Yeehaw for the weekend, y’all! I desperately need to restock my fridge and pantry, so I’ll be making a run to the grocery store. I’ll also need to think more seriously about what I’m going to put on the bulletin board above my desk because it’s looking mighty empty right about now. What are you fine readers doing this weekend?

In a few weekends to come, we’re hosting another Southern Weddings Yard Sale! This is going to be so much fun for everyone because it’s on St. Patrick’s Day! Are you a bride or vendor who wants to sell some of your gently used wedding items, too? Email me!

Did y’all eat your black-eyed peas on New Year’s? According to tradition, eating a spoonful of the beans gives you good luck and prosperity for the New Year, so we love seeing couples incorporate this Southern delicacy into their weddings!

We love seeing new paper collections and great collaborations come together. When MM Ink and Betsywhite Stationery got together, we were giddy! This great partnership saves you time and money. In celebration of their collaboration and our love for paper and calligraphy, we’re giving away a set of custom calligraphy thank you cards and gift tags! Enter here.

Emily was smitten when she spotted the lovely stationery suite made by Mr. Boddington for a couple marrying on Blackberry Farm. That’s a heckuva lot of Southern charm, y’all!

We’re hiring y’all! We’re looking for a Corporate Advertising Account Manager. If this sounds like your cup of tea, we’d love to see you apply! Catch the details here — but hurry! We’re only accepting applications through March 1.

We love sparkly things around these parts, so Marissa’s post on the Southern Wedding Tradition of estate diamonds had us dreaming. Do any of y’all have estate jewelry?

We’d love to introduce you to some of our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory members! Say howdy to Ali Harper, Anna Kirby, Cedarwood, Jessica Lorren, Millie Holloman Photography, and Renee Sprink!

Whitney might not be engaged, but we couldn’t help but take turns dreaming up some bridal shower inspiration for everyone! I envisioned a springtime garden party full of cake decorating and monograms for our dearest ad director.

This week’s featured Real Weddings Gallery was Bethany + Caleb! Their park nuptials were complete with the sweetest proposal story ever.

We like Real Weddings the way we like pie: Lots of ‘em!

Darcy + John’s family-centered wedding was full of memorable and details and a lovely day-after shoot! See it here.

Jodi + Kurt’s V4 wedding was a treat for the eyes and full of tiny details that don’t go unnoticed! See it here and here.

Whitney + Nick’s NOLA wedding was perfect for Mardi Gras week and boasted some of that good ole Mississippi food and fun. See it here.

Good news is always welcome!

We love sweets around here! Magnolia Bakery is now offering delicious and freshly-baked desserts for your wedding, engagement party of wedding shower! Couples can choose from a selection of cupcakes and brownie and cookie assortments as well as individual favor boxes and cupcakes trees. The treats are all available for nationwide shipping! Take a look at the options on their site.

Are you planning a vow renewal? Check out this Facebook contest hosted by Casa Velas Hotel. Like Casa Velas on Facebook and enter to win an all-inclusive vow renewal for up to ten guests.

Coco Anaïs is having a trunk sale in Kentucky this weekend and next weekend! If you’re in the Covington area, check it out! See the Coco Anaïs website for more details.

Have a lovely weekend, dearies!

I considered starting this post with “Surprise! Whitney’s getting married!” but I thought that might be a little mean. Don’t fret, y’all. Whitney’s not rockin’ a ring yet (though we did get a peek into her dream wedding!). We just thought it would so much fun for us to take turns dreaming up some bridal shower inspiration for each other. We thought it might help any of y’all who are busy planning showers, too!

This week, I’m playing off of Whitney’s classic tastes and her fun personality for a little garden soiree. I imagine all of us toasting to her engagement, playing games and chit chatting until the sun comes down. Then, as you must expect, string lights will come on!

Image credits Row 1: Ellie Grover via Grey Like Weddings, Jose Villa via Style Me Pretty, Row 2: Liz Banfield via Bump Smitten, Kristen Loken via Snippet and Ink, Trent Bailey via Southern Weddings, Row 3: Trent Bailey via Southern Weddings, Kate Headley and Ritzy Bee Events via Calder Clark, photo via Canelle et Vanille

I wanted to keep Whitney’s shower fresh and fun, so a garden party where everyone could don a pretty dress was absolutely the way to go. I kept imagining beautiful Southern plantation houses with a lush green grass yard for us to celebrate the bride-to-be! The landscape would speak for itself while blue and white linens would play up the springtime setting and pops of red would contribute to the “love is in the air” vibe.

Whitney’s a fab baker (y’all remind her to teach me how to make coconut macaroons!) and a monogram-lover. (She’s also a coffee-lover, and I did, for a moment, consider adding a coffee bar to this shindig!) So along with some other little activities, I think a mini cake decorating competition is in order! It will be the perfect dessert ending to an afternoon of snacking on modernized Southern fare like mini mac and cheese, pulled pork sliders, biscuits with yummy jams and cheeses, and mint juleps.

I’d love to include some cute photos of Whitney growing up around the space and big chalkboard for guests to design Whitney’s new married monogram. At the end of the night, guests would leave with a tote bag full of hydrangeas and a snack for the ride home: coconut macaroons.

Get to know more about Whitney here and here!

If you’ve already had a bridal shower, what was it like? What would your dream bridal shower look like?

P.S. Keep your eyes peeled for the next post in our shower series, where Whitney will dream up a bridal shower for Lara!

Have you taken our 2012 survey yet? Thanks, y’all!

Y’all, we don’t often get to read entire wedding interviews from the groom’s perspective, but every once in awhile, one does come in and we LOVE it. Nick brought plenty of chuckles around the office with his story, but what we adore the most is how in love he is with his new bride, Whitney! Really, y’all — it’s too sweet. Whitney + Nick’s New Orleans wedding is perfect for Mardi Gras week and just bursting with Southern charm.

Since Whitney + Nick’s nuptials were more like a destination wedding for many of their guests who had never been to NOLA, all the stops were brought out! The first? How about Whitney’s lacy-sleeved wedding dress, netted veil (with a few feathers, of course!) and bright shoes? I think it’s a genius idea that W + N held their wedding in The Cabildo , part of the Lousiana Museum of State History — what better way to set the historic Southern vibe? — and that their ring ceremony was led by Whitney’s grandfather.

This next part is what had us head over heels for this wedding — The Second Line! Here’s what W + N had to say about their “hands down” favorite part of the day: “We started from the Cabildo and marched a square through the heart of the French Quarter, led by a fantastic brass quartet called Kinsfolk. Most our friends and family had never seen or heard of a Second Line, but they were instantly hooked, dancing, waving hankies, taking pictures, celebrating with onlookers who joined in the celebration. It was insanely fun and an experience of a lifetime.”

According to Whitney + Nick, Southern traditions came into play at every level. “The Second Line was a big one, and we provided all our guests with handkerchiefs with our wedding date printed on. The food, from top to bottom, was thoroughly Southern, and a huge reason why we wanted to get married in New Orleans. We served jambalaya, duck and andouille gumbo, shrimp and crawfish, fried oysters, steamed veggies, shrimp ‘n grits, blackened alligator, Louisiana crab claws and crawfish tails.”

Along with their band who kept everyone on their feet all night, the food was one detail that couple was happy they splurged on.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. Whitney and I met at church! It was the summer of 2009. Whit was teaching Sunday School at a congregation for young single adult Mormons, and I was smitten. She was smart, funny, well-traveled and had this incredible sparkle – a smile and personality I instantly wanted to be around. But it wasn’t until two months later that we finally hung out, on a long bike ride from NYC up to the Palisades in New Jersey. That bike ride quickly turned into a weekly ritual, where we’d meet up for early morning rides in Central Park, slowly getting to know each other and giving me ample opportunity to stare at Whitney’s cute bum in spandex. We still didn’t go on an actual date until December. Finally on that date, it was just…ON. We never looked back, and I’ve never been happier.
Describe the proposal. The morning of the proposal, we had breakfast together followed by a 90-minute bike ride through Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, rekindling some of the magic of our very first “non-dates.” We followed it up with lunch at a hot dog place we both love and where we went after one of our first rides together. That night, we had a date night planned: a perfect way to set the mood, and an easy disguise for my proposal maneuverings. We decided on dinner at a delicious French-Mexican restaurant, and swing dancing at the 92nd Street Y. Whit was beautiful and charming at dinner as always, questioning my curious, sappy romantic side that was gushing out. Dancing, which was dominated by the retiree crowd, was quirky and delightful, with men four-score older than me anxious to ask Whit to dance, hoping to capitalize on her twinkle toes and my own ineptness. Later on, after getting dessert to-go and a cab home, I led Whitney out to the roof-deck of her apartment – a place special to both of us — dropped to one knee, poured my heart out, and asked the girl of my dreams the most important question of my life, “Do you have forks for the dessert?” No, I popped the question, of course. She said yes, and we’ve had an incredible adventure ever since.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Magical, delicious, joyous
In what month did you get married? October
How many guests attended your wedding? Approximately 125.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: (From the bride) The wedding dress was a bit of a challenge as I wanted covered shoulders. It seems like 99% of dresses are strapless! I narrowed down the exact look that I wanted and found a sleeveless lace dress that could be tailored pretty easily to become the vision that I wanted. My mom went to the garment district in New York to match the lace and then I worked with a great tailor, Ellen’s Couture who made my bespoke wedding dress.
Describe your wedding cake or dessert: We’ve never been huge fans of wedding cake, so we decided on cupcakes instead. We had tasty little bite-sized cupcakes for our guests, and Whit and I had king (and queen) sized ones for our cake cutting. Sadly, there was no cake smashing in the face.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Leaving the reception in the back of a Pedi cab, with the cool evening breeze brushing over us, on-lookers cheering, and kissing the whole way to the hotel. The ultimate victory lap, I’d say.
Did you decide to do a “first look”? Why or why not? No – we didn’t do a first look as we had a two-part ceremony. The first part was a traditional temple wedding in Baton Rouge, so we rode up in the car together on our wedding day. It definitely helped release any nerves as we could both relax – we both knew we wouldn’t be stood up at the altar!
What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? Elope! No, just kidding. Our best advice is pretty simple: decide at the very beginning what’s important to you, and focus on that with your time and money. For us, it was food and music. Both turned out great, and we had an awesome party.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? Besides world domination? Actually, we’re just loving the newlywed bubble and being done with wedding planning. We’re looking forward to our annual trip to New Orleans in March, family vacations this summer, spending more time with friends, taking some classes, cooking, getting to the outdoors more often, practicing our baby-making skills, and hopefully, a little more time back on the bike.

Photographer: Rachel Thurston // Ceremony Venue: Baton Rouge Temple, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints // Reception venue: The Cabildo, Lousiana Museum of State History // Caterer: DC Events

We thought you might like more Mardi Gras fun!
Southern Delicacy: King Cake
A Modern Mardi Gras Inspiration Board
Modern Mardi Gras Traditions and Inspiration
Modern Mardi Gras Color Palette Finds

Have you taken our 2012 survey yet? Thanks, y’all!

Who’s taken a look at the Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory lately? So much Southern goodness! We wanted to take a minute to introduce you to a few of our newest members.

Ali Harper is a timeless lifestyle photographer based in Atlanta. Fun fact: Ali’s wedding was featured in SW V3, and you can see it here + here!

Anna Kirby is a photographer based in North Carolina and Florida. You might remember her from this adorable engagement session!

Cedarwood in Tennessee is both Southern chic and rustic luxe, and one of the most unique wedding venues we’ve ever seen.

Jessica Lorren’s photography is simple, natural, and real. She’s based in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Millie Holloman Photography is a passionate, creative team based in North Carolina. Millie’s work has been featured in all four Southern Weddings print editions.

Renee Sprink is a fine art photographer offering a boutique experience in North Carolina.

To check out all of our Blue Ribbon Vendors, just click over to the full directory! You can search by category or state to find your perfect match.

Vendors, if you’re interested in getting involved, just fill out this form and we’ll get in touch! Brides, did you particularly love a Southern vendor from your wedding day? Leave a comment below or email Emily, because we’d love to hear about them!

Y’all know we love sparkly diamonds and gorgeous bling around these parts! Emily and I in particular are a little ring-obsessed, and from the looks of the comment section in our past engagement ring posts, y’all are, too!

Naturally, we love every sort of tradition and story involving sparkly things, so when Lauren, one of our dear readers, sent us the loveliest of stories about the estate diamond in her engagement ring, we knew we had to share. Take it away, Lauren!

“The center diamond in my engagement ring belonged to my great grandmother. She was given it as a gift from my great grandfather on their 50th Wedding anniversary. On the day I was born, my grandmother set aside that ring to give to me one day. My grandparents have been married for almost 60 years, and their marriage is one that I admire and look up to. It is an honor to me to wear an heirloom diamond with a history of love from two faithful and long lasting marriages.”

Now that y’all have wiped your tears, let’s talk about the Southern tradition of the estate diamond!

Tec Petaja

Estate jewelry is defined as “previously owned jewelry that is of a vintage and/or antique nature.” I’m sold already! Tradition dictates that women in the South pass their engagement ring diamond, or their entire engagement ring, onto their first born son to be given to his future bride. Once she becomes a mother, the tradition continues as the diamond or ring is passed from generation to generation.

According to my mother in law, many women in the South are given an additional band on their tenth (or more) anniversary as a sort of replacement for the ring given away.

Now it’s time to talk about your pretty, pretty sparklers, ladies! If you have a diamond engagement ring, is it an estate piece? Or did your beau (or you and your beau!) pick out something entirely new? Share, share, share away!

P.S. We love these Southern traditions, too:
A moment of prayer before the ceremony
Carrying a white Bible in lieu of a bouquet
The sorority sing