Liene from Blue Orchid Designs emailed to let us know about a raffle going on for $5,000 worth of wedding photography. Emilie from Emilie, Inc. is throwing the online festival for the Pink Initiative.   The best part?  You don’t need to be a bride to be to enter!  You can be a family member or friend of someone who is getting married.  Email all your friends and family and tell them to participate for you.

As an extra special welcome, I created these welcome/do not disturb signs to be included in the OOT baskets. The signs went with the slightly French vintage theme of the event - one side “Bienvenue a la Maison” welcomes people into the room and the other “Ne Pas Deranger” asks for a little bit of peace and quiet.

{Image courtesy of Jenna}

Bar none, this was my favorite DIY project. It wasn’t necessarily the easiest and perhaps not the most perfect, but I am so pleased with the results!

{Author’s personal collection}

I have to warn you, these are not for the faint of heart but if you are in the mood to DIY them, I’ll give you all of the instructions here.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Our vow renewal was essentially a destination event. Only two of our guests lived in Atlanta, so the remainder were situated in three hotels in Midtown/Downtown - the Four Seasons, the Marriott Midtown Suites, and the Ellis Hotel. To welcome our friends and family, we created out of town baskets full of bottled water, snacks, a DIY welcome/do not disturb sign (more on that later today!), and a folder containing all of the information that they would need for the three days of events.

{Image courtesy of Jenna}

The folder not only had some beautiful Gocco’d Laura Hooper calligraphy on it (love that Gocco hand stamp kit) but it also contained one of my absolute favorite things from the whole vow renewal - my custom created LH map of Atlanta.

{Image courtesy of Jenna}

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First thing’s first - after we chose to hold our event in Atlanta, we needed a venue. Unbelievably, this was perhaps the easiest decision I made through the entire process.

When my hubby and I took a trip to Atlanta to meet our event coordinators, Eventologie, for the first time, the only item on our agenda was choosing a venue. At this point, I knew a few things.

1) My guest list would be small, less than 50 people
2) I wanted the event to be classic and elegant, not trendy
3) New Years Eve was non-negotiable
4) We needed a sizable dance floor

We saw four potential venues that day in Atlanta. 103 West, Trois, Biltmore Ballrooms, and the Atlanta Woman’s Club. Several other appointments were to be held later that afternoon and the next day. However….

The second we walked into the Atlanta Woman’s Club, I was sold. Seriously, it could not have been more perfect.

{Author’s personal collection}

The main floor is made up of a grand foyer, a parlor, a dining area, a sun room, and a sitting room. There is a staircase leading up to the brides’ room, bedrooms, and landing, and a hallway leading to the staircase to the ballroom. The main floor and upstairs are very vintage-inspired, many fireplaces, dark and rich colors, beautiful hardwood floors and rugs, and chandeliers.

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Wow! What a whirlwind! Naturally, I don’t have all of the pictures back from my friends or Jessica Claire (and her fabulous friends Michael Norwood and Mark Brooke) yet but there are quite a few posts that have been patiently waiting to be published that I’m eager to share.

Starting tomorrow, I will try as best as possible to take you through the vow renewal itself chronologically, my planning process, and all of my DIY projects (with instructions). I really hope you enjoy it and find inspiration for your own event!

E.

Prepare thyselves…. these photos may induce jawdropping wonder.

{All images credited to Amy & Stuart}

When I saw these photos of Suthi and Sanjay’s devastatingly gorgeous wedding on WeddingbeePro, I just about died. As if the couple isn’t beautiful enough (her dress reminds me a bit of mine!), the floral arrangements just took my breath away, and for the first time, I started to have a more concrete vision for our tablescapes at the wedding.

The vintage goblets all came from the florist’s personal collection. Way to reuse!

{Read the rest of this entry…}

The wedding of Ali and Evan was such perfection that choosing just one detail was nearly impossible. But then I saw this picture again and knew it was the one.

{Our Labor of Love}

A groomsmen in a seersucker suit holding an applause sign?  Classic!

From our Rustic Red inspiration board, a beautiful stitched wood invitation via Darling Dexter:

{Created by Amy Cochran}

I have two favorite details from Maie and Jim’s amazing wedding.

First, the gorgeous bridesmaids in orange Betsey Johnson:

Second: Maie’s rockin’ bangs!

{Vallentyne Photography}

My favorite groom of the year (sorry to all the rest of the guys!) is Reggie. He is such a poser!

{Almasy Photography}