I would be lying to you if I said that this post was squeezed in the middle of a busy day. Things have certainly been insane recently, but one of the reasons I was so busy was because I was getting all of my ducks in a row so that I could go on vacation with Napkin and his family. Just to brag a little, I am watching the ocean, drinking a cocktail and blogging because I have. nothing. else. to. do.

Thank goodness.

After the shower, my mommy, sissy and I headed down to Wilmington to do some wedding planning. We drove into town to check out our hotel before dinner. The reviews said our hotel was “quaint” and a “well kept secret” and “efficient.” In reality, our hotel was “seedy” and “scary” and “a drug den.” This is how we slept the first night (I kid you not:)

Yes, that IS our single chair propped up against the door! There was some little gem of a girl screaming at the top of her lungs about how she was “ovvverrr itttt!” and pounding on every door on our floor of the hotel. And our deadbolt was nearly broken so we did what we could to protect ourselves. OVER IT.

But we made it through the night and the next morning I took my mom to see Saint Thomas Preservation Hall. I have been looking forward to this moment for a long time. Pictures don’t do the space justice, they really don’t, and neither do explanations… and I wanted my mom to really experience Saint Thomas before the wedding. THE LOOK ON HER FACE! I wish I had a picture! She walked in and her jaw just hit the floor. Then we started crying. (Crying is a theme for my wedding, I am figuring out.)

She walked around in awe for a little while, I gave her a tour of the space and talked her through my ideas and things…

AND THEN WE WENT AND CELEBRATED WITH CUPCAKES!!!

I haven’t scheduled my “official” cake testing yet… but because we haven’t decided on the flavors I figured that we might as well do some research:

Serious talk time: THESE CUPCAKES ARE EFFING INCREDIBLE. From top left: Champagne punch, chocolate coconut, mint chocolate, red velvet, cinnamon toast crunch and gluten free strawberry cobbler. Hot Pink Cake Stand is known for being super inventive with their flavors and we were all fighting for the final bite of the champagne punch so don’t be surprised if you see that one come wedding day.

Here’s mom and sissy looking through the custom work that Hot Pink does… and getting excited about our cupcakes!

Then, after cupcake dinner, we decided to go to Olde Time Pottery (or, ‘my favorite store ever’) to look at glassware and stuff. Five minutes into being there– the power went off and we were herded to the front of the store for half an hour?? But I snuck away in the emergency lights and looked around for ideas anyway:

And oh my gosh, we found some amazing deals! And some amazing things! And we had to wait around until the lights came back on to pay for them! But we did! And then we went back to Saint Thomas to jump and down to celebrate! Because we found some perfect vases!

I understand that this picture is a little underwhelming but you have to understand that these huge enclaves were a big source of stress because we just DIDN’T KNOW what to do with them! So try and imagine something like this:

Meets this:

On those shelves! Epic, right?!

We basically then spent the rest of the weekend celebrating at Indochine (my mom and sister had never been– see my blog about that here!) and dress shopping for my mom! I am happy to report that she has found a dress and it is lovely! Then I drove everyone back home and started my work week… So at this moment, things are going swimmingly. And I’m on vacation! So take that!