Songs Selected!

We met with Graham last week, our ceremony musician. He sat on a bench and sang for us. It was beautiful. I'm not going to tell you how or when, but here are the songs we selected to be featured throughout the ceremony.

Lovin in my baby's eyes
I will
Waiting on an Angel
You belong to me

I will post more about Graham later!

Wedding Jewelry Part 2

I'm sure you all remember my previous post regarding my wedding jewelry, but click here in case you missed it!

Well, I found it! The matching necklace for these beauties. I got it at Jean's Bridal. Isn't it fabulous??

Ceremony Music

We finally, finally have our ceremony musician! Yea, thanks Other Brother Entertainment. We booked Graham Whorley. He's a local guitarist. He will definitely provide a unique element to our ceremony. He is incredibly talented and has a very wide range. We are still finalizing his song list but I assure you that it will not be boring. Hopefully, he will sing everyone down the aisle.

Here's his site, http://www.grahamwhorley.com/music.html

Seating Cards

Since last summer Kevin has been sand dollar hunting. We plan on using these as our seating cards & favors. We are still planning all the details and we have to do some more hunting to do this summer before the wedding (that's why we had to get married at the end of summer), just kidding!

How do we display the sand dollars and decorate the lobby area of Alhambra Hall? My sister came up with the bright idea of making them part of the decor by hanging them on Manzita branches. I haven't figured out how to do it yet, but I like it. I will have to ask my florist, Charleston Flower Market. It would look like to big trees in the lobby. Fun, fun, fun :)

Hey Mr. DJ!!!

How could I forget the DJ?? They're in charge of keeping the party going all night (or till 11 when we have to leave)! We selected Complete Music, http://www.mycharlestondj.com/, to conduct our reception! Check them out, we are excited to have them at our wedding! Oh, please take note that my charming groom set up everything with the DJ! Don't you love it when you hear that grooms really do participate in wedding planning? I know I do!

Invites Ordered!

Hooray for the Cards & Pockets website. I found a pocket fold invite that I can afford. Check out the website, they have tons of options, cardsandpockets.com. I've wanted a pocketfold invite since the day I started looking at invites. I ordered samples a few weeks ago and the pinks available are perfect. Take a look at the photo above.

Juliet Elizabeth Photography

Juliet has a new blog! It looks great! Check it out: http://julietelizabethblog.com/

We Survived Registering! Yea!

Valentine's weekend was wedding productive as promised! The MAJOR accomplishment was registering. We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond on Sunday around 11:30, 3 hours later we were done. Who would've thought it takes so long?! I didn't. We even made trips a few weeks ago to decide on some of the big items. So, what was the best part about registering?? THE FREE GIFTS. BB&B has all kinds of programs in place to receive free gifts by registering for certain items. We will receive a few things in 6-8 weeks just for selecting the right stuff. I believe the program is fairly new so if you haven't registered yet, ASK. They've also added other new bridal tools. Check it out, http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com and have some fun!

An interesting concept...

Like I said earlier, I had lots of trouble keeping florists within a budget. I also couldn't make up my mind when it came to centerpieces. So, thanks to my brilliant mother, yes mom brilliant, we are going to use cakes as centerpieces! I can't give too many details away but I can tell you they are going to be delicious! Everyone you ask in Charleston has one baker they all recommend, Ashley Bakery. I am so delighted that we are able to use them for our wedding. And don't worry, there will be a cake cutting. How could I miss the opportunity to smash cake in Kevin's face!

Then comes the florist

I had a hard time coming up with a florist I liked. I had tons of inspiration photos and ideas, but I didn't know the names of the flowers or what colors I wanted to use. I began "interviewing" florists late last summer. I won't mention names but I had some interesting experiences. One florist booked an appointment with me but was the only one in the store for the afternoon. At first I didn't mind, but he had to take several phone calls and help many customers while we were discussing my wedding. Everytime he sat back down, we started over. Essentially, we never got anywhere and he sent me a quote over $600 more then I requested. I also had another florist laugh at my budget, smoke during our meeting, and told me there was no way she had time to email me anything. Needless to say, I never heard back from her! Finally, I came to my senses and quit talking to florists. I took a break until after Christmas. In January I called the first florist I met with way back in August, Catherine Davis at Charleston Flower Market. I enjoyed our initial meeting but I had no idea what I wanted when we first met. So I called and changed my colors and updated the plans and now she's doing the wedding. They also offer a sample bouquet before the wedding. My bouquet will feature bright pink Vanda orchids (pictured above). I've worked with Charleston Flower Market in the past so I'm very excited to have them on board. A big thanks to Mandy Townsend for suggesting them several years ago for company events!

Catering

We found our Caterer at the Southern Bridal Show last year. Let me tell you, this was the only thing beneficial there! Bridal shows, at least here in Charleston, are not fun. Anyway, we chose Regal Catering. They've done tons of events at Alhambra Hall so their experience at our venue will be especially helpful. Michelle, one of the owners, has been exceptional throughout the process. I can't wait to finalize the menu. We're thinking salmon and chicken, yum! Regal will also book all of our rentals and bar through Snyder. Basically, Michelle will be running our reception from start to finish. That's why we are so happy we found someone so great to work with! Keep your fingers crossed.

Juliet Elizabeth Photography

I would like to introduce the wonderful people we've meet throughout the planning process. I'll start with the first vendor I booked, Juliet Jones. To learn more about Juliet and to view her beautiful photography visit her website or blog. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful person to photograph our wedding!

The Perfect Place

Shortly after we were engaged my family was visiting from Ohio and Kevin's mom from California. We decided it would be the perfect opportunity to pick the location. We did some searching and narrowed it down before we took 5 1/2 (the half was my new nephew) on this crazy adventure. 5 people means 5 opinions everywhere we went. Everyone had something they absolutely hated about each place! After a few trips we finally looked at Alhambra Hall in Mount Pleasant. We all loved it, but Kevin and I didn't love the availability. Two Saturday's were available when we looked at it, August 29th and September 5th. If you live in the area you know that hurricanes and humidity are a bit of a problem in August. But, we collected all the information we needed to make a decision because our families all loved it. A week later we noticed one of the Saturdays disappeared. We panicked, if we wanted to get married here we had to move quickly. Kevin filled out the contract and we notified everyone that we'd be saying "i do" overlooking the ocean at Alhambra Hall in August! What a relief, we found an affordable place to get married in Charleston.