The Buttons Bachelorette: Relaxation, Excitement, and Slight Panic Sets In

After a day at the aquarium followed by a night on the town, the Button Bridesmaids and I decided that the next day would be one of relaxation. Well, sort of! We slept in a little later than usual, then quickly dressed and ran out the door to get to the nail salon.

We picked up some sustenance in the form of Panera sandwiches and coffee, and proceeded to the nail salon for manicures and pedicures. It was definitely nice to sit in a comfy massage chair for an hour or so...with the hustle and bustle of pre-wedding excitement, it can sometimes be difficult to take a moment to relax and take everything in. However, I highly recommend taking some time to yourself before your wedding day if at all possible!

After the nail salon, the Button bridesmaids and I headed over to my parents' house. Some of my relatives had arrived the previous afternoon, and I was eager to say "hello!" Do you remember how I mentioned that I had committed my relatives to slave labor on my behalf? Well, my mom, both my grandmothers, my aunt, AND my grandfather had been hard at work on our favors into the wee hours of the night. They must love me...

They look happy enough, right?

The idea for our favor came up randomly one night. I was at dinner with my parents, and we were discussing some wedding details. Mommy Buttons and I were commiserating about the situation. The original idea was to bag up some yummy key lime cookies from a local bakery. However, something about it was just not exciting us. Then, out of nowhere, Daddy Buttons came up with a brilliant idea! If you recall, Mr. Buttons and I met because of our pups. When I was a kid, Mommy Buttons used to make a delicious snack called "puppy chow" all the time - a combo of Crispix cereal, peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar. Why not bag up some "puppy chow" for our guests as a nod to the furry friends that brought us together? The decision was made on the spot. So, a few days before the wedding, my family members were wrangled into melting peanut butter and chocolate, shaking bags filled with powdered sugar, and portioning each treat into white coffee bags that I had affixed monogrammed stickers to.

Things were incredibly busy at the Button household when we arrived; bags had to be packed, supplies had to be delivered, and we still had an important appointment to go to that afternoon! Do you remember how I said my florist would give me a flower preview? It was time for mine! When we walked into my appointment, I was bracing myself...even though I knew that Debbie had a firm grasp on my vision, I was very anxious to see if it was realized!

Oh boy, was I ever excited! As soon as my eyes landed on our flowers, a huge grin spread across my face. They were perfect. No, more than perfect, if that is even possible! Ok, so I am going to go ahead and spoil my pro pics by showing you my flowers now...but I just can't help myself! Can you see why I was about ready to jump for joy?

Fun fact: I don't know that we ever discussed the size of my bouquet in our meetings. My bridal bouquet was LARGE and IN CHARGE! Seriously: look at it next to me!

However, it was perfect. Absolutely perfect. The peonies and cabbage roses looked stunning together, especially with the seeded eucalyptus.

Debbie even added sprigs of rosemary, as it is a calming herb (and what bride doesn't need a little bit of calm on her wedding day?). The bridesmaids' bouquets turned out beautifully as well; they were created with cabbage roses, creamy stock, lisianthus, white cymbidium orchids, and seeded eucalyptus.

Gorgeous. I pretty much did not want to leave my flowers at that point; I was infatuated. But alas, there were things to do and people to see, so BM L, A, and I headed back to Clearwater. Bye bye my lovelies...

On the way back to the beach house, I took BM L and A through some back roads near the water. It was a lovely scenic drive. I also wanted to point out to them where our rehearsal dinner was going to take place the following evening. When we drove through downtown Clearwater, I saw the restaurant up ahead. As we passed by, I made a comment that something looked strange...but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Little did I know what was to come...

The Buttons Bachelorette: A night out on the town!

After our trip to the aquarium and soaking up the sun all afternoon, it was time to get ready for a night out! The bridesmaids and I got gussied up and headed out for a delicious dinner at Island Way Grill. We shared some edamame, drank a few cocktails, and noshed on some delicious dinner (mmm wasabi mashed potatoes? Yes yes yes). We did have to keep our eye on the clock however, because a sweet ride was coming to meet us!

We hurried back to the beach house after dinner to meet up with our limo for the evening! Mommy Buttons has clued MOH E in on a great Groupon that a limo company was offering, and she snatched it up for the night!

After getting settled in our limo, I was handed our itinerary for the evening. It involved some bar hopping in a few different locations. Fun! Of course, on the way there we had to pop open some bubbly. Well, not "we," more like "me," since none of the other girls were willing to open a champagne bottle in fear of taking someone's eye out! Thankfully, I have opened quite a few champagne bottles in my day, so I was able to help them out...

The girls even brought some sliced strawberries to add to the champagne! And, check out MOH E's fancy work on the champagne glasses! She made one for each of us; don't they look great?

We also bejeweled ourselves with some fabulous light up engagement rings - you twist the top and it lights up like a flashlight! Very useful...

I opened a few presents at this time too, which might have included a few "unmentionables." And...this is probably very messed up, but is it sad that I got THIS excited over a bag of pretzel M&M's that BM L got me? They are so good.

BM K made me an amazing bachelorette sash - how crafty is she?!?! I was so impressed with her handiwork, and it even matched my outfit pretty well! Score!

Well, it turned out that the limo driver was unable to locate our first destination on the list, so after driving around for about an hour, we finally made it to our second location. We were dropped off in the Channelside district in Tampa, where we headed into Howl at the Moon for some live piano music and a bucket of...alcohol. I'll be honest - the bar scene wasn't exactly hopping on a Thursday evening, but there WERE two other bachelorette parties taking place in the bar, so that was pretty entertaining!

We sipped on our enormous drink, sang along with the music, and even might have danced on stage for a bit. The girls even paid to have a message written on the mirror behind the piano...ha...ha...ha...verrrry funny ladies...

When it came time to return to our limo, we were tired. When we returned to the beach house, we promptly crashed in our beds. It had been a great night!

Are you planning a fun night out on the town/did you have a fun night out for your bachelorette party?

Lovely Tonight: A Sneak Peek

You've been waiting for them. I've been waiting for them. Well...more like dreaming about them and pining after them in a rather impatient manner. I will explain the reason for the delay soon (trust me, there is quite a story behind it), but for now I'd like you to get excited because I have finally seen some photos from our wedding day! Insert trumpets and angels and musical instruments here...

Are you ready??? Drumroll please....

All photos by the wonderful Pilster Photography

Ok, so now that I've thoroughly teased you, you're going to have to wait...again! I still do not have the rest of the photos in my possession, so we are all going to have to practice the fine art of patience. However, it WILL be worth the wait; judging by how beautiful our teasers were, I just know that there are many many more gorgeous images to come!

Were you on the edge of your seat while waiting to see images from your photographer?

Married for a MONTH!

Last week (exactly last week, actually), Mr. Buttons and I celebrated one month of marriage. Woo hoo! Who knew that a month could pass by so quickly?

Mr. Buttons and I decided that we didn't want to wait an entire year to eat the top tier of our wedding cake; we don't have the space in our freezer, and we were concerned that in 12 months our cake would simply not taste as good as a fresh one. So, the top tier was defrosted in preparation for our evening!

After a delicious dinner, we popped open a bottle of champagne and prepared to cut into our cake!

I was surprised at how good the decorations on the outside of the cake held up! Yes, some of the lace work cracked and is no longer straight, but considering it was wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil for a month, I was impressed!

Oh, how I wish I had the pro pics of the entire cake from the wedding day - can't you tell it was ridiculously gorgeous?!?! Ohhhhh ok...I'll let you have a peek of the entire cake in all its glory, as captured by one of our guests:

I was in love with it. Clearly.

We had selected two different flavors of cake for the wedding: chocolate kahlua creme and amaretto. Mr. Buttons and I had no idea what flavor the top tier was going to be until the knife went into the cake! Surprise - it was amaretto (which was great, because both of us had the chocolate kahlua during our reception)!

Um...I was really excited about eating some cake, can you tell???

And I'm sure you are wondering, how did it taste? I was definitely a bit concerned, as month (or year) old cake has had mixed reviews from a number of Bees. However, we were extremely lucky; our cake tasted just as good as it did on the day of the wedding! It was still extremely moist, and the flavor was fantastic! I think that the white chocolate fondant was what helped; I'm no scientist, but I think that the fondant sealed in the freshness of the cake! Yum!

One month certainly went by in a flash; Mr. Buttons and I have really been enjoying our time as newlyweds, and we are excited for what lies ahead of us!

I am chomping at the bit to begin our wedding day recaps; I can't wait to get my hands on our photos so that I can share our special day with you all!

The Buttons Bachelorette Commences!

Since the Button bridesmaids are all from out of town, we realized that the easiest plan for bachelorette festivities would be to hold the events a few days before the wedding. That way, each maid only had to purchase one plane ticket (what can I say...I like to save money when possible)!

The girls all arrived on Wednesday; MOH E's flight was in the morning; we grabbed lunch, and then spent the afternoon packing things up for the beach house. After picking up BM K and A later that evening, we stopped by the Cheesecake Factory to share some appetizers, drinks, and (duh) cheesecake while we waited for BM L to arrive. Side note: their new Stephanie's Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake is seriously TO DIE FOR. 2 layers of red velvet cake, 2 layers of classic cheesecake, cream cheese frosting, and white chocolate shavings. Just...look...at...it:

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It was so great to catch up with everyone...and it was almost as if no time had elapsed since we were last together. Once all of the girls were packed into my car, we drove to the beach house to settle in for the night. However, we did have to go dip our toes in the ocean before we did so!

The next morning, we woke up bright and early (well, I did at least), as we had a fun trip in store! The ladies and I took a trip to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium for a special visit!

Now, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium is probably not what you would consider the "typical" aquarium; it is definitely not Sea World. However, it stands for an awesome cause. The aquarium focuses on rehabilitation of the animals it takes in; unless the animals are unable to return to the wild for some reason, they are rehabilitated and released. Look at these cutie pie otters!

We took a "behind the scenes" tour of the facility, and learned some interesting facts! Did you know that sea turtles can be "stunned" by cold water? We had an incredibly cold winter in Florida this past year, and with the cold water temperatures, many sea turtles went into shock. Their bodies freeze up, and they appear to be dead. The aquarium received many calls from concerned beach goers who came upon cold stunned turtles and thought they were dead. However, once the team at the Clearwater Aquarium brings them in and warms them up, they "unfreeze" and can be returned to the wild!

The volunteers at the Clearwater Aquarium also babysit sea turtle nests; during nesting season they scout and mark the nests that they find, and when it is close to hatching time, a volunteer babysits, especially at night time. When a sea turtle hatches, it naturally heads towards the light (which, originally was the moonlight...reflecting off the ocean). However, now that the beaches are filled with hotels and houses, there are lights everywhere. The baby turtles can get confused, and sometimes head away from the water (towards the hotels and houses) instead of to the ocean! Poor little guys...I'm glad that there are volunteers that are at the ready to assist them to the sea!

After our tour, it was time to see the dolphins! There are a few resident dolphins at the Clearwater Aquarium; each of them was unable to be returned to the wild for different reasons. Nicholas was found on Christmas Eve in 2002, stranded with his mother Noelle. Noelle passed away, and Nicholas suffered severe sunburn (yes, did you know they can get sunburned? Dolphin skin is very sensitive). He has to remain at the aquarium because of his dependent status at the time of his stranding. Indy was found with both shark and dolphin bites on his body. See the marks?

He was unable to be released to the wild because they were unsure if he could survive since he was stranded at such a young age, and he refused to eat live fish while in captivity. These two dolphins put on a show for us; we were able to sit right at the edge of the tank!

However, there is one very very special dolphin that resides at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Her name is Winter...have you heard of her before? As a 3 month old baby, Winter was discovered tightly wound in a crab trap line. They were able to rescue her, and after many nights and days of volunteers holding her up in the water so she could breathe, she survived. However, due to the injuries she sustained, her entire tail and a few vertebrae were lost. Yes...Winter is a dolphin without a tail. See?

However, she has amazingly adapted to a new swimming pattern. In doing so, trainers at the aquarium realized that by moving her tail from side to side to swim (similar to a shark) instead of up and down is bad for Winter's back, so they began the process of creating a prosthetic tail!

Winter is first fitted with a stretchy plastic "sleeve," similar to those found on human prosthetics. Then, her tail fin is attached. Winter has training sessions where she learns how to properly use her tail; how awesome is that?

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We were able to get our hands on her prosthetic tail. BM K was especially intrigued by Winter's tail - she currently works with human prosthetics herself, and apparently Winter is a big celebrity in her field!

Winter's favorite "toy" is her floating mat in her tank. She shimmies onto it and floats around.

She is so cute! The entire time that we were there she was vocalizing...a LOT! Winter's chirping is adorable, and it seems like she has such a spunky personality.

What a cute little dolphin...

After the aquarium, the girls and I chowed down on a delicious lunch at Frenchy's (ummm blackened fish tacos? Yes please.), then spent the afternoon frolicking on the beach.

Yep - thats us out there in the water!

Our plans for the evening: a night out on the town! But, I'll get to that later...

If you would like more information on the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and/or Winter the dolphin, visit their website: HERE. You can even make charitable donations to help them; they are a nonprofit organization and they work hard to not only help injured sea creatures, but also to educate about respect for marine life and our environment.

Did you take a fun and/or educational trip as a part of your bachelorette festivities, or am I the only nerdy one out there?