Southern Weddings Magazine - Official Bride Blogger!

If you haven't checked out the Southern Weddings blog then you should. It's chocked full of beautiful Southern weddings - everything from beach weddings, to garden weddings, to traditional church weddings, to weddings held under beautiful live oak trees...only like the South can do it. (sidenote - I LOVE live oak trees....Mark and I were very very close to booking a venue in Mobile mainly because of my love of live oak trees. They're just so majestic.) Seriously though, this blog is the place to go if you need some inspiration or even if you're looking to find a vendor - especially photography. I actually found our photographer through looking at the amazing weddings they feature on the SW blog. And just a tip - if you see a wedding you like ALWAYS look to see who their vendors were...most blogs will list a lot of the vendors, but if you see something that you like that is not listed then just ask! ...that's what the comments section is for!

The SW blog also has a section of their website devoted to featuring Southern Bride Bloggers. These bride bloggers are hand-picked by the ladies at Southern Weddings and guess who their newest blogger edition is? ....Yep, that's right....it's me!! :) I'm so honored and so excited to have been chosen as an official Southern Weddings Bride Blogger! They're currently working on creating a logo tile for me to go on their site so it isn't up yet, but I'm told it should be up within a few weeks. Yay! :) 

B-E-A-UTIFUL

Mark and I were registry browsing (trying to decide between registering at Macy's or Belk) and we came across these...

(aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh [angel music, not "ah!" fear...just to be clear!])

Isn't it beautiful? They're Waterford Crystal Toasting Flutes - Lismore Collection in Amethyst. ...And they're pricey. Quite pricey. I'm almost too ashamed to be lusting after these ($115 A PIECE beauties), but I, myself, wish that we had a family heirloom to use as toasting flutes in our wedding (alas, we do not...I asked). How perfect are they though? I could totally picture them at our wedding sitting pretty next to our damask themed cake :) {Le Sigh}

How about you guys? Any beautiful, heart fluttering items that are just a bit on the extravagant side? What decision did you make in the end?

Fun Details

Look at what I purchased today...

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The one with the black flourish design (kinda damask-like, huh??) is for me (and Mark!) and the pale aqua and white ones are for the bridesmaids. 

I ordered the parasols so that we could take adorable pictures like these...

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oh....and to shield us from the sun too, of course! :)

Purple Shoes

That's right, I'm wearing purple shoes. Yes, on my wedding day. Yes, with my wedding dress.

Some people seem shocked by that...but I see it everywhere on the wedding blogs that I read and I LOVE it. I love the shots of the colored shoes and the groom's colored socks...and we've decided, we're doing it. Now all that's left to do is to find the perfect pair...and believe me, I'm been searching! 

Here..

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Here..

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Here..

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Here..

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And Here..

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And lots and lots of other places that I came up empty handed. The specifications I'm looking for in my perfect purple wedding shoe are...

* Heel should be under 3 1/2 inches (preferably 3" and under)

* Shoe should be satin or another dressy material (no patent leather, no suede)

* Shoe should be purple in color...preferably in the darker side of the spectrum 

* Shoes should be under $200

* Shoes should have some unique/cute/flirty detail...twist, knot, bows, feathers or bonus points for rosettes! 

So...anybody have any suggestions for me?? Show me whatcha got!! I need help! Also - what's your favorite shoe pictured here? Think I should pick one of these? Let me know! It's okay to comment ;) ...in fact, I highly encourage it!!

Save the Date Designs

A while back I posted about STD's (Save The Dates!)...from everyone's comments and my further consideration on the subject I decided to go with postcards. I knew that I would be designing them since the company I was ordering from - Vista Print - didn't have any pre-made designs that fit within our design scheme. Quite honestly, I don't have much experience with graphic design...I WISH that I did, but unfortunately I do not. Eventually...one day when I have the time...I'd really like to take some graphic design classes...but that's another subject altogether.

So I started playing around with some different designs. I knew that I wanted to use one of our engagement pictures for the STD. I just think it's a nice personal touch and family members (especially older ones) really like to have a picture of the couple. I used Powerpoint to make my designs because I'm already very familiar with it and it was already on my computer. I really would have rather used Illustrator or Photoshop but I neither had the program nor did I know how to use it...and because I'm on a tight timeframe and a tight budget I went with Powerpoint.

Here's the designs I came up with in progressive order:

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2

3

4

Can you guess which one I picked to use as the design for our Save the Dates? Which one is your favorite? 

The back of the postcard has the rest of the information and lists our website as well. I ordered these on Monday (12/29) and I just got the email last night that they have shipped. I can't wait to see how the finished product turned out!! I have to get these out ASAP, as we're only 5 months away now!