All in the Details: Our Kentucky Derby Themed Wedding Day in Photos

I can't believe tomorrow will mark the third year of marriage for me and Justin. Man does time fly! In the past, I've shared with you our engagement shoot and our wedding planner's feature on our wedding day, but today I figured I'd pull some of my own favorite shots of our wedding. As many of you already know, our wedding was a Kentucky Derby themed and our vision was brought to life by The Knot-awarded Bellz and Whistlez team. I'll try not to do too much yapping and let the photos speak for themselves. ;)

 

 

Go Cats!

 

Roses were defnitely a big theme on this day.

 

Where's Emerald?

 

My bridesmaids donned fascinators for the post-ceremony shots

 

Custom made place cards...

 

Some shots of the head table...

 

 

An up close shot of the tall centerpieces full of brilliant red roses and pops of color.

 

The rose backdrop at our head table

 

Yup, we had a bluegrass band play at the cocktail hour.

 

Our low centerpieces consisted of mint julep cups in moss to give the feeling of the racetrack.

 

 Surrounded by more mint julep cups around the table.

The chandeliers in the ballroom definitely added to the elegant ambiance.

 

Guest were able to put their wedding cards in our bets box...

 

...while learning how to place the perfect bet at the same time, such as the "perfecta"

 

And the trifecta...

 

Our talented wedding planner custom made these Derby hats.

 

Does the white one in the right picture look familiar? It should because I just wore at the Kentucky Oaks a few months back :) I love how these hats made for a beautiful display, but were actually wearable, too!

 

 

One Southern tradition we had to do was a charm pull. All the single ladies had to pull a string coming out of the cake to reveal a fortune.

 

I heard some of them were kind of messed up--i.e.: your significant other will cheat on you or something along those lines (!!) but it of course it was all in good fun...

 

Our wedding cake was shaped like stacked hat boxes spilling with roses.

 

 

Halfway through the reception I changed into another dress and I of course had to get in on the fascinator action as well!

 

I love looking back on these photos and reminiscing about our very special wedding day. My mom always told me it's not about the wedding, but the marriage, but luckily in my case I was able to get both! :)

Weekend Review: Kentucky Oaks

Yes, I know the Kentucky Oaks/Derby was like a million years ago; however, there is one more race in the Triple Crown, and I figured that my goal would be to make this blog post before the Belmont Stakes (in June).  In that sense, I'm ahead of schedule, right?

Insert gratuitous drinking selfie here...

Oh by the way, that drink you see there is a Lily. What does it taste like you say? Kinda like a cosmopolitan. :) The Lily is the official drink of the Kentucky Oaks, the female (aka: fillies) horse race that falls on the day before Derby. Instead of attending the Derby like we did last year, we opted to do the Kentucky Oaks, which is more of the "locals race." We got this awesome all-you-can-eat-and-drink package, so you can basically say that we took full advantage of it.

Here's a cool shot of the crowd. You could see lots of pink because that's the official color of the Oaks. Instead of a blanket of red roses, the horse that wins the Oaks is blanketed with stargazer lilies. 

The Brioni...

The crazy cuzzins...

A shot of just the guys...

We definitely got our drink on that day. I alternated between the official Oaks and Derby beverages, the Lily and the Mint Julep respectively, and you of course had to get your julep served with crushed ice, as you can see below...

We got our grub on as well. Justin and I were expecting hot dog and hamburger fare as a part of our package, but instead we were pleasantly surprised with pulled pork, sausages and sauerkraut, plentiful salads and desserts, including my favorite, Derby pie!

Here's a picture of the guys sitting in front of us...the guy sitting next to the man in the pink suit was wearing a flamingo suit, how fun!

Surprisingly, I wasn't too worn down from Friday's festivities because the next day, we were back at it again. This time, we went to our friends' house to watch the Kentucky Derby. Of course, a party isn't a party without beer pong...or as they call it in the Midwest, Beirut (I have no clue why it's called that...).

The competition was heated at times...

...since everyone plays by different rules. But I think that's part of the fun, right?

 Aside from the Oaks and Derby, we also tried out Burger and Mussel Bar.  According to Justin, this place wasn't around when he last lived in Louisville, so the place was relatively new to us.  The beauty about this place is that it combined two of our favorite foods: burgers and mussels (in case the name didn't give it away).  Below is a shot at the burger that I ordered.

As some of you all may recall, it rained during the Derby this year, making us very satisfied with our decision to attend Oaks versus the Derby.  We definitely had a fun time staying indoors, and spending the occasion with our friends and quite a bit of bourbon on the side.  Unfortunately, we had to make the long nine hour drive back to DC the very next day.  Although we felt fine the day after Oaks, the day after Derby was quite a different story.  I guess we're all getting old...