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: Dog Park and Fireflies

Hello everyone! I just wanted to share with you what I did last weekend. On Saturday, I took the Frenchies to the dog park (all by myself!) while Justin got a haircut. We were going to miss out on the French Bulldog Meet-up, so I wanted them get some playtime. They also needed a bath, so I figured they might as well get really dirty beforehand. I must admit that they were a handful, but they had so much fun!

Look how Derby blends into the rocks! It's like he has natural camoflauge! :)

There is a creek that is part of the dog park that we go to.  Many owners use it as a means for their dogs to cool off after hours of play. Louie loves the creek and also drinks out of it as well. Not sure if it's the best thing for him to drink, but he won't drink any other water at the dog park :(

Derby drinks any and all water, so I'm not surprised he helped himself...

Don't mind if I do...

We typically stay in the little dog area, and unfortunately Louie got out and I had to run after him. He pretty much darted off and gave me the big F-U (Ugh). What a jerk! After I ran after Louie and eventually caught him (with the help of others), I snapped this picture of the this pug with this really long tongue! Too bad he was looking the other way, you just had to see it!

  

On Sunday, we headed to the Firefly Festival in Dover, DE. Firefly is this huge three day festival that had tons of great acts, such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, and Vampire Weekend, just to name a few. On the way to Firefly, we stopped by Capriotti's for some lunch. Justin found this sandwich place on Yelp.  Although it is a chain, we don't have one in the DC area.  All the more reason why we wanted to check it out!

I got the Cheesesteak and boy was it huge! Note to anyone eating Capriotti's for the first time: the sizes of the sandwiches are different than what you may be used to! Instead of small being 6", medium being 8" and large being 12", the sizes at Capriotti's go from 8" to 12", then 18"! Not knowing that fact (or not paying attention at least), I ordered a medium which turned out to be a 12" sub! Eek! It was delicous nonetheless, and the hot peppers gave my sandwich a good kick!

 

Justin and Ricky got the best selling Bobbie sandwich, which was also tasty. Because it was filled with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry, both Justin and Ricky said it was just like Thanksgiving dinner in a sandwich. I really liked how they had real pieces of turkey and not turkey slices. It made the sandwich more authentic!  Luckily, neither of them fell asleep after eating it.

Now for a bunch of pictures! Here's a shot of the tent cities where people camped out. Not sure if I could do the whole "roughin' it" camping thing, especially since it was obvious some people hadn't showered in days...

The weather was really crazy the entire day. One minute it would be a torrential downpour, the next minute it was sunny. I took this picture right after one of the downpours.

Although I never considered myself a fan of Matt and Kim, they always put on a good show with lots of energy! I'm sorry these pictures were taken so far from the stage. Justin and Ricky didn't want to get any closer and be amongst the smelly people.  They claimed there was "too much body heat" closer to the stage.  LOL.

This is what you get when you have a short person like me take pictures of the stage. Nothing. Wah wah.

Trust me, Passion Pit was there. Unfortunately, the lead singer was suffering from terrible allergies, so they had to cut their set short.  They did finish with an instrumental of their hit, "Sleepyhead", which was pretty cool. We all sang along :)

The Dogfish Head Beer Tent was definitely a highlight...

In the words of Vampire Weekend:

Me and my cousins and you and your cousins
Its a line that is always running.
Me and my cousins, You and your cousins,
I can feel it coming

Here's Capital Cities on the Backyard stage. They reminded me of Chromeo with their funky disco sound.

Look who we bumped into-Zane! 

A great thing about this festival is that they had free filtered water, courtesy of Kleen Kanteen. You can bet I didn't forget my water bottle! What a huge convenience!

As night fell, Vampire Weekend (aka: the main reason why went to Firefly) took the stage. They performed all their hits and put on a great show. 

I love festival hoop dancers!

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for most of the the Foster the People set because we had to hit the road.

A crazy statute we saw while walking back to our car. It was outside of the Dover Racetrack.

Before we headed home, we stopped by Royal Farms to get some chicken. Yes, Royal Farms the gas station! Ever since Justin tried it last year, he got hooked. Its motto is, "Fresh, Never frozen" and you could definitely tell in the flavor and the juiciness of the chicken. I must admit, for some late night grub, it totally hit the spot.

  

 

Ricky about to chomp into a potato wedge.

  

I had a blast over the weekend! Despite being sleep deprived and having a hard time getting up on Monday morning, I really enjoyed myself at Firefly. I'm glad we went even if it was just for one day. Maybe next year I'll convince Justin to do the whole weekend ;)

Race Review: Purple Strides 5k

Last weekend, I ran the Purple Strides 5k in Washington, DC.  I had originally signed up with a couple of friends, but unfortunately  they were unable to run the race due to some schedule conflicts and other circumstances.  As a result, I had to run the race by myself. :( I didn't mind it too much because I typically think of running as more of a solo sport anyway. Whenever I do run with other people (my sisters, Justin, etc.), we usually end up separating. Maybe next time ladies! :) 

Here's a shot of the starting line with the view of the Capitol building.

 

You could feel the energy of the crowd! Even in the early morning on a weekend! ;)

The Fabulous Bel Airs were really great! The band generously volunteered to perform their awesome music for the event because the bandleader's father had been affected by the disease. 

This pre-race festival had something for everyone. Paul Mitchell sponsored a booth with games for the kids, and the Washington Kastles had set up an area where people could play an impromptu game of tennis! Pretty cool!

 

Sorry I don't have any shots of the actual course. I usually don't take many pictures while running, especially if it's a short race like a 5k. I will tell you that the course was fast and flat, with runners moving in a "down and back" direction. Because the course was a "down and back", the cool thing was that race volunteers were able to serve water on both sides of the course. Typically, 5k races will only have one water station, so two water stations was much appreciated. And let me tell you I needed that water with the humidity! Although the race started around 8:30 AM, it got hot really fast! I don't know why I sign up for these summer races. Maybe it was a good thing that they didn't have mile markers (until the last mile) because I felt like I was seriously dying. Give me a fall or spring race any day!

My whining aside, I actually got a PR this race! Go me! I finished in 34:25. :) I beat my last 5k time by nearly five minutes! Definitely not that fast by super human standards, but fast for me considering that I'm more of a slow and steady type runner. I was really proud of myself, and to celebrate I hijacked the photo area and took some pics.

Me in my head to toe purple ensemble!

Although the weather was pretty hot, and I didn't get the technical tee that I usually like, I would have to say that this was a pretty good race for a great cause. It was an easy course to run (probably good for first timers!), and the energy of the crowds and activities were incomparable! I would consider doing this race again (temperatures pending ;).