Southern Weddings

Tomorrow is a very special day! Not only is it our lovely and talented Creative Director’s birthday, it’s her golden birthday!! We love this gal so much, and along with being so thankful for everything she does at Southern Weddings, we’re also so thankful that we get to spend our days with such a wonderful person. In honor of her 28th birthday tomorrow, we’ve rounded up a few of the things that we’ve learned over the years from Mrs. Emily Thomas!

What Lara has learned from Emily:

– Life is enjoyed more fully when you stretch yourself outside of your comfort zone and try new things!
– Taking time and being intentional about decisions makes life so much sweeter.
– The seemingly small things in life can be the most meaningful and delightful.
– Kitties sometimes like cake. :)

What Nicole has learned from Emily:

– Pink lipstick is FUN!
– Stand up for yourself. Your opinion and your perspective matter.
– Little adventures are still adventures. And sometimes, they’re the best ones.
– Comparison is for the birds. Your happiness radiates when you’re confident in your decisions and your life.

What Marissa has learned from Emily:

– Beautiful things can be even more beautiful if they have meaning.
– You don’t have to be raised in the South to exude Southern hospitality.
– How many exclamation points is too many exclamation points (!!) for one email.
– The perfect amount of shoulder-shrugging to make a fake laugh look real.
– Tami Taylor is a great role model!

What Lisa has learned from Emily:

– The best way to bond with someone is a long road trip (or Bridal Market!).
– You can’t control being in the right place at the right time, but you can control how prepared you are for when that right place and time happen.
– No milestone is too small to be celebrated.
– Marrying your best friend makes every day an adventure.

What Kristin has learned from Emily:

– Irish dancing isn’t for the faint of heart and should only be done by the experts (see: Emily Armstrong Thomas).
– Kittens and donuts make the world a sweeter place.
– You never know what inspiration will come when you take a few minutes to get up from your desk and take a walk around the block.
– Kindness and manners are like peanut butter and jelly: loved and appreciated by all.

What Morgan has learned from Emily:

– Anything can be learned.
– It never hurts to ask.
– It is important to listen to other’s ideas and to know how to compromise.
– A Monday night watching The Bachelor with friends is a Monday night well spent. :)

Please join us in wishing Emily a very happy birthday in the comments below!

Written with love by Lisa

Oh, y’all. This girl. Where do we even begin? We love her more than sweet tea in summer and are overjoyed to wish her a very happy birthday today!!

You may already know Emily as a lover of classic weddings, mini food, and etiquette, and in honor of her birthday, we thought we’d share a bit more about why Emily is so special!

Merry: Emily is naturally positive and cheerful, and she is so much fun to be around! We especially love her always-witty comments and hilarious stories about her cats.

Adventurous: Emily and John have a reputation for going on frequent adventures—whether that means trying out fun restaurants, hiking new trails, or traveling to different cities. They do it all! We love their commitment to living life to the fullest and never being afraid to try something new.

Role model: Every single one of us looks up to Emily for her constant grace, poise, professionalism, and kindness. The phrase, “I want to be Emily when I grow up” has been said in the office more than once!

On the left: One of our favorite photos of Emily + John by Tanja Lippert from their wedding day! See their wedding here and here. On the right: Emily showing off her cute-as-pie Smilebooth skills.

Valuable: You may already know how much Emily does as far as creating amazing content for our blog and magazine, but there is also so much more that she does behind the scenes! She contributes an invaluable opinion to everything from ad sales to magazine layout and we don’t know what we would do without her every day.

Encouraging: Emily is quick to let people know when they’re doing something well, or to offer just the advice they need to help them do better. She is always thoughtful and sincere.

Loving: As well as loving on us through things like sweet treats and hugs (as you can see in the amazing picture below), Emily loves her husband, family, and friends so well, and isn’t afraid to show it.

Photo by Landon Jacob Photography

On point: Whether she’s chatting with readers at an event or representing Southern Weddings in a business meeting, Emily knows how to be friendly and tactful all at once. We’ve never seen her flustered and admire how quickly she can adapt to changing situations with grace.

Unstoppable: This girl makes things happen. Whether she’s bringing an editorial shoot together in the rain or editing magazine pages long after the sun has gone down, her motivation to get things done and to do them well fires us up!

Smart: We always say that Emily is smarter than the rest of us. While we love her brain for random bits of etiquette advice and Bachelorette pop culture, we also love that she’s extremely logical, always keeping in mind lessons from the past while considering all points of view and potential opportunities in the future.

On the left: Graham Terhune snapped this shot of Emily crouched in muddy strawberry fields to protect our gorgeous gown for our Berry Bliss shoot. On the right: Emily being adorable during a blueberry picking outing with Eric Kelley.

In case you hadn’t noticed, all of these qualities line up to spell the number one adjective to describe Emily Thomas: marvelous!

Please join us in wishing Emily a very marvelous birthday today! Leave her some love in the comments section!

Written with love by Lisa