Hey friends! Sorry for my longer than normal delay between posts. We’re finally getting a bit settled into things and blogging has had to take a backseat for a few days. But I’m back and at ‘em! Throughout these next few posts, I’m going to continue recapping all the events leading up to our Franklin, TN wedding celebration:

After an amazing wine-tasting and dinner, the girls and I all headed back to my house for dessert, drinks and gifts. (We sent Dad and Philip to Philip’s parents house for the night.)

MOH Jill and the bridesmaids had all kinds of fun-ness planned. They had a table full of sweets that included all the treats a girl could wish for. This table o’ treats also included a chocolate fountain with assorted fruit, marshmallows and pretzel sticks and an amazing chocolate chip cheeseball made by my mom. (Yes, my Mom took part in all the bachelorette festivities! She’s cool like that.)

Clearly, I was excited about the chocolate fountain.

After enjoying dessert, it was time for “panties on parade”. That’s right folks. This is where the clothesline of lovely panties comes into play.

Each of my lovely bachelorette guests was asked to bring a pair of panties that reflects her style and/or personality.  One by one, I remove each pair from the line and try to match it with the party-goer. Incorrect guesses called for consequences such as a jell-o shot, stick of gum, marshmallow…I’ve heard of it being played numerous ways. Such a fun game! I had a good time trying to match each pair with my girlfriends and even more fun realizing each pair was mine to keep!

After “panties on parade”, Jill asked everyone to take a glass of my favorite drink, pineapple upside-down cake…and my guests raised a glass to toast our friendship and my future with Philip.

After the toast, we all returned to the living room for a quick session of Carmen Electra’s Aerobic Striptease. HUH-LARIOUS. That’s all I can say. Thanks to bridesmaid Megan for bringing these DVDs!

We all worked up a sweat.  Kudos to all my girls for workin’ it with some serious moves!

Next we all grabbed a seat and I opened gifts.

Girls, I can’t thank you enough for all the little pretties you chose for me! You each made my bachelorette party an absolute blast. It was perfect in every way and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with each of you.

XOXO

Love, Mrs. Dial

After Wednesday’s full evening of preparations and last-minute paper crafts,  Thursday morning we all awoke to a delicious homemade breakfast by Momma Farmer and some tasty, perfectly balanced coffee via our new French press.

It was a productive day! Philip and I got our marriage license. (Which miraculously took only 10 minutes.)

Picked up some flip-flops for the beach. Bought a few last-minute gifts. Started packing for the honeymoon.

And one by one, my beautiful bridesmaids began arriving for the evening’s festivities!

As Megan and MOH Jill began hanging up the clothesline for “panties on parade”, I told Dad and Philip they may want to pack up and head out for the evening. It was starting to get VERY girly in there and I had no clue what else my girls had up their sleeves. The guys stayed at Philip’s parents home for the evening.

Our first stop for the evening was Arrington Vineyards, which is just outside of Franklin, TN, out in the country. It’s a beautiful winery owned by Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn fame. (Sorry gals. No Kix sightings that night.)

(Here I am with a few of my lovely bachelorette gal pals…and my beautiful mother!)

(And here I am donning my lovely bride-to-be sash from the bridesmaids. )

See gals. I was smart about this. There wasn’t much they could do to embarrass me way out here in the sticks. (Not that I don’t trust my bridesmaids and gal pals. I TOTALLY DO.) I’ve heard about some horribly embarrassing bachelorette events involving t-shirts and lifesavers, dares with bar-goers and so on. Thankfully they know that’s not my thing, so I really wasn’t in fear of being terribly embarrassed.

Arrington was a superb location for the vibe I was going for. As my guests arrived, clusters of 3-4 girls stepped inside for the wine tasting. Once everyone completed the tasting, we stepped back out to the large covered porch and enjoyed a delightful dinner together. We had beautiful weather and blue skies as far as you could see with a sun that was slowly setting behind the trees. During dinner, we played TableTopics…which was a brilliant move on behalf of MOH Jill. Many of my guests didn’t know each other, so this gave everyone the chance to get more connected and have a central topic to discuss.

Once our delicious dinner and discussions were finished, we snapped a few photos:

I opened a few gifts from the gals who couldn’t come to round 2 of our evening.

Then we took a group photo and packed up to head to our second destination for the night’s bachelorette events – our home.

Thanks to all my beautiful gal pals who joined us for a lovely evening at the vineyard!

The rest of the evening’s events will be saved for tomorrow’s blog post – Wedding Week/end, part 2.5.