I LOOOOVE typography and unique wedding day ideas. This is what you get when you combine them. What a lovely idea! Forget wedding programs. Let’s face it. Your guests are probably going to toss it anyway. Your parents, in-laws and, perhaps, a few bridesmaids may keep one…but most are going in the garbage. Why not whip up a eco-friendly idea like this! Not only are you saving trees, but it’s an eye-catching conversation piece, too!

Want to see more unique chalk typography? Head over to Dana Tanamachi’s site here.

Thanks to Apple’s FaceTime application, bridesmaid Renee was able to attend her friend’s wedding virtually, via iPad.

The bride, Jamie, was very thankful for this technology which allowed her friend, who was 1,600 miles away, to interact with the couple, the wedding party and other guests. Check out the video below and you’ll see one of the groomsmen walking down the aisle, holding the tablet with Renee and her sweet smile beaming at the happy couple. You’ll also see Jamie and her bridesmaids posing with the iPad, proudly showing off an enthusiastic Renee.

How creative and thoughtful! Is technology playing a big role in your big day? Tell us about it below!

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!

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:

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!

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.

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.

If you haven’t bookmarked Classic Bride…go add it to your blog reader now. This is one of my ALL time favorite wedding blogs. Sarah really bridges the gap between all things vintage and modern. You will love following along with all the pretties she posts.

Stay tuned for my blueberry buttermilk muffin recipe. Mmm.

First off, let me start by saying that this woman was an ABSOLUTE lifesaver:

Her name is Sarah Mallory and she runs SLM Designs & Something Old Designs. If you can dream it, Sarah can create it.

I was fortunate to meet Sarah at Bridesmaid Melissa’s birthday in May of 2009. Perfect timing…because just a few months later, I knew she would be JUST the person to help me create my dream wedding dress.

After several sessions of brainstorming and hours of looking through wedding magazines and blogs for inspiration, Sarah had sketched the final design for my dress. The starting point for the design was the handmade gown my mother wore on her wedding day in 1974.

Perfectly preserved in it’s baby blue box, Sarah lovingly took my mother’s wedding dress, with its high neck, sheer sleeves and A-line cut, and brought it into 2010 with a jewel neckline, cinched waist and mermaid-style cut.

Here is a picture of my mother in this gown on my parent’s wedding day:

And here is the very same gown, with updates and modifications, which I wore on our wedding day:

Note the lovely ruffle at the bottom of the gown. This was the same ruffle that made the v-shaped bust lining on the original rendition of the dress. The belt and the gussets (the “openings” along the bottom of the dress that make it flowy and mermaid-like) are both made of a raw, beaded silk that Sarah and I found at Textiles in Nashville. Sarah found a GORGEOUS feather rhinestone brooch at Francesca’s in Green Hills and it made a stunningly perfect addition to the belt. She also added a touch of French netting to the hem and the belt.

Sarah was instrumental in making me look and feel amazing and glamorous on our wedding day. She was one of the first to arrive that morning, helped all the ladies and gents get ready and even brought her steamer to keep everyones’ attire wrinkle-free. Sarah steamed, pinned, cinched, hooked, zipped, etc., until the time came for us to walk down the aisle, then she grabbed her seat for the ceremony and celebrated with us all the way through our departure that evening.

Here is Sarah strapping me into the dress before we head outside to meet with Philip for our “first look”. Philip and I decided we wanted to do photos before the ceremony. This is a big decision for many couples. Traditionally, the bride and groom don’t see each other until the father and bride march down the aisle, although many couples choose to break that tradition these days. We were one such couple.  (More on that decision for a later post!)

Once I was strapped in and belted up, MOH Jill fastened my beautiful vintage AB (aurora borealis) rhinestone bracelet. This was another find that came to me through the watchful, creative eye of Sarah Mallory.

Sarah found this stunning vintage bracelet at the Gaslamp Antique Mall in Nashville. Notice the feather shape on the bracelet too?! I just LOVE the feather theme that Sarah wove together with my accessories.

She said the feather theme was inspired by my headpiece which I purchased from Kathleen’s Bridal in my hometown – Harrisburg, IL.

My dress was JUST long enough that you could hardly see my shoes, so here is a closer look at my amazing Steve Madden purple satin, peep-toe pumps.

And guess what? These little beauties only cost me $15!! I purchased them as “gently worn” from Marti & Liz in Cool Springs! They looked brand new. Such a find.

I still have many more wedding day details to cover, so stay tuned for the next post! Until then, read up on The Thirty-Something Bride’s 40th birthday post and check out Little Spoon’s latest DIY project. I just love these gals.

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!

With eyelids drooping, I crawled into bed, reeling with anticipation for the next 48 hours.

The following morning, Friday, June 11, we awoke to Dad and Philip returning from their overnight stay with Philip’s parents. (Remember…we shoo’d them away for the bachelorette party!)

They dropped off their overnight bags and drove over to The Factory to move chairs, candleabras, the stage and, in general, get things where they’d need to be for Philip and I say “I do” the next day. (Word on the street is that Mrs. Dial, Philip’s mom, made an amazing, hearty breakfast. Lord knows that’s our favorite meal of the day. Mmmm.)

After a quick bite for breakfast, the girls and I also headed The Factory to meet up with Dad and Philip. For the next several hours, we spent time arranging tables with centerpieces (which I’ll show later!), putting down chairs and placing candles all around Building 8.

Shortly after noontime, we returned back to our place for lunch and for a bit of downtime before getting ready for the rehearsal dinner that evening.

I took some time to get a few things packed for the honeymoon, then decided to go ahead and jump in the shower. Goodness knows my hair likes to be a pain sometimes…and this was NOT going to be the day it had a mind of its own.

Of course, as soon as I jump in the shower, my phone rings. While I’m in the shower, I miss two more calls. Once I get out of the shower, I call the first person back and, while on the call, miss yet another call. I was really starting to lose my cool. Not anybody’s fault. They didn’t know I was trying to get lovely for the rehearsal dinner. That should’ve been the point where I handed my phone over to mom and just asked her to handle any incoming calls…but I didn’t. So for the duration of me trying to dry my hair, line my eyes and figure out what darn shoes to wear with my dress, I was also juggling phone calls of friends and family trying to get into Building 8. Not a good combination of events for a bride who is trying to stay calm and unfrazzled.

Eventually I just stopped picking up my phone. I knew that if people were desperate enough, they would call Philip, my mom, Philip’s mom or my MOH…and the situation would be handled beautifully. (This is  something I really encourage brides to do. Don’t feel like you have to be everything to everyone and have ALL the answers. Everything pans out.)

That evening around 6pm, everyone who would be a part of our special day gathered in Building 8 to join for a delicious dinner homemade by Philip’s mother, sister-in-law and twin sisters. Holy cow, it was incredible – poppy seed chicken, killer potato salad, green bean casserole, delicious rolls and Philip’s mother’s superb banana pudding. Mmmm. What a meal.

Then it was rehearsal-time…and we rehearsed…and after the last run-through, I started bawling with the realization that I was about to become a wife. (This was the first time this had happened in throughout our entire engagement.)

Here is a photo of my parents and I after the rehearsal. (My dress was another lovely find from Heylee B.)

After wiping away happy/excited/semi-nervous tears, we cleaned up a bit and headed home. Philip and I each finished packing for the honeymoon and each interviewed with the delightful writer who shared our love story on AOL’s AisleDash wedding site. He then grabbed his bags and headed over to one of his groomsmen’s home for the evening so I could enjoy spending the rest of the night with my parents.

Realizing how late it was and how bright-eyed and bushy-tailed we needed to be for the next day, we each headed to bed to get in some good sleep. Once again I was reeling with anticipation. Although I was extremely tired…I could hardly shut my eyes without imagining the next day…our wedding. Finally tiredness got the best of me…and the wedding was one night’s sleep away…