Before wrapping up my wedding blog series, I have to share about the day before our wedding—almost as full as the wedding day itself! Even though I saw Grace very little the day before our wedding, it was SUCH a sweet day spent with all of Our People who had flown in and traveled to be with us. Honestly, it wasn’t until the day before that things started to feel “real.”
Two days before our wedding, we checked into the Westlake Village Inn, which was absolutely lovely and Grace and I plan on going back for anniversaries in the future! It was close to our venue and the perfect setting to relax for the weekend.
The grounds at the Westlake Village Inn.
I woke up on the day before our wedding in my beautiful wedding suite with my sister (and best friend) and could NOT believe I was getting married the next day! We got breakfast and then headed out to get our manicures and pedicures with my mom. After that, we drove to Pacific Palisades where one of my mom’s best friends lives. She and my other “aunties” (my mom’s best friends from growing up) hosted my bridesmaid’s luncheon - a way to honor all the ladies who were standing up beside me on my wedding day and have some good old fashioned girl time before the nuptials. We dined on delicious food, including a cake flown in from a favorite cafe in the tiny town in Virginia where my parents have a vacation house, drank champagne, and got giddy and excited about the big day tomorrow. It was also one of my bridesmaids’ and best friend’s birthday, so we celebrated that as well.
Me with the birthday girl!
As you can see in the back of the photo above, my brother was one of my bridesmaids too! I gave all of my ’maids Plum Pretty Sugar robes as bridesmaids gifts for them to wear as we were getting ready the next day, and for my brother, I had a large white terry cloth robe embroidered with “Bride’s Butler” across the back.
Two of my oldest friends - I’ve known them even longer than I’ve known my sister!
During this same time, Grace’s bridesmaids had organized a pool party for her in one of the cabanas at the Westlake Village Inn, so she had time with all her best friends too.
After spending sweet time with our friends, it was time to go back to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal! We rehearsed our ceremony at 5pm at our venue, which was vital to get all of our points and placements down - especially with a wedding party this large. I had a fun paper bouquet to stand in for the real one I’d have the next day.
Standing right in the spot where I’d walk down the aisle to Grace in just 24 hours!
Then we headed down to Zin Bistro for our rehearsal dinner! Because we had a huge wedding party and have big families, we had a HUGE rehearsal dinner - over 60 people - which was so festive and got us teary-eyed in advance of the big day. Zin Bistro was the perfect location right on the water.
At our rehearsal dinner, my dad gave a beautiful speech about our relationship being like two rivers meeting, joining together, and becoming stronger together than as one. My best friend (who also set me up with Grace 5 years ago) and a few of Grace’s friends also gave speeches.
We loved our rehearsal dinner food, and after we had eaten everything, we couldn’t believe we had ANOTHER event - our welcome drinks party! Our family friends from my hometown had rented out an outdoor space in the nearby Hyatt hotel (where many of our wedding guests were staying) and we had a welcome party open to all of our wedding guests. It was SO much fun to see people ahead of time and get more catch-up time with guests. We had a big wedding, so this event was really nice to be able to get more meaningful time with people. Here is the invitation our family friends sent out for our party:
If you can swing it, I highly, highly recommend a “wedding eve” party. It’s just such a fun way to extend the celebration!
It was so hard to sleep, even though I was exhausted, and I barely slept at all the night before our wedding. I couldn’t believe when I woke up—or more accurately, waited in my bed until the sun came up—it would be the day I married the love of my life.