Translating Inspiration

Wedding planning can be so overwhelming.  I knew so much of what I already wanted, but planning is hard even for someone who read and wrote wedding blogs regularly like myself.  So I did what most brides out there in blogland did…I went to Snippet and Ink.  I wanted an inspiration board and this is before I knew how to create my own..here’s what I found…

Many of you know this, but it’s not easy planning an event from a distance. Atlanta isn’t Jamaica, and I did have the opportunity to visit multiple times during the process, but clearly it was not as easy to pop in to the venue, scoot on over to the linen company, or scout out potential photo sites as it would have been had I held the event in Chicago. That being said, we always knew we wanted to hold our vow renewal in Atlanta. This was mostly because of the Welcome Party at Turner Field, but also due to the potential for horrible weather in Chicago and flight cancellations or delays.

There’s so much sparkly goodness in this styled shoot from Chancey Charm and Inga Finch Photography. First, let’s talk about the stunning Temperley London dress—the beading and cutouts are simply amazing! Allie of Honey Bee Invites created such pretty stationery, with a turquoise watercolor cityscape motif, that plays off the shoot’s location at The Biltmore Ballrooms in downtown Atlanta. We love the green details—a nod to Pantone’s color of the year—in florals by Stylish Stems and the gorgeous earrings from C. Wonder.

Appy Couple has come a long way since we first introduced you to their awesome app in March!  Take your wedding mobile with their uber-cool app for iPhone and Android, a free coordinating wedding website, and emails to announce your app.

Who better to embody glitter and glam that Marie Antoinette?  Today’s Inspired Creations Contest idea from the Atlanta team of Lara Molettiere Events, Earthly Affair, Edward Zeltser Photography, and I Do Linens captures the sweet feminine glamour of Marie with sparkle, metallics, feathers, gold gilded roses, pearls, crystals, and many other elegant vintage touches!  And best of all, there are eco-friendly touches everywhere – all of the stationery items are created from 100% post consumer recycled paper, the favors are repurposed baby food jars with organic lavender plants, the tea tray stand is vintage china, and all shipping was offset through Carbonfund.org.

My lovely friend Jeannine from FAVOR Events has shared two beautiful farm wedding tables, both full of  romantic and rustic details!  The privately-owned farm in Georgia is one part rustic, two parts gorgeous and the tablescapes show the personality of the venue in completely different ways.  All of the lovely images are courtesy of Ben Vigil Photographers.

About two months after we were married Jon and I went to the beach with my extended family, most of whom had been in attendance at the wedding. One day my aunt Chris asked me what advice I would give brides-to-be, because another niece of hers was getting married soon. The best tip I had to offer her, and that I will offer y’all, is that you should surround yourself with good people. I really believe it’s as simple as that.

Looking for an easy way to keep your guests up to date on all of your wedding plans?  Create your own wedding website!  Wedding Jojo has an array of modern, customizable themes, including Mist (pictured below), Dusk, and my personal favorite, Craft.  And on top of the stylish and fun look of their wedding websites, Wedding Jojo offers incredible features such as online RSVP management, a photo gallery, guest book, and even full honeymoon registry integration through their sister site, Registry Jojo.

Before I got engaged, I hadn’t looked at any wedding websites or blogs. Well, actually, that’s not entirely true – I had been blog-stalking the pair who would be our photographers since Gawker led me to them via photos of Top Chef contestant Richard Blais’ baby (no, really, that’s how I found them), and I’d looked at a few wedding dress collections online when I was a bridesmaid a year or so earlier. But, for my own sake, I hadn’t really been looking because I hadn’t really anticipated our engagement just then. Of course, once I became a bride-to-be, I immediately purchased several bridal magazines and populated my google reader with wedding and bride blogs, among them EAD. I knew planning our wedding was going to be a lot of fun – after all, I come from a long line of excellent party-throwers – and I was eager to dive in.

I have such a soft spot in my heart for Atlanta.  It’s where we held our 10-year vow renewal, it’s the home of the Braves, it’s close to my family… it’s also home to some of the most awesome wedding vendors in the world, and to our two wonderful Atlanta bride bloggers!  So I’m very excited today to launch the Atlanta wedding guide!

As promised, I’m back with another adorable Inspired Creations Contest concept from Ashley Pepitone! This comfortable and relaxed look is inspired by Ashley’s fond childhood memories of her grandmother’s farm and lazy summer days picking berries off the vine.

I have two adorable Inspired Creations Contest concepts to share today, both from promising new event designer Ashley Pepitone.  Her adorable first concept is inspired by the sights, sounds, and smells of the county fair.

A couple weeks after Matt and I got engaged, I traveled home to Louisville with the mission to find a reception venue.  We got engaged on August 22, 2008 and set our wedding date for July 25, 2009.  We had to base the date around Matt’s work schedule – which meant I was deciding when we got married based on the NBA Draft, Summer League, etc.  Late July worked for everyone – my only issue was the heat.  An outdoor reception was not an option.  My mom made a few appointments for us and off we went.  The first place we looked at took about 3 seconds for me to decide it wouldn’t work.  But the second space, well, it was The One.

Much like finding our photographer, searching for and finding our venue took place mostly via the internet.

I have one of those countdowns on my Facebook profile that tells me how many days are left until the wedding. I used to think it was a fun, quirky thing to have, but as the number gets smaller and smaller, I find myself getting more and more freaked out about how little time we have left. There’s just so much to do!

My parents are generously paying for most of our wedding. The amount they are donating seems so great to us (albeit reasonable for Chicago) that we truly are grateful and don’t feel comfortable with them paying a cent more, despite their offers – we are employed after all. So when no fairy godmother showed up to save the day, we decided it was up to us to pay the rest. Needless to say, we scrutinize every expense.

Alice and Wonderland.  If only I had time to watch that movie this week!  We have roughly a million things to do before Thursday:

It’s already June 2009 – only one year away from our wedding! We’ve made a lot of progress since we began planning a few months ago…we’ve picked the venue, chosen the date, picked the church, the photog, the DJ and found the dress (but have not actually bought it yet).

I would’ve loved to plan an outdoor wedding. Especially if I was friends with someone in Birmingham with a big back yard. Minus renting all those chairs (which, by the way, I am in love with this wedding in which they brought pews outside), I think it would make for a beautiful, wonderful, lovely event. As long as the weather was nice, not too hot, not too humid, and didn’t rain. So, what I’m wondering, is how people are having outdoor weddings? Just the thought of needing a backup would stress me out. I can envision me with this perfect scene in my head, then being forced inside a tent or building watching the rain fall on my outdoor wonderland. Do these people live somewhere where it just doesn’t rain?

So – I had the guy, I had the ring and I had the amazing proposal in Paris.  You would think that this is where I started planning our wedding.