I adore winter - it’s so soft and still.  I hope your weekend is as peaceful as this board is!

{bird in winter branches via the All Things Bright and Beautiful blog (now defunct), place setting photographed by Sang An via Truly Smitten, floral photographed by Jenny Ebert via Thoughtful Day bride photo by Punam Bean}

Don’t forget to comment on this post before 12pm CT tomorrow for your chance to win letterpress wedding invitations by Don’t Press Me!

Lots of fun things are coming to EAD shortly and while looking things over I realized that our Link Love page has been sorely neglected.

So it’s definitely time for an update - please share your blog so that we can add it to the list (if you are a vendor please let us know your location and what your specialty is).  And while you’re at it, I’d love to know a little bit about you too… wedding dates and location, colors, things you’d like to see more of on EAD, and anything else you’d like to chat about! If you don’t blog, that’s OK too, I’d still love to hear from you.

Getting to know ya’ll is one of my favorite parts of blogging so please say hello!  :)

I’m a South Carolina girl at heart, so I simply adore Kacie and Darby’s wedding, set at one of my favorite venues in the world, the Inn at Palmetto Bluff, and photographed by the incredible Nashan Photographers.

Guests were welcomed to the lowcountry with beautiful jute gift bags and lovely palm fans.

The ceremony took place in Palmetto Bluff’s Waterside Chapel - a simple and stunning small chapel with wooden pews and loads of sunshine.  Each aisle was decorated with lush pink and green florals in glass vases, tied with ribbons to the pew.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Today is a pretty exciting day in the world of letterpress wedding invitations! Not only are we hosting a fabulous giveaway with Don’t Press Me right here on EAD, but Bella Figura is having an amazing Election Day Sale you can’t miss. In honor of Election Day, Bella Figura is offering 25 free invitation sets when you order 75 on orders placed before November 30. All you have to do is get out today and vote and send Bella Figura a photo of you at the voting booth when you place your order. Visit the Bella Figura blog for more details.

I am so excited today to partner with the wonderful letterpress shop Don’t Press Me to give away 75 sets of letterpress invitations!

The lucky winner will receive 75 one-color letterpress invitations and reply cards, printed on 100% cotton paper by Don’t Press Me.

So how can you win? First, click on over to the Don’t Press Me site to see some of their fabulous custom design work and drool over what you have the chance to win. Then come back here and tell us in the comments why you love letterpress but aren’t able to fit it into your wedding budget. Don’t Press Me will choose one lucky and deserving winner to receive 75 sets of custom letterpress invitations.  Contest closes Friday Nov 6th at 12pm central.

And for extra credit, follow @dontpressme on twitter and link to this post. Don’t forget to @dontpressme and @amiatead in your tweet!

Good luck!
E.

When Brad from Shaking Hands Productions (he’s a fabulous Virginia-based videographer, go have a look!) emailed me with his proposal story, I knew I had to share it with you.  While Brad’s girlfriend Lyndsey was modeling for one of his videos Brad surprised her by proposing and Adam Miller caught the moment on video.   I teared up watching!

My proposal to Lyndsey from Shaking Hands Productions on Vimeo.

Tim Gosnell was on hand to take photos of the proposal - I adore the shocked look on Lyndsey’s face.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

I have a blog crush on the lovely Rebecca’s Clover & Bee.  Her blog is filled with seasonal and homey ideas like these eco-friendly sugared almond wedding favors created by McMaster & Storm.

{created by McMaster & Storm for Clover & Bee}

Such a charming gift or favor idea and I especially love the use of natural coffee filters trimmed with pinking shears to line the cylinder box!

Out of everything that went into the preparation for our vow renewal, I probably had the most fun and least stress planning the day after brunch.  It was held at South City Kitchen in Midtown, just steps from our hotel blocks and our venue from the vow renewal the night before.

Orange as a wedding color has always inspired me, so I knew that I wanted to use it for the brunch.  It’s so fresh and clean!  I kept things super-simple, bringing in only one accent color (yellow) and using lots of fresh fruit as decor.

Each place setting was decorated with an orange wrapped in parchment paper and tied with raffia.  The leaves were goccoed with “Bonne Annee!”, French for Happy New Year, written in calligraphy by Laura Hooper (continuing the slightly-French theme that was carried through from our RSVP packets, do not disturb signs, menus, and other printed items).

{Jessica Claire}

The bar was lined with oranges and lemons, purchased from Whole Foods and donated to a local food bank after the event.

{Jessica Claire}

{Read the rest of this entry…}

There are SO many amazing photographers in the world - how do you find the one that’s perfect for you?  Well, not only do you need to blog-stalk them, see images from a full wedding, and find out all of the details about the specific packages that they offer, but you also want to ask these questions:

1. Will I receive a DVD of images from the event?
2. How many images do you post-process (the more the better!  All of those amazing images you fell in love with from their website and albums are post-processed.  If the images on the DVD you receive are SOOC (straight out of camera) you should know and understand this.)? Can I see multiple examples of before-and-after images?
3. Do you color correct all images?
4. How soon after the wedding will I receive my proofs?  My DVD of images?  My album?
5. Do you write up every event on your blog?
6. How soon after the event will you blog?
7. What types of images do you include in your blog post?
8. Do you shoot in film or digital?  Color or black and white?  RAW or JPG?
9. What is your contingency plan if you are ill or otherwise cannot attend my event? {Be sure the answer to this is specifically stated in your contract}
10. Who retains copyright to the images?  Reproduction rights?

{Read the rest of this entry…}