Becoming the Browns: If You Give a Girl a Party...

...she'll be right there to celebrate! And that's exactly what the last month has been for this girl: no time for blogging but lots of reasons to celebrate. There have been weddings, babies, anniversaries, birthdays, and much more the past couple of weeks. This summer may have been short on comfortable temperatures but it has made up for it in its parties!

Wedding bells rang once again for some of our friends in Summerville, Richard and Tara. Richard grew up with Joseph in Florence, SC, and these two have managed to stay good friends since. Joseph was an usher in the wedding that took place smack dab in the middle of July...the hottest weekend of the summer I think!

First up: the rehearsal dinner party! The wedding took place at Wescott Plantation in Summerville, SC. It was a really pretty indoor/outdoor venue!

Richard is hilarious-he bought these tuxedo t-shirts for all the groomsmen to wear for the rehearsal. The guys loved their matching attire :)

Saturday brought wedding excitement as we traveled back to Summerville for the event. Joseph and Richard pre-wedding with real tuxes this time!

Last minute fixes...

Before walking down the aisle! Joseph escorting one of the mothers.

Beautiful bride with her dad!

The ceremony was short and sweet, which was nice since it turned out to be another hot day down here!

Mr. and Mrs. Erxleben...congrats!!

Erxleben? Yep...not the easiest last name in the world. Guess I'm lucky I'll be a Brown!

Wedding party getting ready to be announced...

In the midst of partying, I managed to pick up a cute usher!

I think that's the last wedding we have until September, but that doesn't mean we don't have our own to continue planning! In fact, I went home last weekend with Joseph to visit my family and work on wedding stuff, including song-picking for the band, guest list making, and dress shopping-only this time for my mom!

Poor Joseph won't get the chance to try on a bunch of different wedding looks since he likes a black tux, so we let him model before my mom came out!

Mom was able to pick out a dress with the second try-on! I'm guessing my indecisiveness didn't come from her. We're keeping her pick a secret until the big day, but it is beautiful and looks amazing on her! Mom's little helpers:

After dress shopping, we did a little china browsing...did I mention I am marrying the best guy ever who happily did all of these activities with my mom and me?? He was super pumped about the prospect of having china with a dragonfly on it...

The start of August brought two more very important celebrations: a birthday weekend for one of my fabulous bridesmaids, Emily, and the 30th wedding anniversary for my incredible parents!

We spent a weekend celebrating Emily's 26th year with dinners downtown, lazy days by the pool, and our tradition of birthday morning breakfast at Lost Dog Cafe on Folly Beach. Here's the birthday girl with her cinnamon roll cake!

August 2nd...Happy Birthday Em!

August 2nd isn't just Emily's birthday...it's also my parent's 30th wedding anniversary! I am so blessed to have two great role models to base my own start to marriage on. I hope I am as happy as they are 30 years in!

Moving along...we all know love and marriage lead to a baby carriage! One of my good friends, Christine, was pregnant with her second baby but first boy this summer! Just a few weeks before his arrival, we went to a shower for her on Shem Creek in Mt. Pleasant. Emily, Jaclyn, and myself were really excited about part of our combo gift with Claire and Gillian...Sophie the Giraffe!

Opening shower presents!

Work girls - these amazing ladies make long nights in the NNICU so much better!

A couple of weeks later on August 3rd, Christine celebrated the birth of her new bundle of joy, Cole William, with her husband and daughter!

He is precious and so laid-back...just like his momma! Congrats Christine, Tom and Ella-I'll miss you at work while you're on maternity leave!

But don't worry...as someone who loves Baskin Robbins as much as I do, we can celebrate with baseball sundaes brought back for the summer!

Baby celebrations don't end there! On July 28th, one of my good friends, Brandi, and her husband Wes welcomed their first child-a beautiful girl named Annabel Drake-to the world. I've only seen a few pictures, but she's cute as can be and I can't wait to meet her one day!

Last but certainly not least, Joseph and I are celebrating finding and getting approved for our very first house! After a long 6 month wait on another house that was a short sale, we decided to withdraw our offer and restart our search for a home. We found one just a short couple of hours post contract withdrawal on the first place! Welcome to 24 Hawthorne Lane...

It is everything I wanted in a first home and SO MUCH more! It's located in Traditions Hilton Head, a neighborhood that has lots of development plans but that is slow to complete them due to the economy. We are taking a chance buying a home in an incomplete neighborhood with only about 40 built houses (and plans for 9500!), but we think we're making a good real estate decision. I guess we'll see in about 10 years when we try to sell it! This blog may make me eat my words...either way, I LOVE this house.