Perfect Anniversary

My husband and I celebrated our 17th anniversary yesterday.  He surprised me with an overnight stay at the Greystone Inn in Wilmington, NC.  Wilmington is a quick 45 min. drive from our beach house, so perfect for an overnight stay.  It's also where we got married, so perfect for a return anniversary trip.  It was nice to have a night away without kids before returning to reality on Tuesday.  Take a look at this beautiful inn originally named "The Bridgers Mansion and built in 1905-1906 by Elizabeth Haywood Bridgers, Widow of Preston Bridgers, son of Robert Rufus Bridgers, Past President of the Atlantic Coast Line Railway and founder of the Wilmington/Weldon Railway and two times representative of the Confederate Congress.   The current owners who were our gracious host and hostess  are Richard and Marcia Moore.  

Beautiful greenery all around the entrance.

 The dark lipstick colored door lends a

 welcoming warmth to the otherwise grey

 austere entrance.

(my lens was foggy due to the heat)

The entrance hall with fireplace under the 

staircase which always has a fire in the winter months.

The living room with beautiful woodwork

 and carved mantle.

The piano room which once was a Japanese tea room.  The arched windows  go all the way to the floor and originally opened entirely to create wall ways to the  terrace.  Unfortunately, today they are painted shut. Still lovely. The lattice is also original.

The dining room where we enjoyed a beautiful breakfast.

My husband's favorite room was the library

  The lovely Terrace which was too hot for our use but would be great in the spring or fall months.

Our suite was a soothing shade of green with traditional 

furnishings in keeping with the rest of the inn.

We had a great little sitting area with two window seats with windows overlooking views of the city.

The bathroom complete with claw foot tub

 was so charming.  

After we checked into the inn, we decided to take a walk back through memory lane.  We were married at the de Rosset House on Dock Street.  When we married there, it was uninhabited, but in 2007 was bought and renovated.  It is now the City Club de Rosset.  There have been many weddings in the garden where we were married in 1995.   

Here are pictures of how the house looks today.

Not sure if you can tell, but the gardens are terraced into three different levels.  There are beautiful trees, flowers and shrubs planted on each level.  

Did you know that a lot of movies and tv shows are filmed in Wilmington?  There was a movie filmed in the garden the week before our wedding so the movie company planted the garden with beautiful flowers, which we were able to have for our wedding.  Lucky!

Here is a close up of the porch.  We stood at the base of the steps and said our vows.  The guest sat on each level of the garden.  We had a string quartet play.  After the minister pronounced us husband and wife, the champagne corks popped and champagne was served to all the guests before departing to the reception which was a short walk down the block.

Love this old magnolia tree in the garden. 

After our walk down memory lane, we went to dinner at a great restaurant called Manna on Princess street.

If you are ever in Wilmington, NC  make sure you try Manna.  It was awesome!  We were hoping to catch a glimpse of Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey, Jr. who are in town filming IronMan 3, but no such luck!  

Our server told us they had both been in the week before.  

Oh well, may be next time!

 We had a fabulous anniversary.  I highly recommend a trip to Wilmington,NC for a quick get anniversary

trip or beach get away.  There are so many great 

Bed and Breakfasts and restaurants like Catch, 

which is owned by the James Beard nominee, Keith

Rhodes, who gave Gwyneth Palthrow a 

cooking class last week.  

You can read all about it on her blog here.  

Tomorrow, back to reality for a few days!