Our first wedding in Weddings Unveiled Magazine!

As promised, here is a link to Paige and John's gorgeous wedding at Blackberry Farm in Walland, TN, as featured in this fall's Weddings Unveiled Magazine.http://www.weddingsunveiledmagazine.com/real-weddings-details/paige-john/

Paige & John - Blackberry Farm, Tennessee

I have been remiss in posting more photos of Paige and John's absolutely beautiful wedding that took place in April at the gorgeous resort Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee.  Check out these amazing photos taken by Watson Studios.  It's impossible to take a bad picture of this couple, but the Watsons truly have an incredible eye for beauty and detail.

And great news...we just found out this wedding is to be featured in the fall issue of Weddings Unveiled Magazine, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

XOXO
grace

http://www.watson-studios.com/2011/06/blackberry_farm_wedding_paige.html

Cristina and Cole - Classic Elegance in High Point

Wedding season is in full swing, so I hope you'll forgive me for not posting for a month now!  We have one more big event this weekend before we get a much needed break, including a trip to Colorado and a week at the beach.  It's been hard earned, and I can't wait!  My team has been amazing this spring, and I really can't thank them enough.  BIG love and thanks to Samantha Kozub, Katherine Hollander, and Rani Darling.

I'm just now trying to gather photos from all of our spring weddings.  Here is a link to some beautiful highlights from our big June 4th wedding in High Point.  I worked on this wedding for over a year, and all of the time and effort certainly paid off.  It was a really spectacular day and I was proud to be a part of it.  There were many, many talented and hard working people involved in making this event go off without a hitch including: Natalie Carter Hyde of Aesthetic Images Photography, the inimitable JW Walton of The Catering Company who dreamed up the gorgeous decor and design of the event (as well as provided the first class catering), Randy McManus, the amazing florist, Party Reflections, the Art of Cake (look at that cake!!), Trolleys Inc., Sterling Carriage, Eastcoast Entertainment, and many more.  Thank you to you all.  We loved working with you!

Above all else, congratulations to Cristina and Cole!

http://aestheticimages.net/shows/QubeinBuckfelderWedding/

Barbara & Douglass's Rainy, Romantic Day

Check out this beautiful video created by the Ink Spot Crow film crew out of Durham of Barbara and Douglass's rainy and wonderful wedding day in April.  They truly captured the feeling of the day which, despite the rain, was incredibly cheerful and upbeat.  Congratulations to Barbara and Douglass and thank you to all of the fabulous vendors who worked extra hard on this difficult day!

XOXO
grace

http://www.inkspotcrow.com/2011/05/13/douglass-barbara-wedding-highlights/

Picture Perfect

Well, we don't get a gold star for updating our blog regularly...but you'll be glad we waited until we had something good to share!!  We've been busy this spring planning and planning, and finally we've had the

chance to experience some of the fabulous weddings we've been working on.  As always, I will share more photos as they come my way but for now, feast your eyes on these wonderful images from last weekend.

We were so fortunate to be a part of the planning and coordination of Paige and John's wedding at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee.  www.blackberryfarm.com  If you aren't familiar with Blackberry,

take some time to go through their website.  It's an incredible property that set the stage for a personal,

intimate, private, family-oriented and breathtakingly beautiful wedding weekend for Paige and John, who traveled from Chicago to be married there.

Here is a photo of the newlyweds after the carriage ride they took from 

the ceremony to the cocktail reception.

Here's a shot of them cutting the cake, which we brought in from The Art of Cake in Chapel Hill, NC.

It was a lovely rendition of a Martha Stewart cake.  Hopefully I'll have more photos later.  You can

see me in the corner in my blue dress, watching carefully to make sure they don't need help!

 Here's the gorgeous couple at the end of the ceremony.  The bride's mother is a fabulous interior designer, so the decor of the event was magnificent and detailed.  This wrought iron arbor was brought in from High Point, North Carolina and decorated by an amazing florist from New York City.

Here's the blushing bride and her proud father.  I've known them a very long time, so it was extra special to see her walk down the aisle and to be a part of her big day.

 Here's a shot of the venue for cocktail and the reception, from afar.  The barn is was just stunning inside - dripping with flowers and candlelight.  There was a big tent adjacent to the bar, where dancing, dessert,
and late night snacking took place.

Cocktail hour.  You can get a sense for what a *perfect* day it was weather-wise and otherwise.  We loved working with the entire Blackberry team, Ashley Moss in particular, and with vendors who were new to us, including Dan and Natalie Watson of Watson Studios (photography), Julio Jimenez (florist), Chariots of Hire, Bobby Yang (incredible musicians), Sound Ventures, and All Occasions party rental.  All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, and not one that we will soon forget.

Congratulations to Paige and John!

XOXO
grace

Out of The Box Bouquet

I saw this photo on www.stylemepretty.com today and can't get over how gorgeous this bouquet is (not to mention the dress and shoes...to die for!).  This was created by a group of of L.A. called www.peonyandplum.com

This just got me thinking about choosing a bouquet that is colorful and different from all of the whites and ivories that we tend to see walking down the aisle.  Why not add a bit of flare, sass, and color to the mix?  It shows so much style and energy and will really liven up your look.  This bride opted for peonies and roses above all, and topped it off with a fabulous peacock blue bow.  LOVE!  Other great flowers to choose for color include calla lillies, ranunculus, lysianthus, freesia, tulips, and delphinium.  Hypericum berries are also a great way to get a pop of green in the arrangement, and they add wonderful texture too.

Get creative and colorful with your bouquet!  Just because you are wearing white, doesn't mean to you have to carry it, too.

XOXO
grace

Contest for FREE photography for your wedding day!

Our friends at Tracy Turpen Photography are holding a fabulous contest for one lucky couple to win free photography for their wedding day.  Check it out!  You'd be soooooooooo lucky to get Tracy to photograph your wedding...her photos are simply beautiful.

In the words of Tracy:
"I wanted to let you know about a contest that we are offering to any engaged couple who plans to have their wedding from May 21st, 2011 through April 30th, 2012.  They will receive a full day of free wedding photography complete with some added bonuses. It isn't limited to local weddings either.  Travel to wedding site is free of charge as well.  Attached is the flyer that is posted on our blog describing the details of the contest.  We are doing it because we really want to find that couple who deserves to have beautiful images from their big day."

Check out Tracy's work at www.tracyturpen.com
XOXO

Our First Style Me Pretty Feature!

Check out this gorgeous Southern country wedding that we were fortunate enough to be a part of last September in Chapel Hill.  We are so proud and excited to have a feature on Style Me Pretty!

Enjoy!

XOXO
grace

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/02/09/north-carolina-wedding-by-kellie-kano-photography/

L'Orage Casino Night

Six years ago, I created a group with some friends called "L'Orage", which is French for "The Storm", to put together an event to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina.  L'Orage held a very successful fundraiser at Pop's restaurant in Durham with dinner, music and a silent auction, and we were able to give a substantial amount of money to the Interfaith Food Shuttle - a Triangle wide organization that helps to feed people in need.

In November, L'Orage was resurrected by a larger group of my friends, with an even larger group of women signing on to help where they could.  We decided to plan a fabulous casino night event in Durham, this time to benefit a Durham organization called KidZNotes which teaches classical music to young children in "challenged" areas of Durham.

On Saturday, we held a fun and festive affair at the Durham Arts Council downtown with 175 people in attendance.  We were able to raise about $4,000 for KidZNotes, which we are very proud of!  I wanted to share with you a blog post from Durham Magazine, so you can read a bit about the event and see a few photos.

Hopefully, we will have many more successful and fun events in the future and some of you can come out to support us.  We'd love to have you there!
http://www.durhammag.com/blogs/durham-magazine-blog/high-rollin'-at-l'orage-casino-night/index.html

XOXO,
grace

Whitney & Justin - An Asheville Affair

Our good friend Ivy Robinson www.ivyrobinson.com asked us to carry out the weekend of a very special wedding she had planned, but couldn't be present for due to previous obligations.  She created a gorgeous wedding, and we were more than happy to be the ones to see it through.

Whitney and Justin are a sweet couple who not only look like the perfect J.Crew models, but are obviously head over heels in love.  It was a pleasure to work with them and so fun to be a part of their beautiful ceremony and wild reception - what a party!

Thanks to all of the fabulous vendors involved and especially to my own Katherine and Rani, who helped make the weekend run super smoothly.  And thanks again to Ivy for trusting us with her wedding.  Enjoy this spread in Charlotte Wedding Magazine!

http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Wedding/January-2011/Real-Wedding-Whitney-amp-Justin/

XOXO
grace