Showing posts with label our wedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label our wedding. Show all posts

8.03.2011

Nashville Wedding Recaps: All In The Details

As much as any bride, details were a huge focus during my wedding planning. I wanted to ensure that our guests had a fun experience-- that they left feeling and seeing the love between Ryan and I, as well as having a blast. It was important to us that everybody was dancing and having a good time.

One of the ways we ensured this, was to hire a DJ that we knew would rock the house. Josh Rose of Cosmo Creations did not disappoint. I've said it before and I've said it again-- if you have an upcoming event, hire Josh!

Now onto the details---

Gold chargers purchased from Brocade Designs
Satin napkin (teal) from Connie Duglin Linens
Satin Pintuck Table Linens from Connie Duglin Linens
Clappers tied with corresponding ribbon, courtesy of my mom. Funny story- we were at the party store the week before the wedding...I picked these up and told my mom how fun they'd be for our entrance or exit. She told me that they were tacky and dismissed the idea. Fast forward to our wedding day- ELATION! When I heard those little clappers on our entrance my heart was singing. What fun!


Table numbers, designed by Amanda of Customized Stationary, represented our favorite restaurants that we've eaten at together

The table number stands are from Black Lion. Those were surprisingly hard to find, so if you're interested in buying mine (I have 22) please let me know!

Gray working per usual it- making ordinary glasses look fab!
Another gorgeous centerpiece by Hillary and her team from Brocade. We had 3 different types of centerpieces, to make the room more dynamic. This also helps cut costs, so you're not doing large pieces on every table. 
Water with, lemons and limes, and fruit tea. So refreshing since it was 100 degrees!
Our bar menu, which lists our signature drinks Playa Mujeres Mojito (our honeymoon site) and Jack Daniels and Coke (the groom's favorite). 
A bridesmaid bouquet resting on a cake stand. Use your bridal party flowers as decor!
The cake! A simple Swiss dot was perfect for us. The cake was white with lemon filling. Hilary scattered left over flowers around the cake stand. 
Fruitwood folding chairs. Order chairs! I cannot say this enough! In my personal opinion, chair covers are too much fabric, and often distract from the rest of the decor. Unless covers are provided by your location, you'll likely save money just ordering chairs. These chairs were perfect for our rich color palette. My only preferable choice would've been gold chiavari chairs, but we decided that $12 per chair was too much. 
Guest book writing station. The guest book sign gave instructions that read "Please write your wishes for the new Mr. and Mrs". This was also designed by Amanda at Customized Stationary.
A shot of the guest book in action


Fruit display during the cocktail hour. We wanted to ensure our guests weren't overheated, so our cocktail hour food consisted of mainly cold items. 

Bruchetta station during the cocktail hour. Catering was provided by Down South Delights.


Customized napkins. Loved these! We chose three sets: a peacock feather, cowboy boot, and "All you need is LOVE". They weren't too expensive, watch for a sale from The Knot, and were a fun conversation starter.

Our totally awesome guest book, designed by Amanda of Customized Stationery. This print mimicked the layout of the ballroom, giving our guests a tip on how to find their seats. This was truly a labor of love, but I was thrilled with the way it came out, and love that we now have it displayed in our bonus room. It's a great reminder of the family and friends who were there to celebrate with us. 
Centerpiece
Centerpiece
Pintuck Linens, Gold Charger, Teal Satin Napkin
Drink Station
Close up of cake- sigh!


Were you a "details" bride? Or if you weren't consumed with details, what was the one detail that made your wedding unique (or just your favorite detail)?

7.11.2011

Nashville Wedding Recaps: Cocktail Hour & Intros

Hello friends! I'm back with the 7th installment of our wedding recaps. Thanks to Gray Photography, Mr. SE and I have more pictures than we know what to do with! Our last recap left off with the "post ceremony gap" that we created to make time for those lovely pictures, as well as shuttling our guests around downtown Nashville.

This first set of pictures are from our cocktail hour. War Memorial was a perfect venue for our reception, since there was a separate hour for the cocktail hour and reception. I loved the columns and how it felt very "DC". A lot of our paper goodies were made by Amanda of Customized Stationary- referred by my lovely friend Tami. Amanda worked with our invitation, designed by Jessica, and created items that complimented our aesthetic.



Our guest book was out in the courtyard, and instructed guests to write well wishes for Ryan and I. The concept of our wish tree was a combination of several ideas: the wish tree was something that I'd seen a lot on wedding blogs, and the prompts were from Martha Stewart Weddings. Sometimes it's hard to think what to write, so I wrote sayings such as "Once Upon A Time..." and let our guests fill in the rest. You can see my planning post about it here.

The seating chart was a total labor of love, and I'm hopelessly obsessed with it. Right now it's residing in our bonus room, as a reminder of all our friends and family that were there to support us on this special day. We worked again with Amanda of Customized Stationary to create this ginormous poster that mimicked the layout of the room. More on our table names when I do our details post!


We had a surprise planned for my dad during the cocktail hour. He loves steel drum music, so I contacted Deep Grooves Steel Drum Band from Vanderbilt and had a two person steel drum band playing during the hour. It was a perfect touch for our cocktail hour, as we wanted the wedding to be formal but fun. I love how the guys wore tropical shirts- it was the perfect music for mingling!

Here's a shot of our cocktail hour setup. We had cafe tables scattered around the courtyard, with linens in either teal, royal, or navy satin. I loved the dynamic palette of jewel tones against the ecru courtyard marble. The simple arrangements by Brocade Designs really made the tables. When the sun went down, Hillary lit the candles to create a gorgeous glowing atmosphere for guests who needed a breath of fresh air.

At the top of the hour, it was time for our reception introductions. We both agreed that entrances set the tone for receptions, so we wanted ours to be lively and fun. As a nod to his baseball days, Mr. SE worked with Josh Rose of Cosmo Creations to have different intros for each group that was being introduced.

My parents with our flower girl

Mr. SE's mother and father

 Ushers. Mr. SE had them enter to "Yeah" by Usher, funny.
 And They Stay There!!
 Nicole knows how to work a room
 Down on the Chattahoochee

All smiles for my Matron of Honor and Groomsman Lance

 Sister in law (new mom!) Shannon and Groomsman Adam break it down
  Maid of Honor Dani and Best Man (Mr. SE's brother) get the party started
 Making our first entrance as Mr. and Mrs.
 Hoping those dance lessons paid off! First dance to Michael Buble's "Everything"

 *a dream*
 At the end of our first dance, Mr. SE gave me a big hug and kept holding me very tight. This trippy house music started playing, and the lights dimmed. Once I had a chance to wrap my head around what was happening the lights turned back up and my girl Miley (Party In The USA) started blasting. Mr. SE spun me around and I saw all of our wedding guests, friends and family, surrounding us on the dance floor! What a master of surprise-- he'd managed to inform everyone of this plan without me catching on!

Oh my goodness- who's that getting their dance on?!? It's Mrs. Smith and Little Miss Southern!

Since Ryan and I love to dance, this was such a fun way to start our reception. Everyone had a blast and it really got the party started! Next post-- reception time!


 Other Recaps