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

Y’all didn’t I say this wedding was amazing? Bright graphic details ruled the night at Katie + Max’s reception and most of them were handmade by the couple! Even their corn hole boards were designed by K + M and then painted by Emily Brown Lacroix at Merriment Events. Standing out from the crowd of plain white cakes is the couple’s three-tiered sweet concoction based on Damien Hirst’s “Albumin, Human, Glycated.” Art-inspired desserts? They’re now a favorite in my book. Biggest hugs to Jodi Miller Photography for sharing this fun day with us!

P.S. Love the details of this wedding? Be sure to check out Courtney’s recent post on Revel — a Shopping Guide based on Katie + Max’s style!

What was the biggest challenge you faced when planning your wedding? (From the groom) Finding an amazing photographer was tough. Katie and I both professionally work with lighting and photography, so you can imagine our expectations were pretty high. Luckily, we knew from the moment we saw the first few pictures from our engagement shoot, that we had found exactly the right photographer.
Favorite design element of your big day: We loved the cornhole boards, and just couldn’t believe how well they turned out. We did the design and Emily Brown Lacroix for Merriment Events painted the boards. They look so professional that I have a hard time believing that they weren’t bought in a store. Emily made large stencils from the design to paint the board. She color-matched the paint using swatches we had sent so that everything matched the colors we had been using for details in the wedding.
What was your reception like? We loved our reception! It was held under a Sperry tent in my parent’s front yard. It almost felt like a circus tent underneath, especially with all of the lights on. We chose to have a Southern comfort food buffet. Everything felt so open, and it was really easy to see everyone. After dinner, the band began to play. We didn’t have a dance floor, so everyone ended up dancing in the mud, which was awesome!
Describe some of the decorations or décor elements you used: We had three long tables that formed a U-shape. We chose to go simple with the white linens, and had many colorful details that popped out against them. Aside from the centerpiece floral arrangements, we made hand embroidered and stuffed muslin hearts for the place settings. Each one had a guest’s name printed on a little hot pink flag that was attached to the heart with a pin. We then made flags of a similar design and color to wrap around our blue striped paper straws. We designed some really colorful table numbers. For the buffet cards, we cut out the name of the dish from kraft paper and glued white paper behind it. We then finished it off by sewing a stitch around the edge of the paper. Toward the end of the evening, we were served mini pies. To embellish them, we made little hot pink flags again and wrapped them around toothpicks that stuck into the pies. One of our favorite parts of the wedding was the untraditional guest book. Instead of having guests sign a book, we thought it would be great if they signed a piece of art that we could display in our home. We bought a blank 18” munny, a vinyl designer ‘toy’, and painted a pattern onto it with our wedding colors. Using a munny also had significance to us because we love and collect vinyl art.
What advice would you give to someone planning his or her wedding? Inspiration is everywhere, you just have to remember to hold on to it. If your wedding doesn’t feel inspired, it runs the risk of being less memorable.
Describe your wedding cake: It was inspired by Damien Hirst’s “Albumin, Human, Glycated”. We substituted our wedding colors for the ones that were in his painting.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? Making more movies, and pursuing our lifelong dream of relaxation, good music, good food and amazing friends and family.

Photographer: Jodi Miller Photography // Planner: Merriment Events // Designer: Merriment Events, the bride and groom // Venue: Kilmarnock, Virginia // Florist: Merriment Events // Wedding Cake Baker: The Buttercream Bee // Mini Pies: Sweetest Thing Bakery // Caterer: Mosaic Unique Events // Bride’s Dress: Ouma // Hair Stylist: Avenue 42 Designs // Makeup Artist: Avenue 42 Designs // Bride’s Shoes: Delman Shoes // Bride’s Jewelry: Tiffany & Co. // Groom’s Fashion: Al’s Attire // Paper Goods: designed by the bride and groom, invitations and save the dates printed by Thousand Pound Press // Rentals: Classic Party Rentals, Skyline Tent Company, Festive Fare // Linens: BBJ Linen and Classic Party Rentals // Ceremony Décor: Honeycomb Balls from Devra Party Corp., glassine bags from Garnish // Reception Décor: Table number frames from Ikea, napkins printed by For Your Party, straws from Garnish, cornhole set from Cornhole Worldwide, painted by Merriment Events, munny from Kidrobot // Lighting: Skyline Tent Company // Band: Northridge booked via Sam Hill Entertainment

Jodi Miller Photography and Merriment Events are a part of our fabulous Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

Want more awesome details? How about these:
Melissa + Matthew’s DIY wedding chock full of colors here and here
Our Multicolored Wedding Details Pinterest Board

Good morning friends! Have any of you watched the TV show, Hart of Dixie? I just caught an episode last night and fell in love with the melodic accents. Plus, I love Rachel Bilson — she’s so fab.

For those of you out there who aren’t morning people, this wedding will do the trick. It’s like a happy jolt of wedding coffee! We could not stop talking about Katie + Max’s wedding when it landed in our inbox and appeared on our computer screens during last year’s Real Wedding call for V4. The bright colors and huge amounts of handmade details (and this time I mean details — no corner of this wedding was ignored!) were the sweetest bits of eye candy. Katie + John are both artists working in the film industry and brought an energetic burst of life to the events. I don’t know where to begin with these images from Jodi Miller Photography, so I’ll let you soak in the joy at your own pace.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. I had just gotten my dream job. I walked in on the first day, and Max, who was an intern at the time, saw me as I first walked in to the front desk. Being new and needing training on the studio tools, I was put into a class with interns. Max was also in that class. After we started dating, Max was hired full time. We’re lucky to work at a place that accepts employee couples. We’re actually even in the same department.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Bright, casual, intimate
How many guests attended your wedding? We had 42 family members, family friends, and close friends.
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? Why was this design special to you as a couple? We wanted a modern, colorful, fun, and casual design. I was so happy about marrying Max, but to be honest, I was also nervous about being a bride and receiving attention. I tried to counteract that feeling by really focusing on making the wedding casual and fun. Because we are both artists, we really had fun getting into the nitty gritty details. I probably spent way too much time deliberating over things that people would never notice, but it was so much fun to do anyway! I was quite happy with how everything turned out because I felt that it was a good melding of our styles. We made a lot of the details ourselves, but in doing so, decided to keep shapes, designs, and ideas simple. In deciding to make so much of it, what really helped more than anything else was a digital cutting tool. It could cut vector designs out of so many materials: cardstock, adhesive cardstock vinyl, and fabric ironed on to interfacing to name a few. I got it for Christmas, and I’m sure it has now paid for itself many times over!
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I am pretty obsessed with my wedding dress, and if you had told me that I would be saying that even two months before the wedding, I wouldn’t have believed it. The hunt was extremely challenging and without hope for a long time. I knew what I wanted, but I just couldn’t find it. I wanted something romantic, but casual. I was about to lose hope until a friend at work encouraged me to keep up my search. I had a back-up dress that would work just in case, but I went to go look again. I ended up finding the dress on Etsy. It was what I had wanted all along. The girl who designed and made it even let me tweak a few of the details! It arrived less than a month before the wedding, which is terrifying, but what a relief!
Briefly describe your wedding flowers: The dining table arrangements were clusters of pink and orange ranunculus, yellow mums, and billy buttons in bud vases. The cocktail table arrangements were ranunculus and chamomile. My bouquet was made of white, light pink, dark pink, yellow, red, and orange ranunculus, delphinium, scabiosa, billy buttons, and chamomile.
Tell me a bit about the wedding ceremony. The sun came out for the first time in days right before the ceremony began. An unbelievably fun bluegrass band, Northridge, was playing as we all walked down the aisle. We had a lot of fun picking out the songs, and we decided on Teardrop Waltz and Lover’s Waltz for the processional. It really helped keep the feeling casual. We had a very sweet and brief service. We had a reading of Robert Fulghum’s Union. At the end of the ceremony, we walked back down the aisle to Big Rock Candy Mountain, which is a very whimsical, fun, and upbeat song.
Did you try anything new or untraditional? Is mistakenly allowing your partner to put the ring on the wrong finger considered new or nontraditional?

Photographer: Jodi Miller Photography // Planner: Merriment Events // Designer: Merriment Events, the bride and groom // Venue: Kilmarnock, Virginia // Florist: Merriment Events // Wedding Cake Baker: The Buttercream Bee // Mini Pies: Sweetest Thing Bakery // Caterer: Mosaic Unique Events // Bride’s Dress: Ouma // Hair Stylist: Avenue 42 Designs // Makeup Artist: Avenue 42 Designs // Bride’s Shoes: Delman Shoes // Bride’s Jewelry: Tiffany & Co. // Groom’s Fashion: Al’s Attire // Paper Goods: designed by the bride and groom, invitations and save the dates printed by Thousand Pound Press // Rentals: Classic Party Rentals, Skyline Tent Company, Festive Fare // Linens: BBJ Linen and Classic Party Rentals // Ceremony Décor: Honeycomb Balls from Devra Party Corp., glassine bags from Garnish // Reception Décor: Table number frames from Ikea, napkins printed by For Your Party, straws from Garnish, cornhole set from Cornhole Worldwide, painted by Merriment Events, munny from Kidrobot // Lighting: Skyline Tent Company // Band: Northridge booked via Sam Hill Entertainment

Jodi Miller Photography and Merriment Events are a part of our fabulous Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

Are you crazy for this wedding? You might like these:
Kate + Jojo’s colorful and springy outdoor wedding here and here
Towne + Andy’s rainbow ribbon-decked wedding here and here

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

It’s true!

The Southern Weddings team is looking for a Corporate Advertising Account Manager. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, we’d love to have you apply! All of the details are posted right here, but hurry, because we’re only accepting applications until March 1!

Click here to see the complete job description!

Image by Steve Steinhardt via Southern Weddings

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

Quick update: There’s a bulletin board above my desk now!! Okay, back to regularly scheduled awesome wedding time. Darcy + John’s Florida nuptials were, like most of the wedding we fall for, full of family-crafted details. In fact, Darcy said that old family photos uncovered during their engagement provided the inspiration for many of the personal touches included in the wedding. I am in awe of the couple’s gorgeous vine and baby’s breath-covered chuppah — it was built by both D + J’s fathers using wood from Darcy’s family backyard! And y’all know good and well that I can’t let those sweet hankies and monogrammed ties pass without comment! Who else is pinning those today? I’ll leave you to take in these gorgeous photos from Divine Light Photography, but not without mentioning that Darcy + John’s shiny green getaway car is rad. Plus, how perfect for Fat Tuesday!

We don’t often see day-after shoots, so we love getting a glimpse into the first days of Darcy + John’s married life with help from Divine Light Photography. Isn’t it just lovely? I can’t help but fall for that last shot. I can just image the couple lounging in their wedding finery and reliving all those blissful moments from the day before.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. (From the groom) In September 2008, on one lovely fall weekend in New York City, a little reunion was planned for our group of friends who had all become close while attending college at Florida State. This was the first meeting between us, and it was quite bizarre to our group of mutual friends that we had never met one another in all our years at FSU. I decided to go for it and introduced myself to Darcy, only to find the night was ending soon and I’d have to wait until the next day at the FSU alumni bar to have another chance to get to know her. As we all watched and cheered on our Seminoles the next day, the group saw an instant and steady connection between me and Darcy. I returned to Dallas where I had just moved two months prior to start a new job. It was only about a week later that I found myself buying a flight back to New York to visit Darcy for an extended “first date weekend”. After many long months of back and forth and meeting in distant places from Santa Monica to Calgary, I decided to leave Texas behind and was headed for the big city. The rest, as they say, is history!
Describe the proposal. It was a regular Friday night the week before Christmas in New York City. John asked me to meet him in front of the Plaza Hotel an hour or so before the dinner reservations. Once we met at said fountain, he asked me what I wanted to do to “kill some time” until the 11pm seating at the restaurant. We headed to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center and it was there that he proposed and I happily accepted! He had in his possession a family heirloom – the engagement ring that belonged to my late grandmother, Helen. He secretly collected the ring from my father in anticipation of popping the question. All seemed quite spontaneous; he got me good!
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Personal, comfortable, and charming.
In what month did you get married? December
How many guests attended your wedding? 160 guests
What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? We wanted to spread around the Southern hospitality we loved about our childhoods. That meant lining the ceremony aisle with grandma’s mason jars filled of baby’s breath; a dinner station devoted to fried pickles, corn pudding, and BBQ sliders; and a scotch n’ bourbon specialty bar built of family antiques. Then, there was the collection of “Della’s Doilies.” John’s late grandmother, Della, was a meticulous crafter of the most beautiful crochets one has ever seen. When I saw them, I knew it was perfect for our table décor, and was the way we’d pay tribute to John’s “GranDella.”
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: The weekend of our engagement party in Ft. Worth, the guys of the two families played golf and ate BBQ, while the ladies went dress shopping. I did some solo snooping in the salon and saw a dress I wanted to see off the hanger. Lo and behold, she was the one. Romona Keveza is known to create elegant, romantic, and glamorous dresses; I found one that had an old-timey Hollywood feel but was also modern and edgy at the same time. It was different than any dress I had seen before, which made it the right gown for me.
Describe your wedding flowers: I carried my favorites, white peonies. For the bridesmaids, we did fun, wild, red anemones. We kept it feminine for the mothers with a simple hand-tied bunch of baby’s breath all wrapped in white lace. My bouquet of peonies was the perfect place to tie a locket that belonged to my mother that I have held onto since she passed away. Inside the locket were two school portraits she’d cut out of me and my brother. It was really special to know she was right there with us. We hung a garland of baby’s breath around the frame of the chuppah and on the tables at the reception were bold bunches of all red gerberas with black centers, either tucked inside a birdcage or low arrangements placed on the tree stumps, which John’s uncle cut down for us on his Mississippi farm. Placed around each center arrangement were a trio of milk glass vases, each containing a single wild flower bunch – baby’s breath, Queen Anne’s lace, and hypericum berry.
Describe your wedding cake or dessert: Red velvet! Some tiers were yellow and chocolate marble. The s’mores bar was a big hit over at the wood-burning fire pit. Lastly, a cool Florida night makes for a great time to enjoy a Serendipity frozen hot chocolate.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? Making sure we had a great time planning the event, but not getting overwhelmed with the process. It’s a great time in your life and is like no other in time you’ll spend together, so make sure you take a step back and realize what a special day it’s going to be for you and your soon-to-be spouse.
What is the one thing you are most happy you splurged on? Our band! Tom Sartori was a band we both enjoyed in college in Tallahassee at Bullwinkle’s Saloon. He doesn’t “do weddings” but we wrote to him with our special request and he delivered an exceptional show. We can’t thank him enough for making it a party we truly will always remember.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? John loves to play his guitar. He got up on stage to thank our friends and family for attending. Then, Tom handed him a guitar, and John soon started strumming John Mayer’s “Daughters.” This was the father-daughter dance. It was a really touching and sweet moment; I was just trying to take it all in and was feeling more blessed than ever.
Did you write your own vows? If so, what was your favorite phrase, verse or line? One of my favorite moments in the ceremony was when my dad handed me over to John, and said, “She’s all yours.” We all chuckled.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We love to travel and plan to expand on our list of places we’ve been together and the places we will live. The world is ours for the taking. Up next: we’re planning our extended honeymoon to somewhere exotic and relaxing.

Photographer: Divine Light Wedding Photography // Videographer: Bill Wagy Productions // Florist: Bee Ridge Florist // Wedding Cake Baker: Matt and Dom’s // Caterer: Fete Catering // Rentals: US Tent Rental // Linens: Tan linen toppers made by groom’s mother. // Paper Products: Askew Design // Bride’s Dress: Romona Keveza // Bride’s Hair Accessories/Veil: Veil from Etsy // Bride’s Shoes: flats by Christian Louboutin, heels by Badgley Mischka // Bridesmaids’ Dresses: TART Infinity Dress

If you’re loving this wedding, check these out:
Our Green Wedding Details Pinterest board
Our Southern Ceremonies Pinterest board

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

Hi, belles! I spotted today’s Southern Spotting on the blog of one of my favorite stationers, Mr. Boddington, and I just knew y’all would love it! This stationery suite was designed for a fabulous couple getting married at Blackberry Farm in Tennessee (one of the Southern spots I’d most love to visit!).

The first piece in the suite was this lovely save the date, which alerted guests to all the fun in store.

Llamas! Seed talks! Truffle dogs! Yahoo!

Next was the formal invite, lovely in yellow.

Next guests were invited to the rehearsal dinner. Love the vintage floral patterns here!

To find their way around the Farm, guests were treated to a map hand-drawn by Mr. Boddington.

Finally, each guest received a lovely menu when sitting down to their meal, previewing the goodies to come. Yum!

For a few more details, head over to Mr. Boddington’s blog!