I’ve delayed posting it for two reasons…

1) I didn’t want to spoil the Valentine’s Day surprise for Philip.
2) I was worried about what you (my readers, family, friends, etc.) would think.

Since Valentine’s Day has come and gone, the cat is outta the bag…and Philip has successfully been surprised with my amazing  photos from Bombshell Creative here in Nashville.

As for overcoming the second reason, I finally decided that the people who matter don’t mind and the people who mind don’t matter. I work hard to maintain a professional, business-focused image. Those who know me personally know that. The purpose of my blog is to share my journey and my insight as a bride and wife. This experience with Bombshell Creative is something wives and brides in the Middle TN area (and beyond!) NEED to know about! So there. I’m over it.

Here are a few of my vintage glam boudoir photos from Bombshell Creative:

The few hours I spent with Ashley and the folks at Bombshell Creative were incredible. I arrived with many of the pretties I received at my bachelorette party last year, a bagful of high heels, my favorite pieces of vintage jewelry and my makeup bag. I kept my hair down and a bit tousled and Pam made my face camera ready with sultry eyes and rusty red lips.

They also had a nice spread of refreshments including soda, water, chocolate and peanut butter filled pretzels. YUM!

The photo shoot was SO much fun. Bridesmaid Rebecca (aka High Heels And Moccasins) was there for wardrobe styling…since that’s what she does nearly every day…and because I love and trust her. We just had a blast. I can’t imagine how fun it would be to book Bombshell Creative for a bachelorette party or just as a fun night out with best friends.

In just a few days, Ashley sent me a link to view my gallery. After working with her to choose my favorite photos, they created the most beautiful hardcover customized photobook for Philip. They even printed a love note I wrote for him and included it amongst the photos. Valentine’s Day couldn’t get here fast enough!

Ladies, whether you’re looking for an amazing evening of fun with your friends or want to give your husband or significant other a smokin’ hot custom photobook for a birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc…talk with Ashley at Bombshell Creative. What woman doesn’t love feeling like a bombshell? I sure did!

Stay tuned for a video clip from my photo session, PLUS a special giveaway! Woohoo!

So back to my wedding recap. As many of you know, we chose Journey Church (our church home) at The Factory in Franklin as our ceremony AND reception venue. Journey Church leases Building No. 8 at The Factory. It’s SUCH a neat building with exposed brick, large wooden beams, super-high ceilings and all of these incredible wrought iron candleabras we placed everywhere. My favorite part about our venue was that it didn’t call for much decoration. It has so much character…it’s naturally decorated. Covering it up is just wrong to me. Here’s a look at the inside of Building No. 8:

This wall is inside our church and it was painted by my incredibly talented artist friend Deeann Carson. The wall reads “We dwell in soul environments, knowing, living and telling the love story of Jesus to the world…” I LOVE this!

This is the gigantic wall of old, distressed windows and doors you see as soon as you walk in the front door. It creates the most perfect walkway/divider from the door to the rest of the large room.

Here you can see the opposite side of the door/window wall, where my handsome father is greeting our family and friends as they arrive for our wedding. Just look at the beautiful lit branches everywhere. I mean, this building is just naturally beautiful!

You may recall the wedding wish jar idea I’d found over at Martha Stewart Weddings last year. Well, we DID incorporate a wish jar and our guests loved it! Not only was it a part of our sign in process, but it’s also made a wonderful keepsake which we now enjoy seeing every day in our living room:

Thankfully I’d hit a fantastic sale on scrapbook paper at Joann Fabrics and purchased 2 full books of beautiful scrapbook paper at a buy 1 get 1 free discount! Plus, my adorable little wish jar was 50% off from Swoozie’s in Green Hills.

Another thing I loved about our venue was that our guests didn’t have to drive somewhere else for the reception. See, our ceremony was “in the round”, meaning our guests encircled us, on one side of the room and our reception was setup on the other side of the room. We covered our tables with purple linens and were VERY creative and frugal with our centerpieces. We collected a large box of wine bottles from friends and family, borrowed 2 sets of Ball jars from wedding coordinator Emily Humphries and then used scrapbook paper beneath the bottles and jars. Easy peasy:

Thanks to Bridesmaid Megan who has lovely, calligraphy-like handwriting, we had simple, easy to read signs for our “in memory of” candles:

The following image allows you to see just how large Building No. 8 is. Note the incredibly high ceilings, the candles placed around the room and the gorgeous lights strung across the center of the room:

Here we are surrounded by our friends and family, sharing a moment of quiet prayer before we vow our lifelong commit to one another:

And here we are coming down the aisle:

*sigh* SUCH a magical day! I still get teary thinking about how beautiful and perfect it was.

There’s more where that came from, folks. STILL so many things to share and tell you about! I’m ESPECIALLY excited to tell you about what I’m up to this Thursday. And I’m going to get to treat a few other local Nashville brides and brides-to-be too! Woohoo, I’m pumped! Stay tuned, friends. I promise to focus and dedicate more time with you! You will NOT want to miss what I have brewing.

Watch out. This post is HUGE. There’s a lot to take in…so please don’t skim through. I hope you’ll take time to read through my description of the day’s events and enjoy all of the beautiful photos from Daniel Meigs. And so we begin…

On the morning of Saturday, June 12, I woke up to yet another fantastic breakfast. (Notice a pattern here? ) I enjoyed a delicious morning meal with my parents and then jumped in the tub, thankful my hair still looked decent from the rehearsal dinner the night before and that I was meeting my hair stylist at the church that morning to get coiffed.

I put on a comfy tank top and my favorite workout shorts (fashionable, I know), grabbed my makeup bag and my parents and I loaded my dress, my brooch bouquet and the rest of our wedding day accessories and items into the car. Off we were to The Factory.

At this point, it was probably around 10:15am and the weather was already unbearably hot. Thank goodness all of our events were indoors.

The rest of the day’s events unfolded perfectly and everyone arrived on time. Around 10:30am, my stylist, Lindsey from Natural Oasis in Nashville, started taming my mane into a lovely, swept back ‘do.

Thank goodness for Lindsey. The sheer thought of doing my hair all by myself for only the biggest day of my life…so far…completely stresses me…

Lindsey working her magic:

Anxious and calm…all at the same time.

If I haven’t shared already…my hair has a mind of its own. God bless Lindsey and her patience with my locks.

Next? Makeup time! My friend Anna is a freelance makeup artist. I knew I could trust her with the sultry, glamorous look I was going for and not feel like I’d been dipped head first into an inkwell. (You know what I mean. Tarantula lashes…black out to my ear.) I didn’t want to look like I was in costume…and I wanted my practically transparent, blonde eyelashes to pop and really be the focus of my makeup. It was really important that I looked like ME on my wedding day. Not like I was trying to be someone else. Anna hooked me up.

Lovely smoky eye.

Time to plump up the puny lashes. Yay for mascara!

Thanking Anna for a beautiful job well done. Anna had to scoot on down the road to prettify another bride!

I couldn’t have asked for better gals to help me get fancified for our walk down the aisle. If you’re looking for a fantastic hair stylist, ask for Lindsey at Natural Oasis. If you need sultry, smoky lashes, pretty, pouty lips or a polished natural look , get in touch with Anna! (Well, contact me first and I’ll give you her info.) *wink*

The next wedding recap will cover my beautiful wedding gown and will feature the two lovely ladies who made wearing this wedding dress possible. Don’t miss it!

A little more than 2 weeks ago, we realized that our honeymoon plans for Destin may not have been such a good idea. After talking with several friends and watching the news, we decided that, thanks to good ol’ British Petroleum and their ever-expanding oil spill, our trip to Destin may not prove very enjoyable. (Believe it or not, I’ve never been to the beach as an adult. I know. Sheltered. I’ll be danged if I’m going to spend my honeymoon on an oil-covered beach!)

We canceled our plans just in the nick of time and decided that our new honeymoon destination would be Hilton Head, SC. Not only had neither of us ever been there, but we’re staying in a larger condo for an extra night and saving money! Way to go, Philip! (He’s been organizing honeymoon plans. Thank goodness. Brides, make sure you get your fiance involved. Seriously. There’s TOO much to do to NOT divide up the plans and responsibilities.)

So thanks to Philip, our honeymoon plans are back on track…and even better (and more cost-effective!) than they were before. YAY!

Here’s my latest honeymoon dress purchase! It was an absolute steal. I can never wear these dresses. They’re always too long on me. This one, however, fit perfectly.

If you’ve been to Hilton Head, I’d love to hear some tips/suggestions/recommendations for restaurants and such. We’ve never been, so any info is great.

Before I conclude today’s post…if you’re a local bride, make plans to check out the Kristen Steele Photography Launch Party! The event is this Saturday, May 22 at The Factory in Franklin (our wedding venue!) from 1pm-4pm. Kristen, your work is lovely! It sounds like one heck of a time! (I’m all about cupcakes.)  Here are the details:

Have a fantastic Thursday everyone! Talk with you tomorrow!

I have some exciting news for a lucky bride…if you’re in Tennessee and on Twitter…you could win a fantastic photography package from Chicago photographer Melissa Hayes!

The rules are simple:

- You must be planning a 2010 wedding.
- You cannot have a photographer booked already.

And entering the contest is simple:

Go to twitter.com/melissahfoto and follow her. Then post the following message:

@melissahfoto Tennessee Bride To Be!

See!? Easy-peasy! But don’t delay. The entry cutoff date is TOMORROW, Saturday, March 20.

To read more about why she’s giving away photography services, head over to her blog by clicking here.

Now get to it. Time is a-tickin’!

To see more of Daniel’s lovely photos, go to http://danielmeigsweddings.com/

Or check out his blog – Wetsuit Waffle – at http://danielmeigs.blogspot.com/

Yayyy! Check photography off the list! So excited to work with Daniel. Thanks again Sarah!

Invitations

We found them! Perfect colors. Amazing price! Check that one off the list.

Photography

Wow, Nashville is full of AMAZING photographers. Seriously. Go over to Google. Search “Nashville wedding photographer”. You will find oodles of incredibly talented, cutting-edge local photographers. Each will have a unique style, as every artist does. You’ll fall in love with one photographer’s portfolio, return to Google and then fall in love with the next.

We’ve finally whittled our list down to two and we’re hoping to decide this weekend.

Bridesmaids

My five beautiful bridesmaids have graciously accepted my invitation to be a part of our big day! These five fabulous females are each incredible ladies. Clearly. I will have full introductions of each one coming soon. I will first introduce Jill, my Maid of Honor, who has ALREADY been in contact with the other bridesmaids. They’re already exchanging details about a bridal shower and the bachelorette party! These girls are WITH it! So thankful for you gals.

Attire

I’ve already announced I’m wearing my mother’s wedding gown – which I think is just darn cool.

Last weekend Jill (MOH) came down to Nashville and we drove allll around town looking through dresses at our local bridal salons. I think we went to seven or eight…can’t remember. We browsed dresses from 10 am – 2 pm and I’m pretty sure Jill tried on about 20 dresses. Little did we know we could’ve stopped at the very first salon we visited. Pretty sure we’ve found the perfect bridesmaid dress! Don’t want to give away too many details yet…all I’m saying is Lazaro. It’s lovely. And comfortable. And knee length. And made of tissue taffeta. Agh! Can’t wait to share.

After a long day of running around playing dress-up, Jill and I went to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens & Museum of Art in Belle Meade for free day. (Many Nashville attractions have free days throughout the year…which is awesome!) Cheekwood is a beautiful historic estate that attracts many visitors and families throughout the year. It’s also the backdrop for many weddings and large events. They were actually setting up for a wedding in the back lawn when we were there. Here are some photos we took at Cheekwood:

Stay tuned for bridesmaid introductions!

I found out about the giggleBOOTH when Courtney, a photographer for the giggleBOOTH, left a comment here on my blog. They’re having a contest where they’re giving away two giggleBOOTH sessions – one  to a lucky bride and groom (could be Philip and I!) and the other to a non-wedding event. Learn more about the giggleBOOTH by clicking here. Make sure to tell them Krista sent you.

They get even more kudos because when I landed on their blog, I got to enjoy the fun song “Electric Feel” by MGMT – an amazing band I learned about from Philip.

Isn’t this photo stunning? I absolutely LOVE it. Such class. Such emotion. Yum. This is another lovely find I stumbled upon over at the Vintage Glam Blog.

I have so much more to share and talk about…I just need to find a few more minutes in the day! Hoping that will happen tonight. I PROMISE there’s more to come soon.