What a party! Are you ready for this megapost!?
From Kirstin: We chose Atlanta for our Southern Weddings Premiere Party partly because we knew there were many wedding professionals in the area and it also served as an airport hub for anyone who may be flying in for the event. But, most of all, we wanted to celebrate in the heart of the South! We never could have anticipated the overwhelming Southern hospitality we experienced. We had so many amazing people help put this event together that wanted nothing more than to just be a part of this momentous occasion. I can’t thank Eliana from {By Your Side Events} enough. She made phone call after phone call for us and helped in putting together the amazing swag bags (all in just 10 short days!). Michelle from {Lemiga} was so generous and helped us decide on a location and the AMAZING team at {Favor Events} secured the gorgeous {Dogwood Restaurant} for us (and welcomed us to ATL with a huge Atlanta-themed welcome basket in our room!). {Ashley Baber} was responsible for getting the beautiful floral arrangements for us from {Foxgloves and Ivy}. Special thanks to Lara from {Cameo Events} and a whole slew of others who pitched in! Even a planner from Tennessee, Kristyn of {Panache Productions}, offered to lend a hand in the planning of the party. We were completely blown away by the outpouring of support!
From Laura: The Southern Weddings Party was truly a dream come true for all of us. It was such a pleasure to be welcomed into the city of Atlanta with arms wide open by the Atlanta wedding professionals and the staff of the {Dogwood Restaurant}. I had a wonderful time getting to meet so many of the people that contributed to our first issue of Southern Weddings, our Twitter and Facebook friends, and all those that helped make the Premiere Party happen in just 10 short days. We were all overwhelmed by all the love!
From Lara: Ditto on all of the above. So many people flew in and travelled from afar to be there with us–we are so flattered! It was a joy to meet the people we talk to every day through email and Twitter and to see many of our Engage friends. The buzz of the party, besides the magazine, was Engage!09: Something Blue. I hope to see everyone there and was really excited to share my experience with many people on Sunday night. To read my re-cap of Engage!08 and for info on Engage!09, click here. This weekend was also significant because we welcomed two beautiful women to our team, Katie and Lindsey (official bios coming soon with our new website re-do). Thank you to everyone who gave them such a warm welcome at the party! They feel right at home now. It was such a treat for us to have our cover couple {Tec Petaja} and {Chelsea Petaja} there to celebrate with us. They are just as beautiful and gracious in person! Special thanks to my mom, Celia, and her best friend, LaRue (who has pretty much been to every significant event in my life) for driving up from Pensacola to celebrate with us (the two lovely blondes pictured below at right). I sent a swag bag home with them for my dad, who had to work on Monday, but he was definitely there in spirit. For those of you that don’t know, SW started many years ago as a dream in the small city of Pensacola, FL. We were so excited to have three of our favorite friends there who have seen us through this entire 2yr-long journey… Rae and Wesley Leytham and Kebbie Hollingsworth. I’m getting teary-eyed just typing this y’all!
We are all so grateful for the phenomenal support we get from friends and perfect strangers every day. To celebrate in Atlanta, in the city where Martin Luther King Jr was born, on the eve of the day we celebrated the gifts he left us and mere hours before we welcomed a new president into our lives, was absolutely magical. I got pretty choked up in my speech, looking around the room at familiar faces and new friends who all crave something bigger. I think the magic of Southern Weddings is the community that has formed around it. It’s not about weddings, it’s about inspiring and connecting with each other. I am so humbled by the love and overjoyed to see how people are supporting each other… not just us. Atlanta, you have a top notch group of wedding professionals! They all encourage one another (even the competition) and in turn, they all succeed and grow. How wonderful is that!? So, I have to toast again, here on the blog (don’t get in trouble and raise a glass at work!), to everyone who is reading this right now. Thanks for sharing your days with us. We wish we could get together in person more and plan on making it happen as often as possible! Did I mention that Kirstin and I are coming to WPPI and that we have several secret events in the works this year? Details to come…
Enjoy these pics! ((please forgive the picture quality here. many of these were pulled from people’s blogs and we just couldn’t get them all looking as sharp as we normally do)) We will add pic credits on Monday when we get back to the office… just had to get this out for you to see before we left for the day.
Did you get your swag bag?
The custom SW totes were filled to the brim with fabulous goodies: a custom SW logo cookie from the incredible Sharon at {Sweet Sensations}, a hand pressed note set from our friend Kristy at {Momental Designs}, a pen and notebook set from {She Just Got Married}, a delicious truffle from {Dreamy Gelato and Chocolate}(they were so popular that we don’t have one to photograph!), a lovely wedding notebook from {Lucky Paperie}, water bottles from {Get Married TV}, mint box from {Simply You Creations}, wedding CD from {My Wedding Music}(#1 on the Amazon charts!), pens from {Custom-Programs}, chocolates from {Schakolad Chocolate Factory}(again, these flew like hotcakes, so we don’t have another to give away), adorable custom SW water bottles from {Bottle Your Brand} and of course a copy of the magazine. For all those unable to attend, we’re giving you a chance to win a swag bag! (we had such a huge turnout that we literally only have one left and didn’t event get one ourselves!) We even added a few goodies and surprises (like a swanky vintage A Bryan Photo t-shirt and gift certificate to Teardrop Weddings) Stay tuned for details on how to win.
The {Favor Events} ladies were so sweet and had our cover (shot by the incredible Jose Villa) framed and mounted for everyone to leave well-wishes on for us. It was a very thoughtful surprise.
We would like to thank all those who came out to celebrate with us:
Cristen and Scott Chester of {W. Scott Chester Photography}, Jeannine Kennedy and her {Favor Events} team, Gia Graham from {Betsy White Stationery}, Gail and Hester from {Wedding Soiree}, Tameka, Dionne and Myra from {Authentically U! Personal Assistants}, Lindsay Pitt from {Toast Events}, Kara Hudson from {Divine Caroline}, Kristyn, Samantha, Emmy, and Corey from {Panache Productions}, Chris Torres of {6 of Four Creations}, Heather Anne Thomas of {Beall + Thomas Photography}, beautiful Sharon Alexander from {Sweet Sensations}, Jeremy of {Harwell Photography}, Staphanie Hunt from {Matrimony Inc.}, Emily Newman of {Once Wed}, {Joy Thigpen}, Nicole Scott-Tate from {Your Champagne Wishes Events}, Mary Chatman from {Creations of Love}, Kathy and Kimberly of {Divine Occasions}, Eliana from {By Your Side Events}, Katasha Buttler from {K.Sherrie + Company}(who flew all the way from IN!), Timeesha Duncan of {Posh Events}, the awesome Jesse and Whitney from {Our Labor of Love}, {Photography by Shannon}, Ally Haggerty of {Unforgettable Soirees}, Khadine Springer of {Simply You Creations}, Michelle Gainey from {Lemiga Events}, Ebone Smiley of {Seek and Find Shop}, Melanie Carter from {Lucky Paperie}, Kelly LaBruyere from {True Expressions Photography}, Tiffiney Addis from {Tiffiney Photography}, Kate and Matt from {Altmix Photography}, Sandi Spells of {Sandi Spells Designs}, Heather and Michael from {Bondar’s Brides}, David of {David Christensen Photography}, Sukai Crook from {Dreamy Gelato and Chocolate}, Ashley Baber of {Ashley Baber Weddings}, Denee King from {She Just Got Married}, Terrica Skaggs from {Cocktails and Details: The Wedding Planners Fabuluxe Blog}, Tara Milam from {Lavish Events}, Tara Jordan from {Weddings with Tara}, Lara Molettiere from {Cameo Events}, Sara from {Sara D Harper Photography}, Latrice Cushenberry from {Bridal Opulence}, {BudgetSavvyBride}, Lamar from {Lamar Gee Photography}, Robert and Karen {Barrett’s Flowers}, Ross of {Ross Oscar Knight Photographers}, Garrett of {Garrett Nudd Photographer}, Scarlett of {Scarlett Lillian Photography}, Ginger of {Ginger Dupre Photography}, Delaney of {Delaney Holliman Photography}, Camille of {Camille Deann Photography},Tamara from {i do linens}, Amy of {Amy Osaba event.floral.design},Rae and Wes from {Rae Leytham Photography}, Kebbie of {Kebbie Hollingsworth Floral Designs}, Bryan of {Bryan Scott Photography}, Bryan, Jeremy, Rob and Caleb from {A Bryan Photo} and our cover couple {Tec Petaja} and {Chelsea Petaja}. What a fabulous group of friends to celebrate with!
If we missed your link and you came to celebrate with us, please let us know! Leave a comment here and we will be sure to add it.
We had an after party at the swanky Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta where we were staying. We toasted well into the wee hours of the morning and had such a fab time getting to know everyone better!
Check out what some of our friends had to say about the event:
{Cocktails + Details: The Essentials of a Fabulous Party}, {Scarlett Lillian Photo Journal}, By Your Side Events {Post I}, {Post II} and {Post III}, Opulent Planning with Latrice {Post I} and {Post II}, {Budget Savvy Bride}, {Journey Through Life}, {Lavish Events Blog}, {Lemiga}, {Tiffiney Photography Blog}, {Lamar Gee Blog}, {Bridal Buds}, {Flights of Fancy Blog}, {Your Champagne Wishes Events, LLC Blog} and {Weddings with Tara}. Thank you all for the amazing posts!
We have more party pics and details to come, so stay tuned. Happy Friday y’all!
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That is a wonderful idea of having the guests follow you down the aisle, which I had never heard of before. Rene & Roland make a lovely couple as we see them on the beach :-)PatB Wedding Photography
I’d love to know more about how Rene found a beach home to accommodate her guests… and the caterer! We have been thinking of something similar for our wedding in 2010 – a four-day weekend for family & a few friends at the beach. Our inspiration comes from wonderful dinner parties with our friends… intimate & meaningful & memorable, relaxed, fun, yet with a touch of class. We usually all gather around one big table and pour each other wine, serve each other, talk & laugh… We’d like to create that same feel for our wedding – we really just want a dinner party that happens to start with wedding vows on the beach, then go back to a home for dinner. We’re keeping it small, about 35 adults (about 45, counting kiddos). So far, I’ve had some trouble finding a vacation home to rent (along 30-A in the Florida panhandle) that would allow a party inside. Any tips on finding places that might work for what we want?