Before Swoozie’s opened in Nashville’s Green Hills area, we couldn’t wait. We wouldn’t be jealous of Atlanta much longer, Swoozie’s was finally coming to Nashville! Fast forward, Swoozie’s has been here for 6 months or so and…we’re still loving it! This love is proving to be no temporary crush.
I’ll admit, I’ve visited several times and have been way to excited to chronicle for ABG readers. It really is like a Candyland for big girls…I wanted to shop and see, not take pictures and notes. But luckily, the ABG community always has my back.
Latrice has written a blog on Swoozie’s that I have been following. Now that her three-part series has ended, she’s letting me “borrow” it so I can share all of the goodies with you. I’ve mentioned Latrice before, she’s amazing. She is a shopper like I’ve never seen. Tons of style and always found at the neatest Nashville boutiques, but I’ll spare you more of my blah, blah, blah…enjoy this Friday Find.
Guest Post: Latrice of Bridal Opulence, a Nashville wedding planner
Swooning over Swoozie’s!
Nashville has some of the greatest places to shop, by far. Just recently in the Green Hills area the brand new Hills Center opened with all the latest trendy boutique like stores. One of my all time favorite specialty stores in the center is called Swoozie’s!!
This hip little happening spot is the best place for anything gift related or paper/stationery related. I am a huge fan of paper products so every time I go in the store I stay for at least an hour.
There so many gift-y books & journals for the newly engaged bride-to-be. This table in the picture carries a Tiffany blue & chocolate theme, which is a really happening color for weddings this season. There were cute little notepads, books, etc that range in price of $12.95 & up. They also offer a printing service at the store and will personalize your items for a small fee, making everything so special. One of the cutest items by far was the “Wedding day survival” kit, which is priced at $34.95
Swoozie’s also carries the most creative paperware - that includes plates, beverage napkins & cups - great for that bridal shower, engagement party, etc.
Check out this “Because I’m The Bride, That’s Why!” foam cup ($6.95) and the “Tie the Knot Bride” beverage napkins ($4.95).
Stationery is another reason that Swoozie’s has such a huge following of loyal customers. The stationery by far is the cutest I’ve ever seen, and would make your bridal shower invites, save the date cards & also wedding invitations truly stand out. This is the place for those DIY Brides!! The average price for this category starts at $8.95 & up.
So if you are a DIY bride and have a love for stationery…..Swoozie’s is the place to be!
Selecting the right bridal party gifts can be a huge task if you don’t have anything in mind. Luckily, Swoozie’s has gifts for both your bridesmaids & groomsmen.
Selecting the perfect gift for the men in your party can be intimidating. Swoozie’s has the most perfect set of gifts for that hard-to-shop-for man & they also can do monogramming & engraving. I am all about personalization!!!
The crocodile leather black flask are a perfect “manly gift”!!! They have “groomsman” engraved on the silver hardware, it looks great. Also, the picture would be a nice added touch that could be given and either place a picture from the bachelor party or your actual ceremony as a thank you gift. Swoozie’s also carries a wide array of koozies, which you can never have too many of those. The pictured wedding frame “The Guys” retails at $19.95, this frame is also available in “The Girls” & also “Mother & Father of the Bride”
Swoozie’s makes it so easy to shop for your bridesmaids & also for your flower girl. There are so many unique and fun gifts to choose from in the store & also on line.
We will start with your bridesmaids: in the picture below the black & white motif is amazing! With this collection comes notecards with can be personalized for an additional $5; cute wine bags, coasters etc.
Notecards are a favorite of mine. In this age of emailing, a hand written note is always top on list. It’s also an etiquette thing as well. So you can never go wrong in getting personalized stationery for yourself or your party. Other ideas that you can pick up at Swoozie’s are personalized soaps, carry all bags, burlap initial wine bags & also initial wine stoppers.
Wine stoppers start at $14.95
Initial soaps start at $11.00 & Carry all bags start at $19.95 & up
Market Tote - Turquoise with Brown Trim Price: $19.95
Perfect little gift for your flower girl!
For your bachelorette party, girls night out, Swoozie’s can personalize a sash for you to wear so everyone will know it’s your special night.
Swoozie’s…your one stop shop for bridal party gifts with a personal touch!!
They also carry the cutest selection of table decor.
Currently they have 3 that really struck my fancy & I would like to share them with you.
This black & white table setting could be the theme for a very chic bridal shower. Incorporating a Tiffany blue, pink or red to the color scheme would definitely make the color pop!!! Also you could request that your guest wear colors that coordinate with your color scheme. This would create really super cute pictures.
For a Nautical or Beach theme:
This is so adorable and with a little creativity, you could incorporate sand to your table center pieces for an added effect.
Bachelor Cook out: All American Theme
This table decor would make for a great afternoon Bachelor cook out with the fellas. You could carry this theme out and incorporate all things baseball. What a fun cookout this would be & I would even suggest renting a cute little old fashion popcorn popper for your guest.
Welcome Today’s Guest:Southern Fancy is a bridal blog written by Anna, a Nashville bride2be and a true Southern belle.
Even though The Mister and I are getting married right outside of Nashville in Franklin, Tenn., it feels more like a destination wedding. You see, all my family is in Mississippi and his is either in Arizona or Chicago. Plus, our closest friends are scattered about the country. So any way you look at it, our guests are traveling from near and far, and they’re having to pay a pretty penny to do so. To welcome them from a long day of travel and to show them our appreciation, it is only appropriate for us to give each person (or couple or family) a basket of goodies when they check in at the hotel.
First things first, I searched online for some inspiration. I looked no further than Kate Parker Weddings. She has the perfect welcome basket for cities like Dallas, Chicago, Boston, NYC, San Diego and San Francisco, among others. And as fate would have it, she has one specifically for Nashville weddings.
This fabulous basket includes:
* 1 3-pack of cookies from The Christie Cookie
* 2 packs of Goo Goo Clusters (which are made in Chattanoga)
* 1 tin of tea from Nashville Tea
* 2 (11oz.) bottles of Fiji water
* Custom map including 4-5 points of interest for the wedding weekend (rehearsal, ceremony, reception, etc.)
* 1 Map of Tennessee from the Tennessee Visitors Bureau
* Medicine Kit including Advil, Tylenol, and Pepto-Bismol.
At the price of $34.00 (plus shipping), I think this is totally worth it; however, I am in need of about 30 of these bad boys, which would cost me a little over $1,000 total. Soooo, I decided I could create something similar and set a budget of $10 per basket.
Here’s what I plan on including:
* A Franklin-area brochure (free)
* Copy of The Nashville City Paper or The Rage (free)
* Custom map of the wedding location and directions (paid $10 for custom design from Etsy seller MTK Designs. The price is now $15. Again, totally worth it.)
* A pack of Goo Goo clusters
* Tiny bottles of Dickel Tennessee whiskey (made in Tullahoma; about $1.50 per bottle); You could also go with small bottles of Jack Daniels (made in Lynchburg).
* Bottled water
* Either a pack of orange slices or apple rings from Apple Barn Cider Mill (this is a place in the Opry Mills Mall that has lots of yummy food and candy made in Tennessee)
* Can of Altoids or packs of gum
* One Spirit of Nashville postcard ($12.99 for a pack of 29). Y’all, these are so awesome, you have to see them now.
Whether you are planning a bridal shower or a bridal luncheon, here are some neat party ideas that should give you a start.
Here is a bridal shower article I found on Weddings with Reese’s blog. Corinne provides some party planning tips and I’ve added additional comments throughout so hopefully the post won’t seem too schizophrenic.
From Weddings with Reese…
As a bride, I thought one of the greatest parts of the wedding process was the showers! They were a great break from the planning process, and were a chance to see the people you cared about but hadn’t had time to see in the past months!
I am willing to bet that if you are getting married, probably some of your friends are heading in the same I direction, and you may be planning a shower for one of them! Here are some fun ideas for different types of showers.
1. Color themed shower - Let’s go with black and white for an example.
Invites~ On the invitations you can make up a little poem to let everyone know that they should wear black and white.
“Jenny and Chris are tying the knot, Come join us for a shower at 6 on the dot. The theme of the party is black and white, So come dressed in those colors to shower her that night!”
Decor~ Wrap silverware in black napkins and tie them with a white ribbon. Print black and white pictures of the bride and groom and place them around in black and white frames. Wrap gifts in the colors. Provide favors that also reflect the theme.
A “color” themed shower makes for some great pictures!
Ashley adds: Save time by hiring a Nashville wedding planner to pull together the details then save money/time by buying a “party in a box” (see above) from Social Couture. These boxed decorations are great for the “creatively challenged but fab-seeking bride” like me. While pricey, they serve as great inspiration. Buy one set and then just add additional components from places like Target, Walmart, etc.. I just love this black and white boxed set.
Ashley adds…Designs in Paper created these great invitations for bridal clients. Notice the black and white theme plus a hint of a third color. They can create a custom design for any color / theme you choose.
2. Couples’ Cookout shower- Admit it, most grooms do not want to go to any sort of shower that involves tea sandwiches, petit fours, and giggling women! But they do like to see all of the gifts that come along with all of that. So, make a guy friendly shower.
Invites- Make it clear on the invitation that it is a shower for both the bride and the groom.
Decor- Casual! Red and white checked tablecloths, wildflower bouquet for centerpieces.
Food/Drink- Hamburgers and hot dogs, pasta salad, typical cook-out food. If the group is one that drinks alcohol, provide beer and wine, and maybe a mixed cocktail or punch.
Ashley adds…I also found these great etch-it cups. I like them because it makes it easy to identify cup owners and have fun while doing it:).
There really is a lot of room for creativity for showers. Some brides may want the traditional, girls only, tea party type shower, and that is wonderful. But some may want to do something outside of the box! Be sure to ask the bride her opinion, in a subtle way, about the type of shin-dig she imagines, and then go from there. It’s all about showering your friends with love and good wishes, and not to mention fun!
Ashley Adds More Party Ideas:
Hostess with the Mostess is my absolute favorite site for party planning!!!! You can get tons of ideas from the Jennifer (the author) and she also includes where you can buy the items and drink suggestions to accompany each look. Feel free to DIY or hire a Nashville wedding planner for your event. Here are my favorite party ideas from her site. Visit her site for more ideas.
While Jennifer used the bed theme for a kid’s party, I recently attended an event at Nashville’s Events 1418 where they used the bed theme too. Unfortunately, I lost the picture:) but the point is, you can use the whole bed thingy for any party and it’s guaranteed to add a “wow factor”.
Pink loves brown and I love them both! This is a great color combo that’s feminine and modern without being too princess like.
Lime and plum are hot, hot, hot! Gotta love how these color contrasts pop.
I love this orange and chocolate bridal party theme. Perhaps it’s because I love orange (fave color) or maybe it’s because the chocolate reminds me of…chocolate brownies…yum. Anyway, this table decor includes the blumeboxes that Weddings With Reese featured several months ago.
This bridal party theme is perfect for every diamond diva. So, why not celebrate getting the ring with a bridal party focused on bling!
Here’s more chocolate and orange, this time from Social Couture.
A Delightful Day presents… a Nashville wedding vendor spotlight! We love our vendors that we work with, so we would like to spotlight one of our favorites and ask candid questions, as well as business related questions. This way, you can get to know the vendors that you might possibly work with on your big day!
Today’s spotlight features Michael Howard Photography, a Nashville wedding photographer. Enjoy Michael’s answers to our questions, as well as some of his favorite 4-5 pics from events that he has done.
How would you describe your style or work: My work has unusual perspectives, fine details, and well-designed compositions for an editorial quality.
Favorite Thing About Your Job? Capturing moments that my clients will always be proud of.
Magazine Must Have… I don’t have one
Guilty Pleasure… LOST. I’m addicted.
What Do You Do When You First Wake Up? Feed our twins
When It Rains… I like to sleep or read.
MAC or PC… Mac by far!
What’s on your iPod? Radiohead - In Rainbows and the first three seasons of LOST
Travel Dreams… To take my wife to Tahiti or Fiji for our 10 year anniversary
One piece of advice for Brides-to-be… Don’t skimp on the photography because it’s all you have once the wedding day is over.
Here are the photos that Michael choose as his favorites… enjoy!
Michael, you’re work is exquisite! We hope to work with you soon! Thanks for letting us pick your brain. Stay tuned for more wonderful Nashville vendors! Have a delightful day!
Yesterday, my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary! Can you imagine being with the same person for 40 years? I certainly hope so:) seeing as though you are planning a wedding.
So, we’re all heading to Atlanta to celebrate. But before I head out, I wanted to share a real Nashville wedding, as told by the couple’s wedding planner, Tiffani of Creative Designs & Events.
One thing that I really liked about their reception was that it wasn’t the same old reception. I appreciate its simple yet personal feel. While some brides want big receptions, like I did, here is an event that really represents the couple. Yeah, some may tell you what your day should entail but I believe your day should reflect what is important to you and your fiance. If you want an intimate setting and love breakfast (as this couple did) have a small brunch. If you love Mexican food and crowds, have a huge fiesta.
Anyway - I also like this wedding because it highlights a few new-to-me Nashville wedding vendors (so be sure to check out the photographer and the florist).
Well, I am off to ATL. Enjoy this Nashville wedding by Tiffani.
Guest Post: Tiffani of Creative Designs & Events is a Nashville wedding planner. Visit her website for learn more about her wedding planning and coordination services.
I recently planned a wedding for Sabrina & Greg Young. I meet Sabrina when she was a bridesmaid at another wedding I planned.
When the couple came to me, I knew I would have fun working with them. Sabrina was an easy bride. She sat back and let me handle all the details of her wedding. There were two vendors that Sabrina knew she had to have for her wedding, and they were my favorite vendors: Laurie Carpenter Photography & A Village of Flowers.
Laurie truly cares about her couples and wants them to have the best photos. She takes great photos and gives the couples all of the photos she takes.
Village of Flowers is different from most shops, I can give them colors and a theme and they always come up with something fabulous and affordable. I can always trust that I will love everything they do.
The couple wanted a morning wedding, so we decided to have brunch at the reception. I got them a great deal at the Nashville City Club. The City Club is at the top floor of the Suntrust building downtown. The walls are lined with windows, so it was the perfect setting.
It worked well with their Tiffany blue and chocolate brown theme. I ordered linens and centerpieces from Southern Events. Jill the owner is great to work with. They have a wide selection of rental products and their prices are reasonable. I added the white beads to the twig stands and faux crystal stones to the head table. Just to give a little sparkle!
At the reception, guest enjoyed dining on their favorite breakfast foods and a pancake/waffle station.
The couple decided to give their guest cupcakes to take home for later as the favors. I packaged the cupcakes in these chocolate brown boxes and tiffany blue ribbon, with each guest names on them.
I ordered the boxes on www.bagsandbowsonline.com and the ribbon I found at Michael’s. Very affordable favors!
The couple truly enjoyed everything about their wedding. I didn’t give them all the details, so they were pleasantly surprised to see everything come to together. I like my couples to have fun and to enjoy their special day without worrying about anything!!
I love bridal fashion shows because they help you find great wedding attire but also help you discover great bridal salons and stylists in the Nashville-area. Since I missed the Perfect Wedding Guide fashion show, I couldn’t wait for A Magical Affair (the fashion show producers) to share their pics and more.
In addition to the great wedding dresses, read all about the neat ideas for these wedding planners incorporated into the show and see which might work for your wedding day.
Guest Post: A Magical Affair is a Nashville wedding planning team.
We coordinated the fashion show for the Perfect Wedding Guide show. It was our first fashion show and we had lots of ideas and inspirations and so our inspiration board really helped:
(Ashley’s note - Work with your wedding planner to create an inspiration board for your wedding so you can visual each component.)
We had some pretty basic ideas that we knew we’d like to incorporate: feathers, lanterns that lined an aisle of rose petals, white parasols-and
we really wanted to do something fun with glow sticks. We also had the Wonderful Graffiti quote “Sometimes in the Middle of an Ordinary Life, Love Gives us a Fairy Tale”. That quote was our main source of inspiration, because we wanted the show to reflect the concept of a fairy tale, from its most basic premise (think Cinderella) to a modern fairytale (with feathers & glowsticks.)
We wanted three separate and distinct styles to match our dresses. The first was the “traditional” fairytale. In this beautiful photo by Mark Couturier, our model is wearing a gorgeous dress from A Bride’s Storey that is accented by a clutch of sweet white gerbera daisies.
Our second fairytale was the “modern” fairytale- with sleek dresses in longer lines and in more stylish fabrics. The vendor? Selah Style and Events. These dresses were fantastic (and went great with our pretty little umbrellas) Check out this image from Donald Yeager photography of two lovely models looking a little less than modern with their umbrella- but still a very nice picture, we think, that captured a dreamy sort of fairytale look.
This beautiful image above shows off a gorgeous and dramatic back to this beautiful wedding gown. The graceful tieback folds fall in delicate ripples down the back of the gown, and produced quite a few “aahs” at the model’s turn. We can’t say we blamed them.
The dresses weren’t the only works of art on display. We also had some gorgeous bouquets provided for the show by Fresh! by Carry Ann, hands down, one of our favorite florists in Middle Tennessee. If she’s not awing us with her beautiful event floral displays, it’s bouquets like these that take our breath away.
Our last group of brides showed off beautiful gowns from The White Room in Lebanon with flowers by Angela Sadler.
In all, we felt the show reflected some of the most stunning bridal styles that our local bridal salons are featuring.
Last but not least, we designed a custom program for the show.
Want to see more flowers and dresses? The fashion show was photographed by the always amazing Mark Couturier. He has a beautiful gallery of images that are hosted on his website by following this link.
Hey everyone, I am introducing a few new members to our bridal community over the next few weeks. So now, in addition to inviting local wedding pros to blog, I am also opening up the virtual mic to Nashville brides-to-be, bridesmaids and others involved in wedding planning.
It is my hope that these blogs will provide something of interest to our entire Nashville wedding audience. So, these blogs will be filed under Ashley’s Guests and Real Nashville brides. If you are blogging, please let me know as I’d love to follow your blog too!
I’ve chosen this blog by Stacey because she stopped by my bridal show booth on Saturday and told me all about these wonderful lanterns she’d found to complement her beach theme. I think every bride should have a theme, one that reflects what is important to you (as Stacey has done). So, I share in her excitement! YAY! It’s kind of a big deal to decide on your wedding theme.
If you know me at all…you know two things for sure- I love the beach and I love the color blue!! Therefore, these two things are going to be part of my wedding theme, of course! Since we’re no where near the beach and it’s pretty impossible for me to do a true beach wedding if I want lots of people to come, I’ve decided to subtly decorate with classy, sophisticated ocean tones and accessories! I haven’t gathered much yet, but am thinking pretty shades of blue, seashells, and sand.
My apartment has been a big source of inspiration. It’s my oasis from the crazy world filled with beach pictures, real and artsy ones, shades of blue and brown, and seashells abound! I created a couple of these awhile ago, and thought about doing them on a bigger/better scale for table centerpieces at my wedding…..
Then last night on my way home from spending lots of time brainstorming with Chaundra about wedding plans…and asking all FIVE of her kids to be in my wedding (Gabby, age 3, promptly said “No!” when I asked her to be the flowergirl, but after I explained what that meant, she said, “Ok!”), I decided to shop at Kohl’s! Partly to remind myself that I can- because I don’t have 5 kids tagging along with me, and partly to search out their special deals for the early bird/nightowl specials going on this weekend (you know…in case there was anything wedding related!!). I’m as about as obsessed with their clearance as I am with Target’s. Maybe even more so, which is why I’d avoided going for a long time- I can’t go without scouring the whole store for something on sale/clearance!!
To my surprise, I came across the PERFECT wedding centerpieces!! They totally fit my original idea- but also surprisingly another object I’ve seen and loved, but didn’t know how to make them work together! I’ve loved the “wrought-iron” lanterns I’ve seen lately, but didn’t know if they would fit with my theme!! Well, these aren’t wrought iron but are perfect….AND come with sand, shells, AND candle!! They’re on sale too! At $25 each, I’m probably saving myself a lot of time finding each different element separate! I probably would’ve wanted one even if they weren’t on clearance…but knowing me, I’d have waited to see if they stuck around until clearance time! Instead, armed with a new debit card for my wedding account, I promptly called my mom to share the great find (and ask her to search her Kohl’s for more!), and then headed for a shopping cart and loaded up all 4 that they had!!
In the package-
Had to take it out as soon as I got home….it was all neat and orderly!
Here’s what the stuff inside looked like. The sand looks a little more like salt (the margarita kind) but it should work! It actually looks better than what it looks like in the pic!!
So…here’s to actually getting something accomplished this week!! I’ve got my dress, and my centerpieces picked out and that’s about it!! I have soooo many ideas, but I haven’t been able to find that perfect place for the wedding, or the perfect dresses for my maids!! After those two things, it should make lots of the other pieces easy!
Hopefully, I’ll find more of these lanterns to actually use one on each table, but even if not- I’ll still use them in some way at the reception and/or wedding!! :o) So exciting!
**Update** My mom went to the Kohl’s near her yesterday and bought 4 more!! So we should just need 4 more to have enough for the tables. If we don’t find more or end up with more tables, we’ll just use something else,maybe closer to the original idea on the rest of the tables! I think spending $300 on these is plenty!! :o)
