The bridal shower was just going to be with my mother and aunts, as well as my sister and best friend. I had already had a really crazy bachelorette party, so I didn't mind a nice afternoon of tea. I had been to afternoon teas before, but I had never been to the Carolina Inn. I had heard it was fancy, but WOW! It was beautiful! We were dresses up, and I was so glad we were, and that no one showed up in trainers or sneakers. The menu was tasty, but it was really all about atmosphere. I don't know much about tea, but the teas they serve were special, and the cups were really cute. I really liked it. There were other groups there, and on group had a kid. I do not think this is a place for children. Too many breakable things!

Encore at the Wynn:

My husband was going to go on some fishing trip with his friend up, so I decided that I also wanted a location bachelorette party. My best friend and sister talked it over, and we started looking for last minute deals on expedia and other sites. We found a dirt cheap deal for Las Vegas! Three days and two nights, flights and hotel, at a four star hotel for less than $400! It was great! Four of us went and we had a blast! Because it was last minute, we couldn't get tickets to any of the shows we wanted to see, but there were lots of other options on how to spend time! The pool was soooo nice. Only one of us gambled at a table, the rest of us played a bit on the slots and then we went shopping. The shopping is incredible, crazy stores with crazy styles! For a weekend it was fun and everyone had a great time!

We choose the Olive Garden because I know that can handle big groups, and that it is a pretty cheap place to eat. The food is good, too, quasi-Italian food with lots of nice sauces and breads and salads. We made our reservation ahead of time, or at least my husband made that call and said that we would be a group of 17. Because we called a few days in advance for the reservation, and then called again on the day of the reservation, I think that manager was able to make sure they had enough staff that no one had to wait. We had four waitresses, which was really nice because we got our food quickly. Some times I have waited in there for a while before I got my bread sticks, but this wasn't one of those times. With desserts and drinks, I think we spent well over $400 as a group!

Disney Honeymoon Registry is really great. We both knew that we wanted to go somewhere fun for our honeymoon, and these offered us the chance to go somewhere fun. And because it's a registry, it means that our guests were able to pay for parts of our honeymoon. It's a really practical gift! The site is really easy, you browse through the various packages until you find one that suits your time frame and costs, and what you want to do. It lets you mix and match and add extras, so it's really custom. It's also very easy for guests to use, too. My parents just typed in my name, saw what trips and packages we regisered for, and picked a few. And when we were confused, it was easy to talk with someone SMART at customer service! Best customer service in the world.

This was pretty much the coolest thing ever! It's not often that you get to wake up somewhere in North America and see giraffas walking around! The Lodge was amazing, with all it's incredible themed decorations, and the room we stayed in was very clean, funky, and very relaxing. One thing I realized after spending two weeks on various Disney World Sites was that they take impeccable care of their resorts, the staff were all nice and really helpful, and that everything is really carefully planned and managed. It's like we stayed in a perfect world for two weeks!

I really recommend staying in the Two Bedroom suite, which means that you get your room, and then a kitchen, a beautiful spacious bathroom, and also a sitting room. I also recommend renting it two days before and two days after the wedding, because it is nice having that extra space! It was the perfect amount of room, because on the day of our wedding we had so many people going in and out of our room! We also needed one of those couches for my wedding dress after the wedding, it was so big! It was also great, because it was also a place that people could sit and talk with us before and after the wedding. Family had traveled from really far, so it was nice to have our own space to talk with them. I also loved it because of the pool! Really nice place to sit and talk, too.

They were a great hotel! I had stayed at a La Quinta in Vermont, and I thought they had the best customer service and amnenites, which is why I chose them as the hotel for our guests. The rates are really fair, and then the guests have an all-you-can eat breakfast buffet that includes things like bagels and cereals and juice and waffles. People who stayed there didn't need to worry about breakfast (or lunch, if they hid bagels in their purse like my aunt did), and the rooms were really trendy and nice. We walked in and liked that some guests had two queen beds, or one queen bed and a couch. The rooms had also been recently renovated, so that they looked trendy and cool. We didn't get a discount on the block, just because we only had eight rooms rented. I think the minimun for a good rate was ten.

We had the idea that we were going to give our guests a burnt cd with all of our favorite songs on it. We came up with a list of twelve romantic songs, some heartbreaking songs, and some fun songs, and burnt them onto about a hundred blank cds. We looked around, and found that Wal-mart had the best deal for blank cds. We ordered our songs off of itunes (just to ensure the clarity of the music). We also wanted special music sleeves, and we found a good auction on ebay for custom sleeves. We printed up the sleeves with our picture, and I think the gift was really well received by everyone. It took hours of burning, though, and of printing the sleeves!

We went with a cake through The Irregardless Café, which was because they were already taken care of all our catering. We were able to taste some of the cakes flavors, and we were a really big fan of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake! They were able to make it really pretty and not just like a regular cake. Other thing they suggested, which I loved, was dessert tables, with platters of brownies and small squares. I think this was good because people were able to snack, and there was always an option available for the person who didn't like cake. We got lots of compliments on the dessert table, too!

This was a great location for us to have the reception, because it was close to home for our parents, and it also was nearby lots of our friends and family. The hotel is also very beautiful, everything looks new and is kept in excellent condition. We were having a small wedding party, of only 120 people, but the hotel opened up two rooms to fit the number of our guests. I liked it because our group took over the entire hotel! To book it, I had trouble figuring out the online stuff, so I just called and made an appointment. The manager was great, she explained to us all the typical wedding planning details that the hotel takes care of, along with the caterer that they recommend. They handle lots of weddings of our size, so the whole day was perfect! The took care of the tables and linens. We had to buy our alcohol through the hotel, which was a bit pricey, but average for what you would find at any hotel. It was about $250 or so for a keg of beer, for example. The hotel is also great for photos, and after the ceremony we walked around the hotel with our photographer and took some really pretty pictures.