A Christmas Wedding

I was honored to design some decor for my friend Jen's Christmasy wedding this past Friday evening. The day was busy-busy-busy, but I made myself take a few minutes to photograph the auditorium and reception table decor...or I knew I'd be kicking myself afterward. =)

Everything we did was pretty simple but very festive - and it suited the couple perfectly. Both Jen and her new husband Jonathan love to read, so we brought some books in as part of the design.

We borrowed these hardback books and created dust jackets from tone-on-tone metallic wrapping paper.

I also used the wrapped books in the centerpieces for the reception tables. Instead of a poinsettia atop the stack of books, though, I filled glass bowls with coordinating Christmas balls and silver tinsel. Could it get any easier??

The auditorium pew markers also contained an element of the reading love theme. 

Using plain white (previously ugly) shatterproof ornaments, I modpodged strips of text from an old book (The Amy Vanderbilt Book of Etiquette, if you must know - and I totally enjoyed reading snippets of it while I was working on this project! Pretty hilarious.) onto them and then sprinkled clear and silver glitter to finish it off. It only took a bit of time - it wasn't difficult at all - but it was a great little touch, I think. Plus, they can be used for Christmas ornaments afterwards. I love that whole two birds/one stone thing. =)

Here's what the stage looked like. We taped icicle lights to the glass in front of the baptistry and covered them with white sheer curtains. I arranged a little semi-circle of poinsettias for Jen and Jonathan to stand in front of. I cannot wait to see the wedding photographer's pictures of the ceremony! The wedding was at 5:00pm, so the lighting was completely different than when I was snapping these pics. 

And here's one sneak peek shot from Starla Photography (she's fantastic - she shot our wedding, too!) I seriously cannot wait to see the rest of the pictures!

(Yes, I made that bouquet and boutonniere. Yay!)

Oh, and hey, here's another shot from Starla - I loved how the wedding colors turned out!

My friend Ashley made the wedding cake and it was both beautiful and so delicious. Yum! (Plus, she took this lovely picture of it.)

Happy Wedding, Jen and Jonathan! May God bless you guys with a long and very, very happy marriage! =)

A Third (and Fourth) Anniversary

Photos by Starla Steward Photography

Happy third wedding anniversary to my husband, Jeremy. Today, I'm remembering the chilly weather...our excited friends and family gathering around us...the huge yellow gingko tree...the white pumpkins and yellow mums and red berries...the song the bridesmaids walked down to...the hot apple cider and that delicious almond wedding cake...the feeling of finally wearing my wedding dress...and finally seeing my handsome groom. As everyone always says, the day passed too quickly, but I was glad somebody had told me it would. Because I made sure I was fully in the moment during our ceremony. I remember what my grandaddy said and what my daddy said...and what you and I promised each other. I wasn't nervous. I was calm. 

During the three years since, I haven't always been so calm. Because THE WEDDING, decidedly, is not what a marriage all about, even if the magazines and the blogs make it seem that way. It's about real life, day to day. And reality is messy and confusing and difficult. But when you're there, holding my hand through it all, I know that calm once again. The feeling that comes over me and tells me that we're right together. That even though we don't have everything in the world in common, we do have the most important things in common. And today, we're celebrating that. =)

In fact, we're celebrating an extra year of such, because we met four years ago this very week. So, in addition to the wedding details, I'm remembering seeing "Beauty and the Beast" in Loyd Auditorium and eating taco soup with Megan and Mark...I'm remembering you repairing my broken necklace and us sitting knee to knee at the FHU Homecoming basketball game. I'm remembering a nervous first kiss before you headed back to Chattanooga. And I'm remembering that before you came back to visit in another two weeks, I already knew you were "The One." Exactly one year later, we got married. 

It's been beautiful - not just the wedding, but the process of our lives getting entwined. I love you, with much love, always! Thank you for asking me to be your wife.

A Wedding One Year Ago

On a warm, late-summer day one year ago this past weekend, there was a pretty outdoor wedding. The groom was my cousin Adam. This guy can usually be found at Four Seasons Nursery (where he loves helping people with their landscaping quandaries) in Carhartt overalls, sunglasses, and a cap. But on that day, his bride Tosha talked him into wearing a tuxedo - and he looked pretty handsome, don't you think?

Tosha, of course, was pretty beautiful herself. Our family is blessed that Adam found her! I knew it was going to work out when I first heard Tosha doing a spot-on impression of Adam. The same Adam who is usually the one doing the hilarious, spot-on impressions of other people. Yes. It was pretty awesome.

Oh! Let me show you one of their engagement picture that was perfect. See, Tosha teaches spin and weight classes and she's won first place (thankyouverymuch) in a fitness competition last year. And I already told you about Adam, so this picture is very appropo. I love it!

Here's some more pictures from the wedding. Jeremy and I took turns taking these...

Grandaddy performed the wedding. =)

Bless her heart. Tosha's niece Tessa was exhausted 

and slept through most of the wedding on my lap. 

As the wedding director, I was just so glad to get her down the aisle! Ha!

Adam's sister Beth and good friend Josh - or Jug, as he is called in real life.

My dad and I designed the programs. =)

Cousin Nick and Aunt Claudia, who got an "empty" program. 

Now, some volunteers in our family hand-folded those...who left this one in there?? Ha!

Pretty cake!

Pretty girls!

Jeremy and me with the happy couple

Happy Anniversary, you guys! You might have already found out that the first year of marriage is both blissful and frustrating. We remember. ;) And we're cheering you on. Love you both! May you have many more very happy years together. =)

Friends and Weddings

So, a couple of my friends have gotten married lately and my cousin is getting married in a few days, so weddings have been back on the brain. While a good elopement has its place (amen!), that doesn't exactly make for good blog postings...we're going to talk weddings. These southern weddings have been beautiful, even during the stifling weather. (And boy, has it ever been stifling! We've finally gotten a little reprieve and it's been more than delightful.)

Our friends Nicole and Michael got married on July 31st. He got her flowers for their one-month anniversary...isn't that cute? Love it. There was this one time that we had Nicole and Michael over to eat dinner and we talked wedding plans all evening. We consoled them when there were some things they couldn't agree over. And we all realized that Nicole and I are pretty alike...and Jeremy and Michael are pretty alike. It was a little scary and a lot hilarious. Then I served everyone peanut butter pie and promptly found out that Michael hates peanut butter. But that's neither here nor there. Let's get back to weddings!

One thing I always look forward to in weddings is the music. Do you know how hard it is to pick the right music for your wedding??! Really. I mean, if you want something a little non-traditional anyway...as in, not an organ-heavy rendition of the wedding march. I spent hours on the music for our own wedding. And I know Nicole and Michael did the same. There were some songs I hadn't heard before and then I ended up loving! And that's always happy to me. Especially since the songs will always remind me of their wedding.

This is one of those...I think it's super beautiful and romantic and perfect for a wedding! The first time I heard this song, it was in the movie Hope Floats way back in whatever-year-that-was. Don't judge me, but I really disliked that movie. It was sooo depressing. And I generally love Sandra Bullock - she's funny and brilliant! And I love Harry Connick Jr. - he's dreamy with a remarkable singing voice. BUT. This movie did not showcase any of that for me. It was O.K. for a one-time viewing, but I've never been able to stomach it again. Wait...how did a bad movie review highjack Nicole and Michael's wedding post?

Ooops. Moving on...

Oh, dear, one more thing. This version (by Adele) of Make You Feel My Love outshines Garth Brooks' version from Hope Floats. There, I'm done. I hope.

To make up for all that pent-up negativity, I will post some lovely pictures from the wedding. ;)

These were so different and cool-looking. 

Absolutely loved ALL of the flowers!

A very natural shot of the groom. Probably checking 

some sports scores...

Are these not gorgeomous??

The bride wore green shoes. =)

"Back UP! You're totally crowding me."

Just kidding. Kristi-the-photographer is pretty laid back. 

And her pictures are way better than these.

Coordinator Betsy threatening the bride to cool down...

or ELSE.

My friend Nicole is funny. 

She ALWAYS makes me laugh.

The sun was in all of their faces, but I like to think of it as 

God blessing their union.

Cake!

This dude had a cool hat. 

And despite the heat, Nicole got to have the 

outside reception she'd always imagined. 

Love you guys! And I'm so glad I got to have a part in your special day!!