Happy Friday! I’m getting back into the swing of things after taking 10 days off for a roadtrip out west. I visited Seattle, Missoula and Bozeman Montana, and Jackson Hole Wyoming. Spending most of my time exploring Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. It was an amazing trip and one that will be hard to beat. I took lots of photos of the incredible landscape so look for a travel post soon! 
Dress (on sale for under $100) | Jacket | Hat | Shoes
Gorgeous stained glass wedding inspiration via Ruffled
My favorite dress to travel in (pictured above) is on major sale for under $100!
A recipe for your weekend.
I recently scooped up this dress and it’s now on sale. Wouldn’t it be perfect for a beach engagement session?
A colorful villa wedding filled with tropical inspiration from Junebug Weddings
A song for your weekend
Photography: Richard Ellis Photography
*This post contains affiliate links.
How Did You Meet? Matt’s sister, Amy, was my resident-mate at the University of Tennessee. We met at her birthday party. His sister likes to tell people that we were the first ones to arrive, the last ones to leave, and we didn’t talk to anyone else the entire night!
What Is Your Proposal Story? Matt proposed on Christmas Eve. We cooked Christmas Eve dinner together, and we really enjoyed making a great meal. We decided to open our Christmas presents to each other that night because I had to work on Christmas Day. I gave Matt a bunch of clothes for Christmas, and I wrapped each item individually as a prank. He probably had 10 packages to open, and I have never seen someone open presents so quickly! When we were finally done opening gifts, he told me there was one more gift that he needed to give me. He pulled out a small, wrapped box, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him.
Tell us a little a bit about your wedding: We are both from the south, and we relocated to North Carolina a few years ago. Our families and friends live in many different states, and we knew we wanted to have the wedding somewhere that everyone would enjoy visiting and that most people could drive instead of fly. We both visited Charleston growing up, and we both love the charm and character that Charleston offers. Plus, I had always envisioned having my wedding surrounded by my favorite tree, Live Oaks.
What were your favorite parts of the day? We both agree that our absolute favorite moment was looking out at all of our friends and family during the wedding ceremony. It was the first time that all of the people who are the most special to us were in the same place. That will probably never happen again, and we will always treasure knowing that so many people came from so far to celebrate with us!
Tell us about any DIY, handmade, or personal details: We got married on St. Patrick’s Day, and we wanted to incorporate some small touches to honor the day. We did a handfasting ceremony as a part of our vows. Handfasting is an ancient Irish wedding tradition that has come to be interpreted literally, as the symbolic act of “tying the knot.” We also made gold foiled shamrocks for our table numbers. My bouquet had a beautiful vintage gold and sapphire shamrock brooch; this was my “something old.”
How did you meet? We have mutual friends from high school but met at one of our high schools annual thanksgiving break reunions at Jimmy’s Fish House on Clearwater Beach.
What is your proposal story? He proposed after 10 years of dating while we were vacationing in Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina. We went fishing and he asked me to reel in the fishing rod and on the other end of the rod was a ring attached to the hook. He also was filming the entire thing on his drone so we have a video!
Tell us a little bit about your wedding: We wanted an elegant, fun party for everyone to enjoy! We saved our “wow” factor for our tented reception which included lots of vibrant florals, an awesome band, and great food, drinks, and dancing!
via 
How did you meet? We meet in high school. We were both in culinary class. He was (and still is) a much better cook than me! I spent my time flirting with him instead!
What is your proposal story? I thought that I was planning a surprise birthday dinner for my mom and was trying to get her all dressed up and relaxed with shopping and mani/pedis. We were leaving Belk when a camera man with the local news stopped me outside of the store and asked me if I would answer a few questions for a holiday shopping segment they were doing. I immediately said yes and he started to film me asking questions like, “if i was ready for Christmas?” “were all of my presents wrapped?” and then he asked me if I liked trains (pointing behind me) I look back to see my now husband, dad, brother, and other family members on a small train that they use to pull kids around during Christmas. They were all holding a sign that says, “Will you marry us?” oh, and did I mention that Sam was holding a baby kitten!
Tell us a little bit about your wedding vision: After having worked for an event planning company for a little over a year and looking through wedding magazines for years I knew that I wanted something that was unique. I had seen so many different weddings, each being beautiful but I wanted some element that would stand out. Then I found these blue and white candlesticks at an antique store one day and the idea for the blue and white vases took off from there! My mom and I spent months collecting the vases from craft stores, antique shops, pretty much anywhere we could find them! From there I had envisioned beautiful greenery and white flowers to compliment and not take over the uniqueness of the vases.
What were your favorite parts of the day? I loved my first look with my dad. I have always been a daddy’s girl and had dreamed of that moment since I was little. It did not disappoint. I think it was when it really hit me for the first time that day that I was about to get married! Sam’s favorite part was when we danced together on the dance floor. Not our first dance, funny enough, it was actually when we danced to Watch Me by Silento and we got to “whip” and “nay nay” together! It was a pretty fun moment, it pretty much turned into a dance off between the bride and groom!
Make sure to follow this link to watch the couples wedding video! https://vimeo.com/275551563
At 
I personally was sold after seeing that champagne truck but if you need more convincing know that you can expect a slew of giveaways at the event. The first 50 couples receive a pretty sweet swag bag. 
Make sure to grab your ticket 
Garrett Richardson Photographer
How did you meet? Though we met many, many years ago, it wasn’t until I moved across the country that we reconnected. I was living in Los Angeles while Brandyn was still in Atlanta, and Brandyn got stuck at LAX one afternoon. A mutual friend suggested that he might call me to grab a beer and pass the time (we now suspect this friend knew what he was doing all along.) We ended up at a good dive bar with a great jukebox and it proved to be the perfect formula for us. Brandyn suggested we might meet up again, and I thought it was a long shot, as we were both busy professionals with very different lives living on different coasts. After many failed attempts at setting a date to get together, he asked what I was doing the following weekend, since his plans had fallen through. I was going to visit my sister in Hawaii, and told him he was welcome to meet us there (trying to call his bluff.) He proved me wrong when he slid into the seat next to me on the flight from LAX – HNL!
What is your proposal story? My father, who passed 10 years ago, was a pilot. His first job was here in Atlanta flying out of the Peachtree-Dekalb airport. Brandyn arranged to take an open-air sunset bi-plane out of the same airport, and we sat side by side (with pilot Odie behind us) on a beautiful evening. Through the old, temperamental headset, he popped the question. I had to ask him to repeat it a few times before he finally got out the ring and pointed and said “this!” Odie then decided it was time for some acrobatics. I get insane motion sickness, so that was not my favorite part of the outing, but smiled all the way back to the airport nonetheless.
Tell us a little a bit about your wedding: We had been to Key West on a trip very early on in our relationship, and it was there Brandyn told me that he was going to marry me one day. I told him he was crazy. But he proceeded to point out all the places we could host wedding events, and swore we would get the same band we saw one night at the Green Parrot. The morning after the engagement, he asked if we could nail down a date and a venue (he is a PLANNER.) Through a champagne headache, I offered that he had already planned the whole thing, so why re-invent the wheel? Key West it was. Summer was too hot, fall is for football, and winter for holidays, so we picked April 21. As a designer/art director who worked in events for many years, I knew there was A LOT I could overthink, so I decided to go the complete opposite direction and aim for simple instead of perfect. I have designed about a hundred wedding invitations, but didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on myself, so I didn’t even design my own. We wanted the wedding to be as laid-back as possible, and the Audubon House was so beautiful it needed no decor, while Grunts had the perfect dive-bar feel that we are most comfortable in. We ended up booking the band we saw on our trip, convincing the food truck behind the bar (Garbo’s Grill) to stay open for the reception, and everything was perfect.
Did you have any DIY, handmade, or personal details: As mentioned, my father was a pilot (along with both of my grandfathers as well as Brandyn’s grandfather), so I collected all the models of the planes they flew to use as centerpieces for the tables at the ceremony & cocktail hour. My friends and I sprayed the planes all a brass color because it was difficult to find them all with the correct paint jobs. Instead of a guest book, we had everyone take a photo of themselves with an Instax camera, then hang them from a handmade wood and marble stand my good friend Leslie made. They are pretty enough to put on the shelf at home, which was the whole idea. We also got a bunch of percussion instruments for everyone to carry along for the parade, second-line style. It was hard to find these in bulk without being all sorts of wacky colors, so they also got a coat of the brass paint. I designed and printed the programs myself, and made the little baskets they were carried in.
When choosing a table for your shoe bar I suggest going with a long side table. Using a side table gives you the space you need to lay out the different shoe sizes. For my shoe bar I chose a side table with drawers so that the shoes could be displayed on the table top and tucked inside the drawers. Choosing a more open style with three shelves like the gold and dark wood styles above will give you more space. You could use the different shelves to display different shoe sizes or even provide a shelf where guests can store their heels in 
