Vacation Wrap Up Vol. 1 // Hilton Head

Our trip to south carolina kicked off nearly 2 weeks ago but looking through at all of these photos took me right back in an instant. I had never traveled to the south before but when we received an invitation to celebrate our friends' jon and becca's wedding, we jumped on the opportunity. 

(clockwise from top left: all my lady friends and the bride (she is in white)  /  the sea pines light house  /  welcome sign on at the pier  /  our group at brunch on sunday morning  /  the pier at sunset for the opening night fete)

The wedding weekend was nothing short of amazing from the moment we arrived at the inn at harbor town on the sea pines resort. A dip in the pool with our friends (who also made the trip) was then followed by an evening spent on the pier with all of the wedding guests drinking wine as the sun set. Honestly, I had never been to a wedding that had so many friends in attendance. It was like a big party but in a town that we were all discovering together.

(the lounge at the wedding reception  /  ryan and stephen post-ceremony  /  beautiful flower arrangements under the giant cypress trees  /  a panorama shot of the reception tent, the harbor and a huge boat docked for the weekend)

Ryan kicked off his saturday morning with a round of golf on the sea pines ocean course where he saw a live gator just off the tee-box. I instead chose a different form of relaxation... a trip to the beach. A few hours spent taking in some vitamin d, getting our toes wet in the ocean and laughing away was the best pre-wedding fun. 

(the reception tent and lounge, lit up after dusk  /  ryan smoking a cigar and making me laugh  /  mark, a bartender and ryan  /  ashley, deb, jill and bria having cocktails at the reception  /  my new favorite photo of ryan and I)

Oh and then the wedding; seriously one of the most beautiful I have been to! No detail was overlooked and the setting was just so nice. For my first destination wedding, the bar was set pretty high. We wrapped up all the festivities with a sunday morning brunch overlooking the golf course and it was the perfect calm after a weekend of drinks, dancing and late-nights with friends. However, the fun was not ending because as we pulled out of the parking lot in our electric blue mustang (rentals of course are ridiculous colors!), I knew we were driving north to charleston for a few days in low-country just ryan and I.

Come back tomorrow for vol 2 of my vacation wrap up!

I also have to give major props to my friend phil who took many of the photos above. He captured so much of the weekend and I totally snagged his photos to include in my recap. Thank you friend!