Happy New Year to all the fabulous Southern Weddings readers! Today, I am so excited to share I am in Washington D.C. for 2009 with some of my favorite friends from my days at Elon University. As I danced the night away and sipping champagne at the Washington Harbour to bring in the New Year last night, I hope all of you were celebrating with loved ones too!
As this year comes to a close, I have decided to share some of my personal highlights from the blog. For those that do not know, I interview all of our beautiful brides and grooms here at SW. Lucky for me, I often get to read each couples love story before anyone in the office does. I usually read it out loud for all the ladies of SW to do an “aww…that’s SO cute” out loud together. Here are my top three favorite couples of 2008:
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!
Brooke + Thor (I)
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? While my family is from Alabama, I knew that most of my Los Angeles and New York-based friends had never been to the South, and neither had most of Thor’s family. I wanted a wedding that would be fun and casual and would feature elements that were uniquely Southern. When our guests checked into the hotel, they were given a welcome bag filled with Alabama pecans and Moon Pies and my grandmother’s famous almond cookies. At the wedding, we served ham biscuits and chicken fingers and boiled shrimp. I wanted to create an environment that felt like a really great party, and I wanted everyone to leave thinking about how great Alabama is. For a little extra insurance, we passed out 200 Krystal cheeseburgers at the end of the party as a to-go gift.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: We got an amazing response from our guests when they received their invitations in the mail. I’m a huge country music fan, and when I was working in Nashville on the first few seasons of “Nashville Star,” I fell in love with Hatch Show Print. They’ve been in business since 1879, and they print the concert posters for the Grand Ol’ Opry, etc. I called them up and worked with a designer over the phone and we created poster-sized wedding invitations that Thor and I sent out in mailing tubes. They ended up costing less than most “normal” invitations, and they’ve become a great keepsake – it’s so cool to think that the little letterpress elements they used on our poster could have been used on a poster for Hank Williams or Patsy Cline. I love visiting our friends and family and seeing our poster hanging up on their walls.
The most unexpected event on our wedding day was: This would involve bridesmaids and keg stands, which is probably not the kind of thing you want to print in your lovely magazine. My grandmother was appalled.
Describe your wedding flowers: All white; hydrangeas, orchids, tulips, white tea roses. I am from Shkoder, Albania and hydrangeas are abundant in my birth city, there is even a song about this gorgeous flower which in Albanian it’s called Lule Bore. It was important that we include this flower in honor of my heritage.
A date we went on that we’ll always remember: Among so many to choose from one would be August 1, 2008, the night before Peter’s MBA graduation, exactly one week before our wedding. We packed a picnic dinner and they were showing our favorite movie outside, Casablanca, at Leu Botanical Gardens in Orlando. It was a gorgeous setting and gorgeous weather and as we watched our favorite movie under the stars and cuddling on a blanket, we would look into each other’s eyes and say “we’re getting married in a week!!”
The details: We were married on 08-08-08. According to Chinese numerology, eight is the luckiest number. We got letters from all around, including our registry congratulating us on getting married on the luckiest day of the luckiest month of the luckiest year. I guess that is why the Chinese started the Olympics on that day. All this is great but the date has even more significance to us because the reason why we chose it was to honor Peter’s grandparents who are no longer living, but we now share the same wedding date.
What are you looking forward to in the future? Everyday.
Other favorites on the SW Blog this year include:
Whitney + Steve (I) (II) Love the location of their reception at the Carolina Inn. It will always be one of my favorite locations to hold an event.
Lindsay + Jeff (I) What a beautiful winery! Can I get married here?
Clary + Robert (I) (II) Want to hear about the funniest and oddest experience I have heard from a bride about trying on gowns? Read Clary’s story. Vera Wang has never had a bride like Clary before.
The {Thanksgiving Photo Contest} was one of my favorite blog features this year.
Thanks to all the lovely readers that entered. I was truly touched by what some of you said. Here are some of my favorites:
Rae: I am thankful for so many things. This photo shows something so amazingly small, yet so huge. This is my Avery as a 3-day old embryo. I am thankful that there are doctors that were able to help me have a baby when I couldn’t on my own.
Katasha: I’m thankful for someone who loves me IN SPITE OF all my imperfections.
Jesica Haack: I am thankful for NKOTB’s reunion tour! WOO HOOOOO And pregnant sister-in-laws to go with….
Reflecting back on this year in the office and out of the office, this year has been so much fun. We all work hard, but there is always time for laughing. The office works like this many days: I laugh about something ridiculous and continue laughing as Kirstin points out it is not funny. Lara laughs with me. Then Rachel follows up the laugh with a story about something that happened in Wilmington or Ashville or even a does a little jig. Later on in the day, Kirstin will point out that we have heard this Jonas Brothers song or Pussycat Dolls song like twelve times today on the XM radio. The Hills will come up and all our views on Spencer + Heidi’s marriage will be shared. The fabulous part is that each day we do get a lot accomplished!
Thanks to all the new friends I have made this year. Through Twitter, Engage 08 and all the brides that email daily, y’all are amazing and I loved getting to know you. Best of luck in 2009! Laura
I am so honored that you chose my entry as one of your favorites!