Southern Weddings

We are a little behind on the Thanksgiving Photo Contest winners announcement (today has been insane here proofreading the magazine!).  We discovered a couple extra entries that we have to share with you, so stay tuned.  Winners are coming soon!

We DO have winners for this… Remember the {Carrot and Stick} notebooks that showed up at Editor Lara Casey’s home? Well, if not, read {here} and hear all about a special gift that lead us to give away five Carrot and Stick notebooks.  We asked readers to leave comments about their ideas of southern hospitality and grace. 

I personally loved read all the entries!  Ya’ll have such inspiring manners and grace.  As a professed “southerner by choice” I got a slew of new ideas!  The following five captivated us…. Congratulations to Christie, Danielle, Sara, Joanna and Cacey. Please email me {laura_e at swsmag dot com} with your contact info and we will send these lovely notebooks to you!

 Congratulations, ladies!

Here we are with the final pics from the {Thanksgiving Photo Contest}. Next post will name the winners! Look out for it. We sure hope you have enjoyed checking out the entries ({I}, {II}, {III}, {IV}, {V} and {VI}) and would like to thank all our readers for submitting those to us. Didn’t enter? Why not? At SW, we treat each contest seriously and we do read, look over pictures and really evaluate the response we get. Your bound to win a contest if you enter. Check out the blog the entire month of December for your chance to win an outstanding prize. But back to the entries.

From Jesica: (Submitted 5 photos. Captions in order) I am thankful for my adorable 2 year old! I am thankful for NKOTB’s reunion tour! WOO HOOOOO And pregnant sister-in-laws to go with. I am thankful for my family! I am thankful for my husband’s beard. Lumberjack’s are cool and I am thankful for my son!

From Nancy: Ok…so I couldn’t pick just one! I am thankful for the wonderful friends in my life. I am also thankful for my wonderful children especially the birth of my new baby girl on 10.20.08! She is defiantly a blessing in my life! I have always wanted a daughter and I finally got her this year thanks to convincing my wonderful husband to try again for another kid. I give him credit because a family of four is not too common these days! I love him, my family and my friends!

From Victoria: I’m thankful for my fiance and for all the troops who are out there protecting and saving lives every day. They often go unrecognized in the chaos of everyday life, but our lives wouldn’t be the same without them. I’m thankful for beauty and the presence of it in our lives–whether it’s from a sunset, a novel, or a work of art. I’m thankful for my twin sister, Christine, who is my oldest and longest best friend. Even though we’ve lived 1,000 miles apart for the past 7 years, I’m lucky that she is only a phone call away.

From Katasha: I’m thankful for someone who loves me IN SPITE OF all my imperfections.

And last but not least…

From Ashlyn: I am thankful for all the firsts I have already experienced. You never realize how truly fast life flies by until you have a child of your own. That is when you become thankful for the firsts that haven’t happened yet. So I am thankful for firsts, seconds, and thirds – what I am really thankful for is my amazing little girl and all the joy she has brought to everyone she meets.

We are in the homestretch to the winners announcement for our {Thanksgiving Photo Contest}. We have oh only about two post left. To review all the amazing photos click on the past posts {I}, {II}, {III}, {IV} and {V}. Stay tuned for our winners…

From Amy: This is one of my absolute favs and I feel like it totally captures the bubbling over with laughter you described. {editor’s note: that is Lara‘s husband giving the toast… I love this shot!}

From Ana: This one is my fun, happy, joyous, bubbling over with laughter photo. in it, i have just been surprised with a birthday serenade from the guy who is currently my fiance. the mariachi woke me up with a jolt around midnight and they stayed to play for a couple of hours while we danced (me in my pajamas). it was such a nice surprise for me. pedro and i plan on getting married in oct of 2009. For fireplaces, fuzzy robes, Napa Valley win, chocolate covered strawberries and sharing a moment in love with my best friend. I am also thankful for the little yapper that shares my bed with me every night.

From Kaltlin: I’m THANKFUL for a fiance who knows how to have FUN. Who is willing to dress up in GOOFY costumes for Thanksgiving dinner. Check out the pictures!

From Kataja: The thanks giving pictures of our twins….

From Laurel: I know this may sound cheesy, but I am thankful for family. I got married 10 days after hurricane Ike struck Texas… our house was devastated. That day all the little things that I had left to do for the wedding didn’t seem as important any more. I still had programs to make, the gifts I had gathered for my bridal party were somewhere in the rubble. Our families were a great help in the the next 10 days. We still got married, and the ordeal that we went through, and still are, because of the hurricane, made the wedding even more emotional. Weddings are stressful enough without having a hurricane ruin your home 10 days before.

From Nicole: One is my happy photo – a sunny day at the park with my dog and a guy (now boyfriend) I’ve just realized I’ve fallen in love with. The other photo is something I am thankful for – great girlfriends to cut up with!