Now that my wedding recap is over, I just want to say a huge thank you to all of the people who went through it with me, all of you who followed along this week, and to Ami and Rebekah for having me!  I can’t believe that the wedding is actually over, and I appreciate you allowing me to relive it and now close this chapter of my life.  I am enjoying beginning the next and finding out what life has in store!

All photography by Blue World Studios.

So to end, I spent quite awhile choosing some of my favorite moments and photos to share.

First up: The Toasts - A few reactions to Ryan and I taking some light-hearted abuse from my dad and the best man, and some sweet toasting after my sister shared that she had always felt that Ryan was part of the family.

Next up: The Dancing - Mother-Son Dance, Father-Daughter Dance, Sorority Dance to ‘Fins’, Last Dance to ‘Wonderful Tonight’, and Fraternity Dance to ‘Livin on a Prayer’

Next: Reception Moments - ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, a groomsman’s reaction to the dollar dance, me showing off Ryan’s new jewelry, and me gifting the garter to the best man.

(Side note: We decided not to do the cake cutting, bouquet toss or garter toss.  The cake was cut in the kitchen, the bouquet stayed on a table somewhere, and the garter was given to the best man privately with our best wishes to find the right girl!  Leaving out these traditions is not for everyone, but I was absolutely thrilled with my choices and would not change a thing.  We were able to get the party started and keep it going with no interruptions!)

Almost Done: The Bridal Party - Our photographers somehow got us to do serious and hysterical!  I was uncertain about having such a big bridal party, but the day of I could not have been more thankful to have our friends with us all day long.

Last: Some Final Favorites - A stolen moment alone outside the reception, posing in front of the cathedral before the ceremony, walking outside the cathedral, another shot from the last dance.

All photography by Blue World Studios.

Now that I have walked you through the planning process to the day of the wedding, I know what most of you are thinking: Can we get to the details already?!  I will start with the vendors who made it possible:

Flowers: We used Eva from Tulip and we loved every minute of our communication with her and the work that she did.  I trusted her to take some vague feelings and make translate them into beautiful flowers, and she did!

Rings: We bought our rings at Shane Company and were very pleased.  Their service was quick and reliable.

Catering (Appetizers/Buffet/Cake): My parents chose Carole Parks Catering and I could not have been more pleased.  We worked with Karleen, and she is about the most positive and easy to get along with person alive!  They did a great job with the food, and the cake absolutely exceeded my expectations.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Before I end my recaps of the planning process and take you into the actual day of the wedding, I thought you might be amused by some special candid moments during the planning process.  Here are a few favorite planning moments, as well some fond memories from the rehearsal dinner and getting ready the morning of the wedding.

{Author’s Personal Collection}

I came home from the bridal shop with my veil, just in time to watch my favorite basketball team!  So naturally I put the veil on while I watched.

{Author’s Personal Collection}

Ryan’s Mom was heart-broken that her newfoundlands couldn’t participate in the wedding ceremony, but she bought them matching pink outfits anyway!

Clockwise, from top left: Reunited at the Rehearsal with three of my best friends, my best friend from high school toasts at the Rehearsal Dinner that he thinks “It’s gonna work” so that he doesn’t cry, my younger sisters fill me in about how they told off some unnamed fraternity boys so that they could sleep, my maid of honor gets some dress alteration assistance from my makeup artist Scoobie West, Ryan and I getting ready together the morning of the wedding.

And how can I talk about favorite memories without sharing the looks on my parents’ faces when they saw me all dressed up?

Unless otherwise noted, all photography by Blue World Studios.

Throughout the planning process, I mentioned before that I wanted to stay sane and delegate where I could.  That included finding a florist who I trusted to do just about whatever she wanted, letting my parents be in charge of the catering and the alcohol, and letting my bridesmaids choose much of their own outfits.  However there was one thing I couldn’t let go of - I wanted to make the invitations and other stationery myself.  Naturally, that began with Save the Dates.

{Author’s Personal Collection}

I found a vintage postcard of the Cathedral of Christ the King, scanned it in, edited out the nice message on the back, added our information and I was done!  On a recommendation I used Prints Made Easy to print them because I wanted to keep the texture matte, and I mailed them in envelopes after hearing horror stories of postcards getting eaten up in the mail!

{Author’s Personal Collection}

Moving on to the real thing - the invitations.  I knew that I could have gotten more beautiful, more intricate invitations if I had ordered them, but as I mentioned, I was determined to complete this part of the process myself.  With very little computer knowledge, I decided that the best way to go about crating the invitations would be to use really nice Paper Source paper and the ever trusty MS Word.  I cut some black satin ribbon as a belly band and called it a day.  For being ultra simple, I was very pleased with the results and would absolutely do it again!

The last stationery item I was extremely proud of was the escort card board.  I knew that I wanted tiny envelopes with the table assignments inside, so I bought white, ivory, and gold envelopes, and attached them all to my lace board with tiny gold pins.  The board was set in a gold easel when guests arrived.

In addition to the projects I have shown, I made all of the signs, table numbers, welcome packets and bags, itineraries, and programs.  These all got done within a month of the wedding, and I did not quite put in maximum effort to make them the perfect creations I envisioned they might be.  In fact at the time I was somewhat afraid that it was all overkill!  In the end, I was relaxed during the wedding weekend knowing that I had done enough, and that all of the guests had multiple ways to figure out what was going on.

Photography unless otherwise noted by Blue World Studios

My planning process continued in accordance with my first two priorities.  After relatively painlessly hammering out the guest list, I moved on to the huge task of finding a photographer.  I spent hours and hours looking through every Atlanta photographer’s website I could find, searching for a photojournalistic style that would fit into our budget.  One of these nights I was randomly looking through Knot message boards and stumbled upon a link to Blue World Studios.

After falling in love with the images, reading about the photographers, and checking the prices, I knew I had found the right fit.  I immediately made plans to meet with Janet and EJ, the husband and wife team behind Blue World Studios.  We booked them without meeting anyone else, and before I knew it we were wandering through the Virginia Highlands area of Atlanta, having our engagement photos taken!  Here are a few favorites.

So now that I had a groom, a dress, and a place to get married, I could finally make my inspiration board!  I wanted to include specific photos that I used for individual inspiration, but also convey the feel that I was trying to create.  I actually made about five different inspiration boards as the process went on and the plans took shape, but here is my final product.  I was going for romantic, warm, classic, and simple, and the colors I ended up using were ivory and black with gold accents.

Top from left: photo of Park Tavern, candles from MS via S&I, Christ the King photo by Matt Adcock; Row 2: chocolate from MS Weddings via S&I, lanterns from Pottery Barn (found on Classic Bride) via S&I, candle holders from Pottery Barn, pearls from Overstock via S&I; Row 3: my dress from Casablanca Bridal, invitation via S&I, Jack Vettriano image via art.com, photo by Belathee via S&I; Row 4: photo by Lisa Leigh via S&I, bouquet from Artfool, photo of Hotel Splendido via Little Winter Bride

Now I had an inspiration board, but I needed some priorities as guidance so that I could translate my inspiration into reality and decision making.  Our top three priorities were as follows:

1. Ryan and I saw our wedding as an opportunity to say thank you and entertain our guests in our new hometown.  Therefore our first priority was to welcome as many of our friends and family to Atlanta as possible for a great big party.

2. Photography.  Similar to many of you, I spent countless hours looking through hundreds of websites, saving images that spoke to me and captured the elements I wanted present at my wedding.  Having a photographer capture both the details I planned for more than a year but more importantly the moments that I would remember for a lifetime was incredibly important to me.

3. I didn’t want to lose my sanity.  This might not sound like your typical priority, but having done research for a couple of years I knew that there were more beautiful details and ideas than I would ever have the time, motivation, or funding to implement!

So now all I had to do was choose a photographer, determine what I could handle planning, and delegate the rest.  Sounds simple enough…

To continue in my slightly mixed up but highly predictable order of wedding planning, I decided that I needed to find a dress before I could make other decisions.  Hey, I heard that it set the tone of the wedding!  And who am I to argue?  I had an image in my mind of an all lace, vintage looking dress, but I promised myself that I would keep an open mind.  So began my four month long search for a dress.

I made the mistake of starting my search at a salon way out of my price range.  I had no idea that designer dresses could be so enchanting!  I surprised myself by quickly falling in love with a simple Jenny Lee dress.

image from Jenny Lee Bridal

Unfortunately this beauty was way out of my price range at the salon, so I researched other alternatives of being united with my love.  I talked price with girls on Preowned Wedding Dresses, visited Brides Against Breast Cancer, and did about 500 google searches in effort to find my dress at an affordable price.  Sadly, it was not meant to be.  I decided I needed to wait a few months before my search continued so that I could heal my broken heart.

My entire family was driving to Atlanta for my Masters graduation, so I decided that this would be the perfect time to grab my mom and two younger sisters and find a dress to take Jenny’s place.  We spent a morning at a moderately priced salon and found a few nice dresses, but nothing that grabbed my heart.  We ate lunch feeling somewhat discouraged, and then headed to Bride Beautiful on the recommendation of a friend.  I walked around looking for a dress that would remind me of Jenny, but one of my sisters approached with a long, fitted lace gown.  I put it on, and Jenny was gone from my mind forever.  This dress was ‘the one.’

image by Blue World Studios

In an effort to take you through my planning process, I will attempt to narrate in the order in which things actually occurred.  After getting engaged and determining that the wedding would take place in Atlanta, we knew we had to start by choosing the ceremony and reception locations.  Neither Ryan nor I was currently a member of any church, but we knew that we wanted a Catholic ceremony.  Therefore we did what other lazy couples do on Saturday night - map out the closest Catholic church!  And the first church in our search, amazingly enough, was the Cathedral of Christ the King.

Needless to say, after sitting through mass here we knew the search was over.  The Cathedral is breathtaking, easy to find, and close by!  They assigned us our date, and now all we had to do was find a reception location.

Now I am going to have to come clean about this part of the process.  Like many other girls, I had been daydreaming about getting married for quite some time.  And also like many other girls, I suspect, I tried to plan much of the wedding before I was even engaged!  Before moving to Atlanta, I was secretly researching reception locations one day, and came across Magnolia Hall in Piedmont Park.  I was immediately drawn to the relaxed feel of the historic brick building, located in the beautiful park’s natural setting.

After getting engaged I quickly admitted the truth to Ryan, who agreed to go look at it with me.  Walking inside, we knew that it was right for us.  The ceremony at the Cathedral would be elegant and breathtaking, and the reception at Magnolia Hall would be relaxed and warm.  So I hate to say, but I can’t offer knowledge of any other locations in Atlanta!  We had perfect luck with our first choices.

All photography by Blue World Studios.

Hey everyone!  I am honored and excited to be guest blogging this week for Elizabeth Anne Designs.  After finding this website more than a year ago, EAD has been a fantastic resource and incredible inspiration to me as I moved through the engagement process.  And as I have watched it grow over the past year, I am happy to say that it continues to inspire me as I adjust to married life!

Since my wedding not quite two months ago, I have been pinching myself pretty frequently - trying to believe that after thirteen months of planning, I really did get married!  I got engaged December 15, 2007 (our three year dating anniversary) and got married January 24, 2009.  The time flew by, and I can’t believe that I am now writing after the fact.  Having the opportunity to share my story with all of you feels somewhat like ending a chapter of my life and beginning the next.

Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself and my husband.  My name is Annie, and my husband Ryan and I live in Atlanta, Georgia.  We met through mutual friends at the small college we attended in central Florida.  After being acquaintances for a year, we randomly went on a walk one night and ended up talking for hours.  Not only did we have a great conversation, but more importantly I realized that being with Ryan felt like being at home.

As I was graduating soon after we started dating (he is two years younger than me), we agreed to give long distance a try.  I moved to Atlanta for graduate school, and he stayed behind in Florida to finish his degree.  It was a rough two years, but we made it through and got engaged the first Christmas we were both living in Atlanta.  We love it here, and were thrilled that our friends and family could all travel to join us for our wedding in the city we call home.

All photography by Blue World Studios.