Wedding Planning Advice: Educate Yourself!

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May 2nd

by: Lauren

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“Educate yourself! When Brian and I first started shooting weddings, we had no idea what an immense and diverse industry the wedding world encompassed. Its often the same with brides and grooms- you have no idea what is out there, and what you want and why you want it. It can be very overwhelming when there are hundreds and thousands of choices for everything you need for your wedding. So our advice to brides is get online, and educate yourself. Go research each aspect of the wedding, and use the wedding blogs to help guide you. The more you know, the more confident you will be when you go to meet with vendors.”

– Briana of Divine Light Photography

Divine Light Photography

email: info@dlweddings.com | phone: 917.338.6801

website: http://www.dlweddings.com

twitter: Follow @Brian_WithAnEye | facebook: “Like” Divine Light Photography!

location: Florida, New York | type: Photographer | style: Classic, Eclectic, Modern, Vintage| price: $$$, $$

Pink and Navy Southern Vintage Wedding

Category: REAL WEDDINGS 8 Comments

May 1st

by: Lauren

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One of my favorite wedding style combinations is the southern vintage wedding. It’s classic, but still has plenty of opportunity for unique details- like in today’s pink and navy wedding from Courtney Dox Photography. The colors are gorgeous, and a hint of eclectic, vintage style combined with some sweet Southern charm makes for an absolutely amazing wedding. I can’t wait for you all to see it!

From the bride, Meredith:

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

My wedding planner was the most helpful person for sure! Jill Areheart was absolutely amazing through the entire process! She helped me stay organized and put my visions into reality!

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

The most important thing to me was making sure that the people I was working with fit me, my personality and understood the vision I want for my big day! If you don’t have that with your vendors things are bound to go wrong. It is your day and everything should be perfect! So spending the extra time to find the perfect vendors to work with is very important!

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

My inspiration for my wedding was my love for the South and incorporating soft vintage touches though out the decor!

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

My favorite thing about my wedding was how smooth it went! I owe that to my wonderful wedding planner and her team! I think back on my day and I have absolutely no regrets! The day was exactly how I wanted it and I was 100 percent stress free!

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

The best advice I could give to a bride is to invest in getting a full wedding planner! I know it is a lot of money but every penny of that cost will be worth it! Also do not forget about the details! You may not notice it but your guests surely will and they do appreciate it! Put time and a little extra into the details and it will definitely be appreciated!

Also I would like to add if I could give brides 4 or 5 things I couldn’t have lived without for my wedding it would be. #1–FULL wedding planner. (Not just a wedding coordinator there is a HUGE difference) #2–Videographer–I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching our wedding video! It never gets old! #3 comfortable dress! you have to be able to dance and feel good about yourself! #4–Photographer–these you will treasure forever! Get a pro! #5–Florist–your guests will notice if your flowers are less than desirable.

Oh my goodness, y’all- you MUST take a look at all of Meredith’s advice! Everything that she mentions is SO important!

So brides, tell me- are any of you planning a southern, vintage style wedding? I’d love to hear about it in the comments! :)

Vendors who made it all happen…

Photographer: Courtney Dox Photography / Wedding Planner/Coordinator: By Invitation Only Event Planning & Design / Reception Venue: 701 Whaley / Catering: Southern Way Catering / Flowers & Decor: American Floral / Cake Baker: Parkland Cakes / Bridal Salon: Bella Vista Bridal & Wedding Boutique / Cinematography: Cinema Couture

Romantic Peach and Ivory Wedding Inspiration {Everything But The Bride}

Category: INSPIRATION 2 Comments

Apr 30th

by: Lauren

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I’m so excited to share something a little *different* with you all today! This peach and ivory wedding inspiration shoot isn’t like the usual photo shoots you see. Yes, it’s still gorgeous and full of fabulous inspiration, but this shoot is about everything but the bride. Alexis June Weddings and Cyrience Photography are the brains behind this special inspiration series, so I’ll let them explain a little bit more:

The ‘Everything but the Bride’ series was created as a collaborative effort by Alexis June Weddings + Cyrience Photography as a way to showcase everything from the bridal party to a new spin on florals and favors. This romantic styled shoot combines peach, ivory and emerald details with a touch of gold in the first of six series featuring ‘Everything but the Bride’.

We wanted to show brides the other part of the wedding that isn’t always covered. Weddings are a family affair and including younger or junior bridesmaids is more common than it used to be. We also wanted to include flowers four ways – two different bouquets, as a headpiece and as jewelry. There are so many possibilities and you don’t always have to stick with what has always been done. In addition, including a personal favor like handmade soap adds to the custom feel of the wedding.

We’re are so excited to share this series with Every Last Detail readers and can’t wait to show you what we are working on next!

I just love the colors, the flowers, and of course, the details! And what a great idea- to provide inspiration for not only a bridal party, but junior bridesmaids too! It’s something that we don’t see in inspiration shoots very often, but I’m sure someone is bound to want inspiration for it, so why not provide it!

What do you all think of this “Everything But The Bride” inspiration series? Will any of you be incorporating anything you see here? Junior bridesmaids, floral headpieces or wristlets, or maybe even handmade soap favors?

And don’t forget- this is a series, so there will be more of these shoots featuring inspiration for everything but the bride coming soon!

Vendors who made it all happen…

Photographer: Alexis June Weddings / Photographer: Cyrience Photography / Invitations & Stationery: Jessica Bishop Paperie / Flowers & Decor: Karma Flowers / Rentals: Trunk Vintage Rentals / Hand-crafted headpieces and belt: Hushed Commotion / Fashion: Stephanie Groves / Makeup Artist: Shavon Calderon / Hairstylist: Krystle Rodriguez / Soaps: Madison Avenue Soaps / Cake Pops: One Sweet Slice

Black and White Classic North Carolina Wedding

Category: REAL WEDDINGS 4 Comments

Apr 29th

by: Joelle

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For those of you who love the details, I have something pretty for you today! There’s just something so elegant and classic about black and white, don’t you think? This bride and groom were spot on with their decision to use black and white, and it resulted in an absolutely beautiful wedding captured by Meet The Burks!

From the bride…

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

The most helpful people in planning the wedding (before and even on the day of our wedding) was actually our wedding venue, Saratoga Springs! This venue is located in Mount Pleasant, NC (near Concord) and the price we paid for the venue included a wedding planner (which we had 2 meetings with to plan and organize everything) and wedding director for the day of the wedding! Even the decorations, linens for the reception tables, and all of the beautiful centerpieces were provided by the venue! Because we chose this venue which provided almost everything for us, it left us stress free (literally)!

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

The most important thing to us when we were deciding who to work with for our wedding (this includes photographers, minister, venue, DJ, planners, etc.) was how comfortable we felt around them. We wanted them to celebrate with us in our marriage ceremony as we proclaimed the love of Jesus Christ and celebrated the union of me and Zack. We also looked for organization (I was a very organized bride) and passion for what they were doing.

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

We did not have a “theme” for our wedding (as most people do) but we wanted our colors to really stand out. Ever since I was a little girl, I had always wanted a black and white wedding with pearls as the accent decoration. So, my dress was white and I wore a strand of pearls my husband had bought me from China, the bridesmaids wore black. My husband wore a black tuxedo with a white vest with a faint floral design (which matched the floral design in the lace on my dress) and the groomsmen wore black. The tables for the reception were black, the next one was white, the next black, and so on. The centerpieces were different for each table, but for the most part, there were white flowers with tall, floating candles with pearls all throughout the candle-holder.

These colors might sound a little bland, but we chose very colorful flowers that brightened everything up. The bouquets were light yellow, coral, red, and white. My bouquet was the same colors, except a little more white. To add color to the reception, we had a turquoise uplighting that surrounded the tent, which made it absolutely beautiful! I was so pleased with how everything turned out!!!

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

My favorite thing about the wedding, besides going and picking out all of our decorations the wedding venue provided, was seeing my husbands face right when he saw me at the end of the aisle. Heather and Walter Burks (our photographers) captured this perfectly! All the planning and organizing was left behind and I just felt this freedom and joy walking (actually I kinda ran) towards my husband. Our happiness was complete when we finally said “I do.” And it brings tears to my eyes even while I am writing this, because I know this is a picture of what it is going to be like when we see Jesus face to face. Jesus (our groom) is waiting patiently for us (his bride) to be united with Him one day (either through our departure here on earth by death or by His return!) That is why our wedding is so joyful to my husband and I, because we know that our marriage is not the purpose of our life, it is to glorify our Lord and Savior of our lives!

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

My advice I would give to future brides: Don’t let the stress of planning take away the joy of getting married. Let the planning be fun! Allow yourself some time to sit back and relax. AND, don’t spend all your money on flowers!!! Those are only used for 20 minutes. Whatever budget you have, take a good portion and put it towards a reliable and organized wedding planner and a helpful venue! If we had not done this, the stress would have been too great for me to actually enjoy the wedding.

Oh, and one last thing… don’t forget this is your husbands wedding too! He has been waiting for this day just like you. So take the time and ask his opinions and take him with you on your “pick out” days. If you are going to be a “team” after you get married, you need to be a “team” before you get married also.