Goodness gracious! You guys never cease to amaze me. Literally thousands of votes were cast for three amazing finalists. Of course, we think Ms. Maile Lani is a stupendous photographer, and these thousands of votes show that you obviously agree. It was a tough race and the tally was close, but the time has come to introduce you to the winners of this great prize package.
After many hours counting (and recounting and recounting and recounting) votes, we are proud to announce Bonnie and Brent as the winning couple! Their wedding plan is full of Southern charm:
“I (Bonnie) grew up on a small farm in central South Florida and my favorite memories are those with my family all together for barbecues on the back porch sipping sweet tea and looking out on our cows, pigs and chickens. I knew from the moment we were engaged that I wanted a Southern-style wedding, but my hometown is so small that we don’t have a hotel for guests to stay in. So we moved to Jensen Beach, which is equally as awesome because my fiance and I LOVE the ocean. The ceremony will be held on the beach, using furniture built by my grandpa as a makeshift altar and old quilts (made by his mother, my grandmother and myself) for seating. We were lucky to find a reception site with a huge wrap-around porch… just like home! Brent loves BBQ (a lot), which made the menu decisions easy. Our Southern barbecue will be complimented by homemade sweet tea, my grannie’s delicious desserts and tuna salad and the best chocolate chip cookies ever tasted, made by Brent’s mother. I’ve already hand-sewn cloth banners to decorate the porch and plan on making a quilt with them after the wedding. Bottled drinks will be served from galvanized washtubs filled with ice. We’ve got a giant collection of mason jars at home in addition to many beautiful vases and antique bottles given to my mother by an old family friend and will fill them with wildflowers grown in pastures back home. What I’m most excited about though, is spending the evening dancing the night away to oldies country music with the sweetest, most wonderful (and delightfully Southern) people in the world.”
Congratulations to Bonnie and Brent! The SW ladies can’t wait to see your wedding photos. Really, I’m already drooling over those homemade cookies. We know that Maile is ecstatic to have the opportunity to capture such an amazing Southern day, as well.
Thank you to every couple that entered the giveaway and especially to our three finalists. It was an extremely close race and we wish we could have picked you all!
As a quick side note… the multiple recounts were due to the unfortunate fact that many people cast multiple votes. We scoured through IP addresses and did not count any repeated votes. Please, in future giveaways, only vote once!! Be fair!! It’s the Southern thing to do.
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!