Pink & Purple Florida Destination Wedding

Oct 12th

by: Lauren

I just LOVE colorful weddings, in case you haven’t noticed by now… so of course I’m loving this pink and purple wedding from LanierStar Photography that I have for you all today! A gorgeous Florida location, a fabulous wedding dress, bright, bold colors- seriously awesome elements for a seriously awesome wedding! And this wedding was a destination wedding for the bride and groom, so the bride Melissa is sharing some excellent insight into having a destination wedding with us!

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

I loved planning my wedding and did most of the planning independently prior to hiring our wedding planner, Natalie from Destination Planning Corporations. What we sought most of all in hiring a planner was someone who could make suggestions to our vision and details we had already selected and someone who would do everything on the day of so that we could simply show up and have a good time. Natalie was fabulous. We were able to send her all of our small detail items in advance and she had everything set up for the day of. She met all of the vendors, coordinated all of the bridal party, and helped with the overall flow and timing of the day of. Also she made the recommendations for the table linens, provided the guitar player for the welcome dinner, and created the favor cards. Thanks to Natalie, our vision came together smoothly, beautiful, and with no stress on the day of.

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

Not able to fly down to Florida every weekend, we had to trust the recommendations and feedback of other bridal couples in the area when selecting our vendors. We did all of our vendor selections through an online resource and we didn’t pick anyone who did not have the best recommendations. While this might have cost us a little more money, our vendors were above and beyond professional and truly made our day spectacular.

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

We have two favorite memories from the wedding weekend. The first was that we got to the resort on Thursday and just chilled out at the beach. It was such a treat. We pampered ourselves with breakfast in bed and got to spend time with our immediate family right before all of the guests arrived for the welcome dinner.

Our second favorite memory was the stolen moment we had alone right after the ceremony. We just hugged and hugged and hugged and reveled in our newly married status, clear from the eyes of everyone.

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

Our best advice to future brides and grooms of destination weddings is get the information out to your guests early so they can plan this trip, book hotels, flights, and car rentals as soon as possible. We sent out a “brochure” style save the date in August before our wedding with all of the airports nearby, the information for booking the hotel, and all of the fun resort details to get people excited. Then we sent out our invitations 4 months in advance. Again this was to help our guests book while they could still get airline deals. And, be organized! Just embrace the excel spreadsheet. The more organized you are before getting on the plane, the less you will have to do once you land at your destination.

Destination weddings are definitely a unique thing when planning a wedding! It always helps to have a wedding planner- that’s my advice! :) A big thank you to LanierStar Photography for sharing this colorful wedding with us! What do you all think? Do you like the bright, bold colors as much as I do? :)

Vendors who made it all happen…

Photographer: LanierStar Photography / Venue: Ginn Hammock Beach Resort / Floral Design: Rachael Kasie Designs / Cake: The Pastry Studio / DJ: Weddings Only DJ Entertainment / Planning: Destination Weddings by DPC

Western Couture Wedding Inspiration

Category: INSPIRATION 7 Comments

Oct 11th

by: Lauren

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I just love an inspiration shoot that combines two unexpected wedding styles to create something fabulous, and this “Western Couture” shoot from Lydia Photography definitely does that! Here’s a little glimpse before we get into the details…

Lydia provided us with an awesome little story and description of this “Western Couture” shoot…

“Imagine the only daughter of a rancher getting married to the man of her dreams. She loves elegance but also the rustic authenticity that she grew up with. So lace, twine, burlap, and wood were the main textures, and I tried to create and reuse things rather than buy new. The napkins were vintage handkerchiefs, the table was an old wood door lined with a cut up burlap feed sack, and the food platters and cake plate were made from a cedar tree that came down from a snowstorm. Even the cake stand was special as it was an old wooden box that my grandpa used to hold dynamite when he worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. Mismatched chairs paired with a borrowed chandelier complete the tablescape. The wedding dress was a fabulous find at a thrift store that I combined with a cute Anthropologie cardigan and jewelry created from an old vintage pearl choker. Hello Western Couture!”

Gorgeous, right? What do you all think of combining western with couture? I. Am. Loving it! Especially the way they accessorized the bride- the cardigan, the necklaces… love love love! And of course it helps that the photography is beautiful! A big thank you to Lydia Photography for sharing this amazing shoot with us!

Vendors who made it all happen…

Photographer: Lydia Photography / Floral Design: Art In Bloom Flowers / Invitations: Designs on Paper by Phyllis / Jewelry: Cole Designs / Hair: Ashley Bryditzki / Makeup: Jessica Palmer, Makeup Artist

A Fun County Fair Engagement Session

Category: 10 Comments

Oct 10th

by: Lauren

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Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had an amazing weekend! I’m working away today, getting ready for what’s going to be a fabulous photo shoot FULL of inspiration for you all, but I of course won’t keep the posts from coming! This fun engagement session from Indigo Photography took place at a North Carolina county fair, and well, I’ve always wanted to have my own photos taken at a carnival/fair but haven’t been able to yet, so I figured this would have to suffice for the time being! Plus, the fair is super fun with all of the bright colors, yummy food and fun rides, and I LOVE e-sessions like this where the couple is having fun and being themselves!

So CUTE! I love their outfits too- it definitely makes them stand out among the crowd! A huge thank you to Indigo Photography for sharing this fun county fair engagement session with us!

If you haven’t already had your e-session, what are you planning? Or if you already had yours, what did you do? Anything fun and special?!

Around The Blogs…

Category: 0 Comments

Oct 9th

by: Lauren

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I hope you all have had a brighter, less rainy weekend than I have! The rain has hardly even stopped here in Florida! But good, super fun news… I’m at the beach with Megan of Glamour and Grace prepping for our photo shoot tomorrow! :) In the meantime though, let’s take a look at what’s been around the blogs this past week…

Want your guests to have fun at your wedding reception? The couple from this orchard wedding here on Every Last Detail sure did… they had hayrides, corn hole, and even beer pong for their guests!

Thanks, Kate Middleton, for making wedding boleros cool — just in time for winter weddings. BRIDEfinds has five cozy, chic styles to shop now.

Too many gorgeous wedding dress choices from Nicole Miller’s 2012 Spring bridal collectionto choose from. Try to pick your favorite at OK, Now What Bride.

You simply must see this heart-pounding love story and romantic vintage UP inspired wedding on Heart Love Weddings! There’s a happy-tear inducing wedding video to boot!

Do you have what it takes to tackle a serious DIY project (or several) for your wedding? Or should you hand it over to a pro? Need help deciding? Check out this guest post from Sugarflower Design over on The Broke-Ass Bride!

And that’s all I’ve got for you tonight! Check out all of the posts and I’ll “see” you back here tomorrow! :)