Lindsey & Brian: A Bride’s Story
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.
About the Author:
Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide
Hey - I'm Ashley! I started AshleysBrideGuide.com to give Nashville brides, or folks planning a Nashville wedding, a local resource for inspiration and resources. Hope to see you at a bridal show soon! Happy Planning.
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Posted on March 5, 2008 |
Filed under: Real Nashville Brides, Real Nashville Weddings
