First a bit of good news: I am working hard on the Thank You cards! So yes, it took me a month to get started. I am sorry. But honestly, I was enjoying the gifts so much, time has just flown!!! I hope that my month-long hiatus from all things wedding (except for a blog here and there) doesn't dilute the meaning of the words of appreciation we'll be sending along to all of you. So expect those cards in the next few weeks!
Onto our vendors...I'm going to try to put this is some sort of order, but I don't know how to describe the order. You'll see what I mean...
Transportation: We went through Cooper Transportation for our 55-passenger Coach bus. This came on a recommendation from Bridesmaid Megan. They were the most reasonably priced of every place I had called. I thought the bus itself was extremely nice, spacious, and clean. The driver was professional and courteous. Aside from the minor problem of the bus getting stuck in a ditch, I really have no complaints. In fairness, although we lost an hour (while the bus was in the ditch), the driver stayed an extra hour free of charge at the end of the night to bring our wedding party and the remaining guests that were helping us with all of our things back to the hotel. So I would recommend Cooper, definitely. http://www.cooper-atlanta.com/
String Quartet: The Poulenc String Quartet provided our prelude, ceremony, and cocktail hour music. I had listened to many demos online of quartets in the area and thought they sounded the best. The shocking part? They were among the most reasonably priced! I received compliments all night on the quartet (and still am receiving them even after the wedding). I think they added extra elegance to atmosphere. Also, they were amazing at taking cues from the minister. During the lighting of the unity candle, they were on it! Bryan, myself, and our Moms had made a slight mistake - not only did Lynn (our minister) cover it, but the Quartet didn't bat an eye! They took their cues perfectly and I don't think anyone was the wiser (were you??). The music was gorgeous and I would 100% recommend them in a heartbeat to anyone. http://www.poulencstringquartet.com/
Wedding Favors: Our wedding favors were 4-oz. jars of peach preserves (I revealed in a blog awhile back that it was something that screamed Georgia! Georgia peaches!!). We ordered our favors through Serenity Gardens. I was extremely happy with how they turned out. The personalization of our favors was included. I was able to send them a .jpg file of the image I wanted on the favors. I'm sure everyone was SHOCKED it was a pine cone!!! The preserves themselves are quite tasty, so I hope you've all been enjoying them! And if you were wondering who printed the escort cards and tied them so masterfully onto the lids of the favors - that was your's truly :-) http://www.serenitygardens.com/
Table Cards: The pearl-bordered frames on the tables were purchased from TJ Maxx and Home Goods. The city-themed table cards I created in Photoshop then printed out at Kinko's. For info on how to do this, you can e-mail me at tomboybride2010@gmail.com. And yes, I am a Photoshop master!
Invitations, cocktail napkins, linens, and wedding programs: One of the places I've been plugging through the whole engagement is La Belle Weddings in Duluth. I love this place!! It's easy to explain why I love it: I was on the search for the perfect wedding invitations. After visiting a few places and finding the process a bore (and the selection sincerely lacking), I turned to the internet. I was going to order through a website, when I came across La Belle's website. Hmmm...well, it wasn't too far from where I tutor, so I thought I'd stop in one day. I met Tanya and Jennifer, sisters that co-own and operate the business. I described what I wanted and I was pointed to the invitation that you all received in the mail. That invitation is this Tomboy Bride to a T. Bryan wanted the monogram, he got it. I wanted the inserts in a cute little flap and a champagne-hunter green theme, I got it.
The hunter green personalized pine cone cocktail napkins with gold foil detailing was ordered through La Belle as well - I LOVED these!
For the programs, I wanted to stay with the motif of the invitations - the champagne card stock with hunter green font (and the SAME fonts as the invitations!!! Did you notice?...Lie to me....), so it only made sense to order through La Belle. I knew I could also use the pine cone emblem on the invitations. So if you looked closely enough, everything matched :-) Finally, I knew they could coordinate renting the champagne overlay that I wanted on our tables - so I did that through them as well. A perfect one-stop shop that I'd highly recommend!!! http://www.labelleweddings.com/
Bridal Party Outfitting: If you've been reading the blog through our engagement, you know I have a serious love-hate relationship with David's Bridal and Men's Wearhouse. In the end, I would do everything the same (with the exception of trusting our first salesgirl at David's to know what she was doing...). The color of the dresses and groomsmen vests was the perfect hunter green (or Holly, if you're David's/MW). And for all the drama, the prices are unbeatable. I didn't want to choose an overly expensive dress that, in all likelihood, the girls would never wear again. At the end of the day, it all worked out and everyone looked absolutely amazing! http://www.davidsbridal.com/HomeView
Hair and Make-up: Mary Beth is a beauty sensei. Go see her and Vicki at Hair Europa in the Cobb Galleria if you're getting married. Well, you might want to go see them anyways because they'll make you even more beautiful regardless. But this wedding hair and make-up - across the board - for me, the girls, the M.O.B., my cousins...everyone looked stunning. http://www.galleriaspecialtymall.com/services_haireuropa1.html
Flowers and ceremony lighting: As if I haven't bragged about her enough, Abby's Floral Designs in Suwanee did an incredible job on our bouquets, boutinneires, centerpieces, accent flowers around the Payne-Corley House and on the gazebo, accent flowers on the cake, the Wishing Tree and on the candlelighting up the aisle for the ceremony. I could not be happier. I was absolutely over the moon when I saw the pearls and pine cones Abby had incorporated into absolutely everything!!! Initially I think she thought I was a little neurotic since I kept asking, "Can we get pine cones in there?" But she made it happen. And on top of it all, she was a pleasure to work with. Infinitely patient.
I told her she had the artistic license to remove pine cones from things on the wedding day itself if she didn't like the way they looked, but the baby pine cones she used were tasteful and elegant. She did literally a perfect job. A++++++ for Abby. And the pricing was so reasonable for all of the things she did!!! http://www.abbysfloraldesigns.com/
Wedding Cake: About 2 months ago, I was sitting at book club when one of our members was talking about the wedding cake of her dreams. "Oh, I know exactly who's going to bake it...Celso's Cakes in Norcross" she said. "Hey, that's who's doing OUR wedding cake!!!!" I exclaimed. "They are the BEST," she responded. Of course, I had already been through the tasting, so I knew their cakes were incredible tasting. But it was also so beautiful!!!! Poor Chef Celso dealt with Bryan and I through -
Me: "I want an ivory cake with hunter green ribbon, pearls, flowers, and pine cones"
Bryan: "I want two hearts coming together as one - like us! - on the cake"
Me: "No, that's cheesy"
Bryan: "But it's what I want"
Me: "Goofy-looking. With all of the things I want on it, the hearts are too much"
Bryan: "No, it'll be fine"
So Chef Celso diplomatically suggested the hearts go on the top tier only - and that's exactly what he did. Even though I still could've done without the hearts, all parties were happy. And the cake was AWESOME!!! To top it all off, we didn't freeze the top tier. Why? Because Celso's Cakes will give us a fresh cake next October 15 for our anniversary :-) http://www.celsoscakesgallery.com/
The entertainment: Black Tie Events provided our D.J. for the evening. I thought the D.J. was solid. Everyone was dancing and having a great time. The dinner music was superb, in my opinion. The only thing I was a little cross with the D.J. for? The microphone wasn't loud enough during the ceremony...so you may or may not have heard the vows being said. I HATE when I go to a wedding and there's no microphone. So if I were to give a grade on this, the D.J. would get a B from me. I did get many compliments on the music, so because everyone had a great time, I really can't complain. The timing of the music was good, people knew the songs, and the D.J. was extremely attentive when I had any sort of specific request. But...grrr, that mic.... www.blacktieevents.com
Before we get to the crown jewels of them all, some of the smaller details that you may not have gotten a chance to take a look at :
Our cake serving set was the Vera Wang Wedgwood "With Love" design. The M.O.B. purchased this for us as a gift at Macy's (www.macys.com). The M.O.B. had this engraved at Things Remembered.
We also went with Vera (because, you know, we're friends now that I have her stuff all over our apartment) on our toasting flutes which were the "Love Knots" design - also purchased at Macy's for us (a lovely gift from my M.I.L. and the Schallmo ladies!).
The cake topper was the Opal Innocence topper by Lenox (at www.lenox.com or www.exclusivelyweddings.com - this website is AWESOME).
Finally, our unity candle set was ordered from www.myspiritualwedding.com. We found the perfect candle for us - a personalized Claddagh unity candle. I love it!
Photography: I am mentioning our photographers, One Six Photography, second-to-last because out of all of our vendors, they went above and beyond our expectations. Caroline and Matt got to know us and were willing to photograph literally whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, whereever we wanted. There was literally no limit to their willingness to make us happy. When I began this process, I said this was the service on which I was willing to spend some serious money. To be honest, for what we received from Caroline and Matt for the price, I view them as a serious value!!! Besides the amazing 8-hour, 1000+ photo engagement session that took us to 3 locations all over the city (and various wardrobe changes), they were with us the ENTIRE day of the wedding - from morning until after the guests had left the venue. They also threw in the live photo booth for us - from which I know many of you are dying to see the photos!!! We have only seen 64 of the photos so far from the big day, but I bet the rest of the photos are equally as gorgeous!!! I can not wait to share them with you all! If you are a bride reading this, you're insane to go with anyone else - I'm just saying!!! http://www.onesixphotography.com/
Onto the place where it all happened, the ceremony and reception venue: What can I even say about The Payne-Corley House? The words used to describe the venue included: "Beautiful" "Gorgeous" "Elegant" but the one word that sums it up for me was in a statement from Groomsman Tony, "This place is perfect," he said. I knew from the November day I first set foot on the property in the rain last year that it was perfect. Aside from the fact that the venue itself just feels magical to me, the practical points are this: the food is nothing short of absolutely outstanding, the bang for your buck is ridiculous, and I mean that in the best way possible, - they have a variety of packages that include food, alcohol, D.J., the bride's bouquet (from Abby!) and groom's boutonniere, the wedding cake (from Celso's!) for a great price. And you can customize absolutely everything down to the last detail with them. At the end of the day, the whole planning process was straightforward with them. I could call or e-mail Krista any time with any question. The entire staff was so flexible with us and friendly. Bryan and I would get hugs when we would visit just to bring our parents or friends by if we were in the area. We were destined to get married, there. I genuinely believe that. It was perfect. http://www.paynecorleyhouse.com/
Wow, after writing all that (and shedding a few tears of nostalgia), who wants to do it all again!? One-year vow renewal party, anyone??
We also have to give a special thank you to our officiant, Reverend Lynn Brown-Conklin. If you remember, we had some slight drama with our first officiant which had me extremely stressed out. Mary Beth led us to Lynn and we're so happy that she did because she did an AMAZING job! She is based in Charleston, SC if anyone up there is reading!!!
I don't think I forgot anything...if I did, I will make a note in the next blog. Darn it, now I want some wedding cake! I'll be back at the end of the week to conclude the blog. Until next time, go eat your preserves!!!
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