The ranks of our Blue Ribbon Vendors have veritably exploded over the past few months, so definitely take a look at your state if you haven’t in a while! In the meantime, we’re taking a few minutes to introduce you to ten new members whose work and businesses have so impressed us.

2+Hue Designs carries some of the most beautiful rental items I’ve ever seen. Though they have lots of vintage pieces, I love that their style is more refined and tailored than most. Florida brides, check them out!

Anna K Photography is based in Georgia and specializes in happy brides! Her cheerful, clean images would make anyone smile.

Music can be one of the hardest vendor decisions to make, since unless you’ve attended one of their events before, it’s hard to truly know what you’re getting. That’s where recommendations come in super handy, and we can say with confidence that we’d recommend Bruce Pike Productions for DC and Maryland couples!

Christina Gillon’s portfolio is filled with some of the most beautiful wedding designs I’ve seen. Her work has such a cohesive look to it that, as a bride, I’d feel supremely confident in her style and track record. Emerald Coast brides, look her up!

Elizabeth Ray’s photography has a Southern glam edge to it with a bit of vintage style. She is based in Austin but often travels to New Orleans.

I love Georgia-based Flawless Finish’s simple philosophy: you should look like the best version of YOU on your big day. Amen!

Gertie Mae’s Floral Studio has a vintage-sounding name (after the owner’s grandmothers!), but their designs are lovely and fresh. They are based in Clarksville, Georgia.

The wonderful Heather Roth is based in Missouri; I love the depth and classic style of her images.

Holly Chapple creates the sort of lush, textured bouquets brides dream about! She is based in Leesburg, Virginia and is an Editors’ Pick for her past print work with SW!

Julia Wade captures honest, real, and heartfelt images. She is based in North Carolina.

That’s just scratching the tip of the iceberg, my friends, so be sure to hop over to the full Directory to see what we have in store! Vendors, if you’re interested in applying, just fill out this form and Kristin will be in touch.

Have any of y’all worked with any of these lovely folks? We’d love to hear in the comments!

Are y’all familiar with my bridesmaid dress saga? Oh my, it went on and on! I agonized over the price, the color, the fit, the style, the lead time… pretty much every aspect of the experience. I think if I had only seen these happy images from Donna Morgan Bridesmaids sooner, my experience would have been a lot sunnier…

The Blaire in Lemonade and Spearmint and the Rhea in Orchid

One of my favorite things about Donna Morgan Bridesmaids dresses is that they’re perfect for mixing and matching. Each one is cut from chiffon, a wonderfully adaptable (and forgiving!) material, making it easy to pair silhouettes and even colors and still achieve a unified look. Each style is feminine and flattering, meaning you pretty much can’t go wrong no matter what you choose.

The Mary and Emily in Blush, and the Lauren in Sterling

Donna Morgan’s use of chiffon also means these gowns are particularly well-suited to Southern bridesmaids — the light and airy material is perfect for sweltering Southern summers (and springs and falls — y’all know they can be sweltering, too!).

Morgan in Hint of Mint, Hallie in Ocean Spray, Morgan in Candlelight, Morgan in Peach Fuzz, and Mary in Blush

Are you loving these pastel shades as much as I am? They mix and match in such a gorgeous way!

My final favorite thing about Donna Morgan’s collection? Immediate shipment! So much of my bridesmaid dress angst stemmed from the fact that I felt a ton of pressure to make a decision quickly and order the gowns as soon as possible so that we’d have the two month (or more!) construction time most lines require, plus enough time for alterations. And heaven forbid if the dresses come in and you don’t like them! With Donna Morgan, your ‘maids could even order one style, and if they don’t love the fit as much on them as they thought they would, have time to exchange it for another! Brilliant!

After all, with 13 core bodies, or styles, and 15 core colors, there are lots of great possibilities from which to choose, so I can understand if they’d want to try out a few options! You can check out the entire 2013 Bridesmaids Collection here, and take a peek at their darling Spring Lookbook here!

P.S. Those of y’all who’ve already chosen your bridesmaid dresses? Be sure to check out DM’s Little White Dress Collection! I personally love the Raven.

Photography by Trent Bailey and beautiful styling by Jacqueline Weppner for Merci New York!

Shopping for a gown can be one of the best experiences during wedding planning, or one of the worst. There are, of course, many factors that play into how your experience pans out, but the bridal salon you choose obviously plays a huge role. That is just one reason why we’re so thrilled to introduce y’all — and especially our Alabama brides — to one very special boutique.

I adore the story of White Dresses Boutique, so here it is from the horse’s mouth:

In the 1930s, a petite woman named Madie Ella Leonard opened a fine dress store in a tiny Alabama town. Convinced that mixing the fashions of the Big Apple with service drenched in Southern charm would create a shopping destination people would have to revisit, Madie purchased her first few lines of inventory and stocked the shelves with finery that would make any Southern lady swoon. Though met with a lot of people who told her tiny Alabama couldn’t handle couture, Madie went on to operate one of the most influential dress shops in Alabama – dressing Southern women for over 40 years.

Madie, who is now 108, passed her love of fashion down to her nieces – who she treated like the daughters she never had. With the same love of couture and desire to bring something new and innovative to the bridal market in Huntsville, Madie’s nieces, along with their mom, opened White Dresses. White Dresses blends couture bridal gowns with service drowned in Southern charm to create a bridal shopping experience unlike any other. The boutique offers Southern brides a carefully curated selection of exclusive couture gowns along with a personal experience that ensures each bride has the attention needed to select the perfect white dress for her special day.

White Dresses carries bridal gown designers that aren’t found in any other Southern bridal boutique. A few of their gorgeous lines include Marchesa, Hayley Paige, Sareh Nouri, Elihav Sasson, Stephanie Allin, Anne Maier-Ulla Maija, Jesus Peiro, and Rosa Clará. They also carry Elihav Sasson, and are the only salon in the United States to do so! We adore their clean, romantic, fashion-forward style!

White Dresses is located in Huntsville, Alabama, and you can learn much more about them on their website. I’d also encourage you to check out their Blue Ribbon Vendor listing — their interview is so fun! Last but certainly not least, keep an eye on their trunk show schedule. In March, they are welcoming Blush by JLM Couture and Intuzuri to town!

How was your wedding dress shopping experience? How many salons did you visit? Let us know in the comments!

Happy Friday, belles! The Southern Weddings ladies recently had the chance to attend the Carolina Inn Bridal Showcase right here in our hometown of Chapel Hill (you can see a few photos here!). “Bridal fairs” often get a bad rap, but they’ve come so far in recent years, and there are now lots of great options for y’all! We’re so happy to introduce you to a really unique one today: Southern Wedding Experience: B… The Event.

Of course, with a name like that, you know they’re going to be up our alley! Though we’re not affiliated with them, we love the sound of what they do — it’s really quite different from anything we’ve ever heard of!

The Southern Wedding Experience is geared toward brides who are planning a destination wedding, or a wedding in a destination market. It brings together a select group of wedding professionals for a series of five-star weekends of pampering, planning, and information-sharing in the Southeast’s most charming, wedding-friendly destinations: Savannah, Asheville, Nashville, and Atlanta. The first event, in Savannah, is coming up soon — March 1-3!

After three days, the goal is for each bride to leave with a vision for her wedding, decisions on venue and vendors, and important info for planning the event, all while in a vacation-like atmosphere! For the Savannah weekend, you’ll visit top venues including the Tybee Island Wedding Chapel, the Mansion on Forsyth Park, and Savannah Station, and each location will be decked out with designs to inspire by the best local vendors. National experts Stacie Francombe, Shawn Rabideau, and Brooke Thomas will also be on hand to dish out wedding tips and advice. On top of all that wedding goodness, there will be gourmet meals, a styled fashion show, and chances to sit down with the best vendors in the Southeast!

Ready to go? Here’s the itinerary for the Savannah event, and here’s all of the ticket information.

Not in Savannah? The Southern Wedding Experience is coming to Asheville on August 2-4, Nashville November 15-17, and Atlanta February 28-March 2, 2014!

You can find out more about all of the events here. Happy planning, friends!

All photos by Parker J. Pfister. Southern Wedding Experience sponsors include Mansion on Forsyth Park, Biltmore Estate, Grove Park Inn, Tybee Island Wedding Chapel, Savannah Station, Grand Bohemian, Crest Center & Pavilion, Classic Event Rental, Aria, BBJ Linens, AFR, Shay Brown Events, Southern Wedding Library, Inspire Smart Success, and Bridal Style.

Hey, y’all! Happy Friday! We have kind of an interesting post to share with you today. It comes with lots of goodies, so make sure you listen up!

One of the many reasons why I fell in love with our wedding videographers was their impeccable taste in music. Philip has a knack for choosing the perfect song for each film, one that sets the scene and helps the couple’s story come to life. This couldn’t be more important, because even with the best footage in the world, an “off” song can discolor an entire film in no time.

This is just one reason why I love The Music Bed, an awesome tool and source of inspiration. By making it easy and legal for videographers to affordably license music people like you and I actually want to listen to, The Music Bed makes it easier for videographers to create something we’ll fall in love with. Plus, it helps support the (often newer or smaller) musical artists, and allows the wedding artists to create more creative pieces, since they no longer have to use on the same ten songs as everyone else.

The Music Bed can also be a source of inspiration for couples planning their weddings, as its curated library is filled with thousands of handpicked songs just ripe for their ceremony or reception debut. I certainly believe in the power of personal music — that’s why we agonized for so long over our ceremony choices! — so anything that can help me think out of the box is a winner in my book.

So what are those goodies for y’all that I mentioned up top? Mary Kate from The Music Bed, who just so happens to be a recently-engaged Southern bride herself (fun!), has handpicked a selection of 20 songs from their library. Just click here to give it a listen! We hope it gets your wheels turning for creative ceremony and reception options!

And finally, for an additional treat, we have three spectacular wedding films to share, all created with music licensed through The Music Bed. Definitely set aside some time to watch them! First up is Lindsey + Andrew’s Texas wedding by Joe Simon, using “London” by Benjamin Dunn.

Next we have Rachel + Sam’s Oregon wedding by Moetic Wedding Films, using “Alas We Aspire” by Amy Stroup.

Last but not least we have Mara + Elo’s Philippines same day edit by Jason Magbanua, using “Our Love” by Seryn.

Be sure to check out the entire library here. Happy listening, belles!