Black Rabbit that I took while Brent was changing into normal clothes...can't believe he didn't want to golf in his pajamas.

We ended up ordering this red flannel dish that was essentially beet hash with eggs. It was really yummy.

After breakfast we headed to our respective locations.

The guys golfed and the gals were supposed to have coffee and tea in the study...

Josh showed up for the golfing portion of the morning

Amy trying to enjoy the coffee in the study

Scott capturing a picture of us walking out of breakfast

Carleen asked Amy and I move some very heavy furniture around to get ready for the sand ceremony.

We lost Sarah to her hair appointment, and shortly after we needed to go get Carleen ready, so time in the study was cut short.

We left the study (after moving furniture and arranging things for a sand ceremony) and went to the hotel room to start the getting ready process. 

The guys went to the study to get ready and relax before the ceremony.

Meanwhile my Mom, Jen, Brea, Dad and Josh were getting the hall/ceremony room ready.

Groomsmen getting ready

Brittany was Carleen's makeup and hair stylist. She brought her own big folding chair and lights...it was intense.

Some of the table decore

Breanna did Elysia's hair and makeup....

Elysia and I wearing our bridesmaid robes that we got as presents

Never knew how much make up is involved in these kind of  things....

Sarah and Amy getting ready in the bathroom...yes Carleen's room had a bathroom

The pictures are slightly mixed up, but when Carleen's makeup and hair was all ready...it was time to get her into her ceremony dress.

Carleen ended up with two dresses. She bought "the one" and after wearing it around for the fitting and alteration apppointments she realized it was leaving large red marks on her neck and was ultimately uncomfortable for long periods of time.

So, she purchased a second dress for her reception.

The finished hair

Elysia make up finished

With Carleen ready and in her dress all she needed was the veil....then the rest of us could finish getting ready

Sarah placing the veil on Carleen

Carleen had a hard time with the veil...not only was their a panicky nightmare veil story leading up to the big day, but day of everyone kept stepping/tripping on her veil and pulling her head/hair with it.

The officiant, Steve,  and his wife arrived. Steve was Dan's youth pastor growing up.

As part of their day they chose to do a sand ceremony  to symbolize the joining of their lives as one unit. It was beautiful and heartfelt. It was open to only the immediate families. Each of them had a color of sand representing themselves, and one at a time they put some of their sand in a big circular jar. Carleen first, and Steve spoke of her life up until now and her as an individual. Then Dan, then Elysia, then Abram. Dan's sand came out kind of quickly an Elysia said, "Ah, its like your taking over our lives..." and we all giggled. Each person was spoke of and emphasized how they led singular lives and were individuals, then they all poured sand in at the same time. This was symbolizing their coming together as a family and the impact it has when we join together. Steve spoke of the inability to separate the sand now. Their lives are forever changed.

Then we went around the room and prayed over them and their union.

This was showing the individual lives and layers

Joining their lives together, all pouring the sand in at the same time...it got a little messy

After the sand ceremony they also signed their marriage certificate. Dan's older sister (Meghan) and our older sister (Jennifer) were the witnesses.

All of the family and Dan left and the bridal party met and waited to walk on down to the Blackberry Hall.

Sidenote* The groomsmen were supposed to come meet us and bring umbrellas so that we stayed dry and clean for the ceremony. They did not show. So we walked down and there they were standing at the back of the building with the umbrellas all nice and dry. We quickly found our partners for the aisle walking and prepared ourselves for our cue.

Carleen chose to play the song "I get to love you" by Ruelle, for us to walk down the aisle. It is beautiful. She wanted to come out at a specific point in the song, so that took some coordinating and planning, but it worked out perfect.

Video of Carleen being walked down the aisle by Abram.
Then Abram tripping over her veil as he goes to be seated...

The ceremony was beautiful and the vows they spoke to each other were equally moving.

To start our walk down the aisle the Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling" started playing and we danced our way down the aisle and out of the building.

After the ceremony we went and attempted to take family pictures and bridal party pictures. While others converted the hall for the reception. Guests had an hour to explore and play around the grounds.

The grass was soaking wet and our feet were muddy and soaked by the time we were done.

I was freezing to the point where my body hurt, so Brent let me wear his coat.

As we started with our pictures it began to rain. My Dad and Josh never did make it to the location to get in the photos.
We headed back to the hotel room and met up with the rest of the bridal party.
We did some congratulatory drinks and speeches and then I headed back to the hall with Abram and Elysia while Carleen got into her reception dress.

We settled into the hall and it started quickly filling up with people.
There was a DJ and a photo booth.

The sand jar made it to the reception and was placed on one of the stands around the room

After a bit of mingling Carleen and Dan made their way into the reception and into their first dance together as Mr. and Mrs. Morrissey. As part of the dance Carleen held the shirt he wore on their first date. A shirt that said "this is guacward" with a chip dipping into guacamole. It is funny as part of their story because Carleen was sure he wasn't interested in her when he showed up to their first date wearing it.

After their dance more of us made our way to the dace floor. After awhile there was a buffet opened and the DJ played a game with the crowd in order to space the time out between everyone going up for the food. After some eating Scott and Sarah went ahead and gave their speeches.
We danced and sang until the hall was closing at 11:15.
Then we all started the break down and clean up.

Carleen talking to Ana and Stephanie, her friends since 5th grade

Dan and his Coast Guard crew

After we cleaned up and tore everything down, Jen and Brea joined Brent and I for some late night snacks at the Power Station. We saw more of the wedding guests also getting midnight snacks. We enjoyed Cajun tater tots, salads, and a milkshake, then we called it a night.

The next morning we took our time getting up and walking around the grounds one more time, then headed home.

The last picture Carleen and Dan posted on their wedding day!

 Intro the next morning....

relaxing....waiting for Brent to finish up getting ready

Walking around...seeing more bunnies

And that was the end of our epic wedding weekend! The boys had all survived and had fun entertaining each other.
Now we get to see the story of Mr. and Mrs. Morrissey unfold. Congratulations to them!

Here were a few pics posted by their photographer when they had their first looks...they had each written letters to each other and stood back to back reading their words and vows to one another. Then they were joined by the kids.