Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Today's my anniversary! I just made breakfast for John, which is rare since our schedules are completely flipped. We're going to dinner at Macke's, which was voted Nashville's most romantic restaurant. Never been - if you have, let me know your thoughts before our dinner reservation. Not too late to cancel! I am so excited to introduce ABG readers to Stacey, a new contributor to our Daily Scoop. We call Stacey "The Fabuless Bride" because she finds the most creative ways to save money while planning a classy, beach-themed, Nashville wedding. The Fabuless Bride will update us regularly on her planning. You can easily find "The Fabuless Bride" blogs by her profile box (below) or by selecting the blog category - Guest Bride: The Fabuless Bride.
Oriental Trading Company: Wedding, bachelorette and shower supplies!!! Plus lots of other fun goodies
I've used Oriental Trading Company before for things for school. Like these adorable Magic Color Scratch Sombrero Ornaments that my kids had a blast with around Christmas time. How can you beat a craft for 120 kids for only $30!?(although just saw right now I'd get the same amount for $18 on clearance!)
OTC specializes in bulk/cheap items, but it never occurred to me that they might have wedding stuff!! I'm not sure why I never thought of it, but I hadn't! I get catalogs at school all the time, but of course no wedding themed stuff was in there! So in searching for stuff for out-of-town gift baskets/bags, I came across a forum that talked about getting stuff from there. Like these Large Hibiscus Tote Bags, $9.95 for a dozen!
I'm not going to make any claims on the quality of their stuff because I can only attest to the crafts I've ordered! They all came quick, and were well packaged! These bags are cute, but a little too beachy for me! The possibilities are endless for what you can find from their site!! Here are some cute things I came across (ahhhhem. my bridesmaids, you might want to take some notes- now that I know some of you are actually reading this!!) How freakin cute are these Just Married! Flip Flops!??! I've seen something like this before, but not exact. Totally great for the honeymoon!
These are totally cute Bride And Just Married Iron-On Jewelry Set! I actually picked up some similar ones from Walmart for pretty cheap!
Lots of fun... Bachelorette Basic Party Pack.
There's lots of other great stuff too, but there are some goofy things as well. Like an inflatable arch! But a lot of stuff is cute, great for a bride on a budget, and lots of stuff can even be personalized! Like these cute glass champagne flutes (which I may be getting for myself!)
And this personalized banner!
Do some searching for yourself, and you just might find a few great things you've been looking for! Favor ideas, bubbles, centerpieces, there's tons of items to chose from if their in the realm of what you're looking for! And someone must be buying those inflatable arches if someone was crazy enough to think of the idea to make them!! Ashley Adds: I like this Personalized Tote too! Let me know if you've ever ordered from Oriental Trading. I'd love to know what you think about the quality of their bags, other wedding accessories.
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: DIY & Budget Wed Finds, Real Nashville Brides
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
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.
Ashley Adds: Want more ideas for your Nashville wedding gift baskets? Follow this topic on our message board.
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: DIY & Budget Wed Finds, Guests, Gifts & Favors, Luxury Nashville Wedding Finds, Real Nashville Brides
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Thursday, March 6, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Hi Nashville brides, I know that you guys are using The Knot, STL wed bios and other resources to create your wedding profiles and inspiration boards. Share them with ABG's Nashville bridal community and exchange ideas and tips! Simply send me links to your bridal blogs, profiles (wherever they are) and I will create a shout out board, linking to all of the bridal profiles/blogs. If you don't have a profile or blog, send us your inspiration boards so we can feature them on our site and inspire other Nashville brides. Here are a few that I have enjoyed from Jess. Her site is amazing and I always love seeing her updated boards. Jess's colors are black and white (super hot this year). Here are some of Jess's inspiration pictures:
Her first inspiration board
Her newest inspiration board - She's so organized!
If you haven't created your inspiration board, I highly recommend you do so. They are lots of fun, help you visualize your wedding plan and details and keep you inspired and excited. Oh - I used Big Huge Labs to create mine but I am sure there are tons of sites that have tools you can use. Whether it's a board or profile, we're looking for Nashville's most creative brides! So share yours now. I've added my wedding board below. Can't wait to see yours!
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Inspiration & Trends, Real Nashville Brides
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Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Our Story:
Bride - Lindsey Renee Norrod; Groom - Brian Douglas Reagan Brian and I both grew up in a small town here in TN. We both went to the same high school and lived about a mile apart growing up but never actually met until after college. We met thru a blind date that I didn't even know I had been set up for. My sister-in-law, Lisa, had been aggravating me for months trying to get me to meet Brian. I really didn't want to complicate my life with the possibility of a relationship.
So Lisa took it upon her self to make sure we met. One Saturday night, I I took my niece to one of those corn mazes they always have around Halloween. Little to my knowledge, my SIL had invited Brian to come along. At first I was a little surprised and a little annoyed at my SIL but Brian was a fun guy and we all had a great time.
We began talking on the phone almost every day. It took a few months for me to warm up the idea of dating someone not to mention beginning a long distance relationship but in the end Brian was such a wonderful person so I decided to take a risk. I moved to Nashville and we continued talking on the phone and he came up to visit me almost every weekend. Brian decided to look for a job in Nashville so that we could be closer together. A month or two later my job moved me to Indianapolis for a few months. Brian, the sweet and wonderful boy that he is, drove up to see me in the middle of June in a car with no air conditioning. Looking back, it makes me smile knowing how much he really wanted to come see me. I finally got to move back to Nashville. By that time, I knew that Brian was the one for me. After several failed attempts, he finally proposed just said "I was going to try to think of some creative way to do this but I can't think of anything good... Will you marry me...?" I was so excited! I went out and bought my dress the next day.
(Photos by Mint and Sage)
My Wedding Details Date:October 20th, 2007 at 6:30 PM Ceremony & reception location: The Rotunda Room at the Country Music Hall of Fame # guests: 100 My Wedding Style: My wedding style? Modern with classic touches My wedding colors and why I chose them? Black and a dark red, I wanted something fitting for an evening wedding and something that Brian would like as well. As much as he likes pink:), I couldn't see him getting into it for our wedding. We just wanted a color that would be clean and modern. My wedding theme? I don't think we really had a theme. We did carry our new monogram from the invitations, to the wedding program, the favors, and the topper on our wedding cake. My wedding wow factor? Our guests loved the room that the wedding and reception were held in. The Rotunda is completely round. We got married in the center of the room. No one had a bad seat! My wedding favors? My grandmother, who is a baker, made sugar cookies with our monogram and our wedding date on them in black and red icing. We packaged them in cute boxes made of black and cream paper. My personal touches? We did a lot of things for the wedding ourselves. Our invitations were custom designed by Designs in Paper. We worked with Donette to come and invitation we loved and my Mom and Aunt helped us assemble them. They were so pretty! I found these beautiful red feathers at Hobby lobby. We broke them apart and put them on individual wires and added them to our centerpieces. My florist also used them in the boy's boutonni res and in our bouquets. To save some money we got all the flowers for our centerpieces from our florist but we assembled them ourselves the day before the wedding. We also made the boxes that we put our wedding favors in from a box pattern we got at target and scrap booking paper we got from Hobby Lobby.
My gifts:
Bridesmaids: Extra large tote bags in our wedding colors made by my Mother. We had all the girls initials embroidered on the front. I made the girls a pair of earrings to wear with their dresses for the wedding. I also tucked in a pair of dressy flip flops for the girls to wear at the reception.
Flower Girl: A book, Where the Wild Things Are, she loves monsters. I also got her a silver bracelet with a turtle on it. She loves to catch them in the summer.
Groomsmen: Retro travel bags from Target filled with Redken shave cream, facial soap, and body wash. We also got them monogrammed key chains from Things Remembered. Moms: Silver Teardrop necklaces from Tiffany & Co and a poem wrote by one of my talented bridesmaid's, Heather, about tears of joy. Both of our Moms cried. Dads: For my Stepdad, we got a Case pocket knife. He is a collector. We also got him a really great bottle of scotch. For Brian's dad, we got a really nice pocket watch. He really like it.Most special moment for me? Walking down the isle and seeing Brain for the first time that day. He looked so handsome in his tux. When my Stepdad handed my hand to Brian, he gave me a kiss. It was so sweet. He's not a very affectionate man so it really meant a lot to me.
My Wedding Vendors:
Planner: None, we did it all ourselves. Cake: My grandmother, It is family tradition for her to make everyone in the families wedding cake. It was perfect!
Photo: Mint and Sage Photography. Krystal is AMAZING. I just love her. She and her crew did a great job capturing the day. I still get teary eyed when I look a the photos. She created the slideshow featured above. Video: We opted not to do video. Who really watches it anyway.
Invitations: The WONDERFUL Designs In Paper. Donette really took the invitation in my head and put it in paper. They were beautiful! http://www.designsinpaper.com
Dress: Faccio. Beth and Elizabeth were great. I got my dress at a Rivini trunk show. I was the third dress I tried on. I fell in love with it immediately. Rings: We got all of our rings from Genesis Diamonds in Green Hills. The guys were great. No pressure to buy and the quality and prices are unbelievable. My ring is by Renaissance Platinum and Brian's is by Diana.
Music: Ceremony musician was Betty Ashton Mayo. She plays the harp. Absolutely beautiful. The DJ was Cosmos Creations who played every thing we wanted and took requests from the little girls. They had a great time dancing! Dacor: All the rentals were done thru the Country Music Hall of Fame and SoBro Grill. Food: So Bro Grill. The food was amazing. The guests really enjoyed it even though Brian and I didn't get to eat much of it! :) That's the way that goes. Flowers: The East Garden. Shawn was awesome. He did a great job with the flowers and he really worked with our budget. Our flowers were beautiful and one of a kind! Honeymoon: Booked it myself but the hotel was AMAZING. We will go back. We went to Turks and Caicos down in the Caribbean. The beaches were beautiful. We stayed at the Regent Palms. This is a little know strand of islands and is not over developed like Jamaica and the Bahamas. Be warned, all the shops close at 4 and there is not much of a night life but for a peaceful relaxing time in paradise with you new hubby It's perfect. My faves I highly recommend Mint and Sage, Faccio Bridal, Designs In Paper, and The East Garden. They all had EXCEPTIONAL customer service and made me feel like the only client they had. That means a lot when you are dealing with multiple vendors all at once. You want to feel like you are the only one that matters. After all, it is YOUR special day! :)
My Wedding Rewind: What I would do differently if planning again? I would definitely get a planner. I didn't get one because we wanted to save money but in the end I think we would have spent about the same amount and had a lot less stress. Planners know all the good vendors and they have relationships that can save you money. That savings could pay for the planner. Biggest waste of time or money? I really wanted our families to dance at the reception so we got a DJ. Only a few people danced. I think we could have gotten away with a mic and an ipod play list. Best value for the service/product? Photos photos photos. This is a day you want to remember. Invest in a good photographer. These days anyone with a digital camera and Photoshop think they can be a photographer. Not true. You can't use Photoshop to replace natural talent. Take time looking thru their portfolios and find one you love and can really get along with. They will be following you around all day. Neatest find? Neatest find was definitely the teardrop necklaces for our Mothers. They were so pretty and modern so they can wear them every day. It was practical and my Mom keeps the framed photo on the fireplace mantel.
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Real Nashville Brides, Real Nashville Weddings
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Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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. You can learn more about Stacey and her wedding at Daisys Favorite Things. Enjoy.
If you know me at al 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 Kohls! 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 Kohls 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)
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Inspiration & Trends, Real Nashville Brides
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