ClarksvilleBrides

Alicia B. - Wedding Party & Venue

2011-04-10T14:55:00.014-05:00

Hey there fellow bride-to-be’s! It has been awhile and for that I apologize. But it has no doubt been a VERY busy month. I had written a blog and had it waiting to send when some major changes happened in our wedding plans. Mike and I have agreed to have three family and friends stand up with us. For me, my Aunt Cory is going to be my matron of honor, my future sister-in-law Penny and one of my very good friends Kassi is going to be my bridesmaids. Mike has asked his brother Scott to be his best man, his other brother Joe and his best friend James to be his groomsmen. Needless to say it has been very busy out here, calling and making lunch/dinner plans to make sure we ask the right way :) Luckily for Mike all his guys live here! My Aunt Cory lives in Chicago and Penny lives in New York! Luckily I have someone here, who can keep me sane other than my Mom and Mike. Haha
So – we scheduled some appointments with some reception sites and we have decided on a site. We looked at the Kiwanis Lodge – coming up to the Lodge is VERY cute!!! It is off the road and lots of greenery before you get to the front of the lodge. When you walk in you walk into the bar area and the seating area. The dance floor is built into the floor which is nice. It is VERY country though which was one downfall of the space. Our wedding is bright colors, turquoise, black and white. Also some of our guests would have to sit outside while others were inside, I was not too happy with that because I did not want anyone to feel separated from the party. I wanted everyone together … especially with most of our guests being out of town guests. It is very cute and quaint and the Kiwanis member was very nice and informative.
A week later we went and looked at the Hilton Garden Inn – we met with Tara Craig. She was super nice. She showed us their HUGE Garden Room, which can be divided into three different spaces. It was beautiful. She mapped out where the tables would be, where the cake would be located, where the photo booth would go. She told us how the lights would be, where the DJ could go, how the sweetheart of bridal party tables could be set up. She had a folder with all the pricing and catering information for us to look at. Mike, my Mom, and I went and we were all thoroughly impressed. And the price difference between the Kiwanis Lodge and the Hilton was very similar. And the fact that our guests could just have to possibly go on an elevator ride to their rooms afterward really eased my mind about having an open bar or bar period at our wedding! :) So the Hilton Garden Inn it is!! YAY! Things are coming right along I tell ya!
There have been a few bumps in the road, but for the most part this has been the best experience ever! My Mom and I have agreed on everything almost to a tee so far – and Mike has been amazingly supportive and offered his opinion when he had one! It has been awesome!
Til next time,
Alicia

Alicia B. - Where to Begin?!

2011-03-14T11:28:00.025-05:00

So the engagement has happened, that's the first step of planning a wedding right?! LOL The next day when I woke so many questions were running through my mind. Who was going to stand up with us? Where were we going to get married? Indoor or outdoor wedding? What colors do we want? Real or fake flowers? Open bar during the reception? Who will be our photographer? How are we going to pay for this? And sooooo many more; I could literally go on and on. I felt very overwhelmed. Lucky for me it was Saturday and we had plans to see Mike's family for New Years lunch and then my parents as well so they could see the ring. All our family was ooo'ing and ahhh'ing over my ring, I already felt like the bride to be!! The first week of being engaged, I don't think I got too much done at work, to be honest. My Mom and I were constantly looking at ideas for the wedding and different venues for the ceremony and reception. We were looking at outdoor venues in Kentucky, near Land Between The Lakes, and all the way to Franklin, TN. But the closer we got to Nashville, the higher the prices were, which was not a good thing, but it was still fun looking at them anyway!

We decided we were going to go to the Clarksville Brides Wedding & Event Showcase on January 9, 2011. We didn't want to be late and miss anything so my Mom and I got there about 20 minutes before the event started and we were the FIRST ones there! LOL I got my first "The Bride" pin that I wore so proudly throughout the whole event. My Mom and I got to taste yummy cakes by Ya Ya's Cake Shoppe and Covered with Icing (just to name a couple). We saw gowns from Something Blue and Brides Boutique. We met photographers Bethany Ann Photography, Laura Kay and my Mom got to meet Joannie of Joan of Art Photography (I had known Joannie from work), and look at their portfolios and see their work. We also met Karey Daughtery with Party Station Rentals, my Mom actually knew Karey because she decorates and sets up all the Gateway Hospital staff parties and my Mom spoke very highly of her. We were able to look at different caterers, linens, invitations, jewelers. Taste testing everything was the BEST part by far! To make this part short, it most definitely got the juices flowing. I left the Bridal Show with my colors being turquoise, champagne, and brown as an accent color. I also left there with many vendors running through my head. I literally got home and dumped out a huge bag full on our kitchen table, and Mike just walked away. LOL I sorted them in piles to make it easier to find different vendors, otherwise it was completely overwhelming for me. I did email Jen from You're Invited Invitations about a quote for some Save the Dates, she responded very quickly, and with an amazing quote! We don't have our engagement pictures just yet so we have not picked out anything for sure. The next weekend, we went to the Bridal Expo in Nashville, TN. This was VERY fun as my Mom and I got many more ideas; and taste tested more cakes!!! When we left Nashville, our colors were for sure turquoise, black and white!!! Within the next couple of weeks Mike and I decided with the help of my parents, that it would be best for us to have a wedding IN Clarksville. Most of my family is coming from out of town, as close as Southern Illinois, and as far away as Chicago and Las Vegas.

Within the same time frame, I received an email from Bethany Ann Photography about a promotion she was running through the beginning of February for those who attended the Clarksville Bridal Expo at APSU. Mike and I had talked to several different photographers and when looking at her prices we were amazed at what we could get compared to other local photographers! So I emailed Bethany back and immediately set up a meeting. Mike and I met with her at Lasaters, she was on time, professional but laid back, and had plenty of her work to show us so we could get a good idea of her work. Even though I had already found her on Facebook and looked at most of her work. When we got to talking it was like we had been friends forever! Our personalities just clicked, and she was the one! Mike and I left with a copy of her contract to look it over and with the exact price of what we would pay and exactly what we would get...that same night we went home and talked about it some more. And we hired her! :D She has been amazing. She is doing our engagement pictures May 7! And we are thrilled!!! So to date, we have our colors: turquoise, black, and white, "themes": damask and "bling"(crystals), and our photographer: Bethany Ann Photography. And it's been less than a month of being engaged! YAY! I can just feel the progress and am very happy with myself!

Before the Bridal Shows, and talking with my Mom, our wedding was just a huge expense. After meeting with vendors and seeing what all there is out there and comparing prices, I now know that our wedding is going to be a dream come true! :) My parents and Mike's parents have both agreed to help with some of the wedding expenses and for that we are so very thankful!!!! Mike and I are paying for the majority of the reception - and we are doing our part in saving and it is so worth it!

Alicia B

WELCOME Alicia B. & Mike

2011-03-05T11:09:00.018-06:00

Hey there Bride-To-Be and Families of the Bride and Groom! My name is Alicia, and I was asked if I would be willing to blog about my upcoming wedding. All the planning, and giving advice as I work through all the good and bad of the wedding planning experience (hopefully there is more good than bad LOL). First I guess I should introduce myself and my fiance! My name is Alicia, I am 22 years old and work as a Customer Accounting Clerk at CDE. My fiance, Mike is 30 and works as a Network Technical Supervisor at CDE as well. It's pretty obvious where we met right?! In case it is not, we met at CDE! We started working together in August of 2008, and started casually dating in December of 2008. It has been such a love story ever since! We talked about marriage often, since around the summer of 2010 but our house flooded in the May 2010 floods - so we were busy rebuilding our home to try and sell it and most of our savings went into fixing the house. We were able to sell our house and bought our first house together in October 2010!! We decided to throw a New Years Eve party since Mike's sister, brother in law, and niece were in town from New York! Everyone gathered around the TV about 5 minutes til midnight to watch the ball drop and kiss their significant others. Once that was over and done with I went to go with Penny (Mike's sister) to get some champagne and glasses for everyone when she decided that she was going to check on Callie (niece) and Mike went upstairs to tell his son, Zac, Happy New Year... thought NOTHING of it! Well I got sidetracked and was talking to one of our guests when Mike came back downstairs and he was holding a dozen red roses .... I looked at him and had this look of "what the heck are you doing?!" and he was just smiling at me from ear to ear! I was standing in the living room when he got down on one knee. Immediately I saw the ring sticking up from the roses and started crying!!! He 'popped' the question and of course I said yes amidst tears and everyone snapping pictures!!! I was shaking as he put the ring on my finger!
I am so thankful that we had friends and family there to take pictures, and our neighbors actually grabbed our camera and took pictures with it too! To this day, I am not sure how he pulled it off but he did and he did such a WONDERFUL job! None of our friends and family knew (except my parents of course) and his sister!!! Sneaky sneaky! It does not feel like its been two months but so far all planning has been amazing, my parents have been amazing and Mike has been a trooper listening to all the wedding talk LOL We have set our budget at $10,000 and we are going to have our ceremony and reception here in Clarksville. Our date is May 12, 2012. So we have a LONG way to go, and we are loving every minute of it!!!
I am so excited for this opportunity to blog with fellow Clarksville Brides! I know this website was recommended to me almost immediately when I got engaged and I look at it almost daily to see if new vendors are added and to follow along with other brides! :) My mom looks at it as well, so this is very exciting for me to have this opportunity to blog on here!
-Alicia B.

Alicia L. - DIY Centerpieces

2011-03-04T11:31:00.003-06:00

Nate and I have decided we are having cupcakes instead of wedding cake for our guests at the reception. Well one night, we were sitting at my mom’s house trying to think of ideas for inexpensive centerpieces for the reception and HE came up with the great idea of using our cupcakes for our centerpieces! I am so thankful for his brilliant ideas! So now came the difficult part...how are we going to make this happen?
So the online and hobby lobby search began. We looked everywhere for ideas and kept getting discouraged because everything we liked was way over our budget and everything we could afford just wasn’t going to work. We loved the look of cupcake stands but were completely unwilling to spend about $15 a stand for metal ones when we have no idea what we would do with all of them after the wedding. I have found DIY cardboard ones on www.save-on-crafts.com but they are all for a large number of cupcakes and since we want them on the tables we wanted them to hold 24 max. We have been feeling like our perfect centerpieces were just out of our reach...that is until my mom and I made the greatest discovery Saturday in Hobby Lobby! We found smaller 3-tier cardboard cupcake holders that are only $5.99 a piece! I can totally afford that. So I quickly went on an on-line search and found them on Wilton’s website. They are going to be perfect for the tables, hopefully. We plan to add some ribbon to them so they aren’t plain cardboard and possible some spray painting. Since our colors are purple and green we will be incorporating that in too with our cupcake liners from Etsy! So, problem solved!! We still have to order and decorate them but hopefully they will turn out exactly as I am envisioning, if not all is well, because our guests will still have some delicious cupcakes to devour! But presentation is important too, right? Even with delicious cupcakes. :)

Jac - Picking a Planner

2011-02-22T12:37:00.005-06:00

In my last blog I talked about my mini nervous breakdown which led me to the decision that we were going to have to hire a wedding planner. The first step for finding the perfect wedding planner was to just do an internet search and see if anything popped up. I stumbled upon Carly Rager Events and I was impressed. She had a website that I was able to look at and also a facebook page where I was able to look at pictures of her work. I immediately called her and set up a meeting. I knew that I needed to meet with more than one planner, but I was NOT having a lot of luck finding another wedding planner that I liked online. I decided to call a fellow bride-to-be and ask if she knew of a wedding planner in Clarksville. She had actually just hired someone to help her out with her wedding and gave me her planner’s number. Once I had two meetings scheduled it felt like I was making some progress with the wedding for once.

The first meeting we had was with Carly Rager Events. Houston and I were impressed and we really hit it off well. She was very organized and already had all of our previous e-mail conversations in a folder. During the meeting we talked about our budget, the “look” we wanted, flowers, food, etc. She had already started throwing out some great ideas that had just the “look” we were going for. It went really well and Houston wanted to hire her right away, but I knew that all the magazine articles I had read said to interview more than one person. The second meeting was only two days away so it was fine. Well...the second interview got pushed back a couple of days at the last minute. We weren’t happy but we understood that things come up. I let Carly know that it would be a few more days before we could let her know if she was hired or not. When the day finally arrived for the second meeting...the lady called 1 hour before the meeting was supposed to begin and canceled again! I just asked her if she could send me an e-mail of the ideas that she had for our wedding and her prices. I was not about to keep Carly waiting for another week so that this other woman could have her meeting.

Immediately after I read the e-mail from the other planner I called Mrs. Carly Rager and hired her. I was NOT impressed by the e-mail and it was just the last straw....I needed to get a move on the wedding planning and I had no patience for canceled meetings and a poorly put-together e-mail. It is always a good idea to look around and have options, and I am glad that I did....otherwise I wouldn’t know what a great STEAL Carly Rager is!!!! She’s been an angel sent from the wedding heavens and I highly recommend her....whether you need everything planned (like me), a “week-of” coordinator, or anything in-between. She has been absolutely amazing and knows EVERYTHING and all the right questions to ask. I am so happy we hired her! Like I said before, we would have eloped by this time if it hadn’t been for having her!

I guess next time I will talk about the dress shopping!!!!!! Until next time...

Carly Rager Event Design & Coordinating
Phone: 615-417-1283
Wesbite: carlyrager.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Carly-Rager-Event-Design-Coordinating/193932602598
Email: carlyrager@gmail.com

Welcome Alicia L. & Nathan!

2011-02-17T20:21:00.005-06:00

Hello Everyone! My name is Alicia Lee and my fiancé is Nathan Vanderford! We are getting married on July 16th 2011! It can’t come soon enough! We have officially been together since last March but began talking in January. We are in a long distance relationship as I am finishing my senior year at Austin Peay and student teaching right now and Nate is finishing his bachelor’s in Louisville, Kentucky. We met through mutual friends who insisted on getting us together because they just knew we would be perfect for each other. I guess they were right! Nate proposed New Years Eve right after the ball dropped. It was simply perfect, even down to the fact that I was in pink polka dotted pants because I was ready to go to sleep as soon as midnight hit and I got my kiss. Needless to say that didn’t happen!

We are getting married in Nashville at the church I attend, Hermitage Hills Baptist. Pretty much our entire wedding is DIY, even down to my veil. Our colors are purple and green but will hopefully not be too “Barney-like”. We are having an afternoon wedding and can’t wait to celebrate our marriage with family and friends! I have gotten a lot of planning done so far and have loved every minute of it. I am excited about sharing the details of our journey with you and I hope you enjoy!

Jac - Getting Started

2011-02-08T21:25:00.013-06:00

Jac & Houston - engaged to be married on March 12, 2011

Even though our wedding date is right around the corner, I just want to share with you the process that we have gone through to get us to this day. When Houston and I first became engaged, we very quickly determined the basic look/theme that we wanted our wedding to have. I have always loved the idea of a “Southern Chic” wedding and Houston seemed to like the idea, sooooooooooo we got started planning.

The very first step for us was to talk to my parents about what kind of budget we had to work with since they had told us they would like to pay for the wedding. The first big idea I had for the wedding was for us to find an old rustic barn to have the ceremony in. I had just fallen in love with a picture I had found on the internet. I wanted so badly to recreate it. Well we searched and searched, put the word out with friends, and tried all our resources to find our dream barn……but we didn’t. We found a barn with the rustic appeal that I was looking for, but it was wayyyyyy too small. I will admit that I was upset. I even tried to convince myself that we could somehow make it work, but deep down in my heart, I knew that we were not going to be able to make it work.

After our dream barn idea fizzled, it seemed like I was just stuck in a planning rut. With me not being a Clarksville native like Houston, I didn’t know what my options were or what businesses had great reputations versus the businesses that didn’t. I didn’t even have my mother here to help me. About a month had gone by and I was a nervous wreck. I had all these ideas in my head but no way to make them happen. At this time, Houston and I were taking a vacation with his parents. We were at the beach, which should have been a super relaxing week, but I ended up having a nervous breakdown. That week, while still at the beach, I called two different wedding planners in Clarksville and set up some meetings. I just knew in my heart that if it were left up to me to plan this wedding, a wedding might not have been happening. We probably would have ended up eloping because I just couldn’t deal with the stress.

Next blog I will tell you how we ended up choosing the PERFECT wedding planner. Until next time...

Photo credit: Modern Bride

Welcome Jac & Houston!

2011-02-02T22:27:00.012-06:00

Hey everybody! My name is Jacquelyn (Jac) Ladd and my fiancé's name is Houston Smith. To let you know a little bit about us, I am from a very, very small town in West Tennessee and Houston was born and raised in Clarksville. We met in college, but I wouldn't really say that is how we "got together".

See, Houston and I were not exactly friendly towards each other for the first few years we knew each other. During my Junior year, I took an internship at a company where he was already working. During this time, all the interns were living in apartments close by , and we would all hang out together. Before we knew it, we became friends and started dating shortly after.

Three years later we are engaged. Houston popped the question on July 1, 2010 and we will be married on March 12, 2011. Over the next few blogs, I plan on sharing details of our dream wedding and telling you about the people who have made it all possible. I hope that you will be able to get some ideas or helpful tips from our planning journey. Until next time....

WELCOME April & Jerimy

2010-10-12T09:52:00.004-05:00

Hello everyone! My name is April and I will be marrying Jerimy, my high school sweetheart, on May 28, 2011. We've been together for over five years, and were engaged in December 2009.
We've decided to have an outdoor, "backyard tent wedding" at Jerimy's parents' home. Our colors are yellow, charcoal grey, and white, with an accent of capri blue. We're planning on a partly DIY wedding. I plan on arranging my own flowers with some helpful friends and family. I'm also making our invitations. I've purchased most of the materials at Hobby Lobby. To me, doing it this way is more personal and unique, and it's definitely more cost-effective! Plus, I actually enjoy doing crafty projects. Jerimy has a few DIY projects up his sleeve as well. We're very excited about our upcoming wedding and I look forward to sharing more details soon!

Coming To Terms

2010-09-29T08:13:00.003-05:00

As a wedding photographer, it was really hard coming to terms that I couldn't be the bride and the photographer at my wedding. (I thought that's what tripods and self timers were for... no?) I received the question, "Who is going to be YOUR photographer?" even more than "When is your wedding?" And now I am ready to announce it. :) It took me a long time to figure out who I wanted, but now I'm so excited about my photographers and my videographer! I am going to have James Kirk Photography and Joan of Art Photography documenting my wedding day. In addition, I am having Turning Point Productions, an amazing local videography company. All three vendors bring a different, artistic vision to their craft and Rick and I are so fortunate to have them at our wedding.

The wedding preparation is finally all coming together and it's almost here! In 18 days I'll be a Mrs.! Here is a photograph of our engagement session with James Kirk Photography earlier in September. We had the session at the airport in Clarksville, to go with our "airplane" themed wedding. :)

Bethany - Flowers

2010-09-17T08:55:00.001-05:00

I have been back and forth trying to decide on real or fake flowers. I have seen both and I really liked the idea of being able to keep my bouquet after the wedding. The reason I was leaning toward using real flowers was because I really wanted Cattleya Orchids. My mom and I went to Sango Village Florist in search of this specific type of orchid. I liked it because it had a touch of yellow in the center. However, did you know that they are really, and I mean REALLY expensive? Well, I didn't and when I found out, I knew that I could do without those really expensive flowers. Then I was stuck with the task of falling in love with another type of flower. I have to admit this, I was being a bit of a bridezilla that day. I kept saying "no" to every flower the kind florist, Courtney, showed me in an album. Then I asked if I could see any live ones she had in the store.

That's when I spotted the hydrangeas. I didn't know I liked hydrangeas, or that they were even called hydrangeas, but I knew I wanted those when I saw them. I am using all white hydrangeas with white gerbera daisies and a few white spray roses mixed in. My matron of honor's bouquet is going to have white gerbera daisies with white waxflowers mixed in.

An all white flower arrangement will be made for the guestbook table, too.

Speaking of white, my color scheme is black and white. I wanted to have a simple, classic wedding, and I know that's what I will have with those two colors.

Also, I am going to have fake white flower petals glued onto an aisle runner, so I will not drag them walking down the aisle. The tables are going to have white table cloths with black table runners. On the black table runners, I'm going to scatter white flower petals and on the white table cloth, I'm going to scatter black flower petals. I am also going to have diamond crystals on the tables along with candle lights in cylinders. If I can find cylinders tall enough before the wedding, that is! :)

In my next post, I am going to reveal my photographers and videographer! :)

Kayla Wallace Gilbert - Best Wishes from The Brides Boutique

2010-09-15T08:37:00.004-05:00

When we got word that Kayla was engaged I think we were almost as excited as she was. Kayla has been a part of The Bride's Boutique family for years now and even though she know longer worked with us we knew we had to make sure she had the best for her big day. Kayla wanted to take her time in the dress shopping experience. She began by emailing pictures of dresses she thought she might like and made sure that we were on the look out with the new season of gowns coming in. We gave her a call the second we got this amazing Casablanca gown in and she quickly came with her mom and maid of honor Jessica. She liked it and thought it may be the one but we could tell that it was not "it". A few weeks went by and one Friday we opened a box from Maggie Sottero and instantly knew the dress in front of us was for Kayla. We sent her a text message telling her about this amazing dress and she said she would be in the next week. Upon her arrival we pulled the gown out for her and she fell in love on the spot. When she came out of the dressing room, in her gown, her mother was in awe. Standing in the mirror in the gown and veil Kayla said, "this is my dress". With that big decision made we soon moved on to finding the perfect color for bridesmaids and then a gown. Kayla was an easy bride to help. She knew what she did and did not like, but was also very adamant that her bridesmaids get together and all of them choose their dress. It was a fun and happy Saturday at The Bride's Boutique when the whole wedding party was here trying on easily 60 dresses. Once the choice was made for the bridesmaids and flower girls we moved on to finding Mrs. Renatta's amazing mothers dress and Kayla's stunning cake broaches and monogram. We still have mothers of the bride coming in and asking for the gown she wore, too bad it was one of a kind. Last but not least, Kayla and JB came in to find the tux combination that would finish off the look. Everyone involved with this wedding was so happy and glad to be a part of their big day. We were so thrilled to be so involved with the gowns, tuxedos and all the other little touches for such a beautiful couple.

Kayla & J.B - We wish you two many years of happiness and thank you for choosing us to help you with your day.
~Love~ The Ladies's at The Bride's Boutique

Hillary - Cake and Flowers

2010-09-13T08:04:00.004-05:00

There were two wedding vendors who I knew I just had to have the moment I got engaged for my Florist and cake Decorator. But first, let me preface this by saying that I come by my love of weddings honestly. My dad is a wedding photographer, my mom and aunt are florists, and my grandmother has been decorating wedding cakes for nearly 40 years! So like I said I knew from the moment we got engaged that my mom and grandmother would be heavily involved in the flowers and cake portion of my wedding.

My cake is going to be very similar to this cake. I was able to find broaches after Christmas and with access to wholesale cake ribbon, it is going to cost us next to nothing to make! We will have a variation of this cake with 5 layers. The flavors we choose are sour cream almond, chocolate, and strawberry and a buttercream icing.

My choice for flowers has been a difficult one to make. Growing up the child of a florist, I love every kind of flower imaginable, so narrowing down choices was a difficult one.

I definitely want florals that create an essence of romanticism and warmth, all while keeping with our “Southern Weddings” inspired wedding.

There are going to be flower everywhere you turn at our wedding, as well as some insane other décor items that I choose not to disclose! My mom and I have worked very hard on designing this wedding to be a true essence of James and I. I can’t wait for the next 33 days to pass so that we can see it all executed!

Kayla Wallace Gilbert - Wedding Films

2010-09-10T08:46:00.004-05:00

Danielle Lear of TurningPoint Productions was Kayla & JB's wedding videographer. Experience their wedding day in motion. WATCH HERE

Featured Bride - Kayla Gilbert

2010-09-09T08:42:00.003-05:00

Carly Rager of Carly Rager Design & Event Coordinating tells us about her work with Kayla Gilbert.

"I was honored when Kayla asked me to help her and her mother with the planning of her big day. See I have known Kayla for a few years now because she worked with me at The Bride's Boutique and after she left way made sure to stay in touch. They were a dream to work with. Kayla was the farthest thing from a bridezilla and her mother Renatta just wanted everything perfect for her daughter. From day one of Kayla's planning her only focus was to be J.B.'s wife. All the other details mattered but were never the focus. She wanted to take her time and plan the wedding they both envisioned. From meeting with the DJ to the cake tasting and bridal portraits we had fun in every meeting we had. In most every wedding process there are kinks that come up along the way. Kayla was thrown a big kink when the May floods happened. I will never forget the tearful conversation with Kayla when she got word that Waterstreet Events Center was under water and soon the message that it was not going to be available for her day. This was a new one for me. We talked it out and by the end of the conversation Kayla was calm and just ready to have another option for the celebration of her and her future husband. Every moment I worked wtih this wonderful family I was more and more exited for them June 5th was a beautiful day for a beautiful couple and I was so glad to be a part of Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Gilbert's big day. Congratulations and Lots of Love, Carly Rager"

Bethany - A Southern Wedding

2010-09-08T08:52:00.002-05:00

At first, Rick & I were just going to have finger foods at the wedding. After searching different vendors pricing information, we discovered that it is actually cheaper to have a full meal. Well, a southern meal that is! We are going to have Whitt's BBQ at the wedding! Rick has been telling me for years to try Whitt's BBQ, and I was never able to. However, when he suggested using them for the wedding, I finally tried some. Let me tell you, it is some of the best BBQ I have ever had! I said yes to the BBQ even before my second bite. :) We are also going to have potato salad, baked beans, rolls and sweet tea. They also have amazing sweet tea. You have to have sweet tea in a southern wedding! :) Thank goodness for BBQ & sweet tea!

Introducing Samantha & Spencer

2010-09-07T08:05:00.001-05:00

Hello to all! I am a new blogging bride! My name is Samantha White and I am from Hopkinsville, KY. I am going to marry Spencer Noel. My wedding date is July 2, 2011. I have done a lot so far and it is just the beginning! My colors are cerise and kiwi. The wedding, reception and rehearsal dinner are going to take place at Barkley State Resort Park in Cadiz, KY. ( This is also the location where Spencer asked me to marry him.) I look forward to sharing my journey with all of you!

Kayla Wallace Gilbert - Our Featured Bride

2010-09-03T08:46:00.002-05:00

My favorite part of our wedding day was seeing each other for the first time. JB and I decided to see each other before the ceremony and share a special moment together. It was so wonderful to see him and give him a hug and cry together. Our wedding was absolutely perfect and there isn't one thing that I would change about it. We had a wonderful day and are so blessed that all of our friends and family could share that with us.

Wedding Vendors:
Ceremony - First Baptist Church of Clarksville
Reception - Clarksville Country Club
Photography - Shea Halliburton
Videographer - Turning Point Productions
Flowers/Decor - Karey Daughtry, Party Station Rentals
Wedding Gown & Formal Wear - The Bride's Boutique
Event Coordinator - Carly Rager
Cake - Cakes by Carrie
Invitations - Invitation Creations by Jennifer
Sparklers - Allen's Fireworks
Food & Catering - Clarksville Country Club

Bethany and Rick - An update and the Cakes

2010-09-01T08:56:00.001-05:00

It's been a while since I blogged. I have booked nearly every vendor since the last time I blogged, and I am excited to share all the details. Luckily, I have not been stressed out hardly any this entire wedding planning process. Until this past week that is. I believe it finally hit me how soon the wedding was. Plus, I started school Monday, so I know it is going to put a damper on my free time. I just want the wedding to be here already! Yet, I know I have so many unfinished items to conquer. Thank goodness I have the help of my family and fiancé!

So, let's talk about cake. My cake vendor, Cakes by Carrie, is the best! I have tasted a few of her great wedding cakes before, and knew even before the tasting that I had to have her as my cake vendor. My sister, mom & nephew came to the tasting with me and they agreed that all the samples were amazing! (I brought some samples home for Rick, so he got a chance to try the yummy cake, too.) We are using white & marble for the main cake and lemon for the Groom's Cake.

The cake is going to be all white with black ribbon around the centers of the three tiers held together by brooches. I want an elegant and classic cake and I know Carrie will make it happen fabulously. I searched all over the internet and in stores for the right brooches and finally found the perfect ones at Something Blue Bridal Shoppe. I have two that are the same, and one that is actually a hair clip. Yes, a hair clip! Hey, it works and afterward, I can use it again. (After I remove the cake from it, of course!)

The Groom's Cake is a secret, and it is killing Rick. :) So, after the wedding I will share images of my surprise Groom's Cake for Rick.

Calling all 2011 Brides-to-be!

2010-08-18T08:49:00.004-05:00

If you're planning your 2011 wedding, we'd love to hear your story. Visit www.ClarksvilleBrides.com and click Contact Us from any page to volunteer! We can't wait to hear from you!

Bethany and Rick - The Dress

2010-08-04T12:46:00.003-05:00

Every item I said I didn't want, I ended up with after my wedding dress shopping trip. Well, except a tiara; I didn't want one of those when I walked into David's Bridal, and I didn't end up with one when I walked out. (Sorry Rick & Mom! They wanted me to get one! haha!) I am not going to go into too much detail about what I bought, but I did buy a veil. Everyone who has ever met me knows I have never, ever wanted a veil. (Okay, not everyone, but still, it's pretty close!) So, if I didn't want a veil, why in the world did I get one!?

Well, my mom and I teared up the minute I put on a veil while wearing "The Dress". Seriously, it was like an episode of Say Yes to the Dress (like the new Atlanta one, with the southern drawl and everything)! So, of course I felt very much like a bride and had to have one. I tried on a ton of veils: long, short, birdcages, and flower veils. Which one did I pick? I don't want to say until The Big Day, because I want Rick to be surprised. However, I think he is already surprised that I bought one.

So, my dress. It. Is. Amazing. I picked it out online and had to try it on. My wonderful consultant put me in that dress first and nothing I put on compared to it. I'm pretty sure I tried on at least 12 gowns before going back to The Dress. (Thank you, Morgan, for allowing me to try on all those dresses before saying Yes to the first one!) I am so excited about it. I cannot wait until Rick sees me in it. The one detail he knows about The Dress is that it is strapless. The only reason I told him is because I told him I didn't want strapless before I went wedding dress shopping. But, like I said, every item I didn't want, I ended up buying... except a tiara. :)

Bethany and Rick - Wedding Date Change!

2010-07-21T08:42:00.001-05:00

Reasons I love October: the fall leaves, the cool air, and the fact that my parents and maternal grandparents got married in that month. For a while, I was content on waiting until October 15th 2011 for my wedding. I mean, I love October and desperately wanted an October wedding. I thought October of this year was not feasible because I'm going to be finishing up my undergraduate degree this fall.

But then, I snapped back into reality. I'm not that patient.

So, I asked Rick if April 15th worked as a wedding date. He said Yes!

Then I realized, again, I'm not that patient.

So, what's a girl to do? Discuss it with her mother, of course. (Hi, Mom! Love you!) During our discussion we came up with October 15th of this year. My fall break is the next Monday & Tuesday. And with October 15th being on a Friday I would have another day the honeymoon. I liked the idea. No, I loved the idea! So, after presenting several key points as to why we should get married October 15th of this year, Rick said Yes (again)! (Some of my key points included: I could graduate with his name, we wouldn't have to stress over a wedding for long, neither one of us wanted a long engagement anyway, and I love him... hey, that's a valid point to include! hehe!)

And, yes, I realize that it is now under three months away, but hey, I'm finally really excited about the date. I was always really excited about getting married to Rick, but never about the date. Now I'm so thrilled with this date. Thank goodness Rick was game for the really-soon-wedding-date change. I love him! :) So, another reason gets added to the list as to why I love October, my official wedding date is in October! Whew!

Also, I've changed the location of the wedding. At first, I thought I wanted a Maine beach wedding since Rick is from Maine. But an outside wedding in October or April in Maine, is not as warm as it is here. I found this out from my soon-to-be mother-in-law and sister-in-law. (Hi, you two!) So, during the wedding date change discussion with my mom, I decided I wanted to get married at my parent's house, on the runway. Yes, the runway. My dad has a runway. It's pretty awesome and totally different. Just what I want! And, Rick said Yes, yet again.

So, the location and the date have officially changed. I'm excited to share more details of my wedding sooner rather than later! Because, as we've discussed, I'm not that patient. :)

Courtney & Randy - Retrospective

2010-07-18T15:39:00.003-05:00

With our wedding 2 months past, Beth from ClarksvilleBrides.com asked me to write up a post wedding blog. So I thought it might be helpful to other brides to list where I got things, what venues we used and some things I learned along the way planning our wedding. I hope that you find this information helpful in making your special day a little easier.

First things first, I started with the dress like most girls do, the dress was very important to me not only that it reflect my personal style but also be flattering and as comfortable as possible. I went with my Mom the day after Thanksgiving to Bridal Warehouse in Goodlettsville, since that’s where my parents live and it was just the easiest and most convenient. I knew I did not want a sleeveless or strapless gown since I never wear sleeveless clothing, so I was looking for a dress that either came with a shawl or some sort of wrap. I ended up getting a sleeveless and strapless gown in white bridal satin with a corset back and 5 foot train. The dress was simple enough for my taste yet elegant at the same time. It did come with a wrap that I did not end up using, but we’ll get to that later. I only tried on 2 dresses and it was done deal. Also, I’m known for wearing flip flops so I wanted to incorporate flip flops in my wedding attire, Bridal Warehouse had some beautiful bride “dress” flip flops that I loved and ended up buying that day as well.

Custom made shawl—I knew I did not want to use the shawl that came with my wedding dress as it would have been uncomfortable to deal with all day, so I went to Something Blue on Hwy. 76 and spoke with their alterations department, she took my measurements and actually made me a custom shawl out of chiffon, it made all the difference! It looked great, did not cost much money at all and helped me get over the whole sleeveless issue.

Alterations—I decided to go with Chong’s Alterations on Madison Street for my gown alterations, as I knew I would need multiple fittings and it was so much more convenient to have the dress in Clarksville. All I needed was a hem and for the back panel that goes behind the corset fixed, Chong and her team did an amazing job and the price was 10 times better than I could have imagined. Although, I was nervous about taking my dress to a non-bridal store for altering I couldn’t have been happier with Chong’s work. I highly recommend her for anything you need altered including everyday clothing.

Invitations—My matron of honor had just got married last October and she used WeddingPaperDivas.com for her invitations and they were beautiful, after looking through tons of web-sites and styles of invitations I also chose WeddingPaperDivas.com to do our invitations. We chose a black invitation with white text, the RSVP cards were white with black text. They turned out even more beautiful than I could have imagined. I do caution brides to be selective if you’re using an on-line place for invitations but I fully trust WeddingPaperDivas.com, and their prices are surprisingly affordable.

Wedding Ceremony Programs—I decided to go with a local vendor for our wedding ceremony programs, since I didn’t have all of the information until close to the wedding date and I knew I wanted to meet with someone face to face to ensure things were just as we wanted, we picked Invitation Creations by Jennifer for the programs. We picked a tri-fold white program with black text. Jennifer did an amazing job helping us pick just the right things to say in the program and they ended up looking amazing.

The Church—We decided to have our wedding at New Providence United Methodist Church, this church has a family history for me, as my Grandmother is a member there and has been a long time, also it’s where I was Christened as an infant. Brother B.J. Brack fit right in with us and my family, we absolutely loved him upon first meeting, he was so real and not stuffy at all, he made us both feel very comfortable. The church is also beautiful inside and out with gorgeous stained glass windows inside that make for some really nice pictures.

Reception venue— We both decided early on that we wanted our reception to be as easy on not only us but our friends and close family, as we did not want to have to set up before or break anything down, because that just adds to the stress of the day. We chose the Hilton Garden Inn off Exit 4, and it was perfect. Katja, Tara and their staff were absolutely amazing. Everyone was incredibly helpful with everything from choosing our menu to table set up to keeping us on schedule during the reception. I am convinced that Chef Hay is the best in Clarksville, I think we got more compliments on the food than anything at our wedding.

Wedding cake—I wanted to keep it simple with the wedding cake, all white. Randy and I attended a tasting with Carrie Rains from Cakes by Carrie and fell in love with her homemade raspberry cake! We ended up picking a three layer squared all white cake, the bottom layer was raspberry, middle layer was lemon and the top layer which we kept for our one year anniversary is lemon. I can not wait until next year to eat that top layer! Carrie was very easy to work with and her prices were also easy on the wallet. She even ordered the monogram for the top of our cake for us.

Flowers—Again keeping it simple, all white flowers were what I picked. I went with Magnolia Florist on Fort Campbell Blvd., as my Grandmother is good friends with the owner. I decided on all white roses for everyone, I have to be honest the flowers did not turn out as I expected and I was a little disappointed when I saw them initially but after seeing the pictures of them, they really did look great.

Photography— Taking another cue from my matron of honor we chose Rachael Ritchie Photography as our wedding photographer. Rachael has exceptional price packages for weddings and she did a truly amazing job. We have not received the prints from our wedding yet, but she does have them posted on her web-site and I’m very happy with the work she did for us that day.

Hair and Make-up— My regular hair stylist did my hair, Laura Walker Staples at Salon Envi on Riverside Drive, she did a great job but she will be first to admit she does not do updos, since I have short hair that didn’t matter. Her business partner Monica does do updos so if you’re getting married anytime soon, I know she would do a great job. Laura’s sister Chantal did my make up also at Salon Envi, she is representative for Mary Kay and I loved what she did, a natural look that lasted all day. I also used Model in a Bottle make up setting spray that I borrowed from my matron of honor, if you have oily skin like I do, that is a MUST, order it online whatever you have to do to get it!

DJ—We picked Scott Chase as our reception DJ, not only because we know him but we’ve attended weddings he has DJed before and we knew he would do a great job and he did! His prices were way below any other place we had heard of and he even made and gave me the back up CD’s with every song we wanted played at our reception.

Last but CERTAINLY not least, the weather. As we all remember the historic flood happened the weekend of May 1st, which was the day we got married. I didn’t mind the rain as I heard it meant good luck. I hated it more for our guests coming in and out of the church and reception site in the rain is no fun. A couple of our out of town guests actually got stranded in Clarksville for a couple of extra days, it was truly a weekend to remember. We went to Panama City Beach, FL for our honeymoon and quite literally almost got trapped in Nashville because interstate conditions were so bad. I have to be honest I was pretty grateful to not be here that entire week of the flood. At least no one will ever forget when we got married.

Hillary - Color Palette

2010-07-02T08:18:00.001-05:00

Having a career as a wedding planner can be rewarding when you are planning other people’s weddings, but brings forth challenges when you are planning your own. I read several bridal blogs on a daily basis for inspiration and keeping up to-date on recent trends! So when it came to narrowing down what I wanted for my wedding it was rather difficult.

My motto in my business and everyday life is “don’t be like someone else.” So when the first 2 or 3 color palettes I choose looked like something every other bride would choose, I kept searching until I finally created this beauty.

As you can see, our colors are going to be silver, strawberry, Turquoise, and Pistachio. I feel that this palette is unique enough, but soft and femine to satisfy even my girly self! What do you think? Did you redo your color palette because it was too cliche?

2010-06-28T07:43:00.002-05:00

Since my fiancé Rick and I have absolutely nothing planned, yet, and we have a lot of time before our October 2011 wedding, I wanted to write about my ring. I absolutely love my ring! However, it was not what I had envisioned at first. I thought I wanted a princess cut diamond for years, but all that changed because of a photograph. A few years ago, I fell in love with a photograph of a pear shaped diamond ring. I loved how different it was, since they are so rare to see. But I also adored how elegant and timeless a pear shaped diamond is. Before that, I had never thought about my ring being a pear shaped diamond. However, when I saw that photograph, I knew that’s what I wanted one day.

One day in March, Rick took me ring window-shopping. I say “window-shopping” because we didn’t buy anything. And that’s the point of window-shopping...right? ;) Much to my surprise, most of the local jewelry stores do not carry pear shaped diamonds! A couple of stores had a few loose pear-shaped diamonds and a few budget breaking pear solitaires. One even had a pear-shaped diamond ring with diamond accents around the center diamond and band. However, I felt it took a way from the unusually cut diamond.

So, we searched online. Then Rick found the perfect pear solitaire at BlueNile.com and asked if I liked it. After looking at diamonds in the store, I knew that I would love the one he showed me. Yes, I knew our engagement was coming. After three years together and several months of discussing marriage, how could I not know? Yet, knowing that I was soon to be engaged did not take away from the moment he proposed. It was still very special and totally surprising because I had no idea when Rick would propose. So, on the morning of April 16th when Rick asked me, “Will you spend the rest of your life with me?” it was everything I could have ever hoped for and more!

Welcome to Bethany & Rick

2010-06-15T08:09:00.004-05:00

I met Rick on August 25th 2006. I remember the day well because it was my first day of Freshmen Orientation at college. After waiting outside the designated classroom Rick unlocked the door to let us in. However, I didn’t see him then. After we all filed into the classroom, and then a very handsome guy walked in. As cliche as it sounds, my heart skipped a beat. Literally, I remember gasping! I didn't realize it then, but I had just met my future husband.

Rick was not a freshman, like I was, or a professor, but an upperclassmen who assisted the professor during orientation. So, I did what any shy teenage girl would do; I eyed him from afar, believing I had absolutely no chance with this handsome upperclassmen.

Toward the end of the semester I added him on Facebook. That semester ended and at the beginning of the next semester, I commented on one of his Facebook photos. And like any shy teenage girl, I was estatic when he sent me a Facebook message reply. A few messages back and forth, and he asked me out on a date.

On our first date he took me to Hananoki's and then we rented Snakes on a Plane. I know what you are thinking, Snakes on a Plane!?! Real romantic right? Even though the movie was awful, something went right on our first date, because three years later he proposed! All we have planned right now is the wedding date, October 15th 2011, but I look foward to sharing all the details of my wedding with other Clarksville Brides!

Meagan and Chris’ wedding -06/05/09

2010-06-10T08:56:00.002-05:00

by Debra Harris, Visions by Debra Event Planning

It becomes very clear after working with a couple what is important to them on their wedding day. For Chris and Meagan it was the wedding ceremony. They included the guest in their proceedings. Upon entering each guest was given a candle with their program. During the unity candle ceremony the guest shared the light from the person next to them and offered a prayer for the couple. Chris surprised his grandmother by stepping up to escort her down the aisle. She had no idea this was going to occur and the surprise on her face brought tears even to my eyes. In addition the couple showed a montage during their unity candle ceremony which included pictures of themselves and those they hold dear. Rev. Kirby, the groom’s brother in law, taught the couple and the guests the definition and requirements of love from 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8. The music, performed by close friends of the couple, was the perfect backdrop for their heartfelt ceremony.
Their reception was held at Sugar Grove, Glenda and Howard are a great team. The gardens at Sugar Grove are breathtaking and inviting. The venue was decorated with Gerber Daisies spilling from tea pots, simmering crystals and votive candles on mirrored tiles. Paper lanterns of watermelon, orange, yellow, and white, suspended from the ceiling beams, gently blew in the breeze. A carriage decorated with ribbon held the couple’s gifts and the guests were met with watermelon and yellow lanterns lining the brick walk way. The couple’s thoughtfulness extended through the reception as they honored Mr. and Mrs. Caleb Wise, who were cerebrating their first wedding anniversary, with a dance. The couple’s cake loving prepared by Chris’ Aunt Donna was delicious red velvet, and the food prepared by Chef Cory kept the guests coming back for more.

Introducing Hillary & James

2010-06-08T09:50:00.004-05:00

"James and I have been engaged since December 2008. He doesn’t like the way that I tell the engagement story, because I tell it just like it happened."

During my undergraduate career at MTSU, I worked for Housing and Residential life as a Resident Assistant. During the fall of 2008, I was extremely busy and as the semester drew nearer, I was anxiously awaiting the time to go home. Unfortunately, as an RA, I had to stay well past the time the residents left and had been finished with my 1 final for nearly a week and I had a very important family function for Christmas to attend on Sunday! On Thursday afternoon. I found out that I was going to be able to leave the next morning! I was trying to get quite a few things home since I had way too much stuff, so James was coming down to help me pack my car. After having many walks of the building and actually fighting several times that day, he showed up, bringing our favorite dinner of pizza. After eating, James tells me to get my laptop because he wants to look at engagement rings. Well, seeing how we had looked at rings SEVERAL times since October, I questioned why he wanted me to look at them, but I obliged and looked anyway. At this point, after looking at rings for several moments, I went to put my computer back up because my boss had just called to say that we were needed downstairs. Well before I get up, I pass gas and before I can even say excuse me, James is leaped off the chair, tells me he doesn’t want me to be his girlfriend anymore and is down on one knee and telling me he wants me to be his wife. I of course said yes and proceed downstairs where my best friend was waiting because she had been on it as well! We told my parents as soon as I got home.

We have been planning our October 16 wedding since September 2009!

June 5th!!

2010-06-03T16:46:00.005-05:00

This weekend is a big one for our blogging brides. Not one, not two, but three! are getting married this Saturday.

Kayla Wallace has been blogging for us since April 2009 and recently had to cope with the loss of her reception venue to the flood. She had her final gown fitting yesterday at The Brides Boutique and I hear she looked incredibly beautiful, her dress fit perfectly and she radiated calm just 3 days before her wedding. Her final fitting was filmed by TurningPoint Productions. If you buy your dress at The Brides Boutique and hire TurningPoint to be your wedding videographer you get a free final fitting film added to your wedding video package.

Meagan Taylor has also blogged for us since April 2009. With the professional services of Visions by Debra doing her event planning and decor plus the charming Sugar Grove Carriage House as her venue, we know she'll have a lovely wedding.

And last but not least, Chelsea Clack, who has been sharing her planning experience with us all year will also be married this Saturday. You can't go wrong with a reception at The Riverview Inn so we know it will be wonderful too! We wish all three of our brides the very best for their wedding day, their honeymoon and the next 50 years of married life! We hope they will check back in with us after the wedding and share their insights.

Joy and Greg - Flowers

2010-05-17T17:58:00.004-05:00

WOW! Joy and Greg's Wedding might be the most "facebooked" - is that a verb now? - wedding I've ever seen. From real time images from their Event Planner Carly Rager's phone before the ceremony began on Saturday through today - they just keep popping up!
Here are some photos of her flowers (courtesy of Carly) and Joy's blog about her floral planning.

"After a wonderful recommendation from Carly Rager, we chose to go with Sango Village Florist. I have also since found out that Sango Village Florist has been named "Clarksville's best florist". And I can completely see why. The owner, Courtney had heard of our very limited schedule and met us at her shop during after hours. She was such a pleasure to talk to and made us feel very at ease with the whole process. We filled out a brief information sheet that helped prompt us to think what flowers we would need for attendants, family, ushers, etc. This was very helpful. Greg and I had given Courtney "full artistic permission" as we completely trust her expertise and we are very excited to see what beautiful arrangements she creates for our wedding!"

CONGRATULATIONS to Meagan & Scotty

2010-05-13T18:29:00.004-05:00

Below is a trailer film edited to give Meagan & Scotty a brief glimpse of the footage from their April 30th wedding while they wait for their full video to be completed. As you recall, they were our Q108 Wedding Giveaway winners. A TurningPoint Productions Keepsake Wedding Video package was included in the Q108 Prize package.

We look forward to seeing their photos and hearing more about their big day. In the meantime, enjoy the trailer courtesy of TurningPoint Productions.

Note: Video quality greatly reduced for upload to the blog.

Kayla & JB - The flood and the venue

2010-05-12T09:19:00.003-05:00

Before I write this blog I would first like to say that our hearts and prayers go out to all the families, businesses and individuals who have truly been affected by the flooding. I know that our situation can’t even compare to others who have lost everything.

When we started planning our wedding a year and a half ago, Waterstreet Events Center was one of the first places we booked. If you read one of my earlier blogs we were having a hard time choosing between there and the Clarksville Country Club.

Never in a million years could we have ever guessed this terrible flooding would happen. We were notified last week, a month before our wedding, that we were going to have to find an alternative for our reception. Of course the tears came and the stress set in. However, I must say that we have more than wonderful people around us that were doing everything they could to help us find another venue.

I asked my mom to call the Country Club right away even though I thought it was a lost cause, considering most places would probably be booked a month before. But little did I know that God was working things out for us this whole time. The Country Club wasn’t booked and the day could be ours. I don’t believe in luck or fate and I know it wasn’t a coincidence. I have true faith in God that he was watching over us.

So now, we will have our reception at the Clarksville Country Club and that is more than perfect to us. We are so thankful to God and our wonderful friends and family for helping us out. This experience has truly humbled us and made us realize what is really important on that day. JB and I will be married at the end of the day and for the rest of our lives and that is all that matters.

My advice to other brides would be not to let the little imperfections bother you, let the small stuff go. Things could be so much worse. Remember why you are planning the wedding day you are planning.

To other brides that have been affected, my heart and prayers are with you.

We love Waterstreet Events Center and our prayers go out to the Powers and we know they will work hard to get up and running again.

Joy - the Invitation

2010-05-10T08:37:00.009-05:00

Trying to come up with an idea for wedding invitation was something that had been on my mind for a long time and was really beginning to stress me out. I had met with several invitation designer back in Alabama but nothing every really just "fit". I spoke with my wedding coordinator, Carly Rager, about seeing if she knew anyone who could help. What the main idea was to create a wedding "logo". I wanted to incorporate a butterfly and our initials. Carly contacted "You're Invited" and handled everything from there on. I gave a few ideas and the ladies with "You're Invited" just ran with it! I wanted something different and couldn't find anything in stationary stores or online that even came close.

Well, the final project was incredible!

It's is called a "seal and send" and it was so easy and fun to assemble. All I did was fold it and place seals (stickers with our initials) on the seam, stick a stamp on it and mail!! The invitation also included a tear off RSVP card. Carly suggested the seal and send because she said people are more likely to send their RSVPs in because it so simple. And she was right. I have received almost all of the RSVPs.
The logo that was created was a beautiful monogram with a butterfly. I added little sticky rhinestones on the monogram and it just set the whole invitation off perfectly! I am so thankful I went with Carly's suggestion of the seal and send invitation and "You're Invited" was incredibly easy to work with and rushed the order for me and I received them 3 days after proofing. I couldn't believe how fast it came. I was very please with the finished project.

You can reach You're Invited - Invitations by Design at 931-216-7368 or youre-invited@hotmail.com

2010-05-07T08:32:00.002-05:00

Joy's Wedding is just a week away, but she's still taking time out to share her story with us. We thank you, Joy!

After our initial meeting with Carly Rager, our wedding coordinator, she booked our photographer and videographer for us. Like I'm sure I have already mentioned, Carly has been worth her weight in gold! She was able to confirm with Joan of Art Photography and Turning Point Productions our dates and prices.
I haven't even had to meet with them in person as both Joanie with Joan of Art and Danielle with Turning Point have been in touch with me via email and Facebook.
You can't imagine how much time this has save us! Both companies came very highly recommended from many other area vendors. I have seen several examples of their work and am fully confident that our photos and video will be beautiful! It makes me look very forward to our big day!

This month's Featured Wedding - Heidi & Steve

2010-05-05T08:30:00.005-05:00

This month we're delighted to feature a wedding photographed by one of the newest members of ClarksvilleBrides.com held at the location of one of our very first web site members.

"For my wedding I was on a budget. I planned my wedding myself and kept things very simple. I found A Country Chapel because I live not far from it and had passed it many times. I checked out their website and fell in love. A Country Chapel provided all the tables, chairs, linens, place settings, silverware, and decorations. They were amazing. They even made the wedding cake and groom’s cake. They created both from pictures I had found of what I wanted. I did not have to do anything at A Country Chapel and they made it very stress-free.

I found my photographer, Lisa Authier of Authier Photography through A Country Chapel. They had a portfolio from weddings she had done in the past at the chapel. Her photography was wonderful. The gentlemen who married us I found through a friend and it turned out he had been stationed in Berlin, in the same barracks, my husband was stationed at. I got my dress at a discount bridal warehouse in Rivergate, TN and I love it.

My hair was done by Sunni McWhorter at Salon at Sango and my flowers were done by Sango Florist. Everything was beautiful. I tried to keep things as stress free and simple as possible. I would recommend it for every bride."

A Country Chapel was undergoing a change of ownership at the time of Heidi and Steve's wedding. The new owner, Carolyn Loeffler, tell us, "It was a pleasure working with Heidi and Steve. Their wedding was one of my first. I made my first groom's cake for Steve.

Heidi wanted to surprise Steve with a large mouth bass, since he is an avid fisherman. A real challenge, but I did my research and I believe it turned out well.

Her wedding cake was simple, but elegant, white fondant with purple and mango colored flowers. Heidi and Steve are a beautiful couple. I hope the happiness they had on that days lasts forever."

You can see more of Heidi & Steve's wedding photos on our Featured Wedding page.

Chelsea - Save The Dates and Invitations

2010-05-04T10:58:00.003-05:00

We knew that we wanted to send out save the dates, but we had a hard time deciding where to order them from. Since I do not have a lot of extra time with student teaching and Stephen lives eight hours away, we decided to order them from the internet. We looked at several different websites, but didn’t see anything that we liked. I am a big fan of Shutterfly, so I decided to see what kind of save the dates they offered. Shutterfly has several save the save the date options and they range from elegant to modern. The prices for the save the dates are excellent as well. Stephen and I decided on a black save the date with white writing along with three of our engagement pictures. We ran into a small problem when the time came to send out the save the dates because they were supposed to be sent out in December. Lauren, who is one of my bridesmaids, said it was not a good idea to send them out during that month because people would probably misplace them with all the Christmas cards coming. After much thought, we decided to send them out right after the New Year. Our save the dates were a hit and we got a lot of good response from them.

After the easy part of finding save the dates, the huge task of finding wedding invitations was upon us. I began searching for invitations in mid February and had no luck. The search continued for a few more weeks, but soon ended due to student teaching. I honestly forgot all about searching and ordering wedding invitations because my schedule quickly became extremely demanding. Towards the end of March I realized that I still had not ordered our wedding invitations, so I began searching yet again. I asked some friends and other brides about places to order invites from around town, but I soon realized that once again time was not on my side. A newlywed couple of Stephen’s suggested www.stationarystudio.com to us and we resorted to searching online for wedding invitations. The website offered a variety of invitations ranging from traditional to eco-friendly. We obviously wanted modern wedding invitations and the website offered an entire section of them. Stephen and I knew we wanted either green or pink on our wedding invitation to reflect our colors. We decided to go with green and narrowed the selection down to three. Finally, we decided on the perfect invitation and ordered them. I received the wedding invitations in less than a week. I did not realize the work that was sitting right in front of me on my apartment living room floor. After I stuffed all the envelopes, I realized that I still needed postage. Since our guest list is a little over 200, the price of all those stamps put a hefty dent in my budget. While I was stuffing, stamping and addressing wedding invitations, I was also doing the same thing with graduation invitations. I will say that I am very proud of myself because I got the wedding invitations out earlier than the 6 week deadline. As the response cards begin to flood my mailbox, I get more and more excited about the upcoming wedding. I find myself eager to get home after a long day of school and see whose response cards lay in my mailbox

Today's the day!

2010-04-30T08:30:00.008-05:00

We send our best wishes to Meagan and Scotty today. They will be married this evening at 6 pm. I'm sure today will be busy and exciting and we look forward to hearing all about it from them in a few weeks.

Earlier in the week Meagan sent us a photo of her jars for the Cookie Buffet at their reception. Creating them was a combined effort with her Mother and Beverly Nash of "Precious Scraps," a scrapbook store in Dover, TN.

Meagan and Scotty were the winners of the Q108 Wedding Giveaway Contest sponsored by ClarksvilleBrides.com and supported by the following prize sponsor vendors, in alphabetical order.

Gent's Formal Wear
Invitation Creations by Jennifer
Jubilee Plantation
McKenzie & Smiley Jewelers
Party1Superstore
Something Blue Bridal Shoppe
The Brides Boutique
TurningPoint Productions

We thank them for their generosity to Meagan & Scotty and look forward to seeing photos of their products or services in the weeks to come.

Chelsea - Her Bridal Gown

2010-04-28T07:50:00.003-05:00

Like every bride, I started looking for a dress the day after Stephen proposed to me. We were vacationing on the beach and I made Stephen buy me some bridal magazines, so I could start looking at dresses immediately. That phase soon left my mind because my last semester of actual school before student teaching began. Because school was so demanding last semester, planning a wedding was the last thing on my mind. When school finally came to a close in early December, I started searching for a dress. I spent my Christmas vacation in South Carolina with Stephen, so I began to look in the stores there. I had no luck in South Carolina, so I thought I should stick with Tennessee. I did find a dress in South Carolina I liked, but I would have had to get it altered and fitted at that particular store which was completely unrealistic considering I live eight hours away.

One of my bridesmaids Kendyl and I made a trip to David’s Bridal in Franklin one day in January before school started. I had looked online and found a few dresses I liked, but of coarse they did not have those dresses in stock. As we were browsing, the ladies working in the store were putting up new dresses on the manikins. A brand new, just on the market dress was now standing between two other dresses calling my name. I told Kendyl I had to try on that dress. So as quick as they put the dress on display, they took it right back down. As soon as I put on the dress, I knew it was “the dress.” When I stepped out of the dressing room, Kendyl agreed and said I had to have this dress. Without hesitation, I called my Dad and told him I finally found the dress. I purchased the dress that day and it arrive two weeks later.

I had my first dress fitting Sunday and to my surprise the dress was two sizes too big, which was a good thing to me considering how hard I had been working. My second dress fitting is May 18 followed by bridal portraits by Taylor Cooper. I have not included any pictures because Stephen will not see the dress until the moment I walk down the aisle, but there will be plenty of pictures. I will say my dress is beautifully unique. I have had many comments saying “I haven’t ever seen a dress like that before” including my grandmother. I am very excited for everyone to see it!

Joy - The proposal and the ring

2010-04-26T08:36:00.004-05:00

When I answered "hello" to an early morning call in January, the voice on the other end said, "Angel, I love you and I want to marry you. Can you plan a wedding soon?" As I tried to clear my head from being awaken out of a deep sleep, all I could manage to answer was "you just say when!" Greg had recently arrived back from Iraq and I knew our relationship grew during his deployment from a friendship into true love so I had no hesitation. That morning we talked; it was as if time stood still for just the two of us. We set a date for May 15 and ended our conversation so I could catch my flight to go see him.
We spent the next few days talking about wedding plans and went to look at rings. I had picked out a ring but wasn't completely in love with it. I figured we would continue to look until we found the "perfect" one. Greg began a training class in North Carolina and I knew he had limited time so I began to think about the perfect ring and it was nothing like I had picked out in the jewelry store. I drove up to see him two weeks later and at dinner he grabbed my hand, confessed his love for me, pulled out a box from his pocket and knelt on one knee and asked if I would marry him. I know it was the happiest moment of my life but all I could think about was that I hadn't told him I changed my mind on the ring we picked out and began to panic a little.
As he opened the box, I sat in complete shock staring at the most beautiful diamond I have ever seen in my life, exactly how it looked in my mind when I dreamed of the perfect ring. After me sitting speechless for several minutes, he asked what was my answer. I had completely forgotten to verbally say yes when he asked if I would marry him, I had just been sitting there staring at the diamond gleaming on my finger it utter disbelief that he had found the perfect ring without even knowing what I wanted. In later conversation, I found out that he went to 8 different jewelry stores in search for the perfect diamond. He told the sales clerk he wouldn't stop searching until he knew he had found the one that was pictured in his mind. I guess it is like he always says "we share the same brain" and on May 15, 2010 we will join as husband and wife and begin to share the same heart.
>
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> Distance is no boundary for love.
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> Joy Hopson Clayton

Published March 27, 2010 in The North Jefferson News Bridal Guide

Chelsea - Bridesmaids dresses

2010-04-21T14:38:00.003-05:00

Picking the bridesmaid dresses was so far the easiest task because I have such fabulous bridesmaids. I searched for bridesmaid dresses for a few months and could not find the perfect green. The greens I came across were all too light or too dark. I had the ideal green pictured in my head, but I just couldn’t find it. I honestly started to freak out because come January, I still had no bridesmaid dresses picked out for the girls. When one of my bridesmaid Kendyl and I went to David’s Bridal in Franklin before school started in mid January, we stumbled across their new line of bridesmaid dresses and colors. We had no intentions of looking for bridesmaid dresses. In fact, we were looking for my dress. The green was perfect! Not too light and not too dark. My bridesmaid dresses will be Kelly green and the ladies will be holding pink Gerber daisies. The colors complement each other so well.

From the beginning, I knew that I wanted the bridesmaids to have different dresses. Each one of my beautiful bridesmaids have different body shapes and they may not all be comfortable in the same dress. My bridesmaids’ being comfortable is very important to me. I also wanted them to stand out in their own unique way. David’s Bridal offers a variety of different bridesmaid dresses for every body type. I found five dresses in Kelly that the girls could pick from. I sent out an email before we all drove to Franklin, so they could have a good idea of the dress they wanted to wear. One Saturday in early February, we all made a special trip to David’s Bridal to order bridesmaid dresses. The trip was so rewarding because we all were together for a few short hours, which never happens. My personal bridal consultant made the session quick and easy. Being with my very best of friends and watching them try on their dresses for my wedding made me realize how truly blessed I am to have them in my life. The girls ordered their dresses that day and now everyone has their dress.

Countdown to Kayla's Wedding Day!

2010-04-19T08:28:00.003-05:00

Our wedding is getting so close, I just can't believe it. A year and a half flies by fast! We mailed out our invitations this week and it finally feels really real! I am super excited for everyone to see them.

I also recently had my bridal portraits done with Shea Halliburton. There are no words to describe how wonderful Shea is. Be sure to read my previous blog entries about her! We did the bridal portraits so that we can have one of the portraits at the wedding. It also helped me to see what my complete look will be like on the wedding day. There are a few things that I might change with my hair and make-up so I'm thankful that I got to see that before the big day!

I am also in the midst of wedding showers right now and trying to enjoy every second of it. This is so much fun! My maid of honor just threw me a lingerie shower and that was wonderful! I would suggest having that shower to other brides because it so fun and something that you and your future husband can enjoy together, rather than the regular wedding gifts, on your honeymoon and also after the honeymoon.

All the little details are coming together like the cake topper and jewels, bridesmaid gifts, shower hostess gifts, time-line of the wedding day and etc. It is so important to us that we have good vendors to do the work on the wedding day. I am so happy with every single one of them and I trust that they know our vision.

Big details are also getting worked out for after the wedding. JB and I found a place to call home in Charleston, IL for a while. We found a brand new, super cute apartment to live in until we find a house that we both like and are 100% sure on! This was a hard decision because JB really wanted to buy a house right away but with us being long distance it was hard to find one that we both love, so we will wait for now.

We also booked our honeymoon! Woohoo! We are going to Punta Cana in the Dominican! We are staying at an all inclusive resort called Dreams. We are also getting a honeymoon package and get to stay in the honeymoon suite, with our own private hot tub on our deck! I am SO super excited. We went through a travel agent to get the best deal. She really helped us find a place that we would like that was within our budget and she also helped us with air travel. She has sent many couples to this resort before and they have all came back with great things to say. I would highly suggest going through a travel agent to make sure all the kinks are worked out with a trip, especially a trip this big.

Meagan and Scotty - 2 weeks and counting

2010-04-16T08:02:00.003-05:00

"We [had] an invitation fiasco that is too funny. We were confronted by a close friend about her not receiving her invitation and slowly realized by asking around, that a lot of people didn't receive theirs!! They have not returned to us either! We did have an invitation weighed at the Post Office and put $0.64 stamps on them. But all is well-no stress-we face-booked and emailed everyone to get in touch with everyone! Just goes to show you it's not worth stressing out over!! We were able to even get people who forgot to RSVP to start responding!
Here are photos of the flower girl basket and ring bearers pillow that my Mother made. The ring-bearer pillow has the first doily my grandmother ever made on it as my something old!

We finish up our premarital counseling this week and are finishing up the cookie buffet. My dress came in, so I go to get fitted!! Scotty meets with the DJ this week to give him an order of our bridal party. We met with Fazoli's last week to finalize the details. They have been super to work with. I got my invoice from Flowers by Patty and things are running really smoothly!! It is totally manageable to have a four-month engagement, you just have to trust the Lord and be proactive!"

Sara & Chad - Our latest featured wedding

2010-04-12T08:02:00.009-05:00

Sara & Chad had a very lovely DIY at-home wedding. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have so many talented relatives to make it happen!
See their wedding photos on our latest Featured Wedding page. Photography by Shea. Here are some images from Sara's bridal portrait session.

Congratulations to Amanda and J

2010-04-09T08:17:00.006-05:00

So I have been Mrs. Chandler for almost a week now. And to be honest I really don't remember certain parts of the wedding ceremony or the reception that followed.

My Grandfather walked me down the aisle. What most people didn't know was that he had me laughing the whole walk. Because the undeniable things that went wrong started to happen. A flower fell out of Bridesmaid Sami's bouquet, Maid of Honor Afton quickly scooped it up never missing a step. Our friend Steve Y. was running the music and the camcorder. I didn't have time to tell him which songs to play other than we were walking to song 4. He was a champ though. My Aunt Cindy , Uncle Rodney and Kada decorated the bridge with tulle covered arches with ribbons and flower balls hanging down. The only people on the bridge were Chaplin Stull , J, his grooms men and my girls until I made it there. Once I was on the bridge everyone filled in. I don't remember the sounds of the creek or the wind that blew. I remember grabbing J's had to stand up because of my heels being to high, I remember making faces at him, which he did the same to me. Most of all I remember laughing and the total calm that I was marrying the man I love. After the kiss we turned to see OUR Family. I did have to tell Steve to start the music again and to play song 5. But that was one of the things that I had anticipated, after all I have dreamed about the wedding the week before.

Pictures were taken and laughs were shared. Lisa Authier was once again amazing behind her camera. My stylist/Friend Cathie Malotte was there as a guest and to make me look good. She would stop Lisa if one hair was out of place.

By the time we made it to the pavilion any child that was old enough to play away from their parents was on the play ground and the adult was settled at the tables with drinks, music was playing and everyone had signed out Guest Canvas. We mingled and dances to Colbie Caillat 's "Magic". I danced with my Pawpaw to Rascal Flatts "My Wish" (that was the only time i really cried). I spoke with my new father in law who welcomed me into his family and pointed out that I am the first and only daughter in law on that side. I was given wedding cards and birthday cards that night. I don't know if I have said it before but my birthday was the day after the wedding.

We cut the cake and dropped cake. toasted and posed with my Uncle Jeff's Harley. IF there were any huge problems I didn't know about them. But as I told J that night in our hotel room that he surprised me with at the Hilton Garden Inn, it was all the little things that went wrong that made it our wedding. I would not have traded it for the world.

OH and the weather! A girl could not have asked for a better day. It is proof of ask and you shall receive.

So these are the tips that I will pass down to you all.
1)Breathe, is you are starting to freak out sing your heart out to you favorite song ( Momma and I were singing Redneck woman on the way to the park)
2)If you are going to be wearing heels over two inches make sure you have someone to support you for pictures and such. (Preferably your new husband)
3)If something goes wrong at any point in the day just laugh it off. That is all you can really do.
4) Don't get married the day before your birthday, it is a little hard to enjoy a romantic breakfast or just laying around in bed when everyone and their mom is texting or calling you.

5) Now this is the big one. I spent two hours at the DMV on tuesday. Make sure you have your marriage certificate, they won't change your last name with out it, and to beat the rush get there early like 6:30, 6:45 they open at 7:00 am tuesday - friday. Also you will have to change your Soc. Sec. card. I know my work will not recognize my new last name without the card being change.

As always here is to blue skies, fluffy white clouds and 70 degree weather on your wedding day as was on mine. It has been a pleasure to write for Clarksville Brides. I wish you all the love and laughter in the world. Thanks goes out to Beth Cullison for all the help that you have given and I will be sending more brides to this site. And last but not least to my family for putting up with me and pulling off a day. (now I am crying)

Photos courtesy of Lisa Authier / Authier Photography

Introducing Joy & Greg

2010-04-07T08:48:00.004-05:00

Greg and I have been planning our May wedding since January. It all has seemed to fly by so fast! One thing I noticed right off was that most all the wedding planning websites were for a 12 month planning schedule. Like most brides I'm sure, I bought a planning binder first thing but was in such a "love spell" to begin most of the hard work that was involved that I procrastinated for a while. Yes, I thought about the wedding details a lot but mostly about the small insignificant details instead of the big things. One other aspect that worked against me is that I still live in Birmingham, Alabama and the wedding will be taking place at Greg's house in Pleasant View, Tennessee. I learned quickly that paying for travel expenses for vendors I knew here in Alabama was going to cut into the wedding budget more than I planned. My finance was beginning to get frustrated with my distress every time I looked at the dreaded 12 month wedding planning guide. There just didn't seem to be enough time to get it all done ourselves.

I stumbled across ClarksvilleBrides.com and found a wedding coordinator and hired her on the spot at our consultation. Within 3 hours our coordinator, Carly Rager, had already confirmed most all of our vendors for us. It has been the best decision yet! I couldn't believe how much relief I felt knowing she was handling all the dirty work for us and we could just sit back and do the fun wedding stuff. A wonderful benefit with having a local wedding coordinator is that she knows all the vendors and has all of their contact information. That has save me so much time and headache from having to research and contact vendors. I have been amazed seeing how much she has already helped us to accomplish in such a short amount of time. Everything has run so smoothly and flawlessly since we entrusted our wedding planning to a coordinator. Now we get to sit back and enjoy our wedding planning decisions and look forward to our special day!

Meagan and Scotty - The Contest

2010-04-06T08:00:00.003-05:00

Well, after we began planning all of this, my fiancé, Scotty, entered us into the Q108 wedding giveaway! He submitted a photo and essay and immediately began campaigning for us! We have been so blessed and fortunate and ended up winning!! This introduced some new vendors for us! We are so excited to now have the funds to be able to do: programs with Invitation Creations by Jennifer, videography with Turning Point Productions, the tuxes from Gents Formal Wear, my mother’s dress and flower girls dress from Something Blue, Scotty’s wedding band from McKenzie and Smiley Jewelers, rentals from Party 1 Superstore and catering for our rehearsal dinner by Jubilee Plantation.

So far, we have already gotten Scotty’s ring from McKenzie and Smiley. They were great to us!! We had it in about a week! They were very knowledgeable and helpful. I just feel overwhelmed with friendly faces and blessings!

We have visited Party 1 Superstore and made our rental selections. When we first went in, I only found a few things that fit into what we were planning for our wedding, but after a very helpful face informed us that there is a book to rent from, we began to get excited! It was perfect! They have a HUGE selection from the book! So we got all squared away there with renting some tablecloths, an easel for a large engagement picture for display and a margarita machine!!

Something Blue was also a wonderful adventure! We had my mother and a 2 ½ year-old flower girl to get fitted! They were extremely helpful, attentive and made if fun!! They had to help so much with the little one, and I was so impressed!! They had our dresses ordered and ready to be fitted in less than a month! That is an excellent turnaround for coming right out of the Chinese New Year! We actually go Saturday, March 6th, for the flower girl fitting!

I have spoken with Turning Point once already and they have already been kind and generous with us! I looked on their website at other videos and was very impressed. I am looking forward to seeing them film our big day!!

I met with Jubilee Plantation and they are catering our Rehearsal Dinner since we had already arranged for catering before winning the contest. And I've met with Invitation Creations by Jennifer who is creating our programs.

Meagan and Scotty - Catering

2010-04-05T08:01:00.003-05:00

"Catering had us stumped. We wanted something very simple but good. We had to really watch our budget here, because we are feeding around 200 people. After following up on a friend’s suggestion and getting other quotes, we decided on Fazoli’s. We have heard great things and they were wonderful to work with. We have been very impressed and are very excited!"

COUNTDOWN: Just 25 days until Meagan & Scotty's Wedding Day!

Tomorrow we'll begin covering their Q108 Wedding Giveaway experience and the wonderful wedding professionals who joined their planning experience when they won.

Today is Amanda's Wedding Day!

2010-04-02T08:44:00.004-05:00

Amanda has ended all of her recent blogs with a line wishing herself and every other bride blue sunny skies and fluffy white clouds for their wedding day. The weather in early April can go either way - I was delighted to wake up this morning and find that she has the beautiful day she so deserves for her outdoor wedding today!
Here is her last pre-wedding blog that she submitted last week.

"So here I sit and the days are winding down until I become the new Mrs. Chandler. It still seams a little unreal right now. Next week we will be rushing to get all the final details done. Thank God for my Aunt Cindy, and Kada, those two have done most of the leg work for getting decorations. And on wedding day we will all be at the park to decorate and enjoy what I have decreed to be a beautiful day (we do have a back up plan should the weather not obey me). I was given the disc of our engagement pictures this week. They turned out amazing. Lisa Authier did a wonderful job. Her attempts to get J to smile would often result in me laughing too hard to smile. I loved working with her that night, and know she will making my wedding photos beautiful.

I know that a few weeks ago I posted about having a ton to do and not knowing what I was doing. Well as it stands today, the flowers are done both real and artificial, the cakes have been ordered, the Chaplin has signed on, the park is reserved, the marriage license is taken care of. Now just to finish up the little details like J's ring and figuring out how to iron out the wrinkles in my dress with out a dry cleaner. Still not so simple things but I know that I will get it done.

TIP OF THE BLOG:
I will say this - if you want your groom involved don't make the mistake I did and tell him to show up and stand where he is told. I can't get a straight answer from J now, that and his jokes about just showing up."

Best Wishes Amanda! We hope to see some wedding photos soon!

Chelsea - Floral

2010-03-31T09:18:00.006-05:00

When it came to selecting a florist, I knew hands down I wanted to work with Courtney from Sango Village Florist. I had heard so many wonderful things about her business and I knew I could not pass up this opportunity. Because I am student teaching I could not meet with her during the week, so she took the extra time out of her weekend to meet with me on a Saturday morning. All I had to tell Courtney was I wanted pink Gerber daisies and my colors and she began to work. She showed me several pictures of pink and green wedding flowers and they were absolutely perfect. The consult was quick and easy. I only had to tell her a few things because like I said before, she knew exactly what I wanted. She showed me several vases and gave me unlimited options. Courtney is truly wonderful and very talented.

Sango Village Florist will be doing my bouquet, bridesmaid bouquets, groomsmen boutonnieres, family flowers, flower girl flowers, two alter pieces, and reception flowers. My bouquet will include hot pink Gerber daisies, priceless pink roses, lime green buttons, and green coffee berries. The bridesmaid bouquets will include hot pink Gerber daisies, lime green buttons and green coffee berries. The groomsmen boutonnieres will be constructed of lime green buttons with green coffee berries and hot pink wiring. Our family members and ring bearer will wear white roses. Our ceremony flowers will be in 31" vases with wrought iron stands, filled with stargazer lilies, hot pink Gerber daisies, priceless pink roses, green coffee berries, belles of Ireland, various greens and bear grass. These flowers will be transported to the reception to be used on food tables. The reception flowers are what I am looking forward to the most. Courtney suggesting having two different styles of vases, so half of our arrangements will be in cubed cases and the rest will be in tall cylinder cases. The reception arrangements will include light pink hydrangea, hot pink Gerber daisies, belles of Ireland and lime green buttons. I am very excited to see our flowers on the wedding day.
Below are Chelsea's Inspiration Images.

Chelsea - Cake

2010-03-29T08:54:00.001-05:00

Looking for a cake was top priority on my list after finding my gown. I had been looking through pictures of cakes online for weeks and I still was not sure what I wanted. I had a good idea, but still not 100% sure. My style is very modern and edgy, so I wanted our cake to reflect my personality. When I stumbled across Carrie Rains website on ClarksvilleBrides.com, I said to myself “I must have her make my wedding cake.” Her cakes are so unique and different, but still classy and elegant and that is exactly what I want. I emailed her that day and got an instant response.

I visited Carrie Rains of Cakes by Carrie one Wednesday afternoon at her home in Clarksville. I did not bring any pictures because one of the cakes she previously baked was the one I wanted. After I explained to her what I wanted, she handed me a huge photo album of cakes and opened it to the second page. I did not tell her which cake I liked the most of hers, but she pointed right to the picture. Carrie said she thought this particular cake would fit just right with what I wanted and my personality.
She brought out three slices of cakes to taste: raspberry, chocolate, and vanilla. The cakes were delicious! They were so moist and the icing was perfect. I am not a big cake or icing person, but her cake was amazing! We decided that since our cake is going to be three tiers the bottom will be vanilla, middle will be chocolate, and the top tier will be raspberry. I am not telling what our cake will look like because I want Stephen and our guests to be surprised. Our cake is going to be unlike any other! As far as the groom’s cake, we are going definitely going to have one. Stephen just has not made up his mind yet.

Meagan and Scotty - Cake

2010-03-26T08:34:00.003-05:00

The cake was the next big decision. We called around and got a lot of quotes, but like the flowers, I was really okay with someone doing this from their home. I’m always on the lookout for hidden talent =o) A friend of my mother’s actually admitted that she was making cakes now under the business name of Sweet Confections out of Dover, TN! After consulting with her and getting quotes, I decided it was an instant match for us! Her prices are very reasonable, and she is amazingly helpful and talented!

I have ordered a cake that is square tiers, four tiers high. It's white with decorative designs around each layer. We are using black ribbon and purple hydrangeas. The icing is buttercream and the cake is vanilla almond. This picture is what we are using as an example, just changing colors!

Kayla - Invitations

2010-03-24T08:59:00.004-05:00

For the past few weeks my mother and I have been working hard on our guest list and stuffing our invitations to be sent out. I feel like it is important to figure out the guest list early so that there are room for additions and changes to be made. We have already come across some errors in addresses and we also have added a few more people, but we have done this early enough that we have time to correct the errors and add the people.

My mom's friend offered to address our envelopes in calligraphy. They look beautiful and she used a navy blue pen to match our colors.

It is also important to remember the price of stamps for your invitations. The price can really add up depending upon how many people you invite and how heavy your invitations are, plus it is nice to include a stamp on the response card so that the guest doesn't have to use their own. That might be something other brides want to remember when picking out invitations, not only do you have the expense of the invitation itself, but also the stamps.

See Kayla's January 29, 2010 entry about shopping for her invitations at Invitation Creations by Jennifer.

Chelsea - Color and decor

2010-03-22T09:08:00.004-05:00

Picking the perfect color pair was the first thing I did before planning our wedding. Stephen and I had talked about teal and black, but he did not want black in the wedding. I think black is such an elegant and classy color, but I had to remember this is his wedding too. We decided on pink and green because they are my favorite colors and they complement each other very well.

I met with Mike Turner and Charlsie Langford from The Riverview Inn to talk about catering and decorations. I have been to several events at The Riverview Inn and they did a fabulous job with everything. We will have our rehearsal dinner in the Montgomery Room and our wedding reception will be held in the main ballroom. Mike showed me several linens and chair covers to choose from, which is something we definitely want for our reception. Mike knows exactly what I want and he has been working diligently to make my wedding dreams come true. Margie’s Catering will cater our rehearsal dinner and reception. She has a variety of foods to select from and I have no doubt in my mind the food will be excellent.

Amanda and J - Details

2010-03-19T09:15:00.001-05:00

"In a few weeks I will be having my bridal shower on March 28th (Palm Sunday), my Aunt Cindy and My Mom are throwing it. I spent part of this afternoon texting with Cindy about ideas and games. I honestly have never been to a Bridal Shower before. Lots of Baby Showers though. I only know a few details but trust that they will make it a wonderful afternoon to chill out and enjoy the company of family and friends just a short six days before my wedding. To add to the fun the guys are welcome to come.

I completed the registry two weeks ago going on line and in the store to find things that we need for the house. Though having lived together for a few years there really isn't much that we need that we don't have but lots that needs to be updated and replaced. But I also had fun with it. Adding in a few odd ball things that will make people laugh and scratch their heads. But then again to J and I to it is perfectly normal to ask for beer, zip ties and rope for gifts, things that we use on a regular basis. I also added my favorite soda and a new mail box along with paint rollers. Most of what we need is to make improvements to the house. I suggest having a large range in prices. Most of ours is under $40.00, but there are a lot of things that are under $20.00. I say don't pick anything that you wouldn't buy for yourself. Also if there is one thing that you want that is a bit expensive let your guest know that they can pitch in as a group and buy it or even gift cards go a long way.

We are having our engagement pictures done on March 16th, Lisa Authier is our photographer. She does some amazing work. you can look her up on Facebook (her website is being worked on). I meet her through my hair stylist/friend Cathie. Lisa was able to work with our budget and we will be getting some beautiful pictures of our big day. I can't wait to work with her.

There really hasn't been much going on with the planning. Spent most of last week not even thinking about it which was fine until I was at work setting up Easter decorations and baskets then it all hit me again. I really must be crazy to do this on such short notice but then again I thrive in chaos. I will be ordering my cake on the 19th, J's mom is buying it and the grooms cake as our wedding present.

Well that is all for now and as always 70 degree days with blue skies and fluffy clouds on my wedding day and yours."

Meagan and Scotty - Flowers and Invitations

2010-03-17T08:38:00.003-05:00

"After my dress purchase, I began immediately calling vendors for quotes and asking around! Networking is your best bet! I knew I did not want a very big flower production and maybe even someone to do them out of their home.
I knew what particular color purple I wanted, but had no absolute flower that I had to have.
That made it a little difficult, but after meeting with a florist suggested to me by Something Blue [Bridal Shoppe,] Flowers by Patty with Patty Davis, and looking at some pictures in magazines, I decided on hydrangeas! They are a childhood favorite of mine! She has been amazing to work with, very flexible and prompt! I have been so blessed!
Next, we tackled invitations. We had close friends who married in November who used Target invitations and looked great! We bought some boxed invitations from Target that come 50 per box, with an outer envelopes, 50 RSVPs and the envelopes for those! They range from $20 to $40 depending on the design.

We really did great with those and saved a ton of money! It just depends on if that’s something extremely important to you. The boxed invitations come with a piece of paper that allows you to download a trial version of software for 60 days that will make printing invitations easy! All of the designs by that company are listed and you simply select your design, font and print! We printed all of our own. They actually looked very nice! I was very pleased!"

Meagan & Chris - Colors, flowers, gowns

2010-03-15T08:48:00.004-05:00

We haven't heard from Meagan and Chris in awhile. Meagan began blogging for us about a year ago at the beginning of their 15 engagement/wedding planning period. To refresh your memory, they are college students living in 2 different states and paying for their own wedding. Meagan's stepmom and dad gave her the gift of the services of Debra Harris of Visions by Debra. A good wedding planner can help you save money. Meagan and Chris have had to carefully evaluate their decisions and make compromises to accommodate their budget.
Meagan tells us, "Debra, my wonderful wedding coordinator, helped me choose the decor and is designing the bouquets. My reception is in a beautiful barn at Sugar Grove Carriage house and so I wanted [the decor] to be elegant, non-expensive, but not TOO over the top. As I was looking through Debra's books I found a watering pitcher used to water flowers and instantly fell in love! I thought that would be adorable for the barn theme if we put Gerber daisies in them. That was all that I really put in to the decor. I let Debra [Visions by Debra Harris] take over with ideas from there.
My colors are watermelon and tangerine for the most part with some yellow and purple thrown in. I LOVE pink and I knew I didn't want a pastel color and I looked at David's Bridal to see what pinks they had and watermelon was it. I also did not want my bridesmaids to all wear the same color and I have always like orange with pink so I chose tangerine from David's bridal.
As for gown shopping...I went to David's Bridal because there were many dresses in their magazine that I LOVED. However, when I tried them on, they didn't look as good on me as they did on the models. Go figure... So the woman that was helping me brought one over that she thought I would like. When she showed it to me I thought it was hideous! It was nothing like the dresses I had fallen in love with in the magazines. I reluctantly tried it on and to my surprise, it was prettier than the other dresses. Unfortunately the dress was $600. Luckily, they had that same dress in a size larger than mine on clearance for half off because some of the bead work was messed up. The woman helping me asked their seamstress if it would be more cost efficient to get it taken in rather than to purchase the other dress that was actually my size and it of course was. I have been very lucky during this journey to our big day!"

Meagan and Scotty - Gowns

2010-03-12T08:50:00.002-06:00

"I believe the first purchase was my dress, a Casablanca gown from The Bride’s Boutique, in December of 2009. They said this was plenty of time to get it in time for our April wedding (taking into account some dress production sites are down for Christmas, The New Year and The Chinese New Year).

My bridesmaids also got their Bill Levkoff dresses from there and had their orders placed in December also. I had the girls in black, for a combination of reasons: purple is my accent color and is hard to duplicate exact shades of purple and the wedding is at 6:00 in the evening.

The Boutique is an amazing place, where I got both of my prom dresses. They have never let me down! I love that boutique experience and how personal they are. They do not dress you unless you want them too (important for a modest bride like myself) and the rooms to dress in are HUGE!! They didn’t sell me a slip or a bra-because I don’t NEED one with my dress! They weren’t pushy and gave me their honest opinions (even when a dress was not good for me).

I actually didn’t find a dress the first day. I had to go back and was really disappointed. However, after a phone call with Michelle, a room was ready for me when I got off work. I had told her my size, budget and favorite things about different gowns I had tried on. She had about six dresses in the room for me and one of those was the ONE! It was a great day!"

The Brides Boutique is located at 329-M Warfield Blvd. 552-4866. No appointment required.

Meagan and Scotty - Locating venues

2010-03-10T09:11:00.003-06:00

We immediately began our planning. Our first big decision was the venue. We attend Grace Community and do not have a church building yet. So we went in search of people who would kindly let us use their facility at a minimal fee. We decided on First Missionary Baptist Church who has been amazing to us. We are so blessed!
The next decision was finding a reception hall large enough to hold our guest list. We ended up choosing Water Street Events Center. It is a higher fee that we originally anticipated, but the facilities are absolutely beautiful, we get it for the entire day and they are very flexible and easy to work with! We look forward to seeing it all on our celebration night!

Welcome to Meagan & Scotty

2010-03-08T09:05:00.008-06:00

If you followed the Q108 Wedding Giveaway sponsored by ClarksvilleBrides.com, you should be familiar with this couple in this setting. Scotty was the very first person to register for the giveaway. I remember thinking how great it was that a Groom was first to sign up! They became the winning couple and have agreed to blog for us about their experience before and after winning the prize.
Meagan tells, us,"What an adventure this has all been! My fiancé, Scotty, proposed on a family vacation to Gatlinburg on November 11, 2009! He wanted it to be something special with my family and had already asked my dad for my hand. He also knows me well enough to know I am hardly traditional and instead of getting to propose against a beautiful mountain view (mostly because of the rain), I was thrilled that he proposed in the new aquarium! We had been dating since April of that year, so we dated for about seven months prior to our engagement.
We decided on a six-month engagement, but due to scheduling issues, the date of April 30, 2010 ended up making it a five-month engagement! I was nervous at first that people would think that was too short of an engagement, but we actually received a lot of positive feedback! Apparently, short engagements are nice!! I can now validate that fact; it’s the perfect blend of excitement, anxiety and initiative!
Prior to proposing, Scotty had done his homework on buying a ring! He wanted a very high quality ring rather than a high quantity ring! He ended up making his purchase from Dustin’s Jewelers, on Wilma Rudolph Blvd. Our friends also went there and were very pleased. It’s a beautiful ring! Dustin was very kind to us, especially with Scotty being a city firefighter. He says he always works with our military and city service employees. He says they do so much for the community-he wants to give something back!"

Ashley & Adam - Our Featured Wedding

2010-03-05T08:17:00.008-06:00

It can't be easy planning your wedding from out of town, but Knoxville residents Ashley & Adam obviously did a great job with their Clarksville wedding. See their feature.
Photography by Shea

Courtney & Randy - Choosing a photographer

2010-03-02T10:33:00.002-06:00

"So we have the basics, we've chosen a date and the venues. Besides the food
the thing I am most excited about is the photography. I really like more art
driven photography but with a touch of the traditional things you still want
when you're thinking about wedding photography. Of course you want the
photos of all the families and bridal and groom parties, but I also liked
the aspect of the smaller details being photographed such as: the
invitations, the flowers, the venues etc. Our choice of photographer was a
no brainer for me as she had just done my matron of honor's wedding and I
LOVED the photos, Rachael Ritchie Photography was the one! I corresponded
with her via e-mail to ensure our date was open and then got her a deposit
and signed contract. We are planning a more detailed sit down meeting with
her soon to discuss exactly what we like when it come to photography. I know
she will do a wonderful job mixing art with tradition."

Welcome back to Amanda and J

2010-03-01T10:44:00.004-06:00

"It's me again! J and I took some time off from being engaged to sort out our lives and make sure that we really wanted to be together forever. The answer is YES, we do love and truly enjoy each others company. You would think that we would have known this by now. Come on - five and a half years into this thing and we each had doubts. Those are gone now. I know that he is the man that I want to wake up to everyday from now until the end of time.
So April 2, 2010 will be our wedding day. No waiting around until next year or even three months. I have less than six weeks to pull off a beautiful yet scaled down wedding. No big party type reception just cake and punch maybe a first dance or two. So the major things are already underway to being done. We chose Billy Dunlop Park for the ceremony and reception. It is beautiful in the early spring with all the trees and the sound of the West Creek. Our Ceremony will be on the bridge just us and about 20 of our closest family and friends. The mini reception will be at the pavilion.
My Aunt Cindy is in charge of the decorations. She is the craftiest person I know, and has decorated many of the weddings in my family. I am making all the flower arrangements myself. And for around $100 - I might add - using artificial roses and hydrangeas from Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree.
My bouquet will be live Schwarz Calla Lilies. The boutonnieres will be made by myself with a little help from J's job, thanks to him I was able to decimate three laptop keyboards for the letters I will be using to add a little touch of a major part of his life.
I had gotten my dress last year so that just needs to be altered a tiny bit. My maid-of-honor will be J's sister Afton and my friend Sami will be my bridesmaid. His two best friends will be standing up for him. My baby sister Emily will be holding the rings for us. She is a little to old to be a flower girl but not quite old enough to be a bridesmaid.
OHHH the rings will be claddaghs, a tribute to our shared Irish heritage. I am still waiting to get an engagement ring but I wear my claddagh in the engaged position on my left ring finger (heart pointing to the tip of the finger) After the wedding it will be flipped to the married position pointing towards the wrist.
My hair stylist Cathie and I will soon begin the search for the perfect bridal hair, and it is through her that I have meet the woman who will be photographing the entire shindig.
My Mom is planning the Bridal Shower for the Sunday before the wedding. And I want to take this moment to thank her for being the wonderful mother that she is. Not only has she put up with and supported all my crazy ideas over the last 24 years, she is doing everything that she possibly can to make sure that I have the best wedding possible, while still planning two birthday parties for my sister and my Pawpaw and add the fact that my birthday is April 3 I know that I am making her crazy right now. So Momma, Thank You from the bottom of my heart for everything that you have done for me and continue to do, L.Y.M.I. Speaking of my Pawpaw he will be walking me down the aisle that day I should tell him that :).

With all that is going on I have a few things to share with any bride to be that is feeling a little crazy about all the planning.

1) BREATHE, it's not that bad.
2) If there is any doubt about the man you are marrying do not be afraid of taking some time to figure everything out. This may mean that you have to call the whole thing off but trust me it is worth it in the long run.
3) Don't be afraid to use discount stores. Check sales ads and if you belong to a wholesale club or have a store discount like I do USE IT. Clearance aisles are great for finding nice things that are no longer being ordered.
4) Get a pedicure and relax. Spend one day not thinking about invitations, R.S.V.P.'s or flowers. Enjoy the last days of being single.
5) Remember what is important. It is not about the cost of things or the way you wear you hair; it is about the two of you spending your lives together. Remember you are agreeing to be a witness to this person's life to make sure that they are remembered, to paraphrase Susan Sarandon's character in "Shall we dance?"
6)Make sure you have at least one person to keep you grounded. For me that is J and always will be. Tell that person to speak up when they think that you are getting little crazy. And make sure that they will help you when you need it most.

Well now is the time to pray to the universe that there will be beautiful blue skies with fluffy white clouds and 70 degree temps on my wedding day and all of yours, because how dare the weather defy us by not cooperating on these our wedding days."

-Amanda

Checking in with Meagan

2010-02-24T08:12:00.003-06:00

"Well, we are having trouble with our ceremony venue. We love the beautiful altar that the church has, but we are finding more and more that there are some restrictions that nobody really told us about from the beginning. We are looking into ironing out those details, but if it doesn't pan out we have decided to go with my fiance's church.

We have also met with a DJ and booked him for our date.....Big Fish out of Clarksville TN. He is very personable and will do what it takes to make your wedding about you. He doesn't charge for set-up....only for the hours that his services are used. I am very excited to have him and can't wait to see what he will do at our reception.

We have also figured out our center pieces for the reception....thanks to Debra [Debra Harris of Visions by Debra.] She has been amazing at finding elegant but cheap decor and I am so thankful we have her. Other than that, we still have little odds and ends to complete before the big day and that's it!"

Chelsea - Selecting my photographer

2010-02-16T08:42:00.004-06:00

When it came to picking a photographer, there was definitely no hesitation. I already knew I wanted Taylor Cooper to take our pictures. As soon as Stephen proposed to me, she was the first person I thought of when it came to photography. After I called my family and friends with the good news, I immediately got on Facebook to send her a message and told her I would be more than honored to have her capture our special day.
Taylor and I first met my sophomore year in college when we had a class together. We instantly became friends because our personalities were exactly the same. I always looked at her work online and knew she had a special talent that I wanted to be a part of.
Taylor and I decided she would shoot our engagement and wedding pictures along with my bridal portraits. Taylor offers 8 hours of photography on our wedding day which is more than enough time. She will be there from the time I start getting ready until Stephen and I depart the reception. Taylor is more than my photographer; she is truly a good friend. Stephen and I took engagement pictures over Thanksgiving break and it was such a great experience. Taylor knew exactly what she wanted for us and where she wanted to shoot. Her vibrant personality and exquisite photography skills made the engagement session a great experience. I can’t wait to work with her in the future.
Our thanks to Taylor for the use of her images in Chelsea's blog entries.

Blaire & Chris - Reception Elements

2010-02-12T08:48:00.004-06:00

Our current featured wedding couple, Blaire and Chris, are sharing some images and ideas from their reception.

Blaire's toss bouquet was made out of a fake arrangement of flowers with gift certificates attached. They thought this would encourage all the single ladies to make it to the dance floor - and it did! It was a huge hit!

This is the back of their menu - they created Blaire and Chris trivia for their guests to answer! It's a fun activity which engages the guests with their table mates and entertains them while waiting for the party to get started.

Chelsea - Selecting my bridal party

2010-02-10T07:42:00.009-06:00

Selecting my bridal party was not an easy task. It was one of the hardest things I had to do in a long time. After several days of thinking, I finally selected my 10 bridesmaids. That’s right, 10 bridesmaids. There is no way I can survive my big day without these ladies.
Rebekah Cooper was the first person I called when Stephen proposed to me. After sharing the good news with her, I immediately asked her to be my maid of honor. Rebekah is my sorority big sister and the first person I turn to when I need something. She constantly watches out for me and is not afraid to correct me when I am wrong, which isn’t a lot.
My sister Becky was the next person I called with the good news. She was the one who introduced me to Stephen. Becky will be my matron of honor. Both my maid and matron of honors names are Rebecca, just spelled different.
Chelsea Burkhart Wooten was the third person I called after Stephen proposed to me. She is one of my sorority sisters and we have the same major and minor, English Education. She and I have been inseparable throughout college.
Lauren Staggs and I met in college and instantly became friends. Our weekly hot chocolate dates blossomed into an everlasting friendship. She is one of my very best friends and could not imagine my life without her.
Magen Ladd, Kendyl Davis, Leann Oakley, and Jessica Monfries are also my sorority sisters. Magen, Leann, and myself worked together at the YMCA and spend countless hours together. Kendyl is not only my hairdresser, but she is one of the best friends I will ever have. Jessica and I also have the same major and minor, but she is a year older than I am. After she constantly helped me with homework, we became instant friends.
Lindsey Pendergrass in my high school best friend. She and I never spent a moment apart during middle and high school. After we went our separate ways during college, we still managed to keep in contact.
Sarah Sutusky Alphin is Stephen’s incredible sister. She welcomed me into her family with open arms. These ladies have played a huge part in my life and have already been an enormous help during wedding planning.

Chelsea - Selecting a Venue and Church

2010-02-07T23:03:00.001-06:00

I already had a venue in mind before I started searching around Clarksville. My junior year of high school, we had our prom in the ballroom of the Riverview Inn. The room was beautifully decorated and the staff was so nice. Everyone remembers that specific prom being the best because there was a lot of room to move around unlike years before and the atmosphere made everything perfect. My sophomore year of college, my sorority had our spring formal in the ballroom as well. We had an absolute blast!

The Riverview Inn is also in a great location in Clarksville. It has an amazing view of the river and there are several historic sites for out of town guests to visit. In order to accommodate our out of town guests and Clarksville residents at the same time, we decided to include most of our wedding weekend events at the Riverview Inn.

Our rehearsal dinner will be held in the Montgomery Room on June 4, 2010 and our reception will be held following the wedding in the Ballroom. I knew that the ballroom looked like, but I wanted to see it with no decorations for myself. I emailed Mike Turner and he immediately set up an appointment with me. Mike welcomed me into his office with open arms along with his partner Charlsie Griffin. Mike took me on a tour of the hotel and I instantly knew this is where I wanted to have my wedding festivities.

We decided to have a buffet style dinner at the rehearsal dinner and hors d'oeuvres at the reception. We haven’t selected what items we will have, but we have a good idea of what we want. We also set aside rooms for our family and friends to reserve, which is ideal for our out of town guests.

I have been a member of Park Lane Church of the Nazarene for 15 years and I couldn’t imagine getting married somewhere else. Stephen has been with me several times and he enjoys the services. There was little discussion about the church; we knew we wanted to get married there. We are planning a fabulous ceremony followed by an exciting reception.

Chelsea & Stephen - Setting the Date

2010-02-04T10:31:00.001-06:00

Stephen and I knew from the moment we started to talk about setting a date we wanted a summer wedding. A fall or spring wedding was out of the conversation because we live eight hours apart, I am in my final semester of college, and he works during the year. There is no extra time during the semester due to our schedules. We first decided to get married June 12, 2010, but there was not a room available at the venue or church we selected, so we decided to get married June 5, 2010. June weddings in Tennessee are beautiful and it is not too hot. After the wedding, we will depart Nashville for a week in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

Kayla & JB - The Cakes

2010-02-01T22:26:00.001-06:00

I have been looking at cakes for a long time now, probably since the beginning, trying to decide what I liked. There are so many beautiful ones to choose from, but I made my decision on how it would fit into the wedding style I was going for. I love the romantic, formal, traditional style and that is what I wanted my cake to reflect.

My mom, Carly, and I visited Carrie Rains of Cakes by Carrie one Thursday evening at Carrie's home. I brought pictures that I had printed off of the internet of what I wanted my cakes to look like. Bringing a picture helped Carrie see what I wanted and it also put us on the same page. I never imagined that I would be able to have a 5 tier cake, but Carrie helped us create one that will fit into our budget. We also got to taste the flavors of the cake. I am not a big cake person, but her cake was wonderful!

We tasted raspberry, chocolate, strawberry, white and lemon. We decided that since our cake was going to be five tiers anyway we would use every flavor, because they were all so good it was hard to choose. The bottom layer will be raspberry, the next will be white, then lemon, then strawberry and the top tier will be raspberry again, my favorite! Plus, that is the part that JB and I will get to keep until our first anniversary!

I didn't forget the chocolate cake! The groom's cake will be chocolate. I don't want to give away the groom's cake because I would like for it to be a surprise to JB, but it is going to be fantastic! I can't wait to see it and I can't wait to see JB's reaction!

Kayla & JB - Invitations

2010-01-29T11:01:00.002-06:00

When my mom and I went to meet with Jennifer from Invitation Creations by Jennifer I wasn't expecting to find one that I liked that day. I really didn't even know what I wanted as far as invitations went. However, Jennifer welcomed us into her home office and we got at the task right away. She pulled out all different kinds of books for me to look through. Some of the invitations were very traditional and others were the extreme opposite, being very modern.

As I looked through the books, Jennifer had me place sticky notes on the invitation pages that I liked. She also had me look at the wording and text to see what I liked in that area. The more and more invitations that I looked through the more I realized that my style was traditional. The invitation that I ended up picking out was a formal, traditional invitation that included my navy blue color. I am very happy with our invitations and my mom was happy they came in right at our budget!

Jennifer was very helpful and continues to be helpful as we e-mail her back and forth on making sure we have the right wedding invitation etiquette.

Courtney - now comes the where

2010-01-26T10:33:00.001-06:00

Ok, so we have decided on the when, now comes the where. Where do we have the ceremony and what type of reception do we want to have? A sit down dinner or just finger food and cake?

So, this is what I did. Randy surprised me by leaving a notebook for me to begin writing down ideas, phone numbers and other lists in. First I started by going to ClarksvilleBrides.com, I checked out the list of reception sites and wrote down the phone numbers for all of them. Then I started calling everyone on the list, mainly to see if places were already booked and to get some general cost ideas. I quickly learned, to my surprise, a lot of places were already booked.

We had attended my matron of honor’s wedding back in mid-October and their reception was at the Hilton Garden Inn, which was amazing, the hotel is beautiful and Chef Hay is outstanding, but I wanted to make sure we were getting the most out of our money so even though I called all the places the Hilton Garden Inn was at the top of my list. Randy got in touch with Katja at the Hilton and learned there was in fact an opening for May 1st. I was so excited because I knew this was the place so we put our deposit down!

With me being a University of Tennessee football fan and Randy being a University of Kentucky basketball fan, we decided to have a split reception, half of our tables will be UT orange themed the other have will be the royal blue of UK themed! Originally we wanted to do just finger food and cake but after looking at the menus for the Hilton Garden Inn, we will get more out of actually doing a sit down dinner. We are still finalizing the menu, but I’m sure with Chef Hay everything will be yummy!

Stealing another idea from my matron of honor’s wedding, the Smith/Trahern mansion was really the only place on my list for a ceremony site. Sadly, they were already booked. Since my Grandmother lives in Clarksville and has attended the same church, where I was christened, for many years, I called and they did not have anything booked for May 1st. So we quickly returned our paper work and deposit and sealed the date with New Providence United Methodist Church.

More of our current Featured Wedding

2010-01-21T10:11:00.008-06:00

We promised you more images of Blaire's wedding and here they are!
All photos are courtesy of Amanda Logan Photography.

Kayla & JB - Bridesmaids dresses

2010-01-20T10:20:00.008-06:00

We haven't heard from Kayla in a while and we're delighted to have her back to work on her wedding and sharing with us!

Kayla tells us, "Since my last blog I have graduated from college and become a real adult, ha! Maybe not a complete real adult yet, but I have had a lot more time to relax and enjoy planning our wedding without the stress of schoolwork. Back in September my bridesmaids, my mom, my future mother-in-law and I went to visit Carly at at The Brides Boutique to try on bridesmaids dresses. I already knew the color and designer I wanted but I wasn't quite sure on the style of the dress. I chose Bill Levkoff because the dresses are such a good quality and the dark blue/navy color they had matched wonderful with what I was going for.

My bridesmaids tried on lots of different dresses, from short to long and everything in between. We all decided on a long dress that flattered each of the girls. It was really helpful to have my bridesmaids there to help me pick out a dress. I could see what looked good on everyone and not just one girl. It also helped that they were all so wonderful to take time out of their Saturday to come do this for me. They all got along great and decided on a dress that they all liked. They aren't just good bridesmaids, but true wonderful friends. Only one bridesmaid was missing but she is so easy going that we all knew she would like the dress we picked out. I had such a fun day and got another thing checked off the list!"

Introducing Chelsea & Stephen - The Love Story

2010-01-18T07:44:00.003-06:00

Stephen and I briefly met in the summer of 2007 while I was visiting my sister in South Carolina. My sister and I went to her school where she teaches (and Stephen) to grab some things from her classroom. My sister said she wanted me to meet one of her friends and I thought nothing of it.
We stopped by the cafeteria where the football players were eating lunch after practicing all morning. Stephen coaches football, so he was overlooking the football players as they were eating. Did I mention he coaches wrestling and soccer too? That is when I first met Stephen. Our meeting lasted less than five minutes, but we each fondly remembered one another. After that day, I never thought about him again until he added me on Facebook and got my number from my sister. While Stephen was hanging out with some friends in October of 2007, he asked my sister, Becky, for my number. We started casually texting back and forth, but I still thought nothing of the situation. I returned to visit my sister in South Carolina again for spring break 2008. My sister invited Stephen to eat at her house with Chelsea and her own husband Eric, however, it turned out to be a somewhat awkward moment especially when Becky and Stephen's mutual friend, Patrick, decided to visit unexpectedly. Despite the awkward dinner Saturday night, I agreed to go to a movie with Stephen on Monday evening. However, the rest of the week did not go well after Stephen went on a date with a different girl. I was so upset and did not talk to Stephen for the rest of the spring. In July of 2008, my sister convinced me to spend the entire month of July in South Carolina. I had no intention of talking let alone going on a date with Stephen. After much convincing and persuasion, I once again agreed to go out with Stephen. Our date was very basic, dinner and a movie. After our first date, I completely fell head over heels for Stephen. During the month of July we were inseparable watching movies, cooking meals together, visiting Charleston, SC, eating out and visiting with friends and family. We officially began dating the same day Stephen's sister Sarah became engaged on July 31, 2008, however, our month together in July was a prelude of what was to come. I was very skeptical of having a long distance relationship with Stephen but our relationship flourished during the 2008-09 school year while I lived in Tennessee and Stephen in Camden, SC. We both became very familiar with the Charlotte and Nashville airports as we frequently visited one another as their schedules permitted. We spent extended time together during holidays and Stephen spent June 2009 in Tennessee and I spent July in South Carolina. Stephen and I talked about getting married once before, but I had thought nothing about it. With a demanding school schedule and us living eight hours apart, the thought never really crossed my mind. The third weekend in July we vacationed in Hilton Head, South Carolina. We arrived at our hotel shortly after noon on Friday, where we relaxed on the beach for the rest of the day before decided on a romantic meal at the Bonefish Grille.
Following dinner, Stephen asked me to walk on the beach. He was very jittery as we were walking to the beach, which was out of the normal for him. While we were walking shoeless on the beach Stephen got down on one knee and pulled out a beautiful princess cut diamond ring.
I began to cry tears of joy before Stephen could say a word. Stephen asked me to marry him and I said yes without hesitation. We spent the rest of the weekend sunbathing on the beach and poolside before returning back to Camden, SC.

Our latest Featured Wedding

2010-01-14T08:28:00.008-06:00

Blaire and Chris both blogged for us during the planning of their November 7th wedding. We've just posted their Feature on ClarksvilleBrides.com. You can view it HERE.

We'll be posting some of their photos here over the next few weeks. Here is an image of the Groom's Cake representing Chris' love of sushi.

And Blaire's Wedding Cake.

Both photos courtesy of Amanda Logan Photography.

Both cakes were created by Heather Noble of Covered With Icing who exhibited at the ClarksvilleBrides Wedding & Event Showcase last weekend and delighted us all with samples of her delicious baking.

Photo courtesy of Joan of Art Photography.

One final film

2010-01-11T10:36:00.007-06:00

With the following film we say goodbye to Woodrique & Dudley. Check back later this week...we'll be introducing a new blogging bride and a new featured wedding. The film below (quality reduced for upload to this blog) is TurningPoint Productions Mosaic film. It features the highlights of the day. In addition to being included on the Wedding DVD it is posted to a private webpage for the couple to share with their friends and family.

Woodrique & Dudley - Reception film

2010-01-04T08:18:00.002-06:00

Today we're sharing Woodrique & Dudley's Reception film. Danielle of TurningPoint Productions enhanced the video with photos courtesy of A Piece of Forever Photography. I love the way this multimedia presentation works for the Dove Release which was provided by Inspirational Doves.
Remember that video quality is greatly reduced for this blog.

Woodrique & Dudley - PreCeremony film

2009-12-31T18:24:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year, ClarksvilleBrides.
We would like to share with you the PreCeremony film from Woodrique & Dudley's Vow Renewal. The quality of the film has been greatly reduced to upload to this blog.
You can see more sample wedding sample films at TurningPoint Productions.com or call Danielle at 931-920-4220 to request a demo DVD.

Courtney - Now that I’m engaged what happens next?

2009-12-29T07:49:00.002-06:00

Post surprise engagement, I call my family and friends to spread the good news! Everyone is so excited the next obvious question is WHEN? When is this wedding going to happen?

Randy and I originally wanted to get married on February 13, 2010 (our anniversary), but with that being only 5 months away every venue was already booked. So we sat down and started looking at Saturdays in the Spring and came up with May 1st.

With Randy being from Kentucky the first Saturday in May is always an important day, since that’s when the Kentucky Derby is held every year, it’s also a good way for him to always remember our anniversary, ha! So with our WHEN question now having an answer, the next step is WHERE? That’s where the fun begins!

Advice from the Mother of the Bride

2009-12-16T08:40:00.003-06:00

Today's post was submitted by a Mother-of-the-Bride looking back on her daughter's wedding in early November. We thank her very much for contributing her thoughts!

"After my daughter became engaged, we dove headfirst into planning her November wedding. Blaire had LOTS of good ideas and had researched each component of the wedding with meticulous detail. But, oh my, there were so many options and so many choices to be made! It was overwhelming.

When Blaire first mentioned the idea of having a wedding planner/coordinator, I was adamantly against it; I felt she and I could handle the ceremony and reception with ease. HA! When we began discussing the day before the wedding and the actual wedding day, I became overwhelmed with the amount of detail and coordination that was required. I was also painfully aware of my lack of training or expertise in any of the arenas in which we had been thrust. And, to my horror, the “to do” list was growing rapidly and, seemingly, exponentially.

When Blaire and I began talking about “the day of” in detail, I realized there was no way that I could be there for my daughter and get everything done for the ceremony and reception. At that point we asked Carly to let us know what she could do for us. OMG (I normally don’t use text lingoJ) – I was astounded at what Carly could and would do for us AND at the price she quoted ! It was seemingly too good to be true. However, true it was!

We had met Carly at the Bride’s Boutique when we purchased Blaire’s gown. She was so professional and so very knowledgeable. After about a 20 minute conversation, my daughter and I decided we must hire her. That was a GREAT decision! She was with Blaire and me every step of the way, and provided guidance. That is the KEY word – guidance. She didn’t tell us WHAT to do, but actually guided us into making our vision a reality. Without her services I know the ceremony and reception would not have moved forward as beautifully as they did. It was an absolutely wonderful day."

You can learn more about Carly Rager Event Planning and Coordinating at her BLOG and she can be contacted - Daytime: 931-552-4866 Evenings: 615-417-1283 and carlyrager@gmail.com.

And come visit Carly in her booth at the ClarksvilleBrides Wedding & Event Showcase.

Introducing Courtney & Randy - Their Love Story

2009-12-13T13:21:00.006-06:00

Randy and I had actually known each other through mutual friends
for quite sometime before we started dating. We kept in touch as friends
through Myspace; I had interest in him but he always had a girlfriend! So,
when he did finally become available we e-mailed and he ended up asking our
mutual friend for my phone number. He called me that night (February 11,
2007), we went on our first date two nights later (February 13, 2007) and
have been together ever since.
We were "that" couple, you know the one's who say "we'll never get married, we're happy where we are now", although much like every other girl on the face of the earth I always wanted that special day with the white dress! So, after nearly 3 years of dating much to my surprise Randy proposed to me on October 9, 2009, I obviously said "yes" and the rest is history.
Oh I do need to mention he proposed to me with a ring he made me, he made the ring out of the metal from old bread ties and welded them together, he said he made the ring months before the proposal but was
too nervous to give it to me then. The next day we went to Kay Jewelers in Bowling Green and I got to pick out the perfect ring!

“Styling Woodrique’s Personal Wedding Day Makeup

2009-12-09T11:36:00.004-06:00

by Rockelle Coffey, I Do Bridal Makeup

It’s your wedding day it’s time to emphasize your unique features. If you have beautiful eyes or lovely lips play them up. Woodrique had it all. From the moment her presence graced my studio I knew she would be a delight to work with. From our initial phone conversation at my request she brought photographs from magazines of makeup looks that she liked. Her ideal makeup was the “no makeup look”. With so many products available how does a bride select and apply the right product to help her appear radiant on her Big Day?
Woodrique, as so many of my bridal clients, generally wear little or no makeup and they desire that same look on their wedding day. This can be challenging to many makeup artists especially with mature brides (age 30 and up). This bride presented a beautiful canvas. Designing a “no makeup look” style requires more makeup for the illusion of radiant, healthy and flawless skin. We worked together and she got her wish.
Because her wedding day was sure to be a long one, I wanted to strive for a makeup look and application that will hold up for several hours. During our initial consultation and trial run we selected the right foundation. All foundation including airbrush makeup is custom blended because no color out of a tube is a perfect match. A moisturizer followed by primer and Re9 eye cream (Arbonne) was applied to bride’s face before applying foundation. Based on her normal to dry skin type MAC Studio Fix Fluid liquid was selected for a sheer look on her wedding day. A mixture of moisturizer and cover cream was used to cover a few blemishes to avoid a heavy makeup feel. A transparent yellow base powder was dusted lightly over her face complimenting her yellow undertones followed with a peachy in color bronzer as blush. Keeping in mind that mature skin has a tendency to lean more toward the dehydrated side special caution was taken not to overdo it with blush or powder. Keep in mind that blush was designed to spruce up your complexion.
Generally because she was going to be photographed I would have recommended a little more foundation and mascara. Woodrique’s wedding was on a beautiful sunny day, her makeup was applied in natural light to achieve a soft elegant look that would work beautifully inside and outside.
Even though she wanted a natural look she wanted her eyes to stand out, we selected two shades of gold shadows by MAC and Kryolan blended together from lashes up to brow bone. Used as a liner and applied in the crease a deep bronze shadow followed with clear mascara designed to thicken and separate. A touch of peachy beige shadow by Sephora was lightly dusted under the brow bone. Foundation was buffed followed by light contouring. For weddings it is always safe to go with eye shadow colors that blend well with your natural skin tone.
Finally after curling and applying lashes, the inside of Woodrique’s lips were lined and filled in with a light chocolate lip liner to help lipstick last longer. The brides favorite lipstick combination was applied followed with a custom blended tan MAC lip gloss compliments of the artist.

Women of color have more challenging issues in selecting foundations because of the wide range of skin tone. Black skin, even when it is not oily, will reflect light and will look shiny in photos without foundation. If your goal is for a natural look on your wedding day you will still need the right combination of cosmetic products to avoid that “ashy” look often seen. With your makeup ideally you want to strike a balance of being camera ready and being prepared to face your friends and family comfortably. Keep in mind that bridal makeup is a pretty and clean makeup. Your makeup should enhance and make you feel as beautiful as you are.

Woodrique & Dudley - December's Featured Couple

2009-12-06T18:13:00.003-06:00

I really enjoy Woodrique and Dudley's story and the way Woodrique tells it. In the segment below I love two things. First of all, that her bridal attendant understood her role. To attend to the needs of the bride. And secondly, that when something didn't go as planned on the day of the event, that it didn't cause a crisis or any unhappiness but instead created laughter.
Woodrique tells us, "The following personnel were all committed to ensuring Dudley and I and our guests shared an extraordinary celebration: Bridal Attendant ~ LaTonya Groves She made herself available at every turn; luckily she lives just around the corner. We assembled wedding favors, went back and forth on centerpieces, and I could call her when I just wanted to be buggy, ok, just call me a buggy bride, but we had bundles and bundles of laughs.
Especially the moment as I was about to make my way down the staircase and the music skipped, and skipped, and skipped. I motioned to Tonya to inform the ushers to go to Plan B, she relayed the message and in seconds she returns and asks, "What's Plan B?" Laughing almost to tears, my son and I tell her, "THERE IS NO PLAN B". After we gathered our composure, Josh and I shook off the giggles and carefully proceeded down the staircase. Not sure what happened to the music, by now we were carefully strolling to our own beat as the joy and love in the atmosphere embraced us.

Woodrique & Dudley - December's Featured Couple

2009-12-03T13:04:00.003-06:00

Dudley and I obtained our marriage license December 29, 2007, just a few days before he departed for Afghan. He'd always visioned me in a gown, walking down the aisle (as we blew kisses at each other). But on Dec 29th we just made our way to the court house in the cold rain, verified our identity, signed below, and that was it. Our children, DJ, Mia, and Josh were our witnesses. Not even sure if we kissed...but we were now married. Ok, let's celebrate. Not so much. Our family and friends deserved sooo much more because of their love for us.
It wasn't until his return in Jan 09 and we attended his sister's wedding in Mar 09 that we really focused on planning "something" for us, not even sure what to call it at that point. We both just wanted something very simple, almost private, maybe 25 in attendance. Our families would always tease us about our trips to Gatlinburg, implying everytime we had a wedding and didn't invite anyone. Well the count went from 25 to 75 to 125 to 150 just days before. We were warned that would happen.
The movie Fireproof was somewhat of an inspiration and jumpstart of the planning process, but the Song of Solomon was by far the tone and setting of every detail. From the invitation capture, "I have found the one whom my soul loves" to the program capture, "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." Talk about a love story, as you read the Song of Solomon, rejoice not only in the beautiful presentation of the love that can exist between husband and wife, but also indulge in the warmth of a personal love relationship with Christ. Read it to your beloved, I certainly did and we "rejoiced" the night away.

CALLING ALL BRIDES-TO-BE

2009-12-01T08:20:00.002-06:00

No matter what stage your wedding planning is in - from not-quite-engaged to about-to-walk-down-the-aisle - we need you!

Contact us at beth@clarksvillebrides.com to volunteer to blog about your wedding planning.

Blaire & Chris - The Cakes

2009-11-28T08:09:00.003-06:00

When we began planning for our wedding, one of the first vendors that we booked was our cake artist. Heather Noble is based out of Hendersonville, TN and was recommended to me by a fellow teacher at school that was using Heather to create her wedding cake this past summer. After deciding that we would have a black and white wedding, I had the brilliant idea of incorporating one of my favorite things - zebra print. Chris and I talked about it and we decided to go all the way with it and have a zebra print wedding cake! There were a few people that told me we were crazy - but Heather was on board. When we met with her, she had several ideas and showed me a few pictures - we picked one out with a few simple changes and our zebra wedding cake was born. I did, however, change my mind for a bit at the urging of family and friends. When I told Heather that we were thinking we would do a more traditional wedding cake, she was fine with our changes but did urge me to do what I wanted to do. About 3 months before the wedding, I decided I had to have my original and fantastic zebra print wedding cake - and Heather was thrilled with my change of heart.
Chris' cake never changed - he always knew he wanted a sushi inspired groom's cake. Heather went above and beyond when she made the actual sushi pieces out of modeling chocolate instead of fondant. They were so good!

When we saw our cakes at our reception, we were floored! They exceeded our expectations! Looking back, I am so glad that we went with our first choice. It was different and certainly memorable - and delicious!

Blaire Hodge Hughes - A Great Idea

2009-11-22T16:04:00.003-06:00

Blaire and Chris were married November 7th. Some of her details were kept secret until after the wedding. We can share them with you now.
Blaire credits Carly Rager of Carly Rager Event Design & Coordinating with this brilliant idea.
Blaire tells us, "I bought plastic laundry baskets and decorated them with ribbon. I then gave one to each of my bridesmaids to use on the day of the wedding. Carly suggested them so that they would have a way of transporting and keeping track of their belongings during the wedding day, like their shoes, makeup bags, etc. It also helps them take their things back and forth from the car to the church. I liked the idea so much I made one for myself as well!

Blaire & Chris - Post Wedding Thoughts

2009-11-13T07:20:00.003-06:00

Our wedding day was the most stressful and amazing day of my life! I experienced some emotions that I never thought I would. It was frustrating, liberating, exciting, nerve racking and beautiful all at the same time. There are just a few things I would like to pass on that I found to be my biggest challenges and my biggest rewards.

First and foremost, having a coordinator is almost a MUST! I don't know what I would have done without Carly!!!!! She took care of everything - people arriving late, flowers not being exactly right, cues for music, food, etc. She was professional at all times, even when I was having my bridal freak outs. Carly bent over backwards to make sure that Chris and I had the best wedding day we could have ever imagined - and we did! Hiring a wedding coordinator is by far the best money we spent on our wedding - and I HIGHLY recommend Carly Rager!

Have a plan for your pictures. Taking your wedding pictures are by far the most stressful part of the day - for so many different reasons. Gently remind your friends and family that picture time is not time for "chit chat". Get in and get out - all with a smile on your face! Time is really crunched on your wedding day. Knowing what you want ahead of time really helps out in the moment. I also HIGHLY recommend that you schedule a meeting of you and your groom before you are married. Having all of our pictures finished before our ceremony really helped keep the stress at bay.

Remember that it IS your day. This doesn't give the right to be a total witch - but you do get the final say. Just remember that your dealing with a lot of different personalities - the most important ones being your families'. You want to make everyone happy but remember that it's your wedding. Try to continue to be gracious but firm when it comes to your wants and needs. It may also be helpful to have different tasks for your wedding party - this way, you don't totally lose your mind!

Do try and make sure your in-laws are included and are satisfied the days before your wedding. Once your married, your married to them too. Try not to burn any bridges, if you can.

Chris and I went to our rehearsal dinner together, alone. There was a push to go with other members of his family but we requested that it just be myself and Chris. This gave us time to talk and be alone - for the first time in quite a few days! It was nice to have my best friend all to myself, even if it was for a brief time.

Stand up straight. Seriously - I have a few pictures from friends and family that show just how horrible my posture really is!

Wear your garter to the reception only - SO uncomfortable!

My toss bouquet was made of gift certificates - I had a LOT of ladies on the dance floor for that! It was a lot of fun!

Good luck on your big day - remember to BREATHE and ENJOY!

Kristin & Josh - Our Featured Wedding

2009-11-10T07:17:00.004-06:00

We are delighted to announce that our November Featured Wedding - Kristin & Josh - is posted for you on ClarksvilleBrides.

You can view a video of the Highlights of their wedding filmed and edited by TurningPoint Productions right HERE.

Photography used courtesy of Laidlaw Photography.

Kayla & JB - Engagement photo session

2009-10-30T10:03:00.010-05:00

Recently JB and I visited the Halliburton farm to meet with Shea Halliburton to take our engagement pictures. We met with Shea on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the sun was shining and the temperature was just perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better day. We started out taking pictures on the farm with what Shea likes to call her 'junk store chairs.'

We moved from the farm to the Austin Peay baseball field, JB's old stomping grounds, for some really fun pictures. In some of the pictures you can see JB trying to show me how to swing the bat, that was comical! We traveled all over the field from the dug out, to the top of the dug out, to the bleachers, the outfield in front of the score board and the entrance gate. After the baseball field we changed outfits and headed down to the Warehouse. Shea brought out another pretty vintage chair that we used as a prop. We took more pictures around the Warehouse and we even got on the roof! Shea has a wonderful way about making people feel comfortable in front of her camera. JB and I had such a fun afternoon with her. JB wasn't too excited about taking pictures all afternoon but he was such a good sport! We really had fun with it and laughed the entire time.

We got our pictures back this week and they were more than I could have imagined. I feel like Shea truly captured how happy we are and how much we love in other in her pictures. Anyone can take a picture, but I believe that Shea goes beyond taking a picture and editing it. She truly has a talent, a little artistic genius! She even put a special song for us in our slideshow and now I can't stop listening to it. Anyone looking for a photographer for any special event in their life needs to visit byshea.com and watch the slideshows and other pictures she has on her website. You can watch our slideshow at www.byshea.com/kaylaandjb

Blaire & Chris

2009-10-29T08:00:00.006-05:00

We are now just days away from Chris & Blaire's wedding date!
I recently asked our blogging brides to share some of the worst moments of their wedding planning process. We all know it's not always easy and fun, but we tend to only share the sunnier side of it. Blaire sent us the following narrative. I hope her story helps another reader who might be feeling the same.

Engagement Photos:

In April, Chris and I decided to have our engagement pictures taken.
The photographer that we chose includes an engagement session and
bridal portrait session within her prices. I was so excited when we
booked the date - I felt it was going to really get us in the mood to
really celebrate our relationship and continue the momentum of our
planning. To prepare, I decided to start looking online at other
pictures of engaged couples. I also took a peek at several of my
friends on facebook to see how theirs turned out. I carefully picked
out our clothes, did a trail hair run and planned our route to the
farm where we were going to take our shots. I was so excited - and I
knew that it would be a perfect day.

I was SO wrong!

First, my hair didn't go quite as planned. I was worried that it was a
bit too poofy. Instead of staying an extra 10 minutes to calm it down,
I decided to press on because I didn't want to be late. It happened to
be the first "hot" day that we had had up until this time of the year,
so I was already sweating. When we got to the farm, I was so nervous
that I couldn't relax. Every time Amanda lifted her camera to take
another shot, I froze. I kept comparing myself to other brides I had
seen - and I didn't think I measured up. All I could think was that I
wasn't pretty enough or my hair was too poofy or my smile looked
weird. Chris tried so hard to get me to loosen up, but I just
couldn't. I was so obsessed about having the perfect picture that I
didn't enjoy our day. When we received notification that our pictures
were in, I took a look at them and cried and cried and cried. It was
so obvious that I was stiff and unnatural. The pictures are so great
because of Chris. We did purchase some once I stopped throwing myself
a pity party. The funny thing is that friends and family commented
countless times at how natural and in love we looked - and all I
wanted to say was "if you only knew!" I learned a LOT from that day
and am very happy I had my freak out then and not on November 7. I was
able to put it all into perspective. I strive to remember that day and
the feelings I had - what is important is that Chris and I are going
to be husband and wife. I don't want "perfect" pictures anymore, with
special airbrushing and edgy angles; I want pictures that shine with
the love we have for one another.
Photos courtesy of Amanda Logan Photography.

Kristin & Josh - The Honeymoon

2009-10-19T08:31:00.001-05:00

Kristin tells us, "We went to Panama City Beach for 7 nights for our honeymoon; the weather was PERFECT with sunny blue skies everyday. It was pretty funny actually we got a very pleasant surprise when we got there. It was bike week, they call it Thunder Beach. There were sooooo many motorcycles there and they were so loud!! Its something we can laugh about, that's for sure. I know from now on we will be sure to know whats going on where we vacation!"

The Legend of the Nuernberg Bridal Cup

2009-10-15T08:38:00.005-05:00

We promised you more about our October Featured Bride, Lauren Gettier Smock. For their toast they observed the tradition written below.

Centuries ago, in the old Nuernberg, the nobel mistress Kunigunde, fell in love with a young and ambitious goldsmith. Although Kunigunde’s wealthy father (a powerful nobleman) did not approve of this pair, it was clear that she only wanted the goldsmith to be her husband as she refused many titled and rich suitors who asked for her hand in marriage.

Her father became so enraged that he had the young goldsmith thrown into the darkest dungeon. Not even his daughter’s bitter tears would change her father’s mind.

To her father’s dismay, imprisoning the young man did not end his daughter’s love for the goldsmith. Instead, he could only watch as his daughter grew paler and paler as a result of the separation from her true love.

The wealthy nobleman reluctantly made the following proposal: He told his daughter, “If your goldsmith can make a chalice from which two people can drink at the same time without spilling one single drop, I will free him and you shall become his bride”.

Of course he was certain nobody could perform such a task…

Inspired by love and with skillful hands, the young goldsmith created a masterpiece. He sculpted a girl with a smile as beautiful as his own true love’s. Her skirt was hollowed to serve as a cup. Her raised arms held a bucket that swivels so that it could be filled and then swing towards a second drinker.

The challenge was met. The goldsmith and the nobleman’s daughter joined hands in marriage and with the bridal cup set forth a romantic and memorable tradition as charming today as it was originally hundreds of years ago.

To this day and to many couples the chalice remains a symbol. Love, faithfulness and good luck await the couple who drink from this cup.

Photos courtesy of Cozette Winters Photographer

Another Web Site Suggestion from Blaire

2009-10-12T08:44:00.003-05:00

Over the years, I have noticed that there are several "extras" that are used frequently at weddings. Guest books, cameras for guests to take candid shots, and signature picture mats. During our planning, Chris and I searched for all three of these things. I have really tried to include some different types of things in our wedding so that Chris and I "stood out". When we were picking our cake topper, I ran across another website that seemed different. It's called Say Anything Ceramics.. What I found was amazing!

They make hand made guest books that are gorgeous. They also have sand ceremony vases, sparklers of different lengths, signature picture mats, and several other products that are truly unique. What really caught our eye are the custom guest book platters. These platters are similar to a signature frame in that a special pen is used for guests to leave their name and a nice message. The difference is that they are serving platters! They have square, circle, rectangular and even vases. Included in your order is wording and a design. They are several designs to chose from or you can use a custom one instead. We chose to order one with a custom H and our names/wedding date underneath the H. I actually sent a picture of our wedding invitation and they created the proof for us.

Another product that they offer are "stickpics". These are the green alternatives to disposable cameras used at reception tables. Instead of having disposable cameras to develop and then toss in the trash, they offer a really cool alternative. You create a decal using a website that you would like your guests to send the digital pictures they take from your wedding. They have several different designs, including different colors to chose from. They come on a small , square instruction card that includes a removable decal with your website information. We ordered these as well and they are so cute! I'm looking forward to creating a digital slideshow after our wedding to showcase the pictures our guests take during the festivities!

I hope you guys like this site as much as we did. I think it adds a really unique twist to your wedding. Also check out the "just married" car decals - so cute!

Hot Tip on Garters from Blaire

2009-10-08T08:46:00.005-05:00

I found the cutest website for garters! It's GartersbyKristi.com

They have everything from camo and John Deere to keepsake brooch garters. They are truly stunning. I wanted to share the website with my fellow brides to be!

If you've found a great online source for a bridal item, please share with us!

Lauren & Jason - The Invitations

2009-10-06T13:56:00.002-05:00

Lauren told us, "Invitation Creations by Jennifer did my invitations. I also met her at the Clarksville bridal show. I wish you had a picture of one of my invitations."

So we checked in with Jennifer and she sent us this image and the following description.

"The invitation was a black pocket invitation that neatly held the ceremony cards...Response set, Reception card and Accommodation card. The print was black highlighting the significant parts of the ensemble in green to go along with the wedding colors. The invitation was layered with a shiny ecru card behind a flat ecru card with the printing. The invitation also had a tab on the front flap and Lauren chose to have the names of each guest printed on the tabs at the same time as her invitations to match the typestyle. The invitations were beautiful and represented Lauren and Jason perfectly, as well as the formality of their wedding."

Thank you Jennifer and Lauren for sharing with us!

Lauren & Jason - The Venue

2009-10-04T12:33:00.006-05:00

We started planning a year in advance so that we could get all the vendors we really wanted! I was having a hard time deciding about a reception site, until one of my friends told me about the new Hilton hotel opening up at exit 4. [The Hilton Garden Inn 931-647-1096.]

I went to check it out and fell in love with the site immediately! We had a lot of out of town guests so that fact that it was in a hotel was an added bonus. It was beautiful inside and the staff there were so friendly and very easy to work with.

Chef Hay did an amazing job on the food and cake. I received many compliments on how wonderful the dinner was at the wedding. It was so nice that she did our cake also. It saved us the trouble of having to find another vendor for our cake and worry about transportation to the reception. It made planning just a little bit easier, and every bit helps!

Photos courtesy of Cozette Winters.

Kayla & JB - DJ

2009-09-30T12:35:00.003-05:00

We ran into Kayla at The Bride's Boutique 10th Anniversary Event. She was excited to have booked her DJ. In her own words, "I didn't think that picking our DJ would have been that big of a task and to be honest it really wasn't that hard, but all of the DJs that we went to visit were all so qualified and seemed like they would do a great job. My mom and I visited three DJs in Nashville over the last few weeks. We met with Michael B, then Spangler Entertainment at their studio in Hendersonville and our last stop was to meet with Nashville Party Authority. All of these DJs were more than qualified and I don't think that I could have gone wrong with any one of them but I just felt a connection with Michael B. I had already heard great things about Michael B from Beth and Danielle (ClarksvilleBrides & Turning Point Videography) so I was excited to meet him. He was extremely friendly and talked to us like he had known us forever. He has been in the business for 33 years and was the DJ for Garth Brooks at his wedding reception and the DJ for Alan Jackson & Brooks and Dunn at various parties. Since JB is in Illinois and can't be here for all of the planning, he was most definitely all for Michael B when I told him the big names he had worked for! Before the first dance he has this bit that he calls the "Love Story." JB and I will both fill out a question sheet separately about how me met and our lives together thus far. Michael B is going to put our stories together and read it aloud before our first dance. I am super excited about this. I hope it turns out great! He also does some interesting things with the grand entrance of the wedding party, so that should get everyone's attention. I have faith in Michael B that he will keep our reception fun and entertaining, but also classy."

Blaire & Chris - Calligraphy

2009-09-27T15:51:00.003-05:00

Before I became a teacher, I owned my own scrapbook business. It wasn't very big but I had a lot of fun doing it. One of the things that I prided myself on was my ability to produce hand written alphabets. I loved creating new letters and designs and felt that if I could market myself, I could really go far. However, I never did. I instead finished my degree and moved into teaching. When Chris and I purchased our invitations, I knew that I wanted to use calligraphy for the addresses. I tried so hard to teach myself but it never looked quite right. I was really disappointed - I felt that it would really add some elegance to our invitations but was at a total loss as to what to do. Around this time, the art teacher at my school, Travis Stanley, did a unit on calligraphy. My students were so excited to show me their work and in doing so, showed me the example that Mr. Stanley did for them. I was floored! It was perfect and exactly what I was looking for. I approached him about doing our invitations and he said absolutely. His fee was very reasonable and he was able to get them done, all 110 of them, in a matter of 3 days. This weekend my mom and I stuffed our invitations - I was so excited to see the finished product. I could not be happier with Mr. Stanley's work - he is such a talented artist! If you or someone you know is interested in having some calligraphy work done for a wedding or any other event. please email Travis Stanley at tastanley78@yahoo.com. You won't be disappointed!

Blaire & Chris - The DJ

2009-09-16T08:54:00.003-05:00

When Chris and I began discussing our reception, one of our first
decisions was the type of reception we wanted to have. We knew we
wanted a joyful, religious ceremony within the church but felt
strongly that we should show our guests a great time at the reception.

Music, we knew, would be one of the biggest elements that would help
us set the tone. We decided that we wanted to have an 80s music themed
reception. We love 80s music and feel that coupled with a few of the
"standard" songs played, we would be sure to have a party!

I heard through some friends of a local DJ in town that was high energy and
had an extensive collection of records. It just so happens that I
teach with his sister-in-law, so I had an in. She put me in touch with
Alex Adames of Adames Association Productions (Sound Express).

When we met up with him, we knew that we had the perfect DJ. Not only was he
professional, but he was so excited to hear that we wanted a (mostly)
80s music themed reception. What we loved the most was his contract.
It was incredibly detailed with tips on how to get the most bang for
our buck. Alex even suggested the order of events that he thought we
would be most comfortable with. He made sure to note the songs that we
definitely wanted played and those that we didn't want played.

Within a few days of meeting, he sent us a CD that included several mixes of
different songs that we had suggested. We are incredibly excited to
have Alex as a part of reception and we are confident that our guests
will enjoy his work!