Y’all, the V5 extravaganza is just beginning! We came back from the Thanksgiving holiday feeling so grateful for the love surrounding us right now. V5 may have launched two weeks ago, but the fun reader photos and contributor feedback has kept coming! We want to give a huge hug and THANK YOU to all y’all!

I told y’all we were just beginning! Monday took us back to springtime in the South with the Love in Bloom shoot.

With the new Emily Ley Simplified Wedding Planner now available, we had to jump at the chance to do a giveaway! Enter here.

Virginia proved it’s classic Southern elegance in our Virginia is for Lovers feature from V5.

The Something Old, Something New shoot from V5 was filled with heirloom pieces and thoughtful details.

We love Real Weddings!

Blair + Bryan blew us away with their classic yet glamorous Georgia wedding, full of the family traditions that stole our hearts. See it here.

This news is gooder than grits!

We’re busting out the aprons and getting in the holiday spirit! Join us for our annual Gingerbread Barn Building Competition on Monday.

Shopping around for wedding items? Take a look through the Southern Weddings General Store! It’s full of products that we love from vendors and creatives we trust.

We’ve put all of our downloadable badges in one spot! Vendors can hop on over to our badges page for “Featured on Southern Weddings” badges and everyone can pull our “Love Never Fails” badges for their blog or website!

Tomorrow marks the day that the Clifton Inn begins offering a “Mid-Versary” package for those couples who just can’t wait a full year to celebrate their anniversary — who can, after all? The package includes a relaxing retreat to Clifton with a couples’ cooking class and special dinner by chef Tucker Yoder to toast to 6-months of marriage bliss! Emily’s own minimoon experience there has us convinced that we also need to retreat to Clifton! Check out their site and call in for details.

Jen of Fondly Forever Photography + McKenzie Miller Films are teaming up for a photography and videography giveaway! The talented ladies will be offering free coverage to one lucky couple getting married anywhere in the world in 2013. The giveaway ends on Tuesday, December 18th, so be sure to check out Jen’s blog for details on how to enter!

Yahoo! We have so many giveaway winners!

Congrats to all of our V5 behind the scenes bow tie giveaway winners! As a surprise, 5 winners instead of two were chosen in honor of our fifth anniversary. Micaela M. won the pink and white bow tie from Starboard Clothing Co., Courtney P. won orange seersucker from Southern Beaus, Emily M. won a plaid bow tie from High Cotton, Kristy B. won another plaid number from The Belle and the Beau, and Gabi won a blue plaid tie from Lumina. Look out for an email from us, belles!

Our Freshly Squeezed Giveaway had everyone in the mood for summer. Congratulations go out to Tiffany who won the Sunny Days Bracelet from Francesca’s, Bethany and Lindsay who won the teardrop earrings from Pink Pineapple and to Bella who won the Fleur Drop earrings from Bridier Baubles!

Have a great weekend friends! What are you doing for the first of December?

When I look at Lilli Tru, a new bridal collection from our friends at Plum Pretty Sugar, all I can think is “lovely.” Lovely, as in filled with love, as in the lightest and most exquisite robes and gowns, as in a breath of sweet fresh air. So yes, we are SO pleased to meet you, Lilli!

Lilli Tru is made for the morning of your wedding. I am a BIG believer in planning the small details to create an overall effect on your wedding day, and I feel the same about the wedding morning. What I am wearing affects how I feel. Same with the music I’m listening to, the people who are around me, what I’m eating, and how cluttered or uncluttered the space I am in is. Make conscious decisions regarding all of those things, and you’ll give yourself the gift of starting the most beautiful day of your life on the right foot. And may I suggest starting with a sweet something from Lilli Tru?

Just beautiful. You can check out the whole collection right here, including robes, gowns, and sets.

Happy planning, belles!

Tradition is BIG in the South. It’s woven throughout our lives, from how we make our beds to how we design our homes (with wide front porches, obviously!). Nowhere is it more present, though, than when we’re planning our weddings. Whether we’re toasting with the same flutes our grandparents did, carrying a hankie embroidered with the initials of all of our siblings, or cutting our cake with a knife engraved with three generations of wedding dates, the past has a way of making itself known on the day we say “I do.” We filled this shoot with ways — both new and old — to honor your past and celebrate your future. Add in the abundance of gardenias and graceful Spanish moss, and you’ve got the inspiration for a sweetly Southern soiree.

Nancy Ray photographed all the beautiful details, including this stationery suite by Regas. I adore the magnolia envelope liner!

We were lucky to have sweet readers standing in for our models this time around. Stacie and Nick, newlyweds themselves, posed as our bride and groom, and Alex and Ashley stood in as bridesmaids.

This lovely gown is the “Blossoming Weir” from BHLDN. With detailing like that, you’d hardly need any jewelry at all.

I love this alternative ring pillow!

As soon as we saw the City Club at de Rosset in Wilmington, we knew it would be just perfect for this particular shoot — after all, the shutters were the exact shade of green we were incorporating elsewhere! We adored the wide front porch and all the silver details.

Aren’t these notes the sweetest? Hardink Calligraphy penned them for us, and we think they’d be such a lovely addition to a small wedding. Your guests would certainly feel welcomed and loved, no matter how good (or bad!) your own handwriting is!

Gardenias are a notoriously fragile flower, which is why we love the clay version from DK Designs. They’re a perfect takeaway for guests, and look lovely gracing a dinner plate or napkin!

This gorgeous cake pull set is available from Weddings Etc. Read more about the cake pull tradition here!

That about sums it up, does it not? Beautiful work by Hardink Calligraphy! Be sure to pick up your copy of V5 to see even more goodness from this shoot!

Nancy Ray and Hardink Calligraphy are fabulous members of our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

Now that December (and therefore all Christmas-related things!) is only a few days away, the holidays are at the forefront of our minds. We’re ready for another fierce competition of the South’s Gingerbread Barn Building finest. Want to be one of them? RSVP today! Just want to hang with the SW gals and build a barn full of sweets that you’ll tear down and eat the next day? This event is for you, too!

We’re really excited that The Carolina Inn and Hammond’s Candies is sponsoring this event again. Experience tells us that it’s a match made in holiday heaven! Anna Kirby will be joining us to catch all the magic, so come with your game face on!

So are you ready to join us for a night of sugar highs and Christmas cheer? Email me (nicole@iloveswmag.com) with “Gingerbread Barn Building” in the subject line and tell me you’ll be there!

See y’all soon!

Friends! We are overwhelmed and humbled with the response we’ve gotten in the wake of V5′s launch. We hoped with all of our hearts that the heart of this issue would be apparent, and we’re so happy to see its message moving and touching so many people. And, of course, the gorgeous images spreading far and wide! We wanted to take a minute to highlight a few of the kind posts that y’all have written over the past few weeks as a small way of thanking you for taking the time to write them. BIG HUGS from all of us!!

xo Lara, Emily, Marissa, Nicole, and Kristin!

Our delightful friend Jen of Green Wedding Shoes shared an early sneak peek at our Family Heirlooms shoot!

Michelle wrote the most beautiful post about how the message of V5 has affected her business. The wedding of her couple Eddie + Jordan was featured in the mag!

Jen and her team at Makeup for Your Day wrote about their experience working on our Family Heirlooms shoot!

Jen shared the exciting news that one of her images was featured in our bouquet section!

Val highlighted eight reasons why she loves SW. We’re blushing!!

Lucy O Photo shared her featured image AND her adorable baby girl. I think I see a contender in our photo contest!

Emily highlighted her featured image and a few snaps from our launch party!

Floridian Weddings mentioned us in their weekly round-up post… thanks, gals!

So did Lisa. We adore that cake, too!

Snippet & Ink kindly shared a peek at our Honey & Pecan shoot.

Faith, whose images appear in several spots throughout the magazine, wrote the sweetest post about her experience!

Our dear friend Kristy shared some behind the scene shots from the making of our launch party photobooth backdrop. She made a similar one for the Lilly feature in V5!

Leigh Pearce contributed to our ceremony tips feature, and we were so glad to have her!

100 Layer Cake shared an early peek at our Kentucky Rose shoot!

Style Unveiled loved it so much they asked to feature it, too!

Liz & Ryan shared the sweetest post about our launch party and their excitement over V5!

Our lovely friends the Wedding Chicks shared a sneak peek of our cover shoot — fun!! They also posted some yellow bridesmaid dress ideas to accompany it!

Leila and co., who helped us pull together our Lilly Pulitzer shoot, shared a few snaps!

KT Merry, the photographer, shared a few, too! We love you, KT!!

The Lilly shoot was quite a popular lady! Summer from Grey Likes shared a sneak peek on her blog early on!

Our friend Rebecca Rose wrote the NICEST post about V5 and our launch party. We were so happy to see you there, R!

And last but certainly not least, Lindsay from TOAST Events, the planner behind the Honey & Pecan shoot, shared a few spreads on her blog!

I am entirely positive that we missed some of y’all’s kind posts, so please leave the link in the comments if you’re not mentioned here! We’ll be sure to either add them to this post or save them for a second round-up!