Archive for the ‘inspiration’ Category

Ditching the guest book for more creative options…

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

As Philip and I were planning our wedding, we really focused on thinking outside the box and creating unique keepsakes from the wedding day. As I was looking for guestbooks, I kept asking myself why we were even doing one. I found several I liked. Even made it to the checkout with one…but could never bring myself to buy one because I kept asking myself what we would do with it. I just knew it would end up stuck in a closet or collecting dust on a bookshelf. I know it’s a nice way to keep track of who was in attendance for our special day, but I knew there had to be a more useful, aesthetically pleasing way to keep track of our nearest and dearest friends and family members.

One idea I’d come across was a wedding wish jar. I initially found the idea over at the Marsha Stewart blog, however, the jar we ended up using was an adorable little “wish pot” I found at Swoozie’s in Green Hills (which is now closed).

This adorable little wish pot now sits in our living room on a shelf. It’s full of paper hearts upon which friends and family wrote sweet words of wisdom and encouragement. I love lifting the lid now and then to read a few of them. :)

Another idea I discovered thanks to Natosha over at Big Spoon, Little Spoon is a wedding tree print. She found it on etsy and shared it with me. There are a variety of “wedding tree” posters there which you can customize to your heart’s extent. I just did a search for them and here’s what I found. Here is what ours looked like:

This was a super-cool way to personalize our guests’ signatures and create another memento to enjoy for years to come.

Are you doing a guestbook? Have another unique idea for capturing guests’ signatures in place of the guestbook? Please share! :)

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Celebrating the Royal Wedding of Will & Kate with a tea party at Lulu’s

Friday, April 29th, 2011

In case you were wondering…no, I did not get up at 3am to catch Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s Royal Wedding. Ya’ll know I LOVE weddings, but I just couldn’t muster up the energy this morning!

Thanks to technology, however, I got a front row seat!

The British Monarchy has an official YouTube Channel fittingly called TheRoyalChannel and I was able to catch the entire ceremony  in one clip! I’ve uploaded here for your enjoyment:

Kate was absolutely stunning. Simple, elegant and breathtaking.

I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the Royal Wedding than meeting up with my girlfriend Suzanne, who is a wedding planner (and actually woke up at 3am to catch the wedding in real-time!), and meeting up for a Royal Tea Party at Lulu’s in downtown Franklin. Here we are enjoying lemon tarts, petit fours and tea, of course:

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Did you catch the wedding? Were you up early like Suzanne this morning? Or were you a straggler like me, coming in late to the party? :) What was your favorite part?

My favorite part was the vows. You could sense a bit of nervousness…(as I can only imagine…being on a world-wide stage!) However, I loved the way the seemed to gaze at each other. It’s the way I remember Philip and I looking at each other almost a year ago, when we were encircled by our closest family and friends. So hard to believe it’s almost been a year! Time sure flies!

In honor of the Royal Wedding, I’ve created a clip about how you can give your skin the Royal Treatment…but you’ll have to head over to my other blog, The Skin CEO, to see it.

Wishing you much love and joy on this beautiful Spring day!

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Posted in events, inspiration, love, wedding |

Wish Upon A Wedding launches Nashville Chapter

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

Hello friends! Several months back I shared that I’m on the board of a wedding-related non-profit organization that is launching a chapter in Nashville. I’m thrilled to share that our launch party has been scheduled. You’ll find all the details in the news release below. Specifically, if you are a wedding/event services professional OR a medical/health care professional, we hope you’ll make time to learn how we can all work together!

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Health issues shouldn’t get in the way of someone’s dream to marry his or her best friend. That’s why Wish Upon A Wedding is expanding to the Volunteer State and launching the state’s first chapter in Nashville. On May 18 at 6pm, all are welcome to attend the chapter’s launch party at Wedding 101 at The Factory in Franklin. Professionals within the local wedding and event industry and the medical and health care community are invited to learn how this organization will positively affect lives across the region.

This is a free event, however, the new chapter welcomes any donations. All contributions will go directly towards helping the chapter grant wishes to deserving couples. Reservations are required. RSVP by visiting www.wuwlaunchpartynashville.eventbrite.com. Light fare will be served.

“The outpouring of volunteerism we’re already seeing is very encouraging to our board,” says wedding planner and chapter president, Courtney Hammons. “With the amazing Nashville wedding professionals and the sizeable medical and health care population we have, I know this organization will be embraced and will touch many lives.”

The chapter is currently compiling a database of “wish granters” based on 20 different wedding vendor categories. When a wish is received, the chapter’s volunteer coordinators will call upon the wish granters to donate their professional goods and services, enabling Wish Upon A Wedding Nashville to grant the wedding wish, from simple to more elaborate, depending on the wish recipient’s health condition.

Wish Upon a Wedding is the world’s first nonprofit wish granting organization providing weddings and vow renewals for couples facing terminal illness and serious life-altering circumstances, regardless of sexual orientation. Often, couples facing such situations do not have the energy, time, money, or resources needed to plan their wedding. Our organization takes care of all the details, offering couples a chance to relax and enjoy a very special day while surrounded by the love of their closest family and friends. To learn more, visit www.wishuponawedding.org.

cablezap@nashvillecable.org
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Posted in events, inspiration, wedding |

Leah & Kevin share their Smart Bride Panel experience

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

I’ve had the honor of having a voice on the past two Smart Bride Panels presented by AshleysBrideGuide. The first week we discussed wedding vision, values and priorities. That’s where it alllll has to start folks. This is the stuff you need to have lined out so you can budget appropriately. This week, our second session, we discussed budget.

Our budget was $5K…more on that later. :)

I caught a few testimonials from some of the Nashville couples who joined us tonight. This message is from Leah & Kevin. I really enjoyed chatting with them. You can tell they’re just happy and in love. And it’s SO cool that they’re starting off on the right foot by participating in a workshop like this and genuinely communicating with each other about their vision and priorities for the day they say “I do”.

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Posted in inspiration, Uncategorized |

Bridesmaid Stephanie’s beautiful Chicago bridal shower

Monday, December 27th, 2010

So this post is incredibly behind. Imagine that. *smirk* Refer to this post for my excuses. :)

Back in late July, I had the honor of being a part of my bridesmaid Stephanie’s bridal shower. Talk about an event! Wow! The Greeks know how to throw down! The shower was at the University of Chicago’s Quadrangle Club in the Hyde Park area. Thanks to Stephanie’s sister’s fiance, Chris (who is also the Executive Chef for the Quad Club), we got an incredible deal on the food and the event space.

(Hey, it pays to know people. And a wedding is always a great time to look for those kinds of hook-ups. People are usually willing to help…so long as you don’t make a habit of asking…)

The Quad Club was beautifully decorated by the bridesmaids (Kudos to sister Mindy for the beautiful flower arrangements and crafty eye!), although all I really did was tie bows around the wine buckets and help with a few finishing touches…so I can’t take much credit!

Not a detail was overlooked! The flowers, the favors, the pink wine (my fave!), the adorable napkins…it was all so elegant and perfect. Thanks again to Stephanie for choosing me to be a part of your wedding party. Stephanie and Kyle’s wedding is coming up next!

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