Since Garrett and I got married in San Francisco without our families and friends (with the exception of Garrett’s aunt, uncle, and best friend who all reside in CA), we both wanted a way for them to be part of the marriage and we knew we wanted to have the marriage blessed, because God is the important part. We decided on the chapel of the church Garrett grew up in, a side portion of the sanctuary with its own altar and a more intimate setting.

I love this image, by Kristen, of us walking in. You can see the priest’s white robe as we follow him in, walking together, hand in hand. It was really nice to go in together, I was only thinking about Garrett the whole way. We decided on having the church’s music director play organ for our entrance and exit which was lovely. Once we got up to the altar I remember Garrett asking if it was okay that we were holding hands. (”Yes!” I said, “we’re married!”) Either way, I wasn’t letting go.

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I really like the idea of out of town welcome baskets and the like but they were never really an option in my mind due to the cost & organization they require (knowing who is staying where, knowing who is coming –the rsvps were giving me enough trouble as it was). Garrett’s parents decided to get a block of rooms at the Embassy Suites solving part of that problem and Garrett’s mom wanted to make welcome baskets, so I lucked out. She used a “taste of Alabama” theme and the bags included goodies only to be found in the yellowhammer state. Here’s what they included:

Golden Flake Chips (in a variety of dill pickle, original, bbq, and cheese puffs).

(image from country living, they have a list of the best local chips in a lot of different states so if you are stuck for an idea check here! Zapps from Louisiana, Cape Cod from Massachusetts, and Kettle chips from Oregon are all ones I recognize)

Priesters Pecans (in little mini bags, divinity and pralines I believe, but they have a really tasty key lime pecan there as well)

(from Priester’s Pecans)

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I enjoy using the abbreviation for save the date a little too much. And I’ve taken FOREVER to make these but I’m really pleased with how they turned out.

I used my gocco, and I mixed my own ink since I didn’t have navy (giant pain, it would’ve been worth it to buy a tube of navy if I’d found one easily online). I would never make my invitations with the gocco, I have no patience and this project made me really frustrated, mainly because of the mixing. I only made 50 since I’m not sending STDs out to everyone on our guest list. I’m sending them as postcards and the back has our web address and ways to contact us. The inspiration for them is a little bit of art nouveau (from a metro entrance in Paris), along with a hedgehog and cottontail because we are mildly obsessed with no good reason.

image source

We looked at different colored papers but the white popped the most and was the most wedding. I think the invites will be similar in color scheme (but hopefully letterpressed and more polished).

(author’s collection) the strange creature behind the STDs is a cottontail/hedgehog bronze piece that Garrett and I commissioned from Nelson Grice here in town. His name is Harold.

I like that the STDs are unusual and us. I just hope our guests like them and I’ll be glad to have them all out into the mail!

My dress has been in for about a month now but I just went in for my fitting this Wednesday. You might recall my yellow shoe search that had to take place before I could have my fitting, and that the dress shop is a little over an hour away. I didn’t have time to make the trip just to see it and try it on, and I knew I’d need alterations so I waited until the shop’s alteration pro could take an appointment. The whole dress process has been difficult since I’m away from my mom, my best friends, and I really know nothing about hemming and bustles and fittings even though I’m a religious blog stalker. I brought my photographer/bff in bham with me and the following images are thanks to her.

I must ask that no one who reads this blog and knows me in real life directs Garrett to this post. He already knows not to look and I think he really does want to be surprised. I sent the images to his cousin and she bawled over them, which is really sweet. I don’t usually cry or tear up over anything sentimental (except things like baptisms or if my hormones are out of whack I’ll cry at anything) so I’m surprised when I can evoke that kind of emotion out of how I look in a dress.

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I would’ve loved to plan an outdoor wedding. Especially if I was friends with someone in Birmingham with a big back yard. Minus renting all those chairs (which, by the way, I am in love with this wedding in which they brought pews outside), I think it would make for a beautiful, wonderful, lovely event. As long as the weather was nice, not too hot, not too humid, and didn’t rain. So, what I’m wondering, is how people are having outdoor weddings? Just the thought of needing a backup would stress me out. I can envision me with this perfect scene in my head, then being forced inside a tent or building watching the rain fall on my outdoor wonderland. Do these people live somewhere where it just doesn’t rain?

{Meg Perotti from Lori and Lee’s adorable wedding}

On another note, the past two wedding weekends I’ve shot were rainy days. The wedding planner at the wedding on May 16th (Deanna Morgan, if you are in the Bham and need a coordinator or planner let me know and I’ll send you her info, she was so sweet and helpful versus some who are forceful and rude) told us that if you have a rainy wedding day you can take a bottle and catch the rain water and baptize your children with it. How sweet is that? The bride wanted it to rain more so she could have that. I also think rain can make for fun photos if you just go with it and don’t let it get you down. (See above, where the couple had my color scheme which makes me love it even more.) If it rains on my wedding day I hope I’ll have an umbrella and get awesome shots out of it. What better day to make out in the rain than your wedding day? Plus, it’s good luck or something ;)

And FYI, if this year is at all typical for Birmingham, I wouldn’t recommend getting married in April or May here if you don’t want rain. I can’t remember the last weekend it wasn’t dreary. Just make sure you have a cute pair of wellies and an umbrella, at least.

Amelia Strauss Photography, from our e-shoot

I have to admit I’ve been scouring wedding blogs since well before I got engaged. In my defense, I’d been considering wedding photography since about 2.5 years ago, so in some ways it made sense that I was in on the latest in nuptial events.

[By the way, spell check your programs and whatnot, I went to a wedding this weekend where nuptial was spelled nuptual, which looks right but isn't. The little red squiggly underline in my brain went off when I saw it.]

Amelia Lyon ring shot

This mild obsession means that I have a ton of ideas of things I want to incorporate in my wedding, but also that I feel like I’m bored with the standard wedding. I’m also thinking of my wedding in terms of photographs, because that’s how I think for the most part. Amelia knows that I think in terms of albums and post-processing (photoshop) more often than not during a shoot and that’s how my wedding planning has become. I want the macro shot of our rings with some really random detail I haven’t picked yet.

photo from the knot: notice how our checklist has 1 to-do completed…

When we first got engaged I freaked out over the amount of time I had to plan. I fell victim to the knot checklist I had viewed before getting engaged, and of course the bridal shop urging of “you need to order your dress immediately because it takes 16 weeks to come in.” I feel like if I had 16 weeks I could learn to sew and make my own dress. Of course, I didn’t.

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As a photographer and wedding photographer’s assistant, I thought I should post about my experience in having my own e-pics taken. Plus I love my pictures and share them every chance I get.

But first, a brief engagement story. Garrett and I knew we wanted to get married pretty much from day one. We’d talked about it as a given, after maybe 10 months of dating we looked at some rings in stores, I showed him Tacori’s website, mentioned my likes and dislikes. Garrett left Chapel Hill December 15th to move home to Birmingham and I went back to my hometown for Christmastime with my family. I drove down to Birmingham December 27th (it was the shortest 4 hour drive ever because I was so excited to get there) and when I got to Garrett’s parent’s house he was waiting for me outside, I’m pretty sure barefoot, with a hard rock cafe t-shirt and his tan corduroy pants. He urged me to get out of the car and had one of his hands behind his back. I didn’t even get the car turned off, I just got out and left the door open while he got down on one knee and said “I just can’t wait. Will you marry me?” I think I nodded, said yes, kissed him, hugged him and then I remembered the ring. I almost took the ring out of the box myself and then said “Oh yeah, you should put it on me.” It was perfect for me, the whole thing, and so was the ring, which his mom and grandmother helped pick out. I wasn’t expecting it and I was already so excited about moving that it was an awesome feeling.

Because I’m a goof, here’s my ring on ice, entitled “My ice.”

Okay, so hear comes the advice portion.

Why even have engagement pictures taken? Some people (and their parents) want to announce the engagement and wedding in their local paper. Others want a photo to use for their save the dates. Or professional pictures for their wedding websites.

I never thought of not having engagement pictures taken, but that’s probably because I love pictures so much, not for any of the practical purposes. Garrett and I don’t have a lot of really good pictures of us together (I recently trained him not to blink during every flash, though), and the fire department cheesy backdrop shots we took to appease my mother weren’t cutting it.

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Hello EAD readers! I am thrilled to be blogging here on Elizabeth Anne Designs!  I can’t wait to share ideas with you and hear your comments and ideas on my wedding plans as well!  I suppose I should do an introduction…

I’m originally from North Carolina and am a recent graduate of UNC (yay National Championship win!) where I studied anthropology (must be where my anthropologie brand lust came from). I met my fiance on an archaeological dig in Natchez, Mississippi where we lived in a house along the Mississippi River Real World Style with 6 students and 2 TAs. There were hoop skirts to wear, mint juleps to drink, bear skulls to find, and mud to be covered in. When I met Garrett I finally saw what people meant when they “knew” they’d found the right person. It was a fairy tale, albeit an odd fairy tale where the sun made you delusional and your biceps were tripled.

Fast forward a little over a year and we moved to Birmingham, AL after we graduated. He’s from here and I’ve never lived anywhere else so I thought it could be a fun move and so far I love it! I am so not a city girl and Birmingham is a good mix of the south, great food, art, people, and photography! Garrett really helped me realize that my passion was photography and not archaeology (though I’ll always love it!) and I’m so fortunate to have found a really great community of photographers here to work with and learn from.

Birmingham Skyline from today’s photo

Now I’m here planning a wedding in my new town of Birmingham for October! We’re planning a two day event with a private ceremony, close family blessing and a big party. Our colors are navy and goldenrod and we’re channeling some art deco/art nouveau and vintage charm for our day. We’re on a budget of around $10,000 and that means we’re getting creative on a lot of the details which I love! I am very excited about the wedding but even more about being married to Garrett!

I’ll save the engagement story (and e-pics!) for the next post!

Stay tuned!

-Kelly

Ok ladies and gents, I’m giving you an in.  My wonderful husband just finished up the website for a new venue in Birmingham called Woodrow Hall.  We had a chance to tour it a few weeks ago and it is gorgeous.

The building is a former Mason temple built in 1914.  The main room seats 150 for dinner.  It has a lobby perfect for cocktail hour, and this truly would be a great venue for a small intimate wedding.  It’s in historic Woodlawn and the owner (our landlord) has put a lot of time into restoring this and making it as green as possible (soy based tile, etc.)

They’re having a grand opening celebration from 1-6pm this Saturday.  The hubby and I are going as representatives of Elizabeth Anne and D2LGraphics.  If you want to meet up, email me at rebekah at elizabethannedesigns dot com.

A.

Happy Labor Day to our lovely readers!  E and I are making the most of our time away from work, but that doesn’t mean EAD is on vacation!  We hope each of you are enjoying your time off as well!

For all you Alabama Brides, Birmingham has a fabulous new wedding shop called Engaged!  Similar in nature to The Bridal Bar, Engaged (owned and operated by Stephanie Whitaker) is a shop where brides can go to browse through a collection of truly fantastic vendors.

I had a chance to go sit down with Stephanie and discuss the Engaged concept.  You could not ask for a better personality to run this shop.  She is amazingly kind and very easy to talk to!

Engaged is open on Oxmoor Road in Homewood.  Stephanie chose the location because it is an area is known for local shops and great shopping.  Engaged represents almost 50 local vendors, and brides can meet with vendors at the shop, or browse through the books to find the perfect style and vendors.  Stephanie’s main goal during the planning of this boutique was to keep the services free for brides.

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Arden from Arden Photography sent over two boards that are so lovely! The bride arrived in a vintage Chevy truck and had Coca Cola in glass bottles during the cocktail hour. The reception concluded with a fireworks show and a helicopter departure!

Stacie and Nick
Winfield, Alabama
Mood: Down on the farm, Southern style

{Image Credits: Arden Photography}

Thanks for sharing Arden!

A.

E posted on wholesale flowers yesterday, and I thought I would throw in my opinion.  I highly recommend Brides N Blooms. We ordered flowers for our wedding from them, and it was truly the easiest detail to finalize.  I called to ask questions because the website didn’t have all the information I needed (it really needs to be updated with more information). They were kind, gave me every detail I needed, shipped them to my in-laws house and called to check the status of delivery. I emailed them with an emergency question and they responded immediately by phone.  My sister in law also used them and the quality was the same. They can order anything you need at great rates.

If you’re not comfortable ordering online, but still want complete control.  You can go with a local wholesale florist.  They typically have rooms and fridges that can be rented out for your event.  You can store and arrange the flowers a couple days before, and have them picked up the day of.

E is right, it can be VERY stressful.  The hubby and I happen to have aunts who are very talented.  They both pitched in and did a great job.