Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
I have become fast e-friends with Lillian, who I mentioned yesterday. We email a few times a week re: her wedding plans and learned that her engagement session took place at Southall Eden, a farm in Leiper's Fork! I was so excited to see her pics b/c I love Southall. Then, she told me that she won her engagement session in a Photo Graphix photo contest. So, I had to know more. Here's what Lillian shared with me and her pics: About the contest:
First submission: Submit an image showing "LOVE" between couples...be creative! And no distasteful images please 
Up for grabs: Free couples shoot session (that's right, sitting fees waived). Can be as relaxed as you want or you can dress back up in your wedding attire...you choose!
We won!
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After more than 400 votes, the picture of Craig proposing to me on stage at they Ryman Auditorium won us the contest! I actually submitted it the day after we got engaged, and never expected we would win. Lucky us!
Our engagement shoot As for the shoot itself, I was a nervous wreck until we got to the farm. You see all these amazing photos that are so inspiring and then you stress over your outfits a billion times, but in the end, it's just about capturing this moment in time when you are just blissfully in love with your best friend. Jen and Ann of Photographix were great to just let us interact on our own, rather than stage us too much, and that made us completely comfortable to smile, laugh, kiss and even flirt a little like we do when we're all alone! It made for such a fun, relaxing day for both of us. Craig (my fiance) usually hates having his picture made, but when we were driving back after it was over, he mentioned that he actually enjoyed it a little - a major milestone for sure! I think he was just proud of himself because the photographers said what a great little model he was! Lillian
Thanks Lillian and Photographix for sharing these amazing pics and congrats on your engagement!
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Photography & Videography, Real Nashville Brides
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Thursday, June 11, 2009
I love this wedding story, for so many reasons.
The wedding touches:
Since April, I have heard so much about this wedding. From taking place at Baber House, a new Nashville wedding venue, to incorporating a rentacake - one of the first I've seen in use and a photo booth. Plus, the wedding planner was Courtney of A Magical Affair; paper goods were provided by Designs in Paper.
With so many great vendors and touches, I simply couldn't wait to see the pics and here they are! Before I share the wedding, I wanted to share from Cakes by Shara's blog on how you can use a rental:
"The Watson's love Publix cakes so Cakes By Shara designed a 4 tier [faux] wedding cake in custom colors for $300 with a real slice of cake in the back, this cake would have served close to 275 people for the retail cost of $1787. Publix sheet cake cost $75 each for a full sheet cake 1 1/2 inch high. They needed 4 [sheet cakes] so the savings on this cake is over $1100. None of the guests knew that this was not a real wedding cake."
The touching wedding: I'll let Myrick tell you about this amazing couple and their story...
Guest Blogger: Myrick Studios is a Nashville-based, wedding photographer.
Engraved on the inside of their rings, it reads "True Love Waited". It's so incredible to actually come across a couple who did it, well, they didn't "DO IT". Brittany and Lawson waited. They vowed to each other and to God to remain pure until their wedding night. What an awesome story and what a privilege it was to capture this moment. In this sex-craving culture that we live in, it's so inspiring to to meet a couple who had the strength to say no to all of the temptation that surrounded them and to say yes to each other. True love waited. Meet Brittany & Lawson. May God continue to protect and bless this marriage.
Visit Myrick's blog for even more Watson wedding pictures.
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Photography & Videography, Real Nashville Brides, Real Nashville Weddings
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Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009 Like many of you know, finding the perfect dress (within budget) is a challenge. Today, Louise shares more from her bridal gown dress search and hopefully her story will serve as a reminder that your dress is out there:). Louise certainly keeps it real - don't believe me - check out her blog. The girl is just funny. Oh - check out a great pic from a wine tasting at her home that I attended last week. We were sampling wines for her wedding. I know nothing about wine so I just followed Jonathon Campbell's lead. Good thing Louise didn't take me gown shopping with her. I am very agreeable.
fun night - thanks for the invite! I enjoyed meeting everyone - the time flew by way too fast.
Good luck with your gown search! Guest Post: Louise, a Nashville bride whose great blog can be found at The Thirty-Something Bride The Monday after my visit to The White Room, I started hitting the Internet hard. I found Faccio Bridal was near my office so visited them up one afternoon. While they have a beautiful store filled with gorgeous dresses, they were mostly $2000 and up. I didn't even try a dress on. Boo. Hiss. A week or so before, I had gone to another, smaller Bridal Show at The Frist Museum where I met A Bride's Storey shop owner, Melissa. I called her up and made an appointment at her uber-cute shop in Murfreesboro, TN. My appointment ran late, but Melissa didn't even bat an eyelash. She was incredibly patient as I tried on dress after dress. I loved these two gowns from Essense of Australia:
Essence of Australia style #CJ155, photo courtesy of essensedesigns.com
Essence of Australia style #D841, photo courtesy of essensedesigns.com
I left the store empty handed with a heavy heart.
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Bridal Gowns, Men's Attire & Accessories, Real Nashville Brides
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Friday, May 8, 2009
Friday, May 9, 2009 I really look forward to seeing weddings by A Delightful Day. I kept asking ADD when they would feature a Nashville wedding. A few weeks ago, they featured Shannie and Craig's wedding but because the wedding was in Destin (vs Nashville), I didn't feature it. BUT it was a gorgeous wedding!
But, Shannie and Craig returned to Nashville to celebrate. What a great idea!! If you want a destination wedding but want to share your celebration with people unable to attend, return home and have a fantastic soiree. Your Nashville celebration can be as lavish or simple as you like. The key is to keep everything wonderfully you. I certainly considered a destination wedding and if I'd seen other brides who'd done something like Shannie did, I might have seriously considered it. Alas! A wedding celebration to feature by A Delightful Day! I know you will love it as much as I did. Today's Guest Blogger: A Delightful Day, Nashville Wedding & Event Planners http://www.ADelightfulDay.com I hope you enjoyed Shannie and Craig's intimate ceremony on the beach in Destin. Once the bride and groom returned, it was time to celebrate with all of their family and friends unable to come to Destin. The celebration continued at the University Club on Vanderbilt's campus with a cocktail hour and hors d'oeuvres reception. The day before was the devastating tornado's that hit Murfreesboro and we were so thankful that the weather was beautiful for their big day. To continue the colors of fuchsia, black with accents of apple green and polka dots, we created three different styles of centerpieces with lots of candle light, a must for the bride. Events Plus provided draping for the main ballroom to accent the decor chosen by the bride, Classic Party Rentals provided the chair covers, and lounge furniture was rented through Music City for the guests to relax. Amazing cakes were created by the wonderfully talented Maples Wedding Cakes incorporating the bride's colors and a custom groom's cake showed Craig's favorite thing in the whole world, muddin' as we put it in the south! Music City DJ's provided the entertainment and the bride and groom with their bridal party created the ultimate mix for a rockin' bridal party entrance dance. Enjoy the wonderful images taken by Evin and Jessica of Evin Photography!
We incorporated beautiful fuchsia florals containing hot lady roses, tulips, dahlias, Gerbers (the bride's favorite), and carnations. Each votive was tied with a coordinating polka dot ribbon and river rock was used to incorporate the black color.
(Ashley adds: Wow - this is a spectacular centerpiece - flirty, feminine, simple and fun)
The pink carnation was used to represent her college sorority Phi Mu.
This is the actual sticker that is on his 4 wheeler that the cake was modeled after! Too funny!
The monochromatic candy bar was set up with our candy buffet jars and scoops and adorably accompanied with black bags with a label of their monogram that is on the bridal party shirts and monogrammed napkins.
At the beginning of the song they were dancing for their "first dance" to Wonderful Tonight... Then:
It was awesome! Shannie and Craig did have a very sweet first dance later on in the evening to Brad Paisley's "It Did".
I love the ring shots... especially this one with the rock candy sticks off the candy buffet.
Thanks so much Shannie and Craig for allowing us to be a part of this wonderful day! We had a blast and wish you two many, many years of happiness and joy! It was a delightful one! ~ Mary Alice, Nashville Wedding Planner http://www.ADelightfulDay.com
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Real Nashville Brides
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Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 I can attend bridal shows, find great bridal finds but the one thing I can not do is re-walk in a bride's shoes...or gown. My bridal gown fitting days are long behind me. Thankfully, there are blogging brides, like Louise, willing to share their Nashville dress shopping experience! I am so grateful that you take the time and have the desire to share your wedding planning journey with me (and thousands of my closest friends). Guest Post: Louise, a Nashville bride whose great blog can be found at The Thirty-Something Bride The Dress - Round One So, my original dress budget was $850. Go ahead, laugh. I know. For those of you thumbing through all the bridal magazines, dreaming of your gown in all it's glory....don't get too worked up. ALL those gowns are mind-boggling expensive. I know because I've tried them ALL on. I swear, every single last one of them. At least it feels that way. Now, I have to give props to some incredibly patient and thorough saleswomen who did their best to find "the one." First, The Bride Room in Green Hills was my first foray into gown selection. I fell in love with this Reem Acra gown.
Photo courtesy props: Dan Lecca, Brides.com
I did not fall in love with the $$$$ price tag. I tried on about 15 dresses and none truly suited me or had me gasping at my bustled image. One the way out, they offered me a wonderful cupcake from B. Jackson's Bakery. I swear, it was one of the best cupcakes I've ever had. Since we are still in search of a wedding cake, this is still an option. The Dress - Round Two The following weekend, I was all set for round two. I hauled my cookies out to The Bridal Warehouse, somewhere on the outskirts of Nashville. Please note to brides over 30 - make sure you DO NOT visit this shop (or any other, for that matter) during PROM season. I felt like a wrinkled up prune in a bowl full of grapes. This Allure gown was all bling and lace and I was loving it. The price was right too!
Allure style #8488, photo courtesy bestbridalprices.com I also loved these Casablanca gowns. These too were in this Thirty-Something Bride's price range!
Casablanca style #1785, photo courtesy bestbridalprices.com
Casablanca style #1859, photo courtesy bestbridalprices.com However, none of these came to fruition. The more I thought about them, the less I liked them. Onward, ho. Three weeks in and nothing to show but a frustrated bride. I needed reinforcements. Since I am not from Nashville originally, my family is not here to go shopping with me. The girlfriends I trust the most to give me sound fashion advice are also scattered far and wide. It was a tough call, but my young-ish, hip, excitable and fun-loving friend Alecia was up to the task. We headed out to The White Room in Lebanon, TN. Kirsten-Michelle, our northern-but-taking-a-southern-break-saleswoman was just who I needed: a tad brash, no-nonsense and smart as a whip. I choose something like 25 dresses to try on. She looked at me hopelessly and informed me she had only scheduled an hour for our appointment. I told her to stand close with clips ready, that I wasn't messing around. I think she enjoyed the process as much as I did. I tried on the most gorgeous St. Pucchi gown! Sadly, it too was out of my price range.
Sposa by St. Puchhi style #Z195, photo courtesy of brides. com
These were the final contenders when I left that day:
Maggie Sottero Jasmina, photo courtesy jaysbridal.net
Maggie Sottero Harlow, photo courtesy brides.com
Mori Lee style #2215, photo courtesy brides.com
Do you see any relationship whatsoever between any of these dresses? Other than a lace overlay theme, I didn't either. I was loving the tulle pleats at the bottom of the Mori Lee. I loved the slightly vintage look the lace gave the dress. Alecia loved the Mori Lee too, but nothing was just fabulous about any of them. Desperation was settling in for a long winter's nap.
 Stay tuned....
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Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Bridal Gowns, Men's Attire & Accessories, Real Nashville Brides
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