Getting Ready

I will begin by saying, no wedding morning is complete without mimosas. Besides an agave margarita prepared by the husband, mimosas are my favorite cocktail and the perfect way to calm wedding nerves. 

We had a Noon wedding which means everyone had to be up and at it by 7am. Makeup and hair arrived at 8am as did my sister who came prepared with multiple snack options. Mimosas with chips and hummus are the ideal wedding breakfast, right? 

I absolutely adored my makeup artist Wendy. She is the lead makeup artist for Blush by Wendy Ballance which is part of Studio Wed. Studio Wed is a complimentary wedding planning studio that is comprised of multiple wedding vendors. Food, makeup and photography among others. It is a great concept that I wish I would have discovered earlier on. 

At this point, Wendy had done my make up three times and I 100% trusted her and her talents. She even helped with a "how on earth did makeup get on my dress" and "my hair is pretty but I don't like it" disaster. 

I don't know what I would have done without her. I have seen many brides do their own make up or have a friend do it and all of that pressure would break me. The stress of having it look great, adjusted to take beautiful pictures all day, and having enough time was worth whatever her fee was. Thanks Dad :)  

My mom and sister had their makeup done as well. It was there big day as well... 

I still wasn't happy with my hair because it wasn't what we had practiced. Everyone tells you to do a trial run and I did. I even went the day before for a second trial/needed to look good all day practice run. The bathrooms were not large enough for the style team and all of my bridesmaids to get ready so we set up shop in the kitchen. The kitchen without mirrors. It felt like she was doing the same thing but when I finally looked in the mirror it wasn't. I was devastated but there wasn't enough time to start 100% all over. Lessons learned. 

For my bridesmaids gifts, I gave the ladies these matching robes by Plum Pretty Sugar. When I found them online I knew I had to order them. They are made to order and you provide your wedding date to ensure on time delivery. 

I ordered myself one in white. They are made of cotton and super comfortable. 

I just love how the group pictures turned out with the robes. 

I wish we would have had more time to take additional pictures but the boys were on lock down in their cabin until we went inside. 

One of my favorite parts of the morning was reading the letter Geoff wrote me. It was simple, sweet and nearly made me cry. It was perfect. 

For any future groom, I highly recommend writing your bride a letter. Its an inexpensive touch that will make all of her bridesmaids jealous. 

Growing up I was never a fan of dresses but then I moved to the South. I still recall my first few weeks of college and all of the panic shopping trips for dresses for events. A dress for a football game? Yes. That being said, I now love dresses but I knew I wanted my wedding dress to be simple. Horrible flashbacks to shopping for prom dresses made me realize that I wasn't thrilled with the idea of going to a bridal shop, trying on multiple over priced dresses while being critiqued. So I went online. 

Anyone close to me knows that I have a mild obsession with Jcrew. The clothes fit me well and they have amazing sales. $110 pencil skirt on sale for $30? Yes please. When I found out Jcrew had wedding dresses I knew I had to scope it out. I found one and fell in love with the "picture". It was even below what I had budgeted. DONE. I then remembered that their is a Jcrew distribution warehouse outside Asheville. One quick phone call by my mother later, they were holding the dress for her to pick up. The only negative was that it was about 2 sizes larger than I typically wear BUT it was about 75% off. Now we are below the number my father budgeted. 

Being 5'3", I knew whatever dress I purchased was going to have to be altered. Geoff's mother is amazing with a sewing machine and had a few wedding dress alterations under her belt already and kindly offered. She did an amazing job. It fit perfectly. 

My only complaint was the number of buttons. At one point I asked the photographer to stop taking pictures until they were done. It took forever but they were a pretty detail. 

Shortly after the high of getting ready was over, the nerves set in. 

Today was the day I had dreamed of for my whole life. 

Blueberries.

Stepping away from wedding posts for a moment, I wanted to share a little bit about Geoff's family. I have mentioned before that they are in agriculture primarily citrus but throughout the years they have broadened their scope. They have a juice line called Noble that specializes in tangerine juice but has a lemonade that is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. They also repack a variety of fruits and vegetables that may have gotten turned down by the grocery store for being to heavy, light, or over ripe as well as resize the packages. There most recent venture is blueberries. 

Pre-Geoff, I was not a blueberry fan. I had tried them fresh a few times as a kid and always remembered them being mushy and of course tried them in super processed blueberry muffins and them tasting fake. Which they apparently were but that is beyond the point. I am now a huge fan and can't get enough. Nothing beats a perfectly ripe, perfectly sweet blueberry. Not even chocolate. 

The reason for me sharing this is that earlier this year America's Heartland to our town and filmed an episode on Geoff's family and their involvement in the blueberry industry. It's only a few minutes long but worth viewing. I am so proud of them for everything they have accomplished. 

Enjoy. 

America's Hearthland- Florida Blueberries

Save the Dates

Once we had picked out our venue and set a date it was time to begin working on our save the dates. Some people will argue this but I find invitations (& save the dates) to be a key ingredient to a successful event. They set the stage. The help foreshadow the caliber of the event. They help your guest get excited. If you are lucky it will even wind up on their refrigerator. 

I knew we wanted to do something unique and unlike any save the date we have ever received. I ever so carefully asked Geoff for his opinion and he stated that he wanted to mail out chunks of 2x4. A block of wood. Printed on the wood. Sent in the mail. Unique... yes. Practical... not quite. Cheap to mail... not quite. 

I really did appreciate the  thought. We were both building construction majors and we have been dealing with our share of 2x4's. I liked the idea and decided a google search was in order. 

I found Night Owl Paper Goods. Super cute designs but nothing that I fell in love with until I stumbled upon their Print Your Design On Wood link. Deal. 

Now I needed a design. At this point Geoff and I already knew we didn't want "wedding colors". The thought of having a two or even three color scheme was just a little to matchy to be us. Weddings must contain colors so the solution was to find fabric. A half day trip with his mom to a few fabric stores later we had about a dozen fabrics that were to become our color scheme. I will get more into that later but that is where it was decided that muted colors would be the save the date tones. Specifically a gray and pink. 

I have been experimenting with Photoshop and Indesign since college but I will admit to not being the most creative individual so I found help. My very creative blogger and shop owner friend C over at 6petals volunteered her services. Be sure to check out the 6petals blog. 

I knew one on my plans for the fabric was to make bunting. Similar to Martha Stewart streamers. 

This is what we came up with:

I came up with the phrase because we both felt our multi state story was valuable and the heart with our initials was used multiple times throughout the wedding materials. 

We were able to mail these postcards with traditional post card stamps. The USPS happened to have the most perfect herb stamps that we used. 

We were both so thrilled with how they turned out and we loved all of the positive reactions from our guests. I plan on framing one soon. 

Geoff still thinks we should have gone with a 2x4... maybe for Christmas cards :) 

The Farm, a gathering place...

With Tropical Storm Isaac upon us, I thought it would be the perfect time to begin the wedding posts. 

Geoff and I were engaged for about 15 months but like many brides to be, the planning and Pinterest pinning began months before. 

We have both attended many beautiful weddings. Some in churches, some in banquet halls, and some in lavish hotels. We knew that nothing we had attended so far was right for us. 

We are simple people that like to have a good time. We are not stuffy but we can appreciate the finer things in life. We are not night people but don't like being rushed. We refused to get married in the fall (football & citrus) but also refused to get married in the summer in Florida. 

Important items that were quickly agreed to:

• A June 9th wedding. 6-9-12 anniversary. He WILL BETTER remember this. 
• The wedding will be in Asheville because my parents live there.
• The ceremony and reception will be at the same venue. Lodging if possible. 
• It will be a lunch reception.
• We were not going to have wedding colors.
• The venue will allow us to provide our own food, drinks, cake, flowers, ect.
• The men will be wearing boy ties :) 

The venue search began about a month after the "official" engagement and after hours of online research. Through research we easily found about 15 venues that met some or all of the requirements. At this point budget was not establish. After we had the 15 we researched more into the cost and quickly eliminated a handful. Good bye the Biltmore, Crest and Grand Bohemian. All beautiful, expensive, must use our own vendor venues. There were also a few that were cut off the list for being on the other side of the spectrum. 

We ended up visiting about 5 or 6 venues in total but fell in love with the first one. I recall saying how excited I was to visit all the venues after our first stop assuming that they were going to be as great. They weren't. Each place we did visit had some perks but over all they just weren't what we had envisioned. Picture swan boats, geese, tepees and porta potties. Perfect for some I am sure but not for us.

One thing we emphasized throughout the project that the only people that this was not a destination wedding for was my parents and my sister. Everyone else was traveling there and this may be their first and only trip to Asheville. 

Our final choice and first stop was The Farm. Their tagline: a gathering place. 

The picture is from our first visit to the venue. 

The Farm was able to meet all of our requirements. They had the date available, we could hold the ceremony outside and the reception inside, the had cabins on the property for the bridal party, we could bring in our own caterer, bar tenders, florists, rentals, music, ect as well as utilize the rentals they had on the property. 

The space was the perfect size and provided the perfect backdrop for our big day. We were in love AND luckily it was within budget. 

The real planning began after we my parents signed on the dotted line. 

Up next: our save the dates... 

Love Shoot

The night of our  rehearsal dinner was the first working with our photographer Kirsten of Spotted Dog Photography (besides at the rehearsal and over the phone), so we wanted to take the opportunity to "practice" taking more pictures. Not that we didn't get enough practice with our engagement sessions 1 & 2. 

A few of our favorites: 

That View. Rehearsal Dinner.

I know that traditionally the bride is hands off when it comes to planning the rehearsal dinner but I just had to voice my input of where it was to be help: The Country Club of Asheville.

We chose this venue 90% for the view & 10% for the food. The food is always great BUT the view is an ideal Asheville view. 

As you will see if other posts, we included multiple wedding festivities that all of our guests were invited to but we felt it was important to keep the rehearsal dinner intimate. The guest list included our parents, siblings, officiant, bridal party, and dates. As well as one additional friend that we referred to as "the alternate".   Our photographer, Kirsten from Spotted Dog Photography joined us and captured the evening. 

With such a great back drop we were able to capture some fun group pictures. 

Sorority Sister Bridesmaids

Childhood BFF from CA Jen

Sorority Sister & Building Construction Major, Emily

Sorority Sister & Always Fabulous Hannah

Sorority Sister, 1st Week of College BFF Lindsay

The Wonderful In-laws 

Geoff's Childhood Friend Kyle 

Kyle & Geoff

A Few Bridesmaids & Groomsmen

Jen & Lindsay

My Sister & Mom

Sorority Big & Little

Our Officiant Wendy Who is My SIL's SIL 

My Mother and I Both Rock'n the Metallic 

My Lovely Family

The Girls

My Men

I will share additional pictures from the night soon. 

PS. My dress is Lilly Pulitzer if you were wondering.