Exiting the Wedding

You know the image you see time and time again, the one where the happy couple exit their wedding with flowers flying through the air and excited smiles all over the place? That image gives me a rush. That embodies a wedding to me. The culmination of months of planning, an hour (or maybe 15 minutes!) of pure bliss. Your dad walks you down the aisle, your mom cries tears of you joy, you say "I do" and commit your life to someone else, and then it happens. There it is. That beautiful moment where you exit the church surrounded by loved ones, as husband and wife. You are showered with rose petals, bird seed, whatever. To me, it is perfection, and I can't wait.

see it here

see it here

see it here



Back to reality: what if your venue does not allow rose petals because they stain the carpet? What if you're terrified that your dress might be burned by a sparkler? Then what? How do you achieve that dreamy image?

My fiance and I are having lavender tossed. We nixed the rose petals because we thought it would require too much clean up. I nixed the bird seed because I predict my new husband would be pelted with a handful by a groomsman (not a pretty picture!). We wanted something that represented the South. I thought magnolia seeds would be perfect, but I would hate to be responsible for a magnolia tree grove sprouting up at the door of the beautiful church where we are getting married.

So we settled on lavender. It smells good if it gets stuck in my dress, it does not hurt if it is thrown in someones face, and it fits really nicely in some little envelopes I had bought for another wedding project that I later decided was no good!

See it here

See it here

See it here

I saw the sign

I loved Ace of Base growing up, no really, I had two of their Cd's. I put on concerts and wished I had an accent.

I have since gotten more ambitious in my pursuits. I recently discovered the world of free downloads on the Internet. Here's a sample of a few of the signs I am going to use at my wedding.

                  I’m his Mrs. I’m her Mr.

 








All I did was download a few free fonts, some clip art arrows, and viola!

Or you can head on over to Stylemepretty.com and search their DIY tab for some free templates like these:

Or head on over to this lovely ladies blog, and use some of her templates!



Welcome Bags

We are having an "destination wedding" of sorts as only about 5 of our invited guests actually live in the town that is hosting us. We know it is going to be up to an 8 hour drive for a lot of my Tennessee guests and my fiance has family coming all the way from North Carolina to Colorado! We really want them to know how much we appreciate them traveling to our wedding and we decided we wanted a really unique and awesome Out-of-Town Welcome Bag. The theme of our wedding is all about everything undeniably Southern. Here are some ideas we have come up with:

I found these cute cellophane bags here that we are going to stuff with some of our favorite things. They are so much cheaper than anything else I can find, so we can spend more money on great things fill them with!

We really want to set the mood right from the very beginning of the weekend, so we are going to throw in some air plane size bottles of Jack Daniels as a tribute to my Tennessee upbringing.

We also thought it would be cute to add some of our favorite snacks. Once again, the cellophane bag prevails. We ordered the smallest size to stuff with my fiance's favorite homemade Chex Mix and a opaque bag to stuff with my best friends famous cookies.

We are going to throw in some brochures from the area, a schedule of events, and a cute little door hanger that says "Do not Disturb - I've been dancing all night!"

The final product will all be tied together something like this...

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

We are offically 56 days away from The Big Day! I feel like I still have loads of work to do and I find something new I love almost hourly, but I am starting to see seven months of planning come together. It's a great feeling, but at the same time- I'm freaking out! I can't help but remember when I was a brand spankin' new bride-to-be and all the things I was so sure I'd do, or not do. I can remember thinking I would only settle for an all lace dress, I'd do almost everything myself, and be surrounded by millions of ranunculus and peonies. Two months out from the wedding I'm getting my no-where-to-be found lace dress altered, I had to limit myself to a handful of DIY projects and my favorite flowers are out of season and $6.00 a stem.

But you know what? I'm ok with that. My wedding is evolving into something even more uniquely personal to my fiance and I than I could have ever imagined and I can't wait to see the final product.

Here are few other things I was dying to incorporate into my wedding, that just ain't happenin'!

I was hell bent on making these beautiful chocolate panels. When I got my first job and decided I didn't have time to try and beat Martha Stewart, I then learned how much it costs to pay someone else to make them!

If I had time to cut out cute fabric and glue it to lighters, I'd be all about the creative little DIY.



How adorable! "For your tears of joy" hankies. I need one for my tears that I don't have the budget to buy everyone hankies!

I still may try and make this little number happen! How neat would it be to have this in your centerpieces and one of those DIY book wreaths on the door?

They are here! They are here!

Our engagement pictures are finally here and I cannot quit admiring them! They are so perfectly us, so perfect in every way!

See them here

My two favorites for now...

To do Engagement Pictures, or not?

My fiance and I got engaged a little over 5 months ago. Immediately after he proposed, he whisked me off to a vacation with his family. While there we took some of those traditional "everybody wear khaki on the beach" with all of our sweet, sweet nieces and nephews. The photographer asked if we wanted a few of just the two of us to have as engagement pictures. We happily said yes, and off we went posing for cheesy pictures in the sand. When we were finally able to view the pictures we decided that if we were going to take "official engagement pictures" we might need to ask someone who specializes in that type of photography. When I booked my photographer (who might be one of the coolest girls I know) we were faced with the question of taking another set of engagement pictures. We decided it was worth the time and money so that we would have met our photographer and could get better acquainted with her, before the big day.  We had our session on New Year's Eve and I am so pumped to see the proofs! Here are some of the shots I sent to our photographer to give her and idea of what I though made a great engagement picture session.

I think it is so important that they bring out the personality of the couple!

I went to law school with the groom in this picture. Isn't his wife beautiful?? I adore pictures that look as casual as this one.

My fiance went to college with the gorgeous girl. Don't they look like they would be so much fun to be couple friends with? I love that it is obvious they are actually laughing and having a good time in this picture. They make it look so easy to look great!

The pops of color in this picture are so eye catching. I think this couple {who are getting married the same day as us!} are really onto something as far as not attempting to be so matchy-matchy in their clothing selections. I think coordination is key, trying to match might detract from the over all feel of the pictures. 

Once again, I can't get enough of natural looking shots! Other than the fact they are in the middle of the road, it looks like he is just stealing a kiss!

Although not an engagement picture, this is the quintessential "look" of the type of engagement pictures I love. Casual, classic, beautiful pops of color...I could go on and on!

So to do engagement pictures or not? I say, yes. If not just to capture exactly what you looked like, and hopefully {with a great photographer} how you were feeling when you first got engaged, to have as momentos of the time leading up to your wedding. Engagement pictures can be less stuffy than wedding pictures and can really be a better reflection of the couples style. We are getting ours matted and giving them as parents gifts, and the original beach pictures we used on our post card Save-the-date. 

If engagement pictures aren't your thing, or maybe not in your budget- why not try a one year anniversary shoot? Here's one that I found that is just as pretty as the couple in it!

see more here

We are so lucky {and excited!} to have Shea Halliburton shooting our wedding. See some of her work here. She is an extremely talented photographer and so much fun!

Fun Reception extras

Lets be honest here, receptions are the reason people go to weddings! Of course it's an honor to witness a couple making a life long commitment to one another, but most people just want to boogie!

Any average bride can have a great DJ and drinks flowing, but I want to go the distance!

Cornhole? Yes ma'am!

see it here

Don't have the budget to rent an expensive Smilebooth? No worries, just hang an empty frame with a sheet behind it and let your guests become the photographer!

You could even have some clever props near the the frame for your friends to tie into their photos. I, for one, could entertain myself for at least 30 minutes with one of these.

see them here

Why not have everyone write the bride and groom well wishes, and drop them in a cute little container? You could even make cute little signs that say "Leave us a little note, drop us a wisdom donation, so that we may read them and remember this day, on our one year anniversary celebration!"