Berry Hill

August 24th Jimmy and I headed to my hometown for Brad and Lauren's wedding. Their actual wedding was at our home church, but the reception was at Berry Hill, a former antebellum plantation and current National Historic Landmark. We were able to stay the night there (thanks to my parents) and had a lovely time!

The Berry Hill Mansion

The bridal wreaths on the front doors.

Us during the reception

The wedding and reception were both beautiful. My favorite moment during the reception was Brad's speech, where he shared with everyone his gratitude to his sweet bride and the story of how they met and fell in love. As long as I've known Brad he's been a man of few words, so I loved hearing his sentiments.

He was calm and composed and at the same time so confident and happy beside his bride all night. They seemed truly happy together and had a wonderful party to celebrate their marriage!

After all the festivities, which ended in a pretty spectacular fireworks display, we headed to our room in the new wing.

I'm not sure why I took a picture of this. I guess because I liked the bathroom.

The next morning we slept in, sat around the room drinking coffee and reading, and took in the view from our porch. Then we headed to Berry Hill's Sunday brunch buffet. Brunch was delicious, and I'll admit to being quite excited when I saw the dessert bar. Lots of delicious cakes!

Our view from the porch to the left.

To the right. You can see the mansion in the background.

After brunch we took a guided tour of the mansion.

The foyer, with flowers left from the wedding.

The horseshoe staircase

I loved these silhouettes.

All of the baseboards were marble.

Original brick!

Early piano

I loved the detail in this fireplace.

Trick door! (For the purpose of symmetry in the room, we were told.)

A patch of the original carpet.

Old Glory

The carriage house, which is now a guest house.

The grounds where the reception had been the night before.

The reception was in the ballroom, too, pictured behind the trees.

The men's toilet. Eww.

The view from the front porch of the mansion.

The beautiful view as you approach the house.

Ruins of slave quarters.

I took a picture of the gates as we were leaving. We had such a nice time there!