The girls went to Epcot and Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. They partook in a classic event that we all used to do annually called drinking around the world. As you may not know, Epcot is set up as a series of countries and each one typically serves a different type of drink. The object of drinking around the world is to enjoy every country, have a drink in each one, if there’s a ride or show do/see it, and so on. Well drinking around the world is a popular tradition of those both young and old and was fitting for the wild party girls that were going to be attending this bachelorette party.

The bachelor party location was a three city party weekend. We all met up and took a road trip one Friday to Memphis where we stayed at the Peabody Hotel, we ate at the world famous Neely’s BBQ (best you will ever have). We then left early that afternoon for Tunica, MS to go out to the casinos. We had a blast, lost a ton of money, had a few drinks, and bonded like the old days. We returned to the hotel in Memphis and continued to party, once the sun had gone down we went down to Beale St. which would be the equivalent to Bourbon St. in New Orleans. It was a great time—live street performances, dancers, bars, nightclubs, you name. Being a music lover it was hard not to go someplace that didn’t have great music. The next morning we got up and drove back to Nashville where will furthered the next day/night of partying until the wee hours of the morning. We stopped into my favorite underground bar, The Beer Sellar; then to a honky-tonk bar, The Stage; next was a dance club, The Cadillac Ranch; and finally into a hip hop club, Skyy Lounge. The weekend was so much fun, a guy couldn’t ask for anything more—friends, drinks, and a whole lot of memories.

We honeymooned for 15 days in Southeast Asia, we spent the first week in Hong Kong and the second week in Bangkok, Thailand. We are world travelers and we loved every minute of it. The two countries were like day and night, Hong Kong was like New York City on steroids and Thailand was like a trip into a movie set. We roamed and explored, dined, and drank. We enjoyed each other just as much as we enjoyed being immersed in the cultures of a far away land. The experience was priceless and we can’t wait to go back. The hotel group that we stayed in was the Le Meridíen luxury collection. The hotels were amazing, the views were spectacular and we were so close to everything. We had many excursions from river cruises, to temple tours, even excursions to distant islands and where we learned of entirely different cultures. The sights, smells, and atmosphere of knowing that you are on the other side of the world are absolutely amazing. These two countries top the charts on our long list of traveled places.

Great little hotel near the venue. It was nice, inexpensive, and close to everything that our guests may have needed. The rooms were comfortable, they had wireless, and had complimentary breakfast. The entire wedding party and all of the out of town guests stayed at the hotel. We even stayed here the night of the wedding. We wanted to be close to the whole family so that we weren’t far away, especially since the majority of the guests were from out of town. The hotel staff was friendly and accommodating. The night before the wedding several of the out of town guests wanted to enjoy each other’s company and a few drinks in the process and the hotel staff didn’t mind one bit. There were no complaints and many of the guests didn’t even realize that there was a “lobby party” going on. It was a nice hotel and for the price you couldn’t beat it.

We are very big outdoors people as are our families. So it was only fitting to have our wedding in a botanical garden. To complement our personal sentiments we decided to make a donation to the Nature Conservancy as well as plant a tree for every guest that attended. To commemorate this gesture we had custom standing place cards created and we also had custom wristbands created (they were green of course) that were debossed with the words “Today I changed the world – 10.25.2008”, they were tied to the place cards with a green ribbon and the guests absolutely loved them. By the end of the night everyone was wearing their wristbands and to this day I still wear mine. On our honeymoon I had a few in my bag and I gave them to some friends that we met in Southeast Asia and they are still wearing them today. We didn’t want the traditional wedding favors that people end up throwing away, we wanted something that had meaning and purpose and we accomplished that by helping out the earth and giving back to the world.

The owner of the company is a young guy named Brent Cantrell he is also a DJ, but he has great staff. Our DJ was Josh Rose. Josh was great and he knows his music. They provided not only the music but the lighting and MC services. Josh met with us prior to go over the details and he was super friendly and we were amazed that he was so detail oriented. Any music that you could possibly want he was able to get and could make changes if you needed. We put our music selections in Josh’s hands and he made it happen. We had selections from Robin Thicke during ceremony seating; Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble during dinner; 80s and 90s early on; and hip hop and dance late into the evening. The flow of the evening was flawless and there were never any dull moments or awkward music changes. Cosmo Creations DJ service is by far the best entertainment and DJ service in town.

Stunning, stunning, stunning! The Bake Shoppe not only creates beautiful cakes, rather amazing works of art. After interviewing several local bakers and pastry chefs we chose the Bake Shoppe because they clearly had an advantage over the rest. Their cakes were exquisite and more than reasonably priced. Our first design was very beautiful but after a couple of weeks we started to re-think it. Our baker and designer, Amy was amazing to work with. We would call and email her our ideas and one day she sent us a picture of a cake she had just designed and it was truly amazing and exactly what we were looking for. We made some minor adjustments and color changes and our magazine worthy cake became a reality. Not only did the cake taste amazing, it was flawless. We had the most amazing wedding cake that you our guests flocked around to take pictures of. It was truly a work of art. We really enjoyed Amy and her culinary skills are impeccable.

Do you LOVE food??? If so, Chef Jeanne will amaze you with her culinary expertise. She has a small restaurant in Berry Hill, Caffe Di Pranzo and it is some of the best Italian food you will ever have. As far as her menu selections for the wedding—endless. She prepares everything from scratch the day of your wedding. Prior to the wedding after we had chosen our menu she set up a private tasting so that we could not just sample, but downright feast on her delicacies. We had heard that sometimes the bride and groom do not agree on some food items for the wedding, so we took invited the mother of the bride and the our wedding coordinator to join us in this tasting. Nevertheless, there were no disagreements from anyone—from the hors d’ oeuvres to the main course and all the accompaniments we are all very pleased at the quality, the freshness, and the sheer explosions of flavor in our mouths. On top of all of that she even catered our wedding rehearsal at our house. She has her own wait staff that is very professional, reliable, and helpful. Our guests raved about the food and how good it was, many asked for more and got it. Furthermore, you will not find another caterer in town with the quality of food and service with a lower proposal bid. We will never forget Chef Jeanne as she is our one and only choice for catering in town.

Let me just tell you that Mariana Merritt is the finest wedding coordinator around! She is friendly, personable, knowledgeable, and is all around the queen of weddings. She will take care of anything that you need her to from: design consulting; invitation choices; color schemes; ceremony/reception décor; music and timelines; wedding rehearsals; fittings; you name it. From beginning to end she was AMAZING!!! Mariana even has a team of design and beauty experts that accompany her in almost everything that she does and we couldn’t believe how stress free our entire wedding planning and day of was. Our guests wanted to know how we were so calm about the entire day (no alcohol needed) and we told them that everything was taken care of by Mariana. She accompanied us to the photographers, she visited the caterer, and she even handled arrangements with the baker. She is an industry pro and regardless of if you have a small or large budget or a small or large wedding she has the skills and expertise that you WILL want.

You want to talk about an experience that will never be forgotten…let me tell you about the wedding bagpiper that we hired. We had attended several weddings: from beaches, to chapels, to homes, to golf courses and they all did the same things. We wanted something memorable and something lasting. So we hired Todd Boswell, he is a professional bagpiper and is extremely gifted. As our guests were seated we had him staged far off in the distance and as the seating music stopped he began to play a beautiful Celtic melody. The guests thought it was a recording until he descended down the hill in full Celtic regalia with his pipes. As the music got closer and the volume got louder the tears from even the manliest of men started to fall. It was beautiful and awing and when he got to the wedding path and led the bride and father of the bride to the altar it was a site to be seen. Our guests were so enchanted as he played through the ceremony and it was like a scene from a movie. Our goal was to not only make the ceremony beautiful but to evoke true emotion and we got every bit of it. Todd is the best and he can add that extra something that you are looking for in your wedding.