I’m pretty sure we’re all still shaking the glitter out of our clothes and hair. We had a blast at the V5 Launch Party last night — thank you to everyone who came in to celebrate with us and to those of you who joined us virtually via UStream! Look for a party recap soon, y’all.

This week was full of post office runs and V5 features. We were thrilled to start things off with a behind-the-scenes look at our Family Heirlooms shoot.

Tuesday came along and we welcome V5 to news stands with a big post and a bigger photo contest! See details on how to enter here.

We would hate to keep you waiting even longer, so we shared more from V5′s Family Heirloom shoot.

For more behind-the-scenes action from our Family Heirloom shoot, be sure to check out this video!

Another one of our beautiful features made the blog this week! We welcomed the sweet neutrals of our Honey and Pecan shoot.

Then, we filled y’all in on our very first shoot we produced for V5, the Kentucky Rose shoot.

With all the V5 hubbub, you’d think we couldn’t possibly pile on more good news, but we did! The General Store is now open! Head over here to get the skinny.

Real Weddings are gooder than grits!

Erin + Steve’s fall wedding was a big mother-daughter effort and sweet as pie! See it here.

Whew! I’m ready for a cozy weekend in. What are y’all doing?

Oh, y’all! What an AMAZING evening we had last night celebrating five years of Southern Weddings goodness! So many dear friends, vendors and readers came from all over the country to toast with us and we are truly overwhelmed with gratitude. We have much more party goodness to come in our official recap, but had to say a quick THANK YOU to everyone who joined us at the Carolina Inn last night! Giant thanks to those of you who joined us virtually via Ustream, too! If you missed the party last night, you can watch the entire thing here. Our speeches are somewhere in the middle if you want to fast forward to that : ) You can also follow party pics on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #V5Launch. Oh, what a night!!! We love y’all!!!

Oh my stars! I am so excited to share this announcement with y’all! You’re in for a real treat. Nicole and I have been working like busy little bees with some of the sweetest folks below the Mason-Dixon to bring the best to our General Store. Today, it’s officially open for business!

What is the General Store? It’s a carefully curated online boutique filled with some our favorite online shops, Etsy stores, and handmade goodies brought straight to your computer screen!

When you head into the Southern Weddings General Store you’ll see products from around the country that can be shipped right to your home. Each product image not only tells you the price and the shop’s info, but it will link you straight to that product’s listing on the shop’s own site for easy checkout.

We’ll be bringing you everything from adorable wedding and bridal shower favors and handmade keepsakes to custom invitations and monogram goodies! We can’t wait to share these amazing products with you. You can also narrow down your search by clicking on the categories at the top of the page for easy-peasy shopping!

Grab a cup of sweet tea (or hot cocoa depending on where you are), and mosey over to the General Store for some happy shopping! And remember, we’re working hard to add more products daily, so keep checking back!

Vendors, have a product that’d be perfect for our store? Email me. We’d love to chat about having you as part of the Southern Weddings family!

This shoot was one of the very first ones we put together, and can I tell you a secret? It actually wasn’t shot in the South! We typically stay below the Mason-Dixon Line, for obvious reasons, but since Jen Huang and the Poppies & Posies gals came to us with the kernel of an idea and the perfect place to set it — a private property in Jen’s family in upstate New York — we traveled to them. And it turned out beautifully!

As you’ll be able to see pretty quickly, we were inspired by the Kentucky Derby, but we wanted to put our own classic girly sophisticated spin on things. We focused on apples, a favorite treat of the stars of the show, and pulled soft blush into the bright red palette to soften it.

Bryn from Paperfinger created the beautiful stationery suite and penned all the calligraphy, including the lines you see in the magazine feature!

Here’s our beautiful couple for the day! Jacqueline and Jeff just got married in October, so they were engaged at this shoot, and they were so sweet and adorable! The “bridesmaids” were equally as wonderful, and they were ALL good sports about shooting in the mist, and then rain :)

Now that’s a bouquet!! Between Amy yesterday and Sierra and Juliet today, we were lucky to work with the most talented florists!

This little guy might look cute, but he was not so interested in our photo shoot. Well, I take that back. His interest in our photo shoot extended to trying to nip treats off the sweet table and steal mouthfuls from the bouquets. Needless to say his stay was short-lived “on set.”

A bourbon bar! Love this man-friendly option for a cocktail hour or a corner of the reception. Sierra and Juliet brought boxes of beautiful accessories, like these vintage bourbon bottles from their prop shop The Trove, which was so helpful!

Gorgeous linens from La Tavola, an overflowing centerpiece from Poppies & Posies, and gilded details everywhere made this table shine. My very favorite detail, though, might have been the apple place cards – such a beautiful bright pop of color on the soft table!

Ahhh the sweets table. Emily from Lael Cakes blew us out of the water with her amazing looking and tasting completely vegan and gluten free apple-themed desserts. Between the mini apple pies, the gold-dusted caramel apples and THAT CAKE, we were singing her praises the whole day. Isn’t that cake pretty much the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen??

Huge thanks to our entire northern crew who worked on this shoot! Even though you’re in Yankee territory, you know a thing or two about Southern hospitality :)

Be sure to pick up your copy of V5 to see even more details and photos from this editorial, and stay tuned for the behind the scenes video by McKenzie Miller on Saturday!

Y’all should see our office right now! We’re swimming in post office receipts (more on that tomorrow) and squealing over our newest cover every time we see it. Even better, today we’re busting out the glitter to prepare for our big V5 Launch Party tomorrow! We are so excited to head over to the Carolina Inn to see everyone. The party is SOLD OUT, but see details below on how you can join us virtually!

We want to take another moment to thank everyone who is helping to make this party as amazing as we imagined! The Carolina Inn is graciously hosting us and creating a menu that is to die for. Rebecca from Millie Holloman Photography and The Cheese Photo Booth will be on hand to capture all of the fun moments, Callie’s Biscuits, J and R Foods and Ambrosia Cake Creations will be providing some yummy eats and Momental Designs, For Your Party, I Do Linens, Expressions of Love Florist, Fine & Dandy Party Shop, Floral Cotton, Stephanie Creekmur and A&P Designs are contributing some gorgeous details. Additionally, we’re so happy to have our friends the Bloomsbury Boys playing for us as well as some games from SC Cornhole.

With that lineup, can’t you tell we’re excited? We can’t wait to see everyone’s smiling faces and their gold and glittery best! (Don’t have anything gold or glitter? That’s okay — come in your best cocktail attire!)

Just as a reminder, the party is SOLD OUT. We’re over capacity at the Carolina Inn, simply due to space limitations, but feel free to add yourself to the wait list on our Eventbrite page in case we have a ticket available for you later. PLEASE NOTE: You will need a printed ticket to be admitted to the party. Please print your ticket or bring a digital version on your mobile device! Parking? Head to the Inn’s valet stand or park right across the street from the Inn in the Nash lot.

JOIN US FROM YOUR COMPUTER! We’ll be live-streaming the event from our Ustream channel! Tune in here on Thursday to see what we’re up to.

See y’all tomorrow!