I am going to start by introducing myself. My name is Erin and my new husband and I live in Columbia, South Carolina. We love South Carolina, but I’m a Louisiana girl at heart. I have a blog (Blue Eyed Bride) that turned into a wedding blog shortly after I started it. I have loved catching up with other brides and can’t believe the great big world of wedding blogs that I never new existed!

Planning our wedding wasn’t completely foreign to me. Actually, it wasn’t foreign at all! I am an Events Manager at a major university in South Carolina and love the excitement that comes with my job. I couldn’t wait to plan an event for myself, with my budget, without having to ask permission and get a dozen signatures to do something beautiful! I was the girl who collected Martha Stewart Weddings and InStyle Weddings for 10 years– tearing out my favorite ideas and pictures and filing them into My Big Fat Wedding Binder. I just couldn’t wait to start using some of those fantastic ideas.

My husband is an attorney in Columbia. We actually met at the law firm when I was working there planning small scale events and he was a first year attorney. We would swap pleasantries and had a lot of small talk and then we ran into each other in the frozen foods aisle at Publix and had a real conversation. Then we began swapping emails and flirting until the time was right that we finally had our first date. We started dating in December of 2005 and got engaged on April 27, 2007. He makes me laugh like no one else can and I am so excited that our life together has begun!

We also have a gorgeous Golden Retriever named Boudreaux. He always steals the show!

You can see him here in a sneak peak of our engagement photos. More of the engagement photos by Kelly Moore Photography next.

Welcome Erin, we are thrilled to have you here!

E.

Ooh, yummy!  It’s how-to month over at Etsy.  Right now I’m most excited for stencils (July 21st), glass etching (July 25th) and paper boxes (July 31st).  Head on over to see the full schedule.

A.

TWIB (this week in blogging!):

• Southern Weddings has extended the deadline for the Design Carrie’s Wedding contest - so if you haven’t already, run {here} and enter…
• Wordle is everywhere, thanks to Design for Mankind…
• Amazing guest posts this week on Design*Sponge by Mackenzie, mastermind behind Kenzie Kate and author of the fabulous Something Old, Something New blog…
• Check out An Atlanta Bride - one of my favorite new bride-to-be blogs…
• Blu.Sky.Designs is holding another monogram giveaway!  If you’re on the hunt, comment on her blog for a chance to win…
• Jessica + Michael’s engagement session shot by Perez Photography is fabulous…
• Jenn + Abel’s real wedding shot by Jamie Hammond and featured on Snippet & Ink is absolutely gorgeous…
• With This Ring, I Thee Obsess is planning a Chicago Brides and Blogs happy hour…
• Lovely idea for one-year cards at Melissa’s Smitten…

On a sad note, our hearts go out to Jessica Lynn of Tying the Knot for the sudden passing of her father.  She is an amazing person and we are saddened by her tragic loss.  Please offer her some strength and kind words and keep her and her family in your thoughts.

E.

If I were to give you all the details on every place we researched, contacted, obtained proposals from, and visited, this blog would go on forever and the only remaining readers would be zombies. So, we’ll just cut to the chase, shall we?

For a long while, I had ruled out restaurants because of our desire to marry outdoors. But desperate times called for desperate measures and we figured that we could always do an outdoor ceremony with an indoor reception if we found the right place. So, I hit up the ol’ internets with fresh eyes, and there it was… a beautiful gem had been right under my nose all along.

{Image source: The Bungalow Club}

The Bungalow Club is a moroccan style, funky, sexy and delicious restaurant/lounge in Hollywood (yay, location!) that is extremely well suited to hosting events such as weddings and parties. They’re known for having great food (with a mid-eastern influence), delicious cocktails, and an exotic warm vibe. We love the unique space and energy of the club, and renting out the whole place gives us lots of flexibility in our planning concept. We’ll have cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the main bar, have dinner outside on the lovely, bungalow-y patio, and then go upstairs to dance the night away in the moody dance lounge with a tented ceiling! (and yes, all those candles are included! Woot!)

{Image source: The Bungalow Club}

The patio is surrounded by those sweet little bungalows which can be closed for privacy (sexy times!) I love that has a cool fire feature, open air ceiling, stone floor, and there’s even a small waterfall out there. It incorporates all 4 elements which creates a balanced feeling and must mean good juju The dance floor upstairs has a wrap-around patio and fun dance lighting. The whole place oozes a lavish, loung-y and exotic mood, perfect for encouraging folks to shake off the outside world and have a blast.

Best of all, the Bungalow Club’s owner, Anat, is just. so. cool. She’s the kind of lady who’s kind of intimidating, and kind of sexy, and you can’t help but love her. She really drives home the value of good customer service. Every time we meet with her, she makes us feel like VIPs and we really sense that she just wants our wedding to be a great, relaxed time. There are no hidden fees or add-on shenanigans. It was a simple and enjoyable (yes, it can be fun!) negotiation process. Because we are getting married on a Sunday, we got a rate we could live with. And, as foodies, it means the world to us that the food is delicious, innovative, and vegetarian friendly! The hummus with sweet teriyake glazed mushrooms - oh my! This is how Hunter felt when we polished that delight off…

Image source: Author’s personal collection, 2008

And you see that behind the plate? That’s one of their DELICIOUS mojitos, of which they have many flavor offerings! Did you know that mojitos are one of our very favorite cocktails, and are included in the bar service for the wedding? It MUST be fate!

Hunter and I love the rich, textural and sensual aspects of art, design and culture in many eastern countries - so planning a wedding in a setting which encourages that sensibility is simply divine! After we signed the contract, we bounced out of the restaurant, jumped around on the sidewalk and hugged each other…. both with that satisfied and jubilant glow of two people who had found their true “meant to be”, together.

(PS - SoCal-ish brides, if you need the lowdown on venues in the following places, please feel free to email me, as I am a font of information on many locations/caterers in:  Central Coast: Monterey, Big Sur, Carmel, San Luis Obispo; Southern Coast: Ojai, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Malibu, Pasadena, Huntington Beach, Dana Point, San Diego; and randomly: Santa Fe, NM)

We’ll be posting on issues of etiquette all next week.  So comment below with your biggest wedding dilemmas and we’ll be sure to answer them next week!

A.

Since this is a holiday, I thought I keep it quick and show you how I’m planning on styling my hair for the wedding. After selecting my dress, and knowing that I’ve always wanted to wear one of those large flowers in my hair (ever since seeing Molly Sims wear one in a Cover Girl ad!), I knew that I wanted my hair pulled back. I wasn’t sure if I wanted it up a little high, or low and loose… at first. I made my mind up quickly, though, after seeing this picture of Michelle Williams from the Oscars a couple years ago:

{Image Source: People}

I LOVE her hair here. Love love love love love it!! I think that this style is so pretty, is kind of loose, and has some movement to it - like my dress. I also thought it would be a perfect style to pin a pretty flower piece with. For my flower, I knew I wanted to ask Myra Kim from Twigs & Honey to create something special for me after reading her guest posts right here on EAD! Her designs are really original and fun, but still so pretty and feminine. A couple of the pictures I sent her for inspiration were these:

{Image Source: Jennifer Behr}

{Image Source: Twigs & Honey}

Unfortunately for my love of instant gratification, she is BUSY!! I won’t see my flower for a couple of months. But I really look forward to working with her as I know she’ll create something beautiful! If you are a fan of hers, and thinking of using her for your wedding - get over to her shop and convo her NOW! She’s booked through until the end of summer (obviously because she’s so good!).

I am also planning on wearing a simple fingertip-length veil for the ceremony, which I’ll take off for the reception. I wasn’t sure at first about a veil, but it’s one of those “bride things” that I won’t get the chance to do again.

Have you thought about how you’d like to wear your hair? Are you wearing your hair up or down? Are you planning on any accessories? A veil?

Have a great weekend!

Top row: Lovin Sullivan Cakes via Weddingbee, Whitebox Weddings via With This Ring…, Nicole Hill via She Walks In Beauty
Middle row: The Green Vase, Wedding via Nibs via {frolic!}, The Bride’s Cafe
Bottom row: Millie Holloman, Artfool via The Bride’s Cafe

Hope you’re enjoying the holiday!
E.

{Image Source: Brides.com}

The bridesmaids…

{Image Source: Armour Sans Anguish}

The groomsmen….

{Image Source: The Sartorialist}

The Stationery…..

{Image Source: Ceci New York via Oh Happy Day!}

The Venue…..

{Image Source: Lovely Bake Shop}

The centerpieces….

{Image Source: $10,000 Wedding}

{Image Source: Sweet Paul}

The dessert….

{Image Source: Jen’s Desserts}

Sigh. How easy would this be to put together? You would only have to live at your local flea market, vintage shops and thrift store. Most brides have months and some have years to plan. You could slowly collect linens, cake stands, egg cups, etc. Someone sign me up, please!

A.

The setting - South Seas Resort on Captiva Island, FL:

The happy couple!

The multi-talented James surprised Glenn with a song at the ceremony - say it with me now… awww!  That’s just so romantic!

The reception was full of amazingly presented details drawing from the beach surroundings:

And my favorite detail - the fabulous cake!

More photos can be found on Shari’s blog and Kelly’s blog.  I’ll leave you with my favorite of the day!

Shari, thank you so much for sharing this loving and beautiful event with us. 

E.