This lovely thick letterpress piece is available in three colors: teal, pink, and metallic gold. (We’ve gone around and around in the office, but can’t for the life of us decide which one we like best!) At just $20, it’s a very doable gift. Toss in a frame from Ikea or Target, and you’ll most definitely be the favorite child :)

You can check out all of our prints right here! Be sure to order by the end of the week for Mother’s Day delivery!

It has to be said: our newest addition, the Southern saying enclosure cards, are truly cuter than a speckled pup in a little red wagon. You know that we are all about sending surcees and generally loving on people over here, and how perfect are these for short notes for tucking into a package (or your husband’s lunch bag)?

Our first set includes five of our favorite phrases (two each), and we can’t wait to debut our second set, which will introduce five more! You can pick up a pack right here.

Did we include your favorite Southern saying? If not, what’s yours?

We’re headed down to the Savannah/Hilton Head area on Wednesday, May 8. For this particular shoot we’re looking for several gals, and we would love to encourage all hair/skin colors to get in touch! This might sound totally crazy, but we’re also looking for several Mama age ladies, so if your mom is particularly gorgeous and up for an adventure, have her apply, too!! If chosen, we will need you to be available on site from about noon – 8pm. We might start later or end earlier, but want you to be prepared!

If you’re interested, please send an email to howdy (at) iloveswmag.com with the subject line V6 Hilton Head Model Call. Be sure to include a recent headshot (no need for professional photos, we just want to see your lovely face!), a few candids and your height. We promise it’s going to be a blast!

P.S. Not in South Carolina? Don’t fret! Over the next few months we will be posting opportunities in the Santa Rosa Beach, FL, area, the Fort Worth area, and outside Atlanta, among others!

Oh my now that we have five issues under our belt, it’s time to celebrate our official fifth birthday! The first post on the Southern Weddings blog was published on April 1, 2008, making today the big 5-nil for us. And, if you’ll allow me to say it, we are as happy as goats in a briar patch. Last year we celebrated with a rundown of our history, but this year, we decided to extend things a bit, and have planned a full week of surprises! We’ll be sharing our favorite images, shoots, and weddings from the past five years; offering up a few facts and figures; asking for your input in our annual survey; reminiscing with a few favorite old friends you might remember; and, of course, doling out a few prizes!

Speaking of contests, I’m kicking off the first one right now! This is for all of our “vintage” readers, those who have been with us for quite some time (or, perhaps, have been lucky winners more recently!). We know many of y’all treat your copies of the magazine like collector’s items (which never ceases to amaze and delight us!). So, if you happen to own all FIVE Southern Weddings editions (including the elusive V1), we’d love for you to tweet or instagram a pic for us to see! Be sure to use hashtag #iloveswmag so we can keep track. At the end of the week, we’ll draw one random winner from the group to receive his or her choice of print from our shop.

This next contest is open for everyone or at least everyone who loves Southern Weddings! Since we’ll be sharing some of our favorites from the past five years this week, we thought it would be fun to see y’all share some of yours! Tweet or instagram a pic of your all-time favorite feature from the blog or magazine, and use hashtag #iloveswmag so we can take a peek! You can either snap a pic of the actual magazine page, or save a pic from the blog. We’ll draw a second random winner from this group, and might even share some of your pics on the blog in the round-up on Friday!

Yahoo! We’re so excited to have the chance to look back, but even more excited about what’s to come. Hugs and biscuits for you all!

Friends! I am so very, very, very excited to be writing today’s post! One of our favorite traditions with each edition of the magazine is to invite readers to literally step into the pages. A hallmark of SW is approachability, and we can think there’s no better way to live that out than to use our actual readers in our editorials. Over the past few years we’ve had the chance to meet and work with 25+ kind and adorable ladies and gents, and we’re itching with anticipation to see who we’ll cross paths with this year!

Our first opportunity is in the Chapel Hill, NC area on Wednesday, May 1. We are particularly looking for a redhead for one of the roles, but encourage all hair/skin colors to get in touch! We’re also looking for an especially adorable little gal, aged 3-8. If chosen, we will need you to be available on site from about noon – 8pm. We might start later or end earlier, but want you to be prepared!

If you’re interested, please send an email to howdy (at) iloveswmag.com with the subject line V6 Chapel Hill Model Call. Be sure to include a recent headshot (no need for professional photos, we just want to see your lovely face!), a few candids and your height. We promise it’s going to be a blast!

P.S. Not in the Chapel Hill area? Don’t fret! Over the next few months we will be posting opportunities in Savannah, the Santa Rosa Beach, FL, area, the Fort Worth area, and outside Atlanta, among others!

The pieces in our shop are lovely, I’d say there’s no question about that. But, what we’re most proud of is how they fit so perfectly into our heart and mission love for the South, love for love and marriage, and love to lead couples toward rich, full lives. We’re not just doing this to do it, we’re doing it because we couldn’t be more excited about it!! I think the mission will become even more apparent as we roll out new goodies, but I hope y’all can see even now where we’re headed!

Today, I’m going to highlight a few of my very favorite products quicker than two shakes of a lamb’s tail. First up is the South print. Right now we’re stocking it in pretty pink, metallic gold, and the loveliest shade of teal. It’s Hardink Calligraphy’s work that graces this letterpress beauty, which you may recognize it from the pages of Southern Weddings V5!

Next up is our “Vows” print, which is also pulled from the pages of V5! Lindsay Letters penned this gorgeous reminder of our wedding ceremonies. I think this one would be perfect for a bedroom, whether you choose it in metallic gold, perfect pink, or pool and gold. This one also makes a stunning wedding or shower gift I think it’s okay to go off-registry in this case! :)

The newest additions to the Southern Weddings gang are these darling goodies from Belle & Union. We featured Meg’s Southern phrase cards in V5, and when we approached her about selling them in our shop, she was thrilled she said she had gotten so many requests from you all post-publication, but wasn’t able to fulfill them since she doesn’t do retail! Right now we have eight of her letterpress cards in stock (they’re available in sets of three, too!), and three of her oh-my-word-cute Southern tea towels.

That’s all for today, but don’t be surprised if we pop back in soon with more introductions! Until then, enjoy the shop!

Elizabeth Hardin is a delightful member of our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

Nancy Ray

Every Southern Weddings intern opportunity is a bit different, but here are some of the things you can expect to experience:
– Sitting in on and contributing to weekly staff meetings and brainstorming sessions
– Learning the basics of and working with a WordPress blog and the Adobe Creative Suite
– Writing a post on the blog and/or copy for the magazine
– Researching images and products for posts and editorial shoots
– Assisting on site at editorial shoots
– Building galleries on the SW site
– Getting a firsthand view of how a bustling magazine, blog, shop, and small business run with a small staff of women

Sound like you? Please fill out this form by Sunday, March 3 at 11:59pm. Please let us know in the comments if you have any questions. Please do not email your application to us or email us to confirm receipt. We will be in touch with applicants who we think might be a good fit within two weeks of March 3.

This position is unpaid, but we are happy to work with you to get college credit if that’s something your school offers. We know this will be a great learning opportunity! If chosen for the internship, we will need you to work in person at our Chapel Hill office, but any college student who can get themselves to Chapel Hill for the summer is eligible to apply.

We can’t wait to hear from y’all!!

New friends, you can always find a Sweet Tea Society badge to add to your own blog or page right here. If you believe what we believe, then you are already a member!

We have been pleased as punch to see how our little “Society” has taken off since founding it less than a year ago. We are proud to be championing things that matter, and so excited to see others get excited about doing so, too. Our site traffic has actually tripled since this time last year (like kudzu!), which we think has a lot to do with this renewed focus.

On that note, we are also excited to announce we’re rolling out a new media kit today with some delightful new options! Lovely vendors, be sure to email Marissa or fill out this form to get your paws on this beauty ASAP. Just a little peek…

To conclude, here’s a glimpse at the Valentine’s Week goings-on in the Southern Weddings office. (Yes, we take a week to celebrate.)

Lara (did you see her new site??) gifted the gals with these teensy potted plants with adorable markers – love!

And one of our sweet interns, Jessica, brought us these darling boxes filled with (heart-shaped!!) biscuits, jam, and confetti!

Have a wonderful day, friends! We’ll be back with Marissa’s love letter soon.

Hello, friends! We’re actually planning to post a little updated guide to the world of Southern Weddings this week because we know there are lots of y’all joining us for the first time (or, at least, joining us for the first time as officially engaged ladies – ha!). We’ll focus on all the nooks and crannies of SW then, but today, we just wanted to highlight one particular nook our Southern Bride Bloggers!

We love promoting these ladies because they give you something that we generally can’t. Yep, we’ve got the resources to share stunning real weddings and offer expert advice (side note etiquette posts are making a comeback in 2013 – WHOO!), but, aside from our Southern Bride of the Month series and the occasional SW gal getting married, we don’t share the step-by-step of an average bride’s walk to the altar. But these ladies do, in great Southern style, and we’d love for you to check them out! You can see the full list right here.

Of course, we’re always looking for new belles to add to the list! We look for brides currently planning a wedding in the Southeastern United States that blog at least once a week. If you fit the bill and are interested, just leave a comment here with your blog address and a little about yourself and we’ll take a look at your site. Make sure you include a valid email in your comment so we can send over your badge!

Happy planning to all!

We’ve met so many new friends and had a wonderful time visiting with many of the remarkable vendors that have made our latest issue such a success. It has been a very inspiring week! I was happier as a pup with two tails to be invited to speak here and happy as a pup with three tails to share about how we do things ’round here at Southern Weddings.

Photo by Scott Clark and Chellise Michael with Elan Artists

Y’all know we do things a little differently. We’re small… and mighty… and Southern. We do all the layout, shipping, shoot creation, cleaning up after our messes and everything ourselves. We’re a tiny team with more passion than a hen has feathers. But, I didn’t talk about just us in my speech… I talked about YOU.

You are why we are here. You cheer us on and write us encouraging notes and share our magazine with dear friends and we sincerely wouldn’t be where we are without our very loyal readers. So, I wanted to just say a quick thank you. I wish I could jump through my screen to hug each of you, too. Thank you for believing in us and being our cheerleaders. Thank you, most of all though, for LOVING.

It’s because you love your fiancé’s and husbands and families and this magical place we call home so much that we are inspired every day to do what we do and we have so much goodness ahead! We love y’all! You sweeten our tea!

Photo by Ryan Ray, though his version was sans Santa hat

Second, we have a little surcee we wanted to share with y’all! Miss Nicole has whipped up some oh-so-Southern gift tags for your downloading pleasure, free of charge. Consider it just a small gift from all of us to all of y’all in thanks for a wonderful year!

Click here to download all of the designs.

Have a very merry weekend, friends!

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!

As you might have noticed, we’re pretty excited about this issue. Not only because we’ve been working away on it for eight long months, but because we think you’ll notice something a little different when you crack open the cover. This year we rolled out the Sweet Tea Society, and far from being a standalone blog post, we’ve truly taken it to heart, allowing it to infuse every choice we made while making this issue: which weddings we featured, how we structured our shoots, the photos we included, even the order of the magazine and the font choices! So in addition to the Southern details we’ve always been known for, we’re thrilled that this issue makes even more obvious what we’ve believed for a long time: that it’s not enough to focus on a beautiful wedding no, we’re all about beautiful marriages. Love never fails, y’all.

V5 lights our hearts on fire. For its absolutely stunning real weddings, its glorious Southern editorial shoots, and its tons of fun Surcees (our new term for Fab Finds!). For its stunning photography, thick glossy pages, and metallic (!) cover. But mostly, for its focus on lifelong vows, on family traditions, on true love, and on intentional marriages.

So when you pick up your copy, we invite each of you to not only celebrate with us, but to renew your belief in true love. And if you choose, we welcome you to show your support by posting one of our Love Never Fails badges to your blog or site. (Just right click on the badge of your choice (below) and hit save!)

Of course, we can’t celebrate our fifth anniversary issue without our traditional photo contest! Take a photo of yourself with V5 and send it to us the more creative the better! We’ll feature our favorite submissions on the blog and then vote on them. You have until December 3 to send your photo to howdy@iloveswmag.com with “V5 Photo Contest” in the subject line or to tweet it at us @iloveswmag.

The winner will receive their choice of personalized Emily Ley iPhone cases!

We’re happier than a pig in mud, y’all!

Yes, that’s gold foil! Shiny, happy, metallic gold in honor of our fifth anniversary issue and all of the true, treasured love stories we’ve been privileged to share. It’s just delightful in person, y’all. Can’t wait for you to see for yourself!!

Because guys and gals? We could not be more excited about this cover! Those beaming smiles just jump off the page at you, don’t they?! So much joy and life! AND, none of those ladies had modeled a day in their life before Ryan Ray pointed a camera at them, which is pretty awesome in our book. We love celebrating real love, and nothing embodies that better than these lovely ladies.

So yes, huge hugs, high fives, and hearty congratulations are in order for Mr. Ryan Ray, because we are so delighted and grateful to have his work gracing our cover! It couldn’t have happened to a nicer, more talented guy. And of course, major air kisses are being blown to his Texas partner in crime, Stefanie Miles of Lavender Joy Weddings, who styled and coordinated the cover and corresponding editorial! (Can’t WAIT for you to see THAT, by the way!) The last of our cover accolades goes to the exquisitely talented Lindsay Sherbondy of Lindsay Letters, who penned our fifth anniversary seal. We are so thankful to have her work gracing this issue!

As for what happens next? After a slight delay due to Superstorm Sandy, thousands upon thousands of sunny yellow magazines will be winging their way across the South to arrive on newsstands on Tuesday, November 13! Our office pallet is expected to arrive on Saturday or Monday, and we’ll be turning around the mountains of pre-orders just as quickly as we can.

In the meantime, though, let us know what you think!! After weeks of staring at this beauty, we’re tickled pink to finally be sharing it with y’all! I don’t know about you, but I literally still squeal every time I see it :)

P.S. If you haven’t ordered your copy yet, you can of course still do that here!

That stunning watercolor graphic was made by Kristy Rice for an amazing V5 feature just one smidgen of the goodness in store!

We’re about one month out from the day Southern Weddings V5 will release onto newsstands around the country (yippee!), and just days before the issue hits stands, we will ship out a massive amount of pre-orders from our humble office in North Carolina! Last year we personally shipped around 600 copies in the first few days of V4′s release — can y’all top that this year?? I think you can!

To add to the madness and make sure you have a copy in hand the minute V5 is available, just click here! Remember, even though you’ll pay now, your order won’t be shipped until November! If you order a V5 + V2 and/or V5 combo, that order will also ship in November, though V4 and V2* orders will continue shipping out as usual!

Those of you who have ordered from us before will notice a few changes this time around. They are as follows:

1. Instead of a page on our site, you’ll now order through our shop on Big Cartel. This gives you much more flexibility, so that, if you’d like, you can now order two V2s, four V4s, and five V5s all at once! Or any other combination you can dream up. Yahoo!!
2. V5 is more expensive than V4. But only a little bit. Since V4 was 36% bigger than V3 and V5 is 15% bigger than THAT and our price hasn’t changed in five years we figured you would understand.
3. Shipping costs less! In the past, we’ve been so frustrated by having to charge $11.35 to ship two magazines, but since we only shipped Priority, and our magazines were too fat to fit two in an envelope, we had to send them in a box. Now, though, we’re shipping orders of any TWO magazines USPS First Class, and it will be just $7.50! The magazines are so heavy that this is the cheapest option, and we hope you enjoy!

Any questions, let us know! We are crazy, hoppin’ excited over here, y’all!! We can’t wait to share all the goodness we’ve been working on!

*Yes, it’s true V2s are once more available for sale! Nicole and I were cleaning out our shipping area the other day, and found several more boxes of V2s that we somehow missed the first time around. HA! We’ll have them for sale until they’re gone!

Our awesome friend, Mr. Trent Bailey, took the photo on the left as I hailed my first cab in NYC! On the right is a gorgeous gown from last year’s Badgley Mishcka show.

Here’s a little rundown on all the fabulous details of our trip!

What exactly is Bridal Market? Bridal Market is a gathering of the best of the best in bridal fashion from all over the world. It’s also where wedding gown and accessory designers introduce their collections for the next season. Think Fashion Week – only better! We were thrilled to be invited to cover all the loveliness!

When will the SW ladies be there? We’ll be jetting into NYC this Friday morning, and heading back below the Mason-Dixon on Tuesday.

What designers will you be seeing? This might be my favorite part! We’ll be heading to the shows of Claire Pettibone, Amsale, Reem Acra, Monique Lhuillier, Anne Barge, Watters and a few more!

We’ll also be keeping you all in the loop: We’ll have tweet/insta-coverage LIVE all weekend long, so be sure to follow along with us: Southern Weddings, Marissa and Kristin.

Are you going to be there? You know what else we love besides silk, lace and ribbon? Seeing old friends and making new ones! If you see us at Market, we’d simply adore it if you’d come say “howdy!” P.S. We’re from the South, so we’re huggers! Can’t find us? Tweet us, Facebook us or email us! We’ll be sure to say “hey!”.

Nancy Ray took this photo of the two of us. Now you know what we look like, so you have no excuse not to come say “hey”!

Yes, ma’am! You are invited to join us at the Carolina Inn as we celebrate our Fifth Anniversary Issue! All you have to do is RSVP here, get out your best dancing shoes and put on something fabulous!

We can’t wait to see our dear readers, vendors and friends as we toast to five fabulous years of Southern goodness! See y’all soon!

Love,
The Southern Weddings gals – Lara, Emily, Marissa, Nicole, Kristin and Grace!

P.S. If you are one of our many friends traveling in from out of town, we’ve arranged an AMAZING special rate at the Carolina Inn. Seriously, there’s no excuse not to come at this price! Click here for the special SW rate and use this promo code: 329522

Joey and Jessica

Nicole, our lover of bright color, chose the “punch shoot” (as we like to call it) for her favorite. I love that she said she almost stuck it on her bulletin board, but couldn’t bear to tear it out!

Braedon Photography

Lara opined that it was “SO hard to choose a favorite” (true), but eventually settled on the Williamsburg shoot. The said the image of the peanut poppers is one of her favorite Southern Weddings images ever, which is high praise from the woman who’s seen every Southern Weddings image there is!

Katie Stoops

Finally, I chose our South Carolina polo shoot as my favorite. It makes my heart happy every time I see those bold green and white striped skirts show up on Pinterest or another site! (And trust me, they’ve shown up everywhere we haven’t done a scientific study, but if I had to guess, I would say that was the most popular image from all of V4!)

A Bryan Photo

Gorgeous, all of them! And before you go, just a final note to add that we are thisclose to being sold out of print ads for V5 (whoo!). To finish us off in grand style, we’ve decided to offer a bonafide piece of V4 memorabilia a perfectly patterned bow tie to the first five vendors/companies to book their print ad! Get in touch with Marissa (marissa at iloveswmag.com) to reserve your spot ASAP!

Y’all know we love what you love – great photography, inspiring love stories and lovely details. To be considered for a Real Weddings feature in print, the wedding must have taken place in the southeastern United States. Photographers, please email 20-25 good web-quality .jpg attachments to me (emily at iloveswmag.com), along with the following information: couple’s name, wedding date, wedding location, and any vendor information you have (names and websites). We only accept digital submissions. Brides, please ask your photographer to do the above. Please note we do have a strict exclusivity policy and cannot share work that has been featured on another blog or in another publication, and we would prefer that print submissions not be seen anywhere online, even the photographer’s blog or Facebook. Please title your email V5 REAL WEDDING.

Please also note that at this point we’re looking to fill some very specific “holes” (i.e. colors, aesthetics, or geographic areas that we haven’t represented in the mix yet), so if we ask to, for example, feature your wedding online instead of in print, please don’t be upset!

Lastly: My very best tip for getting your wedding selected for print (besides having superb photography), is to have a wedding with personality. This certainly doesn’t mean it has to be “out there,” it just means it has to have a very cohesive, distinctive look. Curious about what I mean? Just browse through V4 (or check out this wedding, this wedding, this wedding, or this wedding – all print features we later featured online).

We’re excited to look through more submissions and pull out the very best for V5!

But here’s where y’all come in. You know what we believe, but now, we want to know what YOU believe. I may be partial to the part about magnolias and monograms, but doesn’t this make your heart light up like fireflies in a mason jar on a hot summer night? Whether it’s naming your future baby after your grandmother’s maiden name, or going the extra mile to make someone feel special, we want to know what you believe in.

Comment below and tell us! We’ll sprinkle our favorite answers throughout the next issue, so please only comment if it’s okay for us to include your quote, plus your first name, last initial, and hometown in print. We’d love to have you join us!

P.S. Haven’t gotten your Sweet Tea Society badge yet? Why, you can download one right here!

UPDATED: NEW DEADLINE AUGUST 15TH!


Hi friends! As y’all know, preparations for our next print edition a.k.a. V5 are well underway (we’ve got another shoot tomorrow!), and we want you to be a part of it. Photographers, brides, planners, designers and anyone else interested in submitting content for us to consider: please follow these easy directions and make sure to read our helpful FAQ page for editorial guidelines. We’re so excited about V5 and can’t wait to see what y’all have up your sleeves!

REAL WEDDINGS We are looking for the best of the best in real Southern weddings for print. Y’all know we love what you love – great photography, inspiring love stories and lovely details. To be considered for a Real Weddings feature in print, the wedding must have taken place in the southeastern United States. Photographers, please email 20-25 good web-quality .jpg attachments to our Creative Director, Emily Ayer, along with the following information: couple’s name, wedding date, wedding location, and any vendor information you have (names and websites). We only accept digital submissions. Brides, please ask your photographer to do the above. Please note we do have a strict exclusivity policy and cannot share work that has been featured on another blog or in another publication, and we would prefer that print submissions not be seen anywhere online, even the photographer’s blog or Facebook. Please title your email V5 REAL WEDDING.

EDITORIAL SHOOTS We loved the editorial shoots we featured in V4! Check them out in our gorgeous Editorial Galleries! If you have shot or created something wonderful that you think our readers would love, send preview images to Emily for review.

BOUQUETS In every issue we assemble a gallery of stunning bouquets. Send low-res previews to howdy at iloveswmag.com for review. Please attach the images individually to the email, or embed them in the email. Please do not send zip files. Please include the photographer’s name in the file name. We do allow bouquet shots to have been previously published online. Please title your email V5 BOUQUETS.

RINGS We love a little bling, and we know you do, too! In every issue, we highlight the most creative, Southern ring shots around. Check out a little taste from our last issue below. Please send low-res previews to howdy at iloveswmag.com for review. Please attach the images individually to the email, or embed them in the email. Please do not send zip files. Please include the photographer’s name in the file name. We do allow ring shots to have been previously published online. Send low-res previews to howdy at iloveswmag.com for review. Please title your email V5 RINGS.

EPIC IMAGES Y’all know we love great photography in print! Have an image you think has that Southern wow factor? We take a good number of single shots – details and portraits and Southern environmental – from all over the world to fill our pages and story elements. Send low-res previews to howdy at iloveswmag.com for review. Please attach the images individually to the email, or embed them in the email. Please do not send zip files. Please include the photographer’s name in the file name. We do allow epic images to have been previously published online. Please send a max of five images and title your email V5 EPIC IMAGES.

PRODUCT SUBMISSIONS Have a Fab Find, a product or paper good that you think our readers would adore? Please first send a digital submission – just a photo of the product plus a short description (why would our readers gobble it up!?) – to howdy at iloveswmag.com for review. If approved, we’ll request a physical sample. Please title your email V5 FAB FIND.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the high volume of submissions, we unfortunately cannot respond to all inquiries, though we will do our best! If your wedding or shoot is chosen, we will email you to request an interview from the couple and additional details. If you have not heard back from us on a Real Wedding submission within four weeks, we welcome you to submit your work to another publication. Other image submissions may take us longer to reply to as we have to fit them into stories, etc., as our publication date gets closer. Submissions deadline: AUGUST 15.

Have a question? First, read our submission guidelines. We take a lot of time to detail these out so you know exactly what to send. Next, read the Twitter series Lara wrote last year on how to get published for a few quick tips. Study our blog and print editions to know exactly what we’re looking for. Have other questions? Jumping out of your seat excited? Leave a comment here and help us spread the word! We can’t wait to see what you all cook up!

P.S. Want to get in on the V5 AD ACTION? You have till August 1 to confirm your space with Marissa!

We don’t do this perfectly all the time no, ma’am! But we try harder every day to make this who we are and where our heart is, and we would be honored if you’d join us! Feel free to snag a badge if you’d like to become a member of the Sweet Tea Society, and keep an eye out for a few new blog features we’ve got in the works!

Won’t you join us?

P.S. Kudos to Brooke from Curious & Company, who designed and illustrated our badges and the top of our manifesto! Nicole did an amazing job laying the rest of it out!

For those who aren’t familiar with Lover.ly, here’s a brief primer:

– Lover.ly allows you to easily search, discover, and save your favorite wedding ideas. Just like Pinterest, you can then access these images from anywhere and on the go.
– Unlike Pinterest, there are only wedding images in the search engine, making it perfect for engaged ladies (and gents!) like yourselves to get to the good stuff quick. The images are also pulled only from top wedding blogs (like SW!), so you know you’re getting the good stuff, sans duds.
– A super awesome component of Lover.ly is that every image comes with vendor attribution, so you can actually see who created that amazing bouquet, or wear to buy those amazing shoes. Love this!!
– Our last favorite feature of Lover.ly? Because of the super intense tagging of the images that goes on behind the scenes, it’s possible to get very specific search results (for example, cake –> fondant –> multi-tier –> pink). Perfect for when you know exactly what you’re looking for!
– You can save images in Bundles (like “Stripes” or “Monograms” or “Bow Ties”), or if you’re not sure how you’d like to categorize an image, you can simply add it to your “Loved” Bundle.
– Best of all? You can keep as many Bundles as you’d like private! Perfect for keeping an element of suspense among your guests, or for brainstorming bridesmaid gift ideas!

Ready to get going? Just head over to Lover.ly and sign up for an account! Be sure to check out the SW account while you’re there – we’ll be bundling and sharing right alongside you!

Photos by Corbin Gurkin from Southern Weddings

We met three more lovely belles in Williamsburg…

Photos by Katie Stoops from Southern Weddings

And we finally met up with two more young ladies – and a polo-playing groom! – in Charleston.

Photos by A Bryan Photo from Southern Weddings

This time, we’re actually shooting outside the South, in upstate New York! Northerners and transplanted Southerners, this is your chance!

If you’re free for a Monday, May 21 adventure in Vernon, NY, we’d love for you to email a head shot (doesn’t have to be professional, just a good shot of your face!), a few recent candids, and your height to howdy at iloveswmag.com.

We are looking for a bride and groom pair, and several bridesmaids! In return, we promise gorgeous photos by a certain fabulous photographer, and, of course, a chance to be a part of Southern Weddings history!

We can’t wait to hear from you!

Peach dessert photo by Steve Steinhardt via SW; mini pecan pie photo by Braedon Flynn via SW; mini key lime tart photo by Jodi Miller via SW; s’more pops photo by Kate Headley via SW; mini pecan pies photo by Caroline Joy via SW

Vendors, feel free to team up, though your submission doesn’t have to be anything elaborate — in fact, we want these ideas to be easily executable by brides everywhere!

A few details:

– Your submission can take any form (as long as it involves sweets!), but the most important piece is that it be SOUTHERN.

– Anyone can enter as an individual or a team — vendors, brides and grooms, and wedding or Southern enthusiasts alike. And you don’t have to be Southern to enter!

– To enter, please send 5-10 professional-quality photos at 600 pixels wide and a brief description of your submission to howdy at iloveswmag dot com. Subject line: “Ultimate Southern Challenge: Sweets.”

– Include the names and websites of all your team members, and a list of materials and links to sources used. Please include directions for any DIY projects you may have done.

– All submissions must be received by 11:59pm on April 20, 2012. Submissions received after the 20th will not be eligible.

– Our favorite submissions will be posted throughout the week of April 23, and the winner, who gets ultimate Southern bragging rights, will be announced the following week.

– Submissions cannot be posted or tweeted until published on Southern Weddings.

We can’t WAIT to see what y’all come up with! Questions? Leave them below, and we’ll do our best to answer them!

P.S. Want to check out the winners of our last three Challenges? Go here, here and here!