Spa Day for the Girls... Paintball for the Guys!

Saturday morning came really early for all those late night partiers from the night before! LOL! I know, cause I was one of them. Several out of town guests were arriving all through the night... it was fun! Uncle Bruce experienced his first Red Bull and Jager bomb (woohoo Uncle Bruce!) and my rum punch was definitely a hit!

Many of the 'girls' had appointments in the Botanica Spa at the hotel. The spa had closed that day and catered solely to our group... we even ordered food and had champagne and mimosas all day long... yum... more alcohol.

Aunt Mary & Memaw are chillin' while waiting for their spa treatments...

Our bride, Samantha... every bride should be pampered before their wedding...

Jessi-girl... not sure if she is being choked or massaged... lol...



Aunt Tina flew in the day before from Tampa. We were so happy that she was able to come!

Matron of Honor, Angela and bridesmaid, Wendy... Tina... Caroline and Sam are all relaxing with some food and mimosas!

Busted... Aunt Tina liked the champagne... everyone did, it was good!

Caroline enjoyed her massage treatment...

Cousin Mandy (mom to two of the flower girls!) is waiting for her prenatal massage... what is it about women when they glow? Even with no makeup she just glows...

Memaw... me & Tina...

Awww... Jes is relaxing after one of her treatments...



Now she is REALLY relaxing...

Our bride is getting a body wrap... heaven...


Angela enjoys her Hot Stone Massage...

Yep... it worked... she is totally relaxed!

Most everyone chose two treatments and Aunt Mary's second treatment was a facial.

Grandma Skinner enjoys getting her nails & toes done.

Memaw is about to getting a facial as her second treatment too...

Yep... Memaw approves of this spa! They really did a great job for us... gave everyone a discounted package price and treated us all like queens! I should have taken a better picture of the food spread that they provided... it was awesome! We highly recommend the Bontanica Spa at the Embassy Suites in Frisco, Texas!

Wendy gets a facial... now that looks relaxing...

Deeann didn't have time for spa treatments, but she stopped by to say 'hi' to everyone!



And the guys had reservations at the Xdrenaline Paintbal field in Grapevine, Tx. Glenn, as father of the bride, wanted me to make him a tshirt that said "Groomhunter" and he wanted me to make Cris (the groom) a shirt that had a bullseye on the back... lol. Instead, everyone dressed up in camo and were practicing some hand to hand combat moves in the hotel before leaving!

Getting ready for battle... Craig and Brad.

Glenn explains his strategy for battle...

Awww... Kamran got nailed in both arms!

Cris not only got shot several times... he also jumped off a small cliff in some Army strategic move and tore his ACL... Glenn made sure that everyone knew that he was no where around the groom when he got hurt! Cris was able to hobble down the aisle the next day with help from the pastor... but he has since been placed on medical hold because he is going to have to have several surgeries to repair the torn ACL and reattach some ligaments and they are also putting a screw into his knee. That's the bad news... good news... he is not deployment eligible, so Samantha gets to move to Alaska and set up house now... not later!

Yep... the father of the bride got hurt too...

Wedding Pictures

Sorry it has been so long since I posted here. As you all know, the wedding was absolutely beautiful. The whole weekend was so much fun! Let me focus this post on the Bachelor & Bachelorette parties... because Cris wasn't able to fly in sooner than two days before the wedding, we scheduled the bachelor & bachelorette parties for Friday night, December 19th. Samantha picked Cris up at the airport that afternoon and went straight to the Embassy Suites hotel to check in. She and Cris had a romance package scheduled in the Botanica Spa at the hotel before the parties were to begin. That way they would be able to have some personal time together since they hadn't seen each other for so long. The bachelors were meeting at Dave & Busters across the street at the Stonebriar mall for dinner and billiards. The bachelorettes started their party in my hotel suite... Angela (the matron of honor) arranged for a 'Passion Party'. We had alot of fun... being silly... doing jello shots (thanks to Nalani!)... and drinking rum punch! The girls decided to crash the bachelor party for a bit before returning to the hotel to continue the party in the hot tub that was open until 1am.

Samanth & Cris at Dave & Busters

Glenn, William, Patch, Cris & Craig

Caroline & Wendy from Reno with Sam

Me and Cheri... her tongue is blue from the blue jello shots, LOL!

Cousin Sara, Wendy, Sam & Caroline getting ready to crash the bachelor party. Yes... Sam has a sign on her back that says "I'm tying the knot... so buy me a shot!". And it worked, cause several people bought her a shot at Dave & Busters. LOL!

These are just a highlight of the pictures that we took. I figured that the parties were a big success because we all had a good time and no one got kicked out of the hotel or arrested... though hotel security did have to come tell us to quiet down (hehehee).

Details...

--Here is the itinerary for this weekend:

FRIDAY
7pm - The Bachelor & Bachelorette parties begin. The Bachelors are going to Dave & Busters at the Stonebriar Mall and the Bachelorettes will be staying at the hotel for a party in the hotel room. Call 469-734-7770 to RSVP or get more info.

10pm - NERF WARS! Its the bachelors against the bachelorettes! BYONG... BringYourOwnNerfGun... lol! Meet in the lobby of the Embassy Suites at 10pm.

SATURDAY
10am - The ladies are gathering for a day at the Botanica Spa located in the Embassy Suites and the guys are traveling out to Grapevine to spend the day at Extreme Paintball. Everyone will get back to the hotel by 5pm.

6:30pm - Rehearsal Time!! Meet in the Bush School conference room on the far side of the Embassy Suites Convention Center.

8:00pm - Departure for dinner... gather in the lobby to shuttle to the restaurant. we will enjoy Christmas lights along the way.

8:30pm - Rehearsal dinner at Mattito's in Frisco Square. Everyone is invited, but there is a $30 charge for everyone except the wedding party. The $30 covers all-you-can-eat beef & chicken fajitas and brisket tacos and two hours of unlimited margaritas, beer & wine.

Late night: The Embassy Suites has an indoor heated pool and hot tub... and it doesn't close until 1am!

SUNDAY
10:30am - Church services from 10:30am until 12noon at the Christ Community Church in The Colony

1pm - The bridal party needs to be back at the hotel to start getting ready. Hair and makeup crew will be there waiting on us. Everyone else is welcomed to explore the Frisco area for lunch. Let us know if you want any suggestions!

6pm - Wedding Ceremony in the Bush School Conference Room.

6:30pm - Cocktails in the lobby right outside the Frisco I Ballroom

7:15pm - Chimes will ring and the doors will open to the ballroom for the reception.

7:30pm - The wedding party arrives... Bride & Groom introduced and toasted. They will dance their first dance as husband and wife, then dinner is served.

8:15pm - Cutting of the cake, tossing the bouquet & garter, then the dancing begins.

Midnight - The ball is over... and they live Happily Ever After!

Meet our Flower Girls... Grace, Ella & Gracie

See why we have THREE flower girls!! They are all sooo adorable! These are the daughters of our cousins in Tennessee. Grace and Ella are the daughters of our cousin Nick and his wife, Mandy (who is expecting their third child...CONGRATS!). Gracie is the daughter of our cousin Brooke, who is also a bridesmaid. I used to babysit both Nick and Brooke when they were much younger... now their children are participating in my daughter's wedding! Boy! Do I feel old! LOL!

We bought these adorable flower girl dresses at David's Bridal. They were all white with white satin bows tucked in here and there in the skirts and a white organza sash. We changed them up a bit with these beautiful blue sashes that have a big bow in the back and replaced the white satin bows with a blue organza bow that I made with rhinestones in the center... nine bows for each dress... a total of 27 bows!



We really like the touch of color in the dresses. It also makes them one-of-a-kind. Our girls are going to look like fairy princesses!





Can you say, "CUTEE PIE"!

TN Bridal Shower Success

What a great trip we had! My cousin Kathy hosted Samantha's bridal shower and allowed us to invade her home for the whole weekend! She was truly a great southern hostess... we could not want for anything! We had a wonderful time at the shower too! Kathy had the cutest cake!



Sam was so cute in her shower veil and Bride-to-be sash. She wasn't so crazy about the veil, but was a good sport and played along. LOL!



Time to cut the cake!

Blue Lens Photo Shoot and FRINJ Salon & Spa

Last week, Samantha was one of two models asked to model for a photo shoot called "Take Your Best Shot" at the Blue Lens Studio in downtown Dallas. It's a friendly little competition among professional photographers. They meet once a month in different locations and see who can get the best shot. Since we had just gotten Samantha's wedding gown from alterations, we took it as one of the outfits to wear for the shoot. Sam won't let me post any of the pictures of her dress... but I can show you this one:



Did you say, "wow"? Because I did... I just love this shot. It has a very southern lady feel to it. Her hair was done by Jennifer and Nalani did her makeup... good huh? We haven't seen all the shots yet... there were 8 photographers there who are going to send us cds of their work. But this was another favorite so far:



Her hair was done earlier that day by Jennifer at Frinj in Plano, Texas. Jennifer has been doing Sam's hair since TCHS Homecoming 4 years ago. She and a few of her friends are the hairstylists that we hired to do the bridal party's hair on the day of the wedding.... we are so excited! If you are looking for someone good to do your hair, we highly recommmend Jennifer! She is located at FRINJ www.frinjsalonspa.com.

Frosted Art Wedding Cake!

We are sooo excited! Samantha, Angela and I went to a cake tasting at the Frosted Art Bakery... yum! It was so much fun!



Heather was our cake 'designer' and she did such a great job of listening to Samantha and what she wanted. If you look close enough you can actually see a sketch of the cake! It's gonna be beautiful! And tasty too!


They had many many cake flavors to choose from and we tasted 15... yes, 15 of them! Our favorites were the Lemon Lavendar... Orange Meringue... Double Fudge... White Chocolate and just for Cris... the Caramel Macchiato!

Afterwards, we met girlfriends Amy Teston and Judy Knight for some lunch and a little 'catching up' at the Spaghetti Warehouse in the West End District of Dallas.



MEET OUR "LADY IN WAITING"! Judy is going to be our "Lady in Waiting" for the day of the wedding! She will be responsible to keep everyone getting ready in the bridal room on schedule and will take care of any last minute emergencies requiring safety pins... chap stick or the hot glue gun! LOL! She's a seasoned wedding coordinator and is perfect for the job... thanks Judy!



Samantha and her Matron of Honor, Angela...


Amy Teston (i missed that gal!) and I...