Mr. & Mrs. !!!!!! - Part 8 - The Send Off

Our Wedding: The Send-Off!

If you missed the previous wedding posts, click here.

This is it - the last installment of my posts recapping our wedding ceremony & reception.

For our send-off, we each changed into a different outfit.  We chose this for several reasons, the biggest being the fact that we didn't have to figure out what to do with my wedding dress and Brandon's tux once we left the reception.  Also, I always liked seeing pictures of my parents in their "going away" outfit after their wedding and thought it was nostalgic to do the same (not to mention not having to stuff my wedding dress into the car!).

Here's my parents when they left their reception on May 24, 1975:

And here's us, about leave ours on May 28, 2011:

One last shot of  some great, great friends before Brandon and I headed out. 

Jenn, Shannon, me and Gina.

Then we headed out from the tent...

....where our guests waited with bird seed (courtesy of my Mamaw, who wrapped each packet in tulle herself).....

....and we proceeded to get pelted (with love) by our well-wishing friends and family:

And when I say pelted - I mean *pelted*!

Needless to say, we ended up with birdseed everywhere....

The kids that attended the wedding especially liked to toss the bird seed at us (see the cute blonde kid making sure to hit us?).   And I love this story that Brian's wife, Emily, (Brian was Brandon's Groomsman) shared about her kids and the bird seed at our wedding (it's at the end of her post).

When we came out of the tent and ran through the haze of bird seed, I wasn't sure where my family would be, but I wanted to make sure to say goodbye and hug them (I did *not* want to pull a "Father of the Bride" moment where I didn't get to say bye!)

Luckily, my family was at the end of the bird-seed throwers on one side & Brandon's family was at the end on the other side - perfect!

I doled out hugs, thanks and smiles.....while Brandon did the same.

Then we hopped in the car to leave (notice Brandon knocking some of the bird seed out of his hair?  We found traces of it in the car for weeks.)

The picture below was really important to me to get and our Photog did not disappoint!  My parents and my brother have a shot from the car at their weddings too and I really wanted the same one.

Here's my parents in 1975:

And my brother and his wife in 1999:

I gave my mom a frame with all three pictures for her birthday.  It was special.

Back to our wedding......

The night before our wedding, I happened to ask Brandon if he thought Mark and Brian (Best Man & Groomsman) were going to decorate our car when we left.  He shook his head no.  I said "What?  I've been waiting all my life to drive away in a car that says 'Just Married'."  Well, not to disappoint me, he said "I'll take care of it."  Apparently he gave the guys the idea or at the very least the 'ok' to decorate the car (or maybe they were going to anyway?) and here's the results:

Holllywood is a nickname that Brandon has had for years...not sure where it came form though, I should ask him that!

Sugarbear is a nickname that Brandon calls me from time to time....mainly in written form, as in emails or cards.

And, as I always pictured - "Just Married!!!"

The fact that they coordinated the writing colors with the wedding colors?  Bonus!  ;)  (It's the little things that mean the most in my book).

We drove away through the picturesque tree-lined drive...

....and our family & friends waved goodbye.

YAY!!!!!!!!  We couldn't have been more excited that we were finally and actually married!!!! 

What was the first thing we did as a married couple?  Why, stop at Wendy's on the way out of town, of course!

I loved the number of people who honked and waved or fist pumped or gave us a thumbs up or something as if to celebrate with us from their car as they passed by.  We left the writing on the car all week during our Honeymoon to Gatlinburg too and actually saw several other "Just Married" cars there as well.

Mr. and Mrs! 

How crazy and wonderful and weird and awesome it was the first time I got to call Brandon my 'Husband' out loud to someone.  The Lord provided me with a man that my mind couldn't have even dreamed up.  Brandon amazes me every day with the love he shows me, the safety he provides for my feelings & emotions, the grace he extends to me and the fun and laughter we share on a regular basis.

Thanks to all who were a part of our day, in every way, shape and form!!! (even if you weren't mentioned here on my blog - because I don't have any pictures of you from that day? - you know who you are!) 

To give credit where credit is due, the majority of the above photos were courtesy of jhendersonstudios.com. The rest are from friends and family.