Southern Weddings

Hey y’all!  So many goodies passing through our inboxes we just had to share a few.  Without further ado…

Studio Wed is hosting The Wedding Experience on Sunday, May 2 in Atlanta.  The Experience is an interactive bridal event featuring seminars on wedding logistics, decor, photography, and more, with expert event designer Tara Guerard of Soiree on hand to offer her expertise.  The event, at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, is limited to 200 guests and is $90 per person or $175 per couple.  See more at their website!

The Not Wedding is another not-to-be-missed event going down in Atlanta.  As its website states, “The NotWedding is a unique bridal event in which a handful of the city’s most talented vendors come together to stage a one-of-a-kind wedding.  Complete with an unforgettable ceremony, an over the top first dance, a cake cutting, and reeption, the NotWedding has become a killer alternative to a bridal show that promotes an atmosphere that inspires brides towards creative options rather than cookie-cutter weddings.”  This year’s event will take place on February 28 from 4 to 8pm at the Foundry at Puritan Mill, and tickets are $25.  See more at their website here!

And just because we know you can’t get enough of ATL: our own Lara Casey will be speaking at the Simple Plan Business Workshop alongside co-hosts Michelle Loretta and Kelly Simants of Sage Wedding Pros and Wendy Robinson of Aspire to Plan.  Join this fabulous foursome for a no-sweat, no-fuss, piece-of-cake, easy-peasy approach to writing your business plan on February 22-23.  Tickets are on-sale now until February 17 for $399 but if you enter the special SW promo code “ILoveSWMag” at check-out, you’ll receive a $50 discount!  Visit http://thesimpleplanatlanta.eventbrite.com for more details.

Some exciting new developments from three of our favorite vendors…  Custom Wedding Creations is debuting a brand new line of eco-friendly handpainted aisle runners today!  The runners are made from melted down plastic bottles woven into a recycled polyester fabric (thought it feels like any other fabric!), and each runner is handpainted with 100% organic paint.  The runners start at $175 for a 25′ version with a handpainted logo from CWC’s Essential Collection.

Gia of Betsy White has been rolling out a spring line of invites on her blog, and they are too cute! Everything Gia touches seems to be magically prettified, which makes us confident she would do an equally amazing job with your paper needs.  Bonus!  Her work is quite reasonably priced.  See it here!

OK, we’ve all been crazy excited about this update… our dear friend Caroline from Paloma’s Nest is VERY excited to announce that her new website is officially launching TODAY!  Paloma’s Nest has built something of an empire through Etsy sales alone, and we are so excited to see where a custom website takes Caroline and her business!  Be sure to drop by and check out the new digs, and see below for a sneak peek of the front page and a new (beautiful!) packaging option!

There’s a new site on the wedding scene that we adore!  Love, Milk and Honey just launched yesterday and it’s chock-full of sweet goodness.  Such a perfect way to start the week…

Our Editor-in-Chief, Lara, is doing a charity mentorship auction to benefit Tents in Haiti started by Spencer Brodsky.  Spencer is a remarkable high school senior who has started a movement called Tents in Haiti.  Thank you, Spencer, for all you are doing to inspire change! Check out all the details here and place your bids asap!

Lastly, a giveaway!  Two lucky brides will win seats to Wedification!  This new event in Destin, FL, is designed to help brides navigate through tough wedding decisions and broaden horizons on what is possible in wedding design and planning.  Our friend, Stacie Framcombe, of Get Married is the featured speaker along with SW charter supporters Kebbie Hollingsworth of KH Floral, Danielle Atkinson of Lucky Girl Events, Renee Armour of Two Fishes Artistry and the dynamic photo duo, Rae and Wesley Leytham.  To enter, leave a comment here telling us what you are most looking forward to in planning your wedding.  We’ll choose a random winner on Monday, February 22nd.

Happy Monday, y’all!

Written with love by Lara Casey

Hi y’all.  It’s Lara.  With all the goodness coming from Katharine and Emily these days, you rarely find me here on the blog.  I read every morsel and give my input now and then, but Kath and Em have this thing on on lockdown!  So, I’m breaching the system for an impromptu post.

It’s hard to find big enough words to express how much these ladies mean to me… to put it mildly, Katharine, Emily, Whitney, and Sandi make me whole.  They make me laugh every day, push me to be a better friend and wife, and fuel me to jump out of bed, excited about the work we are doing together.  Thank you, beautiful ladies, for infusing me with happiness every day and for all the good things yet to come.  I feel so blessed to experience this journey with you and learn from you!

Happy Valentine’s Day to my amazing husband who got me this.  We got engaged on Valentine’s Day four years ago, so today is a special day. 

Much love to my parents, brother, Grandma Bunny, and to my travel bud and MTH2010 co-pilot, Jeff.  My heart is overflowing with gratitude as I type this, thinking of how much I’ve been given and the many people in my life who make me who I am.  God is so good, y’all.

To all of our readers, dear friends and supporters… thank you for all of your love!  We had a blast at our LIVE Valentine’s Day party on Friday and will be back on our station again very soon.  Thanks for joining us and celebrating!

OK, you have to see this dreamy Valentine’s shoot from our friends at Simply Bloom.  Oh my WOW! 

Happy love day to you and yours,

PS I haven’t forgotten about my new feature.  I’ve just been out of the office for a little bit.  The It List :: Hot Shots feature returns this week!