Did you guys hear the good news?? If you follow all of us on Twitter, then you probably know by now, but we’re still over-the-moon-ridiculously-happy for Emily + John who got engaged last week! (Sly Emily kept it from us for a week!) There’s never been a better time to look back on all the wonderful features we posted this week and look forward to what’s ahead.

After we spent the weekend celebrating July Fourth, swimming at the lake, eating tons of barbecue and spending time with friends and family, we met you back here on Tuesday with the most adorable bridal shower inspiration. Designer Kristin Cone came up with an afternoon tea party to celebrate the upcoming nuptials and we love how girly and Southern it turned out!

Emily showed off her favorite V3 spread. After all this time, she still has a hard time picking a favorite (we can’t blame her!) but she finally chose our cover story feature, photographed by Joey + Jessica. The gorgeous photos might have caused her eyes to well up, it was so perfect!

We know how much a Southern girl loves her pearls, so we’re giving you the chance to win a bridal set with the luminescent beauties. Fine + Fleurie’s Swarovski pearl necklace and bracelet set are the perfect match to any wedding dress. Go to the original post to enter to win!

It’s the beginning of July, and you know what that means. Another Monthly Round-Up! Take a look at our favorite aspects of June’s Real Weddings, chosen by the fabulous Emily, Marissa and Sierra.

It’s seriously pure wedding bliss this week at Southern Weddings. Not only are we celebrating Emily’s engagement, but we want to know all about your family’s love stories of old! I loved looking at Lara’s family’s wedding photos and can’t wait to see some of yours! We’ll be highlighting one special couple every week, so go to the original post to find out how to submit those love stories!

I don’t know if you guys know this, but our Assistant Art Director, Sierra is amazing. She’s responsible for our Real Wedding Galleries and the cute graphics on our site. Sit a spell with her and get to know more about her!

Speaking of Real Wedding Galleries, this week’s featured gallery was Kiley + Tim. They lit up V3 with their fun color palette and great details.

Can’t get enough Real Weddings!

Bonnie + Brent’s Florida wedding was so relaxed and laid back. They really showed us how to appreciate a wedding! For more of the family-spun event, click here and here.

A few announcements:

David’s Bridal is giving one lucky couple the chance to win the ultimate royal treatment! Upload a photo of your and your sweetie to the David’s Bridal Facebook page and tell them how your partner makes you feel like royalty in 100 words or less. Fans will vote on their favorite love story and the winner gets a free 5-night stay at a tropical resort and a wedding dress fit for a princess.

philoSophies, a custom stationery and gift shop that provides whimsical illustrations wants to give you a custom drawing of you and your bridesmaids that you can frame for posterity! Look through philoSophies website and check out the details of the giveaway here.

Have a splendid weekend, friends!

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a genuine pink wedding on the blog, but Mimi + Harry’s Virginia celebration at the Brookside Gardens hits the spot for me.  It’s light, fresh + feminine without being too girly.  (Anyone else suddenly reminded how much they’re going to miss these warm months?)  Theresa Choi + Julie Lim photographed the happy couple on their big day.  The bride opted for an elegant J. Crew ball gown, and went super-sleek with her veil from Unveiled Bridal Designs.  Mimi + Harry toasted their newlywed status at the China Garden Restaurant, where they enjoyed a dessert bar from the New York-based Momofuku.  My Simple Details not only planned the event, but also designed the flowers.  Lovely!  P.S.  How much do you love short hair summer brides?  I sure do!

How did the two of you meet?  Tell us your story. We met in college at the University of Maryland through mutual friends.  We seemed like opposites in most ways, but something sparked and we’ve had an amazing journey discovering both our differences and similarities ever since!  We’ve been together for about 8 years now.
Describe the proposal. Harry proposed to me, surprising me by taking me up to the Santa Barbara courthouse clock tower where there is a beautiful view of the city, the ocean, and the mountains all at once.  At that time, we were preparing to move back to our hometown in suburban Maryland from Santa Barbara, CA, where we had been living for the past 3-4 years while I was in graduate school.  The move symbolized a new chapter of our life, and Harry thought it a fitting moment.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: meaningful, intimate, personal
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: While there were many very cute details, one detail definitely stood out above the rest for us: the cake toppers, custom created based on our Nintendo Wii “Mii’s”, or avatars.  Paul Pape Designs created these toppers based on images of our avatars and our actual wedding outfits, copying them to the tiniest detail. They looked just like us! 
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I knew I had to have a wedding dress with pockets (to hold his ring and my vows, of course)! I discovered that J. Crew had many dresses with pockets so I looked through their designs.  The Lucinda ball gown was perfect: super simple, flattering, and just a little princess-y. Once I picked the dress I wanted, I went looking for it used! As a budget bride, I couldn’t imagine paying full-price for a dress I was wearing for only a day.  Luckily, I found a once-worn Lucinda on OnceWed.com for a great price!
Describe your wedding flowers: We provided a mini calla lily for each of our guests at the ceremony, in lieu of the boutonnieres we traditionally provide to all family members.  We wanted our parents to stand out in particular, though, so we had simple boutonnieres from a single calla lily for each of them.  We decided to forgo the traditional bouquet and flower arrangements, opting instead to getting married outdoors in a garden full of flowers and creating DIY centerpieces with origami flowers.  I, along with my sisters and friends, folded over 1500 origami cherry blossoms (and then attached them to branches, one by one) for our 50 centerpieces!
Describe your wedding cake: We decided to forgo the traditional giant wedding cake, and instead went with a giant dessert buffet stocked with my favorite desserts.  The highlights of the dessert buffet were chocolate chip cornflake marshmallow cookies and a small banana cake. The small uncovered cake was perfect for the cake toppers and matched our nontraditional style.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? The biggest challenge was finding a balance between our individuality and our families’ desires and expectations.  We wanted to express ourselves as a couple – our life philosophies, our idea of marriage and partnership – but we also wanted to include our families and emphasize the importance of community.  This took a lot of (sometimes painful and frustrating) give and take throughout the planning process.  But we were especially able to bring all these concerns together in our wedding ceremony, which we carefully created along with our officiant over the course of weeks.  The result was an incredibly special and meaningful ceremony that was an expression of us as a couple and that also brought our communities together.
What’s next for you as a couple?  What are you looking forward to in the future?  We are looking forward to normalcy! After almost a year of planning this event, we just want life’s daily rhythms to return to what we vaguely remember as normal! I am especially looking forward to having time to return to culinary and musical pursuits.  Long term, we are looking forward to discovering together the depths of the commitment that we have made.

Our cover photographer and good friend {Jose Villa} emailed us to let us know that the stunning new book {Wedding Photography Unveiled} by Jacqueline Tobin is being released today! Aaaand…  his gorgeous image on the cover!  We are beyond thrilled for Jose and for the other twenty wedding photographers whose images fill these inspiring pages. {Wedding Photography Unveiled} reveals the techniques, philosophies, strategies, and practices of twenty top wedding photographers from across the country. The focus is on the freshest styles – especially the blend of photojournalism with the more relaxed lifestyles and high fashion looks. These are the styles that today’s bride will be asking for, inspired by the images she sees in bridal, celebrity, and fashion magazines. {Wedding Photography Unveiled} explores the role of the photographer, then breaks down the day visually into Getting Ready, The Ceremony, Portraits, and The Reception. With priceless straight-from-the-front-lines advice on equipment, setting rates, getting published in bridal magazines, branding, websites, albums, and more, this book is both a stunning celebration of distinctive artists’ work, and a practical source of information that can help any professional photographer get more work in the lucrative wedding field.

From Jose: “Jacqueline Tobin, editor of PDN magazine hand selected her top 20 photographers to put together this beautiful book filled with amazing photographs by photographers like, Liz Banfield, Meg Smith, Parker J. Pfister, Elizabeth Messina, Philippe Cheng, Christian Oth [editor's note: most of these photographers are also featured in our print edition!] and many more.. Im so humbled and fortunate to have been selected as one of the 20.. plus not to mention extremely honored to have my images grace the front and back covers.. wow.. insane, I know…”

And the very exciting news for you: Jose has offered to give a signed book to one of our readers! How wonderful, Jose!

How to enter: very easy…  Jose’s images just make us smile.  Leave a comment here tell us what makes you smile the most in life.

Prize: {Wedding Photography Unveiled} mailed to your home and signed by {Jose Villa}.  How fab is that?!

You can also get a copy on Amazon. What a great gift this would make!  For more on the release of the book and Jose check out Jose’s {Blog}.