With feminine florals and a peach and blush pink palette, this lovely Memphis wedding from BY SHEA Photography is full of classic romance and gorgeous details. Stunning bride Linea is here to share her planning insight:

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

I did the majority of it myself.  I have been an event planner in my professional life so I am well practiced in making things happen.  I created my own check list to work from.  All of the ones I found online or in those wedding planning binders were way too intense.  They included so many unnecessary things that only lead to becoming overwhelmed and stressed.  My mom and aunt were a big help in planning and I hired a day of coordinator who was a lifesaver.  You just cannot attend to everything on the day of your wedding so you need someone you can trust with the details while you are busy getting married.

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

I wanted vendors I could trust with my vision.  I didn’t want to try to instruct a caterer or florist to do something totally out of their comfort zone to fit my needs.  I chose vendors whose work I already admired.  Go with someone whose existing work is along the lines of what you want and you won’t be disappointed.

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

I wanted my wedding to be timeless and just plain beautiful.  I wanted to be able to look back at my pictures in 10, 20 and 50 years and say “I wouldn’t change a thing”.  I wanted it to be fancy without being pretentious.  I always knew I wanted a lace wedding gown and a traditional wedding ceremony so I started with that.  I love all things vintage and gold so our venue, decor and wedding bands reflected that.  My mother gave me a set of vintage china that is gold and a light grayish blue color so that’s were I got the inspiration for the bridesmaid dresses and stationery colors.  I had several vendors ask what the theme was for my wedding, which I thought was totally silly, “the theme is wedding” I would always answer.  Themes are for office parties not weddings.

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

Aside from my handsome groom, my favorite things about our wedding were the things that made it uniquely ours.  My 86 year old Grandfather married us, I will treasure that forever.  I loved our custom designed invitations and stationery, and the fact that we used my parents cheesy plastic cake-topper that donned their wedding cake 40 years ago this fall. Our get away car was Frank’s dream car, a Land Rover Defender 90, not exactly a traditional choice but he was crazy about it.  I love that we incorporated traditions that were important to us, and left out the ones we didn’t care for. 

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

Don’t let anyone tell you what to do.  It’s your wedding, it should reflect your taste and make you happy.  Who cares if what you like isn’t trendy right now, its about you feeling amazing on your wedding day, not what Pinterest says you should do.  Also, just relax and enjoy.  Weddings are simple really, they are a time for you to make a life-long commitment to your beloved, try not to stray too much from that fact and you’ll be just fine.

Awesome, awesome advice, Linea! I think the detail I love most about Linea and Frank’s soiree is their heirloom cake topper. It belonged to her grandparents and I just love that it’s still in use, generations later. I used a vintage cake topper, so of course I think it’s an extra special touch.

How about you? Are you incorporating any heirloom pieces into your wedding?

Happy Planning!
Carlee

Vendors who made it all happen…