Google+ Southern Weddings

Southern Weddings

The winner of the {Hello!Lucky Contest} is #7!  Email Rachel [rachel at swsmag dot com] your contact info and we will put you in touch with the phenomenal team at {Hello!Lucky} for your 100 letterpress invitations. Congratulations! 

My dream southern wedding involves family, friends and lots of kids. Sweet tea is a necessity and BBQ is required at some point during the wedding weekend. Fall is the perfect time for a southern wedding because it’s warm enough that all of your northern friends are jealous but your hair should stay under 3 feet across because the humidity has improved since August. You need at least one aunt or grandmother to be scandalized because you’re serving beer and wine. Someone at some point needs to tell the bride that she’s “as pretty as a picture”. A dream southern wedding needs at least one mother asking the newlyweds when they’re going to finally give her some grandchildren. After choosing the date that conflicts least with most of your guests favored football team, you still hear plenty of discussion that this year could be the year if only the coach was replaced. A southern wedding wouldn’t be complete without someone telling the groom they remember when he was knee high to a grasshopper. A dream southern wedding means wearing your Mom’s pearls and wrapping your MaMaw’s handkerchief wrapped around your bouquet. Most importantly, a dream southern wedding needs lots of love, tears, laughter and joy.

And that’s not all…  After seeing the incredible response to our vote this week (over 400 unique votes!), the {Hello!Lucky} folks have a special prize for ALL of the finalists!  How amazing is that!?  Email Rachel your contact info too [rachel at swsmag dot com] and we will get your prizes to you.  A million thanks to {Hello!Lucky}!  What a fun contest~

Have you seen the GORGEOUS inspiration boards on the {Hello!Lucky} site?  Kathryn, the inspiration board queen from {Snippet and Ink}, put together these stunning collections of images for them based on their invitation suites.  Here are just a small few of the very inspiring boards she created for them…

Inspiration boards by {Snippet and Ink}  Photo credits: Erin Beach Photography, Suzy Clement, Loop Flowers, Flo McCall, Eleise Theuer, Thayer Allyson Gowdy, Yvette Roman, Nicolette Camille, Heather Forsythe, Sasha Souza, Kate Headley, Pollen Atlanta, Ariella Chezar, Perspecta Photo


Image Credits: Rachel McGinn, Aaron Delesie, Saylor Sage, Cheri Pearl, for Junebug Weddings, Thoughtful Day, Ariella Chezar, Sunflower Events, Knottie Wittliz, Bliss Event, Marla Aufmuth, Jocelyn Filley

 

Image Credits: Laurie Arons, Positive Light Photography, Jude Mooney Photography, Anna Kuperberg, Lisa Leigh Photography, Rountree Flowers, Thayer Allyson Gowdy, Amy Squires, Eleise Theuer, Claire Bean, Red Ribbon Studio, Ariella Chezar, Florabella Weddings, Sugar Love

Written with love by Southern Weddings
0 Comments

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

Reply to:
close

Welcome back for Part II of Janie + Tony’s beautiful Charleston wedding.  Be sure to check out the {A Bryan Photo BLOG} for more.  You can also see the selects from the entire wedding HERE.  Enjoy~

What was the design inspiration for your wedding? Just the feeling I wanted to create: old world elegance. Understated, timeless and classic, yet very attentive to the guests’ comfort and enjoyment.
Favorite design element of your big day: That is tough to say. I loved our invitations and wedding programs, but I think our wedding favors were my favorite. We had butler cards attached to beautiful silver boxes with truffles and the guest’s table number inside. They were displayed beautifully on a mirrored table underneath a tall gorgeous floral arrangement. They were also a nod to the groom’s background as a jeweler and gemologist.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress:  Tony’s daughter Kristen had recently married, so she called and made me an appointment. Kristen, my daughter Claire and myself all went. When I tried on a dress at Madison Row, a lovely store downtown, they both knew it was the one. I continued to look, but concluded that they were right and purchased the gown by Angel Sanchez.
Describe your wedding flowers: I chose all white flowers. They were lush and romantic, not structured or architectural. The florist was wonderful. She used lots of peonies, roses and hydrangeas. 
Describe your wedding cake:  A fabulous baker/cake artist named Jim Smeal incorporated the design on my invitations for the cake. Our favorite detail of the wedding was:  A grand fireworks display at the end on the night just before we left.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day?  The most memorable moment was the pastor’s homily during the service. It was inspired. He was able to both comfort the families and friends of our late spouses while still celebrating the joy and the miracle of our relationship. It set the tone for the amazing reception to come.
Scariest moment? My son Jordan, one of the Best Men, got light-headed during the ceremony and nearly passed out.
Funniest moment? The Best Men seated some of the mothers/mother-in-laws on the wrong side. 
Three adjectives that describe the day are:  Romantic, ethereal and magical!
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding?  Do not stress over every detail and making everything perfect. No matter how hard you try, something(s) won’t be perfect. But no one will even notice or care if the bride and the groom are obviously in love and celebrating their joyous day! Make the decision to relax and enjoy it.
What’s next for you as a couple?  Tony’s daughter Kristen is pregnant with her first child. We are looking forward to having a grandson!

Congratulations, Janie + Tony!  We wish you a lifetime of love and joy!

Written with love by Southern Weddings
11 Comments
  1. avatar Fabulously Lizy reply

    What a gorgeous wedding! I love the fireworks and the sparklers! And the elegant display for the escort cards.

  2. avatar Cathy and David – Photographers reply

    This is so pretty! :) What are the place holders? They look neat!

  3. avatar lucky designs reply

    Such a classic event!

  4. avatar Erin @ Blue-Eyed Bride reply

    everything about this wedding is beautiful. the couple is stunning, the details are impeccable, and south carolina is always a wonderful wedding destination. i love their story. great choice!

  5. avatar kristin @ the fairmount bride reply

    Her dress is beautiful!

  6. avatar Amanda B. Young reply

    I love, love, love the table flower/candle centerpiece…so elegant! And the favor/escort card idea is spectacular. Thanks for sharing! Great inspiration!

  7. avatar holly hatam reply

    I love the fireworks!

  8. avatar dani @ weddings fresh reply

    i love this wedding!

  9. avatar Becka Knight (Studio222 Photography) reply

    Wow! That cake is breathtaking. Gorgeous wedding!

  10. avatar Josh L reply

    I think the people are better looking than the lovely wedding itself! Talk about fireworks! Seriously though, where can I get some of that cake? It looks delicious. I bet that groomsman ate a lot of it. He looks full.

  11. avatar chris ruymen reply

    I enjoyed viewing this wedding because the couple so beautifully expressed the true beauty of the day. Weddings are never perfect except for the love and joy of the couple being married. However, the bride was stunning and the groom very dashing, both glowed with happiness. Because of their joy all of the exquisit details of their wedding were manifested with reverent beauty. I wish them a long and happy life together they deserve it. They give people who lost their spouses hope for finding love and happiness again. May God be with them.

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

Reply to:
close

There’s nothing I love more than a gorgeous wedding with an incredibly inspiring love story behind it.  Janie + Tony take the cake with this beautiful celebration designed by {Kristin Newman Design} and photographed by my favorite Southern gentlemen at {A Bryan Photo}.  Catering, {Cru Catering}; Florist, Heather Barrie of {Gathering Events}; Videographer, Ben Hough of {Artistic Eye Productions}. Thank you, Bryan, for bringing this lovely couple to SW.  This is the kind of wedding that completely makes my week! 

From Bryan… “One of my favorite coordinators in the world to work with is Kristin Newman, out of Charleston, SC. Kristin called me last year to tell me about Janie and Tony’s story and their upcoming wedding. Immediately I hoped that they would book us, based on their touching story.  Janie and Tony both lost their first spouses to cancer. They connected in their sorrow and formed a love that remembers the past yet brings hope for their future. On June 21st, at Daniel Island Club, they were joined in marriage as their friends and grown children looked on with joy.”

The weather on our wedding day was: There were torrential thunderstorms thirty minutes before the ceremony. But it stopped and was followed by a rainbow.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story… It’s a great story. We both lost our spouses of many years to cancer in 2003. Both were long happy marriages. A good friend of mine, Sam Levin, and my late husband, Neil, began doing a lot of work with Tony in 2004. About a year and half after Neil died, Sam said he was awakened at 3:00 am by a dream in which Neil (my late husband) appeared. He could not go back to sleep for the rest of the night. The next day, he called each of us and convinced us that we needed to meet. The three of us had lunch together a little over three and a half years ago, and the rest is history!
Describe the proposal: It was a birthday dinner for me prepared by Tony’s daughter, Kristen. All of our children, my parents, Tony’s parents, Tony’s mother-in-law, brother and sister-in-law were all present. After I opened my gifts, Tony said he had one more thing. In front of all of them, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was beyond wonderful!
What attracted me to my husband was: Everything. He is extremely handsome, intelligent, warm, kind, generous, spiritual, successful, and funny. But the thing that attracted me the most when we first met and talked was his deep love for his late wife and his children. We had many similar experiences and we shared the same values about what is most important in this life.
Why do you love your husband? All of the above are some of the many reasons I love my husband. I would add that he has great integrity and character. He is also a good man who gives a great deal to others and to his community.
What attracted me to my wife was: Her beauty, personality, and her good heart.
A date we went on that we’ll always remember:  After two or three months of dating, we had dinner at the Boat House restaurant. Tony asked me how I met my late husband. I went on to tell how unlikely that meeting was and how all the circumstances came together perfectly for that “chance meeting” to occur. I told him that I even knew the date, which I commemorated in a Shadow Box that I made for him. It was November 5, 1977. At the time, Tony was still wearing his wedding ring. He took it off, and showed me the date engraved on the inside. The day and year that I met my late husband was the same day and year that Tony and his late wife were married. There turned out to be many more “coincidences” like this one, but I believe it was God’s way of letting us know that He understood the pain we went through, but that He was present in our relationship and that He brought us together.

Check back later for Part II of Janie + Tony…

Written with love by Southern Weddings
4 Comments
  1. avatar MissCapitolHill reply

    Holy cow that story is amazing. Especially that last part about meeting her first husband on the same day that he married his first wife. Aww this story makes me happy.

  2. avatar Samantha reply

    What an absolutely beautiful story and wedding, thank you for sharing!

  3. avatar Melanie Watson reply

    What a beautiful bride. I love the parasols too… such a great idea!

  4. avatar twinkletoes reply

    What a classy wedding! What is the runner made of, I’ve been looking for something similar.

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

Reply to:
close
Top