We experienced our fair share of April showers and pollen season, but last month was surely a beautiful one for the Southern Weddings ladies. Aside from many #SouthernDoin‘s, we prepped for our first V6 shoots and did plenty of celebrating. Here’s what we’ve been up to in and out of the office.

1. Marissa’s sock bun got fancy! Yes, she #putabowonit!

2. My little strawberry plant is doing well and sprouting out teeny berries!

3. Emily adored this punny mailing all the way from Owlabama.

4. Lara spent her April writing her first book proposal!

5. “It SNOWED! In April. IN the South,” said Kristin. “I made the most of it and put on my boots and put out a bowl to catch snow to make snow cream”

6. April was Southern Weddings’ birthday month. My desk was filled with all five volumes and lots of math while we calculated stats for our birthday graphics (here and here).

7. NC exploded into bloom in April, and we didn’t have to go farther than our office front door to find pretty flowers! This snap was taken on Emily’s midday walk.

8. Lara is changing her name! Deciding on her middle name has proven to be one of the hardest decisions.

9. Marissa about died when she received her monogram bracelet from Stacy Brown Designs! It’s monogram heaven!

10. For Emily, much of April was taken up by her honeymoon to Nevis — one of her favorite snaps!

11. Marissa sent many handwritten notes this month with her adorable new notecards! (Lettered by our own Emily Thomas!)

12. Kristin celebrated a very big birthday with sweet friends and a delicious cookie cake (her favorite).

13. Kristin indulged in a midnight snack in the form of a yummy Krispy Kreme doughnut!

14. Emily and John planted their balcony veggie/herb garden.

15. Lara and Ari told the story of their marriage and how love never fails during the Amazing Life Together webinar.

16. Lara and Grace took a trip down the road to visit some farm friends!

17. I hosted friends at my house for a weekend and played hostess by whipping up brunch!

18. Marissa officially became a Lululemon convert. She especially loves their manifesto on what’s most important.

What did y’all do in April? What were the highlights of your month?

Hello, belles! Nicole and I have spent the last two days in sunny (thank goodness!) South Carolina shooting an editorial for the next issue. It’s been a V6 whirlwind around these parts, actually – we wrapped a shoot in NC last week, we have another scheduled for next week, and are just diving into planning two others for June! You won’t hear a peep of complaint from our lips, though — it makes us positively giddy to piece together beauty we know will eventually make it onto the printed page!

Before too much time gets behind us we wanted to give y’all a little peek at what we’ve been up to. We were lucky to have Graham Terhune on hand to snap behind-the-scene shots on the actual shoot day, but our instagrams will have to tide you over until V6 debuts!

Like so many of our photoshoots (yesterday’s, too!), this joint was the first stop of the day:

We were thrilled to have the chance to work with Katie Stoops again, of course. You may recall she photographed our Williamsburg and Richmond features from past issues!

That’s our intern Jessica up there with Katie, Nicole, and me!

Happily, shoot prep always leaves pretty — and tasty! — extras around the office. Don’t mind if I do…

I’ll leave you with my favorite snap from the day: This was Ms. Katie taking photos of the pretty we had created, but doesn’t this scene look worthy of capture, too? Such an amazing field of clover — we had never seen anything like it!

That may be the last sneak peek you get from our first V6 shoot, but we have more surprises for you! Before you get too antsy with anticipation, we have a fun giveaway for y’all! Our good friends at High Cotton happily gave us a couple of boys bow ties to use for some special gents in this shoot. We couldn’t wait to do a V6 giveaway!

To enter, leave a comment below telling us about the best biscuit you’ve ever tasted and which bow tie you’d love to win. Will it be the Red and White Mini Dot bow tie or the Nantucket Seersucker Stripe bow tie? Tell us before this giveaway closes at midnight on May 22.

If you’re not already, be sure to follow us on Instagram as we spend the summer prepping for V6! We’re here: Southern Weddings, Lara, Emily, Nicole, Marissa, and Kristin.

P.S. Vendors, interested in joining in the fun? We’re working with lots of sponsors already for V6, and would love to have you, too! Email Marissa (marissa at iloveswmag.com) or fill out this form for more info.

Graham Terhune is a delightful member of our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

A very special lady in our office turned the big 3-0 yesterday, so today we’re celebrating by sharing 30 of our favorite things about her! Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments! :)

From Marissa:

1. Kristin loves monograms just as much as I do.
2. She uses the term “cheeseburger hungry.”
3. She rocks cowboy boots and pearls to the office.
4. She has a heart for helping people realize their full potential.
5. She’s always game to join in on 90′s music singsongs.
6. She focuses on finding joy through gratitude, and helping others do the same.
7. Even though we live hundreds of miles apart, Kristin has become one of my best friends, which just shows how big her heart is.

From Nicole:

8. Kristin has an amazing Southern drawl.
9. She says “squeeze” instead of “hug.”
10. She loves Carolina about as much as I do.
11. She sends handwritten notes for any ole occasion, including just when she’s thinking of you.
12. She makes everyone feel comfortable as they are and treats them like a good friend.
13. She is super organized (and an Excel pro!) and she loves office supplies and the start of school, too (even though she’s no longer in school).
14. She always brings cookies when she visits the Chapel Hill office, and they are always delicious.
15. Kristin has a big, open heart and is constantly loving on everyone.
16. She rocks spring colors any time of the year.

From Emily:

17. This girl has never met a stranger. You feel like her best friend after just five minutes with her.
18. She has amazing hair!! Always. Super jealous of this fact.
19. Kristin takes her marriage seriously and is open about the sweet things she and Kyle do for each other.
20. Her excitement is contagious. She loves to be excited, especially for other people!
21. She loves to learn, and has soaked things up like a sponge since starting at SW. I feel like she’s always been a part of the team.
22. Though Kristin is incredibly well-dressed and -accessorized, she’s not too cool to sport some ridiculous pajamas or an all-out Christmas apron.
23. She’s generous with her hair teasing knowledge.

From Lara:

24. Kristin is driven and unafraid! She came up to me the first time I met her, at our first Gingerbread Barn event, and said, “Hi, my name is Kristin. I love reading your blog, I’ve had you in my prayers (I had just given birth to Grace) and I would love to work for you.”
25. She is passionate. Her energy and zest for life are contagious!
26. She is a visionary, always looking ahead to grow our company so we can help more couples celebrate love.
27. Kristin’s love of the South and her family lights my heart on fire!
28. Gracie loves her. : )
29. Kristin baked us chocolate chip cookies when she came for her first interview. She is a great baker!
30. I trust her. In every sense of the word. She has become a great friend and support and I love her dearly!

We love you, KNW! Happy 30th!

For us, March was all about the arrival of springtime and we took to Instagram, filling it up with #SouthernDoin’s. Temperatures are warming up here in North Carolina, so I predict even more springy goodness for April! Here’s what we were up to last month, in and out of the office.

1. Emily’s Great Day mug and lots of to do lists filled her desk as she prepared for V6 shoots!

2. Lara, Ari and Grace took advantage of the warmer temperatures and visited the belted goats at Fearrington.

3. Kristin celebrated family birthdays at Lexington BBQ with some seriously delicious Southern delicacies.

4. Marissa took her office outside in order to pretend it was the South!

5. I added some very cool new office supplies to my collection: 80′s Glam Sharpies!

6. Kristin traveled to the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, NC, to cheer on the Tar Heels with her hubs, Kyle. (Go Heels!)

7. Lara and I worked on fun shop goodies and new projects.

8. I went to Downtown Raleigh for First Friday and came across this gem. It’s North Carolina inside a mason jar on a onesie!

9. Marissa and her handsome husband attended a Spring Training team BBQ for the Padres.

10. Lara did some painting for her shop!

11. Receipts times two from Emily’s Easter weekend. “Paying for the person behind us in line is one of my favorite traditions,” she says.

12. Marissa celebrated spring with a little floral bow business! Too cute, we say!

13. Kristin and Kyle drove down to North Carolina for Easter weekend. “I was bouncing off the walls of the car on the way down the mountain,” said Kristin. “I was so excited to spend time with my sweet family!”

14. Emily made a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake for Easter dinner dessert. According to Em, it was as good as it sounds!

15. Polka dots + pink nails made working on tax prep with Lara so much more fun for Marissa! At least, that’s what she told herself :)

16. Lara, Emily and Gina hosted a successful Making Things Happen conference with some amazing ladies!

17. With warmer temperatures around the corner, I picked up my first strawberry plants with my dad!

18. Lara and Ari celebrated 7 years of marriage! Yay!!

What did y’all do in March? What were the highlights of your month?

Have you taken our 2013 survey yet? Thanks, y’all!

Oh my, this post makes me so happy! It’s been my pleasure to work with some amazing women during my time at Southern Weddings. I know they’ve worked their way into all of y’all’s hearts, too, so we thought it would be fun to check in with our “SW alums” on the occasion of our five-year anniversary!

This girl! Katharine and I started working at SW just days apart, and for our first two years, we were inseparable. I know her witty writing, timeless style, and love of candy have not been forgotten among the SW faithful! A little update from Ms KTW herself:

My handsome groom and I have navigated a few big changes and celebrated a number of milestones (most notably our first and second wedding anniversaries!) over the past couple years. Kyle and I loved being classmates so much in college that we decided to brave business school together. Our biggest lesson so far? If a marriage can survive graduate school, it can survive anything! We finish our MBA program this May, and I’m especially grateful to share another graduation with my best friend. In June, I’m making my first big move since 2009 to work as an internal consultant for Bank of America at company headquarters in Charlotte. Kyle will graduate from medical school in 2014, then plans to join me in the Queen City as a healthcare consultant for McKinsey & Co. In our free time, we enjoy blazing through our Netflix queue (me), performing at karaoke bars (him), and running the Duke trail (us).

P.S. For those of you who remember my candy addiction, my current favorites include gummy frogs, fruit runts, bottle caps, and Germany raspberries. Yum!

You know we love us some redheads around here! Happily, as you’ll see, we still have a healthy dose of Whitney in our lives!

So much has happened since my last day at SW! As many of you know, after four years at Southern Weddings, I decided to make the big move to New York City. Sometimes, though, the world has different plans. After 8 months in the city, I made my way back down to North Carolina to be close to my loved ones after a family emergency. My time in New York made me realize how very lucky I was to have grown up in the South, and if I had to move away to make that discovery, that’s okay! Now, I’m working as an event planner with A Southern Soiree and also handling the social media for Making Things Happen. I live in a pretty little yellow house in Raleigh with a cute new puppy, and I’ve never been more content.

Our office’s average style quotient definitely went down a few notches when we said goodbye to Sierra, and I think our sweetness levels did, too. We miss our favorite sorority girl, but are so proud of the life she’s made in Tennessee!

The week after graduation, I moved to Nashville and have been working as a news and features designer at Gannett’s Design Studio (small world – I put Lara’s mom, Celia’s column in the Pensacola paper!). In my off time, I shadow at Sony RED Entertainment, a promotions/distribution division of Sony Music (ran into former Bachelor contestant, Kacie B., at one of Jason Aldean’s #1 parties!) and work as an extra in for ABC’s Nashville (any of y’all watch??). Living in Music City, I go to plenty of shows (The Black Keys and Band of Horses are next on my list) and have been training for my first half marathon at the end of April.

Now, onto the gals that are still here!

On April 1, 2008, I was launching the SW blog and magazine at our very first launch party! Looking back at these images, it’s surreal to me. To go from that day 5 years ago, to this is just… it leaves me speechless.

On April 1, 2008, I was a junior in college. I had already been accepted to my summer internship at The Knot, and was probably nervously searching for housing in the city! John and I had been dating for a few years, and though I had my Martha Stewart subscription, I was just starting to discover wedding blogs…

In April of 2008, I was engaged to my now darling husband, and happily planning my very own Southern wedding. I was working as a corporate Account Executive for a cluster of radio stations in the Miami Market (and wearing all black suits, pearls and high-heels everyday!). I actually have the attached photo framed in our home, as it’s one of my favorites! This is BDK and I headed out for St. Patrick’s Day in 2008. As you can see by his outfit, it’s one of his favorite holidays! ;)

In April 2008, I was in Charlotte, attending my senior year of high school. I had just finished up a theatre show called “General Gorgeous,” where I played a superhero’s wife (ha!) and was managing our annual musical, “Cinderella” in addition to working on the senior issue of our school newspaper. I was also probably shopping for prom dresses :)

On April 1, 2008 I was weeks away from a milestone birthday and Kyle and I had just purchased plane tickets to fly to San Antonio for the NCAA Final Four. Our sweet Tar Heels were set to play that upcoming weekend and we decided to drop everything and travel to Texas. Unfortunately the games didn’t go as planned, but I was able to cross two things off my forever goal list – visit Texas and see the Tar Heels play in a Final Four.

Have you met our office mascot, Henrietta? Since she came to us in 2012, she was probably pre-egg in 2008. (Which would be… chicken?)

Wherever y’all were in 2008, we’re glad you’re here now! And this seems as appropriate a time as any to remind you that if you have some sweet graphic design skills, we think you should apply to join our team!