Friday, October 8, 2010
I often wondered what a dress designer would dresses their bridal party. I am sure there's great pressure to make the dresses perfect...while planning your wedding. Not an easy task. But apparently, they stop nothing short of wow for their bridal party, as Kerri of Kerried Away Couture did! I didn't expect anything less but I also didnt expect to absolutely fall IN LOVE with her bridesmaid long, black, one shoulder gowns. Of course she designed and made them, making her girls super fab!
This summer, Kerri walked down the aisle and said "I do" to her (now) husband Lucas. Their beautiful wedding took place at Scarritt Bennett, followed by a reception at War Memorial Auditorium. We wish Kerri and Lucas all the best, and we're so glad they could share pictures from their day with us!
Kerri of Kerried Away Couture Shares Her Nashville Wedding!
How would you describe the "theme" of your wedding?
I would say our wedding was traditional and classic with touches of glamour and full of fun! (A great band and a really fun photo booth added lots of entertainment to the evening. I still love looking through the guest book with all the notes and photobooth photos!)
What inspired the design/look/feel of your wedding?
I would say alot of my favorite things and some of my husbands inpsired our wedding. We chose our venues because we both like the look and feel of older historic buildings, we also both love living in the city thus the War Memorial Auditorium downtown and Scarritt Bennett were perfect. We had our rehearsal dinner at The Hermitage Hotel because we actually got engaged on the veranda there. I love pink and white together so I decided these would be my colors. I wanted to bring in an evening feel so I added black and silver to the mix. For flowers I think the side of me that likes the look of symetry showed through. Almost all the the centerpieces were various sizes of round rose and hydragea balls. During our cocktail reception outside we wanted a more relaxed feel so we had black and white floral table clothes with pink sashes on high tops and served mini burgers and grilled cheese. Inside we wanted to create a more formal feel so we used white jeweled overlays on half of the tables and solid light pink on the others with touches of black and silver throughout.
Where did you get your gown?
I got my gown at Saks Fifth Avenue Bridal Salon right before it closed in Atlanta. The dresses were all between 50%-70% off. I ended up getting a beautiful Kenneth Pool gown.
How did you come up with the design for your bridesmaids dresses?
I wanted a dress that was formal, traditional, that looked good on alot of body types, and that they could wear again. The one shoulder design I went with is very flattering on almost any body type. I chose black because I have always loved the traditional black dresses with black and white tuxedos - I think its stunning and classic. I made the dresses floor length to create a more formal feel and gave the girls the option to hem all the dresses off afterwards so that they had a knee length dress that maybe they could wear again. I added a large bow detail at the shoulder because I love bows and to add a little something to the dresses. However, the bow was actually detachable, so again, if they didn't want to wear the bow later all they have to do is unsnap it from the dress.
What was your favorite part/moment of the wedding?
I think I have 2 favorite moments. Seeing Lucas for the first time and our ceremony. We decided to see each other before the wedding and I am so glad we did. It gave us some time to just be spend a few moments just the two of us on our wedding day. At the ceremony, we went with traditional wedding vows and my best friend said an irish blessing - the ceremony was so special.
Absolutely beautiful! Kerried Away Couture makes custom gowns and dresses for your bridal party and if that is what you've been seeking for your wedding, visit their website and get in touch with Kerri!
Images courtesy of Divine Images.
share
Posted by Tabitha |
Filed under: Bridal Gowns, Men's Attire & Accessories, Real Nashville Weddings
1 comment »
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
When your mind is set on certain colors, it's hard to stray from your decision. It's all part of the grand vision that is a wedding, and when Tim and Lauren put together their red and orange themed wedding, they made sure the theme stayed true throughout right down to the last detail. Lauren enlisted the help of custom bridal designer, Sara Marie of Designs by Sara Marie to design and creat the attire for the bridal party. The beautiful, bright red silk dresses the bridesmaids wore were darling and matched the red the couple picked out perfectly.
I love red and orange as a color palette. Plus, Im all about pocket dresses so I hope you love this wedding as much as I did!
Redtastic Wedding featuring Custom Bridesmaids Dresses by Designs by Sara Marie
Wedding Team:
Bridesmaid attire - Designs By Sara Marie
Cakes - The Bake Shoppe
Flowers - Shannon Russell with Designs by Shannon
Catering - Bacon and Cavier, baconandcaviar.com
Venue - Houston Station, houstonstationnashville.com
Photography - Matt Andrews Photography, mattandrews.biz
Day of Coordination - Mary Natalie with Weddings by Mary Natalie, weddingsbymarynatalie.com
Stationery and Posters - Amy McNeil with 4th Leaf Studio, 4thleafstudio.wordpress.com
Band - The Nick Carver Band - nickcarverband.com
Linens, Tables and Chairs - Southern Events
Lighting - Nashville Event Lighting
The happy couple.
From the programs to the flowers - vibrant tones of reds and oranges.
I love how simple and chic the cake is with a shock of color on top. Brilliant.
Staying true to the theme - bright daisies and beautiful reds.
I'm not sure I'll ever tire of lanterns!
So cool how the ties match the dresses.
For more on how you can get your own custom made bridal attire, visit Designs by Sara Marie or read her blog for more inspiration and pictures! Thank you to Tim and Lauren for sharing your pictures with us!
share
Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Bridal Gowns, Men's Attire & Accessories, Real Nashville Weddings
0 comments »
Friday, September 17, 2010
Earlier this week we introduced you to Sarah Goude, planner and lead designer of Regalo Design. Sarah's extensive creativity spans floral and event design, and we are excited to share a real wedding that Regalo Design helped conceptualize and plan. This July, Julia and Erik tied the knot at Fairview Plantation in Fairview, TN. Their wedding has great little details that made it theirs and the overall feel was very elegant, and whimsical - just what the bride had hoped for.
Julia & Erik Elrod's Tennessee Wedding by Regalo Design
Bride: ~ Julia Blackford
Groom: ~ Erik Scoggin Elrod
July 10, 2010 at 7:30pm
Ceremony & Reception Location ~ Fairview Plantation, Gallatin, TN
Guests ~ Approx. 180
Wedding Style:
What was your wedding style? I would consider my wedding style whimsical, romantic and feminine.
What were your colors? Why did you chose them? Our colors were ivory, champagne, and touches of very light pink and mint green (Sarah suggested the touches of mint green and it added such a beautiful "touch" to the feel of the decor at both the ceremony and reception)
What did you use for inspiration? Magazines? Blogs? Websites etc.? All of the above. I pulled ideas from magazines, websites and blogs...but mostly from Sarah with Regalo Design who had wonderful suggestions such as our "Candy Bar," Guest Book, etc.
My Wedding Scoop:
What did your guests love? It is difficult to choose just one as I heard several different, "I just loved ..." Our guests truly enjoyed the soft, romantic feel of a candle-lit evening wedding by the lake, along with the hundreds of votives that lit every table at the reception. The food was a hit along with the "candy bar" that we gave as favors (although guests enjoyed it throughout the evening as well!)
What did you give as wedding favors to your guests? Each guests chose candy to take home with them from the candy bar in little pink favor bags. Everything from jelly beans to taffy
How did you personalize your wedding? Upon arrival, our out of town guests were presented with "Welcome Bags" which were handmade by Regalo Design. Each room had custom labeled bottled water, along with homemade caramel apples and chocolate covered pretzels. Each guest also received a map of "The sites and sounds of Nashville" for fun things to do while in town as well as directions to the venue. At the wedding, guests drank custom labeled champagne that read, "Julia and Erik, July 10, 2010" during the toast.
What did you give your bridesmaids and groomsmen? The bridesmaids, along with the Mothers, etc. received a "Spa Day" that included manicures and pedicures. The Groomsmen received a $50.00 gift certificate to each of their favorite places, placed in a large tumbler of their favorite sports team.
What was your most special moment of the day? Walking down the aisle to Erik.
Did you have kids at your wedding? What did you do for them? We did...3 special "babies" who are the children of the Best Man. Haley served as "Flower Princess" and along with purchasing some of her wedding day attire, we also bought fun, "girlie" lip glosses, makeup, headbands, etc. Keaton, the ring bearer, received "Firefighter" boots and $50.00 for his piggy bank. Michael, who escorted his brother and sister, received a $50.00 gift card to the local movie theatre...he is a total movie buff!
Did you Do It Yourself? Or, did you leave it to the professionals? We definitely left it to the professionals. I couldn't have done it without Sarah of Regalo Design. From our initial meeting to hours of meetings and planning to calming my wedding day "Sarah, has the rain subsided? jitters," I am so very thankful for her. She made my wedding day more meaningful and special than I could have ever imagined.
Wedding Vendors:
~ Planner, Decor and Flowers: Sarah Goude, Regalo Design
~ Cake(s): The Bake Shoppe
~ Caterer: Fairview Plantation
~ Photographer: JCG Wedding Photography
~ Videographer: George Wiley with 345 Media
~ Bridesmaid Dresses: Elizabeth Michaels
~ Rings: Genesis Diamonds
~ Music: Top Tier Band
~ Bridal Gown: Arzelle's Bridal
~ Tuxes: Arzelle's Bridal
~ Accessories: The White Room
~ Transportation: (Regalo Design arranged)
Wedding Rewind:
What would you do differently if you could start back at the beginning? Nothing. Although we had a little rain, it was a perfect day.
What do you consider the best value for the service and product? Hands down...our wedding planner/coordinator, Sarah Goude of Regalo Design
What was the neatest thing you found for your wedding? The candy bar. Everyone loved it!
What was your biggest {and best} splurge? The custom labeled champagne. It added a special touch to each table. We saved a few bottles to remember our day.
Thanks Julia and Erik for sharing your day with us! Special thanks to Regalo Design for connecting us to Julia. For more of Regalo Design's work, visit their website. There are also more pictures and some great wedding decor tips on the Regalo Design blog that you must see.
share
Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Real Nashville Weddings
0 comments »
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
We love real weddings where pretty much all the vendors are ABG favorites. Why? Because we know they will deliver above the bride's expectations and create a spectacular wedding - from design to photography. Today's real wedding couple really made full use of the fabulous resources we have here in Nashville and had a wedding day that was just simply beautiful. Photographed by Kristyn Hogan, lifestyle photographer, here is a look into a lovely summer wedding at the Governor's Club. It's filled with the most delightful details. I LOVED the bride's shoes. Enjoy!
Real Wedding: Leigh & Mica's Southern Summer Wedding at The Governor's Club
Bride ~ Leigh from Madisonville, KY
Groom ~ Mica from Austin, TX
Aug. 7, 2010 at 6:00pm
Ceremony and Reception at The Governor's Club, Brentwood TN
Guests ~ 110
My wedding style? Casual and fun
My wedding colors and why I choose them? Purple and green. We were going for a colorful, summery feel.
My wedding theme? Southern
Wedding wow factor? Our venue - Pleasant Hill mansion at the Governor's Club is beautiful.
Wedding favors? Individually wrapped monogram cookies. Heba from Dream It Up Cookies did a great job designing them to match our invitations. dreamitupcookies.blogspot.com
Personalized touches? Mica and I have a pug. He couldn't make the trip with us to Nashville, but we found ways to include him in our wedding day. For example, instead of a traditional ring pillow, ourring bearer carried a stuffed pug with rings tied to its collar. Mica and I also used pug salt & pepper shakers to designate our seats at the reception instead of place cards.
We also personalized our ceremony music. Mica walked down the aisle to a string version of Don't Stop Believing, by Journey, and I walked out to a string version of Time After Time. Our recessional was In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel. We love 80s hits!
Gift for bridesmaids? Bridesmaids - jewelry boxes from Z. Gallerie, sparkly bottle openers, also from Z. Gallerie, and metallic gold wristlets
Groomsmen? Beer glasses, personalized bottle opener/key chains, and coolers
Most special moment for me? Definitely the vows. We went with the traditional vows, and I'm so glad we did. It was by far the best moment of the day for me.
My wedding team:
Planner - Mary Alice from A Delightful Day did an awesome job!
Cake - The Bake Shoppe did our wedding cake and our groom's cake. Both were beautiful & VERY delicious.
Florist - Enchanted Florist. Caprice is amazingly talented and lovely to work with.
Caterer - In-house catering at the Governors Club. The food was delicious! I wanted a very Southern menu, and they did a great job fulfilling my requests for things like sweet potato casserole, mac 'n cheese, and fried okra.
Photographer - Kristyn Hogan, lifestyle photographer. The photos I've seen so far are beautiful!!
Invitations - Minted - minted.com They have great customer service.
Dresses - I bought my dress, the bridesmaid dresses, and the flower girl dresses at bridal boutiques in Austin, Texas.
Music - Cosmo Creations. Brent did a great job! cosmocreations.com
Draping - Blue Nova Designs
Specialty Lighting - Nashville Audio Visual nashvilleaudiovisual.com
Leigh + Mica's wedding team, including A Delightful Day + Kristyn, in action!
.jpg)
My favorite wedding vendors - I highly recommend all of the vendors listed above.
What I would do differently if planning again? I would send someone out the week before the wedding to drive the route from our hotel to the venue to make sure there were no last minute problems. All of our guests were from out of town, and we found out the night before the wedding that the road between our hotel & the venue was closed. I don't live in Nashville, so I had no way of knowing this in advance. Apparently, our venue manager had known about it for months but didn't bother to tell me. This caused me a LOT of unnecessary stress the day before my wedding, as I tried to figure out how in the world to tell 110 people that the directions I'd painstakingly written and mailed to them in their invitations were not in fact going to get them to the venue.
Also, if your venue has its own tableclothes, make sure they go all the way to the floor. We used the Governors Club's linens, and we didn't find out until the day of the wedding that they didn't go all the way to the floor. I don't think our guests noticed, but my mother was horrified.
Biggest waste of my wedding budget? I honestly can't think of anything that was a waste of time or money. Everything we put into planning this wedding was worth it. 
I will point out a potential waste of money that I avoided - rented table runners. I was quoted $345 to rent 16 table runners. I bought them online instead for less than $60. The quality was great and the color was perfect, so I was really happy with that decision.
Best value for the service/product? Definitely the lighting. The specialty lighting really added a lot to our reception, and the price was very reasonable. We used Nashville Audio Visual and they did a great job.
Neatest wedding find? I LOVED our invitations. I felt like they perfectly represented the theme and tone we were going for. We used a firefly & mason jar design by Minted.
Advice for Nashville brides - I have a tip for brides - Don't forget to pack flip flops to change into for dancing during the reception! I loved my wedding shoes, but towards the end of the night my feet were killing me! Other than that, my only advice is to enjoy it. It goes by so fast!
Thank you Kristyn Hogan, lifestyle photographer for the gorgeous wedding pictures and special thanks to Leigh and Mica for sharing your wedding day with us.
share
Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Luxury Nashville Wedding Finds, Real Nashville Weddings
2 comments »
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Earlier this year, I learned that my friend Tori was engaged! I was so happy for her. We went to lunch and she shared her "how we met" story and all of the juicy details, including her plan for a Florida destination wedding. I don't know much about the Florida wedding scene so I hoped she was in good hands. But once she said she'd hired Photographix to shoot her wedding, I knew she'd at least have amazing wedding pictures! She was off to a great start.
I strongly encourage all Nashville brides who are planning a destination wedding to take your favorite Nashville wedding pros with you. One of the easiest to take is your photographer! If you are a destination wedding bride who has yet to hire her photog, you are in LUCK...
Photographix is giving away free wedding photography to a destination couple! The contest ends on 9/13 so visit their blog asap to learn more about the contest.
Florida Destination Wedding for a Nashville Couple, Tori and James
Wedding images + story courtesy of Photographix
Tori and James got married in Rosemary Beach Town Hall in Florida. The setting was perfectly perfect and couldn’t have fit them better. Christina Gshwandtner of Fete Weddings & Events, designed the whole event and it was beautiful!
The ceremony was small with only about 60 people in attendance. Most came from Franklin, but some as far as New York as well. We loved meeting everyone, they were all so nice and inviting.
The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, and the town of Rosemary is just adorable! We could have spent the whole weekend photographing them. Every nook and corner was different, it was really hard to choose just a few spots!
Wedding Planner: Christina Gshwandtner – Fete Wedding & Events (feteevents.com)
Photographers: Photographix
Flowers: Fisher’s Flowers
Catering: Dine by Design
Tori's Dress: Judd Waddell
James’s Suit: J. Crew
Tori's Shoes: Steve Madden
Location: Rosemary Beach Town Hall
Hair & Makeup: Two Fishes Artistry
Wedding Cake: Confections on the Coast
Tori's Pearl Necklace: Buki Designs
If you are planning a destination wedding and haven't hired a wedding photographer, run over to Photographix for their free wedding photography contest!
share
Posted by Ashley of Ashley's Bride Guide |
Filed under: Contests, Giveaways, Specials, Real Nashville Weddings
3 comments »
