A Yellow and Blue Rustic Florida Wedding

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Aug 10th

by: Carly

Not only is this rustic Florida wedding filled with fabulous details, but the couple’s story is so very sweet! Chandler and Cliff met at a wedding where she was a bridesmaid, and he was a groomsmen. Less than a year later, she became the bride and he, the groom! Bash Event Design was on hand throughout the process to plan a beautiful day at Bella Collina outside of Orlando filled with gorgeous florals (y’all, those sunflowers!), meaningful stationery by V List Member Eleven Note, and rentals that Chandler’s dad built by hand through his company, Kirby Rentals. There are so many sweet moments and beautiful rustic details to love and see, so make sure you take a look at all of the lovely photos captured by Jason Mize Photography!

This wedding is such a beautiful example of the love shared between families. To thank her for her devotion (Chandler is one of 18 kids, and 16 are adopted!), her parents’ greatest wish was to give her the wedding of her dreams. And in our opinion, the best thing to do to achieve this is to call upon our V List Members!

Vendors who made it all happen…

Wedding Planner/Coordinator: Bash Event Design / Photographer: Jason Mize Photography / Invitations & Stationery: Eleven Note / Floral Design : Lee James Floral / Videographer: Voila Cinematic / Rentals and Linens: Kirby Event Rentals / Lighting: Get Lit Productions / Draping : Swag Decor / Cake Baker: The Sugar Suite / Rental Furniture: Chic Event Rental / Bride’s Dress: Vera Wang purchased at The Collection Bridal / Bridesmaid Dresses: Bill Levkoff purchased at Bella Bridesmaids / Groomsmen Attire: Absolutely Fitting / Ceremony/Cocktail Music : Beautiful Music ( String Quartet) / DJ: Sarz Entertainment

An Elegant Beach Wedding

Category: MEMBER FEATURES, REAL WEDDINGS 3 Comments

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Aug 7th

by: Carly

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Today’s elegant beach wedding is brought to you by Megan, Johnnie, an incredible team of vendors, and the beautiful beaches of Destin, Florida. Early in their planning process, Megan and Johnnie realized they wanted to host a destination wedding at the beach rather than one in their home state of Louisiana. With guidance from Tammy of The Eventful Planner, they filled their wedding day with blush pinks, vintage details, and unreal vistas from their V List Member venue, Palazzo Del Sol.

Though we can get lost in the beauty of their day for hours, it’s the strength and love they showed in their journey that radiates even more. Johnnie was diagnosed with brain cancer while the couple was planning their wedding. Rather than calling off their celebration, they surrounded themselves with so much love while they exchanged vows and savored time with their guests. Megan and Johnnie, you are the epitome of couples who plan not only a wedding but a marriage too. We’re so grateful we’re able to share all of the images captured by V List photographer Dear Wesleyann today!

What or who helped you most in your planning process and/or your wedding day?

My husband and I decided we wanted to get married out of state. We live in Louisiana and decided on a beach wedding in Destin, Florida. Once we decided where we wanted to get married, the next step was finding a wedding planner. My mom, my aunt, and I met with different wedding planners. I found my perfect wedding planner when we met with Tammy D’Agostino, The Eventful Planner. She is absolutely amazing. When we met with her, we discussed budget and my vision of what I wanted my wedding to be. She exceeded all of my expectations and made my vision a reality. My mom and my aunt were there with me every step of the way to support me and help in decision making. This support was vital. There are so many decisions to be made when planning a wedding and it can becoming very overwhelming if you don’t have people you can trust helping you. I was very blessed to have my mom, my aunt, and Tammy in making my dream wedding a reality.

What was the most important thing to you when deciding who to work with for your wedding?

It was important to me to have people who listened to my ideas and vision of what I wanted for my wedding. Tammy arranged appointments with vendors such as photographers, florists, and the bakery. After meeting with the vendors, I was able to see whose personality I felt would work best with mine and was able to pick out the perfect team for my wedding day.

What was your inspiration for your wedding details and/or design?

I got inspiration for my wedding details by looking in bridal magazines, Gulf Coast Bride since it featured lots of beach weddings, and Pinterest. I’d tear out magazine pages of details I liked and pinned away like crazy on Pinterest. I was able to show these to my wedding planner and florist/event designer who perfected the details for my wedding day.

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

Everything!!! It was truly the happiest day of my life! I got to marry my best friend and the most amazing man I’ve ever known at the beach (my favorite place) in front of our family and closest friends! It was the perfect day!

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

Enjoy every moment of the planning, it’s very stressful sometimes but it goes by so fast. The most important thing is the big picture. At the end of all the planning, you get to marry the person you love most in the world and you both get to start this new exciting chapter of your life together!

We just love Megan and Johnnie’s story so much. They focused on celebrating their love, their life together, and their loved ones, and everything was still absolutely gorgeous. It’s an honor to share their special day with you all!

Vendors who made it all happen…

Photographer: Dear Wesleyann / Flowers & Decor: Florals By The Sea / Reception Venue: Palazzo Del Sol - Destin / Cake Baker: Sweet For Sirten / Catering: The Eventful Planner / Wedding Planner/Coordinator: The Eventful Planner / DJ: VanAmburg

5 Things To Know About Wedding Invitations

Category: WEDDING PLANNING 10 Comments

Aug 6th

by: Lauren

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Ah, wedding invitations. Your wedding invitations are one of the first impressions that you give your wedding guests, and they play a pretty large role when it comes to “setting the stage” for your wedding day. The ins and outs of wedding invitations could be a whole series of posts, but I’ll leave that for an invitation professional to write. Today, we’re just going to keep things short and sweet and give you five things that are important to know about wedding invitations…

1. Quantity

You don’t have to order one invitation for EVERY person on your guest list. Because I’m pretty sure half of those people live at the same place. So when thinking of how many invitations to order, don’t forget to cut your total guest count in half.

2. Price

Custom invitations are the way to go- and they’re NOT as expensive as you think. I think that just because the word “custom” is associated with it, many people automatically think it’s out of their price range- I know I did! (Note: Essentially everything for your wedding should be custom, because your wedding is CUSTOM to YOU!) Think of it this way- you don’t blink twice when you buy a mass produced greeting card with glitter on it for Mother’s Day for $5 at the drugstore, do you? I know I don’t! So if you can get awesome custom invitations that are SO much better than a glittered up greeting card for a few more dollars (or the same as that greeting card), that’s pretty great, don’t you think?

3. You need time.

I can attest to that. I didn’t have time have my invitations custom made, so I had to order through a “big book”. But now you know, and you can have plenty of time to work with a custom designer. It is recommended to start the process for your invitations 6 months before your wedding- essentially giving you 4 months to go through a design process so you can have them nice and ready to be sent out 2 months before your date. (Oh, and while we’re on the topic of designing invitations, please don’t ever expect a designer to replicate someone else’s design. Show them what you like that you’ve seen elsewhere and they’ll create something custom for you from your inspiration, but don’t ask them to copy someone else’s work!)

4. Proofread!

You don’t know how many times I’ve heard about invitations being printed wrong because of a lack of proofreading! Your stationer most likely doesn’t know the exact spelling of your fiance’s name, your parents’ names, your venue’s name, etc- but you do! Make sure you look over the proofs sent to you, and then have at least 2 other people look them over as well!

5. Don’t forget!

Don’t forget about postage and other paper elements too! The majority of the time an invitation is NOT going to take a normal stamp, so you’re going to need to take it to the post office (assembled) and have it weighed before you buy your stamps. And don’t forget that you need stamps for your RSVPs too!

As for other paper elements, people always think about them, but they’re often forgotten in the excitement of the invitation design- menus, escort cards, programs, etc. Even though they’re not needed until the day of your wedding, I definitely recommend having your stationer design these items along with your invitations so they’re ready to go once you have all of the details to “fill in”. [PS- having table numbers designed to match your stationery is great, but the options are also endless when it comes to table numbers!]

There is SO much more beyond these 5 things to know about wedding invitations… lucky for you, you can find out more here on ELD by clicking below!

Have any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments- we’re here to help!

Editor’s Note: A version of this post was originally published in 2011. It has since been updated and revamped for looks and accuracy.

A Fun & Sophisticated DC Wedding

Category: REAL WEDDINGS 3 Comments

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Aug 5th

by: Lauren

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This fun, sophisticated DC wedding is most certainly one for the books! Taking place on New Year’s Eve as a nod to the story of their relationship, Rachel and Matt’s wedding was filled with bright, bold shades of pink, purple, and orange, gold glitter accents, and of course impeccable details thanks to the help of wedding planner Bright Occasions. Wanting to focus on family, friends, and celebration, this couple started their marriage by ringing in the new year in the most chic, meaningful way, and Kristen Gardner Photography captured it all! Rachel is here with us today sharing more insight into her planning process, so read on for more!

What (or who) helped you most in your planning process and/or on your wedding day?

For the wedding planning, it was absolutely my mom who helped me the most. Her calmness, practicality, and creativity not only helped me survive planning a wedding on the East Coast from the West Coast, but also helped to make all aspects of the event memorable.
The wedding day savior was our day-of-coordinator, Margo Fischer of Bright Occasions. Months leading up to our big day, Margo was available to answer questions and bounce ideas off of. And as the wedding day quickly approached, the hours and days we spent with her completing the event flow put us at ease that all the details were in order and allowed Matt and I to “let go” and enjoy the day.

What was the most important thing to you when deciding who to work with for your wedding?

Weddings are such a personal event that feeling a personal connection with all the vendors was critical for us. When we met with each of our vendors, it was less about their resume and more about the dialog and connection we had with them. And it’s true what they say …”good people, know good people”. Our caterer, Spilled Milk, introduced us to our day of coordinator, Bright Occasions, who introduced us to our DJ Dan Goldman from Bialek’s and florist, Petals by the Shore. We were beyond thrilled with everyone who was a part of helping to make our wedding so wonderful and memorable …and fun!

What was your inspiration for your wedding details and/or design?

At its traditional core, weddings are a celebration of family. The bride’s family, the groom’s family coming together to celebrate the creation of a new family. So ‘family’ and ‘celebration’ were the major themes of our day. With The Whittemore House as the venue it was easy to create a “family” feel as we adorned all the fireplace mantels with pictures from our childhood, families and pictures from our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents weddings. We wrote the ceremony ourselves and were able to incorporate family into every aspect of the ceremony – my Uncle officiated the wedding, our parents participated in a blessing, we wrote our own vows, and we were able to acknowledge all our family and friends who came to support us. There was tears, there was laughter – it was perfect.
And with December 31 as our date …how could it not be a celebration?! Guests were greeted with a glass of champagne when they arrived, and the groomsmen’s festive boutonnieres out of black and gold noisemakers made by the Mother of the Bride hinted again to, “celebration”. And because New Year’s Eve isn’t New Year’s Eve without a ball drop, we made sure to lead our own countdown at midnight, complete with balloons, masks, and noisemakers. To top it off, post-midnight breakfast bites were set out for all to enjoy. The wedding went late into the night.
Our florist described it best as, “New Year’s Eve sophisticated fun flair.”

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

Oh my goodness …how do you choose? I would have to say being surrounded by all our dear family and friends and celebrating the start of both the new year and our new lives with all of them was so special. …I’m not sure how we top it come NYE 2016 and beyond!

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

Don’t plan a wedding from 2500 miles away! My husband joked that he was “Director of East Coast Operations” for the wedding, taking direction from West Coast Headquarters. No, but honestly, however frustrating it was to be so far away from the action, it forced me to be efficient in making decisions, rely on others for help, and remember that in the end, it’s just one day that is the start of a crazy, amazing lifelong adventure. So my advice is …enjoy every minute of it – the engagement, the planning, the wedding day! It goes by so fast …and is such a blur! I’m forever grateful to Kristen Gardner for capturing all the special moments of our day. And remember to let things go …no one will know what was or wasn’t supposed to happen.

Y’all know that I LOVE color, so the fun, bold colors of this DC wedding have me head over heels! And I of course love that Rachel and Matt’s main goal to make sure all their friends and family had fun.

How about you? Do you have a particular goal in the “feel” of your wedding that you’re going for?