Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Here's a super fun wedding with a modern twist, courtesy of Lotus Blossom Photography, who always manages to capture such joyful aspects of a wedding.
What ABG loves about this wedding is that just because you're having a destination wedding doesn't mean that you can't hire {great} Nashville wedding vendors you love/trust...or still check out ABG for ideas everyday:).
Thanks Cathryn and Michael for sharing your special day with us!
Bride - Cathryn Renee Kelton of Nashville, TN
Groom - Michael Robert Formichella of Long Valley, NJ
Ceremony - Memorial Chapel, The campus of Emory and Henry College in Emory, VA
Reception Location - The Martha Washington Inn and Spa, Abingdon, VA
Guests - 100
My wedding style
I would say our wedding style was classic with a slight modern twist. I kept the color scheme simple, but elegant with black and ivory, and used classic cut A-line dresses. Our modern touch came from using tropical flowers for the arrangements. It added a sophisticated touch of color.
My colors and why I choose them
We used black and ivory. Black and white is such a classic combination, and everyone looks good in black. I chose ivory instead of white because my dress was ivory.
My theme
I didn’t start out with a theme, but it ended up being lace. My dress had lace trim, therefore I ended up choosing bridesmaid and flower girl dresses that incorporated lace in their designs to carry the theme throughout all the girls. It ended up looking gorgeous having the lace common to everyone.
Wedding wow factor
Our guests loved the candy buffet we had at the reception. We bought apothecary jars in various sizes and filled them with various candies we purchased at bulk warehouse stores.
Favors
In lieu of wedding favors we provided black and white organza bags at the candy bar for guests to take home their favorite candies.
Personalized touches
Other than the standard monogrammed cocktail napkins everyone has, our cake had our initials incorporated into the design.
Most special moment for me
It’s hard to pick a most special moment because there were so many, but I would have to say during our rehearsal dinner, Mike’s sister and her partner who are in a band called Driftwood Fire, dedicated a song for us and sang for everyone.
What I did for the kids in my wedding
I bought our flower girl two My Little Ponies for being in the wedding. She was more excited about her ponies than getting to wear her princess dress.
Gift for bridesmaids
I bought each bridesmaid a necklace with their birthstone in the pendant. I also ordered a tote bag set that I had monogrammed for each of them.
Groomsmen
Mike chose his groomsmen's gifts based on each one's hobbies. He bought his best man a nice pocket knife, one groomsman is into art, so he bought them a set of nice artist pencils. The other three groomsmen are his fraternity brothers, he bought them Max (from Where The Wild Things Are) bobble heads because Max is their mascot.
My wedding vendors
Photography: Lotus Blossom Photography
Dresses: The White Room
Hair: Hannah Young
Invitations and Bridesmaids’ tote bags: Exclusively Weddings
Cake: Brenda Maus (Rocky Mount, VA)
Reception and Rehearsal Dinner: The Martha Washington Inn and Spa
Ceremony: Memorial Chapel, Emory and Henry College
DJ: Grant Smiley (Abingdon, VA)
My faves – highly recommend
Bridal gown/bridesmaid dresses - The White Room
Hair - Hannah Young
Photography: Lotus Blossom Photography
The Martha Washington Inn & Spa
How I found my vendors – bridal shows, wedding planning resources, friends:
My sister bought her wedding dress from The White Room which is one of the reasons I decided to get my dress and bridesmaids’ dresses from them. The biggest reason though is they have an amazing selection, and the girls are wonderful to work with. It is worth the short drive to Lebanon to check them out!
Hannah Young has been a long time family friend, she did my sister’s and my hair for my sister’s wedding and our hair looked beautiful.
Amber of Lotus Blossom Photography and I have been friends since middle school. She’s been interested in photography as long as I’ve know her. I couldn’t think of anyone else I would have wanted to do our pictures. We have gotten so many compliments on the quality of our pictures, I HIGHLY recommend Lotus Blossom Photography to anyone.
Mike and I met in college, which is why we chose to get married at Emory and Henry College. The town of Abingdon, VA reminds me of Franklin, TN. It is very historic which beautiful old buildings dating back to the late 1700’s. We chose to have our rehearsal dinner and our wedding reception at The Martha Washington Inn because it is a beautiful Plantation home, and the service is amazing. The staff was easy to work with and the food was wonderful. If you are thinking about having a beautiful mountain wedding, please give them a call. Not only do they do receptions, they can also do weddings.
My wedding rewind
What I would do differently if planning again
I gave myself a lot of unneeded stress trying to make everyone happy. Everyone, especially your parents are going to have an opinion and will want something a certain way. While there are compromises that have to be made in planning any wedding, I finally learned that you have to put your foot down sometimes, because you can’t please everyone, and most importantly you need to please yourself.
Biggest waste of time or money?
Decorations at the church, you’re at the church for a short period of time, and no one really notices them. I’m glad we just decided to do pew bows, but we didn’t even need to do that.
Best value for the service/product
Lotus Blossom Photography, you get two photographers to cover your event, not just one. Hannah Young, she does beautiful hair and doesn’t cost a small fortune. Artificial Flowers from Michael’s - we were able to have tropical flowers in the fall at a fraction of the cost.
Neatest find
We found beautiful inexpensive apothecary jars for our candy bar at Hobby Lobby.
Advice for other Nashville brides?
1. Don’t feel like you need to go to the big box bridal stores for your dresses. Independent boutiques have better selections, and you’ll be surprised that their prices are very similar to what you’d find at the chain bridal stores. Besides, you don’t want to have the same dress as 1000’s of other girls. Those of you getting married right after college, please think of this. I had 7 friends get married the summer after we graduated college, and they all went to a chain bridal store. A few weddings had the same bridesmaids’ dresses, but in different colors. The nice thing about an independent bridal store, if you don’t like one aspect of a dress’ design, you can have it taken off or you can have something added. They don’t do this at the chain stores.
2. Your bridesmaids, and groomsmen for that matter, are spending a lot of money for you. Get them something nice in return. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. Go shopping after a major holiday and you’ll get great deals on nice things. I got my girls a diamond and birthstone necklace from Kohl’s as part of their presents. They were $100.00 necklaces on sale for $30.00. Shop around and wait for sales, I was able to pick up my girls’ tote bag sets from exclusivelyweddings.com on sale. They were normally almost $50.00 for the set, I got them for $20.00.
3. Give yourself at least a year to plan. You don’t want to be rushed, this process is stressful, and you don’t want to make yourself crazy. We picked one or two things to take care of a month, because we did that, two months before my wedding we had all of the planning finished. I had time to sit back and enjoy the last few months of being engaged.
4. Think about artificial flowers. They’re much cheaper than real flowers. The tropical flowers we used would have cost us a fortune if we used real flowers. Our artificial flowers looked so real, people at the reception tables had no idea the centerpieces were fake until we told them.
5. Lastly, have fun. Wedding planning can be a huge headache, but it doesn’t have to be. Stay calm, learn to compromise, and enjoy this period in your life. It goes by before you know it!
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Posted by Lotus Blossom Photography |
Filed under: Destination Weds & Honeymoon , Real Nashville Brides, Real Nashville Weddings
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Friday, February 12, 2010
Cedarwood Weddings and Events is my favorite new blog! After one visit, you'll see why, especially if you are seeking an outdoor Nashville wedding - like a farm, garden - or a historic home. I could peruse this site for hours...and have:).
Earlier this week, they featured a wonderful organic wedding and I had to share it with you. It's amazing and there are no words to describe it.
Kate (bride), Matt (groom) and their Cedarwood wedding team thought through every aspect of this green, farm wedding and made it look effortless, cozy and joyous. Kate and Matt look super happy, as wonderfully captured by Krystal Mann of Mint and Sage Photography.
Here are some of my favorite pics from their day. I HIGHLY encourage you to visit the Cedarwood blog to read all about this organic wedding - part 1, part 2 and part 3. I'm sure you agree that a wedding recap that requires a 3-part series is clearly a must-read (and will provide more info on the couples' wedding team).
This wedding eye-candy is my Happy Valentine's Day gift to you. You can thank me later:).
Who says eco-friendly can't be fabulous!!
Thanks Cedarwood, Katie, Matt and Mint and Sage for letting me share this wonderful with my readers.
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Posted by Ashley |
Filed under: Luxury Wed Finds, Real Nashville Weddings, Wedding Resources
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Thursday, February 4, 2010
3.2 months. 14.2 weeks. 100 days. 2400 hours. 144,000 minutes. 8,640,000 seconds. And, it all comes down to one moment. The moment you walk down the aisle to the one you love, the one to whom you are going to pledge the rest of your life. Could you plan your wedding in that short amount of time? Nashville newlywed Amber did, and she wrote about her journey on the blog aptly named 100 Days to Plan a Wedding.
Thoroughly impressed by this concept and her hard work, I think it only right to share with you Amber’s inspirations and reflections for her wedding day. Not only did she plan a wedding in 100 days, but she also did it on a budget! {Brides, start taking notes!}
1. What was your biggest splurge that you thought was well worth it?
Photography! It was the one think I was willing to blow my budget on. Once the flowers are dead and the cake is stale, the photos are all we have to remember our big day. I was so blessed to find Matt Vietti and his creative eye! {you can read about her decision here & here}
2. What did you think was the biggest waste of your money?
Nothing. We were very frugal and thought out all our purchases. {be sure to check out her budget recaps}
3. What was your favorite Do-It-Yourself project?
The Paper Poms! They were very time consuming, but they were a lot of fun to do with my mom, and my various friends and family who stopped in and helped make one.
4. What would you go back and have someone else do that was originally a DIY project?
Invitations! DIY invitations were a great idea in theory, but they were, by far, the most tedious and annoying thing we had to do. They required a lot of assembly we didn’t know about until we got home and opened the box. The invitations were an odd size so we couldn’t print them at home. We ended up having to spend $60 extra and take them to Kinkos. {be sure to read about it here & here}
5. Why 100 days?
Dave {her husband} knew his brother was being deployed to Iraq in October and his best friend was also leaving in October for Naval boot camp. He wanted both of them to be a part of our special day and didn’t want to wait another year plus to get married so he popped the question in June! By the time I had processed what was happening, I realized we only had 100 days to go. That is what inspired the blog and my thought process throughout the entire planning process!
Today’s blog was written by Cassandra, an ABG bridal blogger. She is also a Nashville bride-to-be and writes from her unique perspective! Read more about Cassandra here.
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Posted by Cassandra |
Filed under: Real Nashville Weddings
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Wednesday, February 3, 2010
I love this couple’s engagement session. You probably remember me featuring it last summer. I love it because the two look like a jewelry ad - so perfect, so in love. While they look like models, they aren’t. They are real and were recently married in North Carolina.
I was happy to see their lovely wedding pictures shared by their photographer so I wanted to be sure to share them with you. Whether you’re getting married in Nashville or having a destination wedding, I’m sure you’ll enjoy!
Featured Favorite Blog
Myrick Studios, a Nashville-based Photography Company
http://www.myrickstudios.com
I love to meet a couple that really enjoys having a good time and enjoys being with one another. Meet Chris & Claire Schmidt.. I actually met these guys through Facebook! We communicated via email for a while because they were planning a destination wedding in North Carolina while trying to move to Little Rock Arkansas. These guys decided to come to Nashville to do their engagement session and they were just too cute because they were so nervous about their shoot together! Well, as you can see, they were total naturals in front of the camera.. and it was a total pleasure to capture their love for one another through my lens…
Chris & Claire actually met in Memphis…so they just HAD to have a picture with Elvis in it!
I love this series of pictures below..I just had them take turns being in the background. But when it was Claire's turn, I noticed that she was looking at something else and wasn't looking at the camera and I shouted "CLAIRE!! STOP LOOKING AT CHRIS'S BUTT AND LOOK AT THE CAMERA!!" LOL! That got a HUGE smile to come across her face!
August 1, 2009... time for the BIG day for these guys! Claire and her bridesmaids got ready at Claire's mom's house and wanted to have her pictures done there because of the beautiful scenery at the lake house and I really tried to convince them to let me get a shot of them jumping off of the dock into the lake but I think we're going to plan that for a later date! 
On to the wedding...they got married at a place called "Carrigan Farms". I had no idea what to expect when I tried to picture a wedding at a rock quarry but WOW, was I so thrilled when I pulled up to this location! I pulled up and the guys were ready with flasks in hand for their turn!
I really do appreciate them trusting me enough to hire me to drive out to NC to shoot their wedding. They are a truly beautiful couple and it was a absolute pleasure being able to watch them share this moment with each other.
Visit Myrick Studios for more from this romantic, North Carolina destination wedding.
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Posted by Myrick Studios |
Filed under: Real Nashville Weddings
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