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I always dreamed of having a southern plantation style wedding. Once I found the man of my dreams I knew exactly what I envisioned for our wedding. The ceremony was absolutely gorgeous. We got married at dusk, under massive live oaks with tea lights and beautiful peonies and hydrangeas with an ideal southern plantation as our backdrop. We wanted to keep it small and intimate. My husband was very understanding to what my dream was and did everything to make it come true. It was truly a day we will remember while growing old together.

Photography: Stevie Ramos Photography / Ceremony & Reception: Nottoway Plantation / Event Planning & Coordination: Nottoway Plantation / Florist: Billy Heromans / Gown: David’s Bridal / Bridesmaid Dresses: David’s Bridal

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Post tags: Billy Heromans, Budget Beautiful, Casual Elegance, Color Palette White Teal, David's Bridal, Flower girls, Louisiana, Nottoway Plantation, Outdoor Ceremony, Outdoor Wedding, Peonies, Plantation Wedding, Stevie Ramos Photography, White Castle
Post categories: Budget Beautiful, Little Black Book Blog

Up first in our lovely lineup is a fabulous DIY affair by JCE Photography.  Crafted entirely by the gorgeous (and oh-so-talented) bride, this vintage chic stunner is boasting a pretty pink color palette, adorable bird cages, one giant ampersand (LOVE) and a $5,000 budget.  Beautiful and budget friendly?  Yes, please.  See even more of this pretty affair in the gallery!

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From the Bride… Our wedding was held at a historic plantation home in Spring Hill, TN called Rippavilla. The theme was very vintage-chic, and girly! Vintage was my theme for planning the wedding, that is why I went with floral touches, bird cages, and a lace wedding gown. We used lots of pinks and whites. We used peonies, and LOTS of flower petals. My bridesmaids wore one-sleeved long flowy, watermelon pink dresses. We were on a TIGHT budget of $5,000, not including the dress which I got for a steal at only $800.00 AFTER tax and alterations. I did EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING myself. I spent countless hours researching. It was well worth it because we saved tons of money, and had a beautiful wedding!!!

Wedding Photography: JCE Photography / Wedding Venue: RippaVilla Plantation / Wedding Dress: Allure / Bridesmaid Dresses: Morilee / Caterer: Andrea, Breaking Bread / Florist: Tom Harmon / Cake + Cupcakes: Tammy Pierchoski

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Post tags: Allure, Breaking Bread, Budget Beautiful, Do-It-Yourself Inspired, JCE Photography, Mori Lee, RippaVilla Plantation, Spring Hill, Tammy Pierchoski, Tennessee, Tom Harmon, Vintage Chic
Post categories: Casual Elegance, The Blog

I am through and through a California Girl. However, I chose a college in Texas and it was during grad school that I met my husband, a Texan. Our relationship developed in Texas, but I knew I wanted to have my wedding in California with all of the sunshine, the ocean air, and lifelong friends and family.

For colors I wanted everything to be black (what can I say, it’s the signature color of my wardrobe) but added white, because it is a wedding after all. It was suggested to me to have an accent color by my event planner. I love sunshine and thought yellow was a perfect California color. I insisted on the flowers girls wearing dresses that they could wear again and picked out beautiful black satin bubble-hemmed dresses that I felt were a sophisticated touch at the wedding.

Because of my family situation – my father passed away from lung cancer when I was in college, and my mother was not in a position to pay for a wedding – expenses for the wedding fell to my husband and myself. We worked really hard to find a unique and beautiful location that would not require a ton of decor to feel “finished” and thanks to my good friend and event planner, Kimberly Downey, we were able to do just that. Our friends own the barn we were married outside of and held the reception in.

So much of our wedding was a “family affair” but with my good friends that are like family. Everyone from the photographer, to the venue owners, florist, baker, and planner are close friends that happen to have skills suited for a wedding. My husband and I felt supremely blessed for such connections. One of our favorite personal touches was that instead of a groom’s cake, we had a friend make “oreo cake balls” to compliment the cake that were white and black and suited the look of our wedding as well as our taste buds. Additionally, I wore my sister’s Vera Wang wedding gown and couldn’t have been happier to be married in such a divine garment that was borrowed! I also had my jewelry custom made by my friend and jewelry designer Summer Ellis. My earrings were found vintage pieces that she made into earrings. I gave my bridesmaids each a pair of earrings that Summer and I designed together.

The day could not have been more perfect. The guys started the day with a straight razor shave at the Montecito Barber. We chose to see each other before hand so we could enjoy the entirety of our reception and honor all of our out of town guests by being as present as possible. I was escorted to the aisle by my two guy friends that were like brothers to me growing up. My mother then walked me down the aisle and I carried my father’s bible. It truly was as special as I had hoped. Dinner consisted of gourmet burgers made by “The Ranch” – a long time fav of mine. The bar outside the barn and tall tables for guests to enjoy cocktail hour drinks while the burgers were made to order got friends old and new to mingle and enjoy the evening.

At the end of the evening we exited to special sparklers obtained by Kimberly (her father works in special effects for films and knew some pyro technics guys) and at the end of the tunnel of guests I was overwhelmed to see my father’s VW Van waiting as our get-a-way car. One of my best friends had got the Van up and running again and others had washed, cleaned, and waxed the vehicle. The “Just Married” sign on the back brought everything together in such a special way.

Photography: Kathryn Krueger Photography / Cinematography: Brian Sadler / Flowers: Jessica Raymond / Event Planning & Design: Kimberly Brook Downey / Ceremony Location: The Barn, Eucalyptus Lane / Reception Location: The Barn, Eucalyptus Lane / Invitations: Hole in the Roof / Shoes: Seychelles / Earrings: Summer Ellis / Caterer: The Ranch / Cake Balls: Sarah Nazarian

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Post tags: Barn Wedding, Bible, Brian Sadler, Budget Beautiful, Cake Balls, California, Chandeliers, Color Palette Black White, DIY Inspired, Eucalyptus Lane, Hole in the Roof, Jessica Raymond, Kathryn Kruegar Photography, Kimberly Brook Downey, Outdoor Ceremony, Outdoor Wedding, Sarah Nazarian, Seychelles, Summer Ellis, The Barn Eucalyptus Lane, The Ranch, Vineyard Wedding, Winery Wedding
Post categories: Budget Beautiful, Little Black Book Blog

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From Bella Sophia Events, LLC…Full of classic touches, Victoria and Mario wanted to evoke a classically elegant, vintage feel to their wedding mixed with some current, fresh touches. Since they came to me with a budget that could not go over $10k, I knew we had to get creative in every way possible! Victoria and Mario, both loan officers, were paying for the entire wedding by themselves.Victoria and Mario had already reserved their ceremony location, at the Little Bridges Hall of Music which is located on the Claremont Colleges Campus in Claremont, CA. This is a hidden gem of a ceremony location and when I saw it in person, I could not believe the beauty before me! From the hand-painted cathedral ceilings to the gorgeous outdoor gardens, I was in awe. So, although more than 10% of the budget had already been spent on this location, I quickly forgave the couple!

Their reception location had also already been secured at a Friend of the Family’s private residence not too far away. This helped save on the cost of the reception, and we located a caterer who was willing to work within the small budget to make a beautiful sit-down dinner with all the fixings, including the cake. The Bride, Victoria was really creative in searching for deals to make her vintage dreams a reality. She located alot of the items on Craigslist, and some in local antique stores. Her and the Groom, Mario, also gave their bridal party the attire accent pieces for their gifts; black and white converse tennis shoes and grey “skinny” ties for the groomsmen, and vintage-looking pewter earrings and bracelets for the bridesmaids. Victoria’s wedding band was actually her Grandmother’s and was a very special and emotional part of their ceremony.

A friend of the Bride also was starting a wedding “prop” business and was already accumulating lots of vintage finds, and lent her some of the fantastic items, including the vintage suitcases. The grey potted succulents also doubled as the guests escort cards. We hand painted each pot a matte grey and secured the escort cards on white spray painted bamboo skewers, and then placed the succulents inside the suitcases, which were displayed at the entrance. Each table was adorned with table numbers stuck into wine corks, set in old crystal bottles. Silver lanterns filled with candles illuminated the dance area, and sparkling accents including a chandelier, candle holders, and old silver goblets and lace table linens that added to the look. The guests were invited to sign in on a hand beaded white guest book, placed on a very old milk crate, next to an old vintage typewriter asking them to please sign in and write something for the couple. There was also a vintage record player displayed on the same table which added to the vintage feel.

Wedding Photography: VIS Photography / Flowers: Friend of the Family / Event Design + Planning: Bella Sophia Events, LLC / Ceremony Location: Little Bridges Hall of Music / Reception Location: Private Residence / Catering + Cake: Ambassador Catering / Reception Props: Ribbons and Rust / Officiant: Frank DeMeola

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Post tags: Ambassador Catering, Bella Sophia Events, Budget Beautiful, California Weddings, Claremont, Frank DeMeola, Little Bridges Hall of Music, LLC, Ribbons and Rust, VIS Photography
Post categories: California Weddings

My wedding day was absolutely everything I could have ever wanted it to be. My fiancé and I had to live six hours away from each other during our engagement because of his job and my schooling, so it was a long a difficult planning process but came out perfectly! I am a Southern California girl and he is an Illinois farm boy, so we wanted to bring together our personalities and our different lives into one for our special day. I wanted it to be comfortable, fresh, and fun! I found a lot of the ideas of blogs, but some of them just evolved through brainstorming together.

We met in Kentucky so we decided to have our wedding at a local winery in Lexington, Talon Winery. It was a gorgeous setting the required minimal decorating. We were definitely on a budget and my mom, sister, and I did most of our decorations. Mason jars and fireflies are two things I love about living in the south. I knew even before we were engaged I wanted our colors to be green, my favorite color, and blue, his favorite color. Also, I knew I wanted light, fresh flowers and to decorate with mason jars. I really wanted to utilize the beautiful space that we had. I loved adding unique touches like a birdcage for letters, or a wooden cake stand.

We chose to do fans for the ceremony because we knew it would be hot! So my mom created templates to make them ourselves. We used shepherd’s hooks to hold our flower arrangements and used burlap and white drapery to decorate the gazebo. I loved using the barn next to the ceremony site for the reception. It had perfect lighting and just felt right. We made our own photo booth, had a remembrance table for family members who had passed away, gorgeous food by DaRae & Friends, and a gorgeous cake table. We love the kids we have in our lives and so we wanted to make sure we had a kid’s table for them to play at during the reception. For the send-off, we tied ribbons in our wedding colors to wands for everyone to wave since we couldn’t use sparklers. It ended the perfect day.

Photography: Cat Satre / Flowers: Jeanie Gorrell Floral Design / Event Coordinator: Planned to Perfection of the Bluegrass / Ceremony Location: Talon Winery / Reception Location: Talon Winery / Invitations: Minted / Shoes: Kelly & Katie / Dress: Galina / Cake: Martine’s Pastries / Caterer: DaRae & Friends / Hair: Lindsey Pace / Make-Up: Ana-Crane Simpson / DJ: Sound Travels

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Post tags: Ana-Crane Simpson, Barn Wedding, Birdcage, Budget Beautiful, Casual Elegance, Cat Satre, Chalkboard, Color Palette Navy Green, DaRae & Friends, David's Bridal, DIY Projects, Flower girls, Galina, Jeanie Gorrell Floral Design, Kelly & Katie, Kentucky, Lexington, Lindsey Pace, Martine's Pastries, Mason Jars, Minted, Outdoor Ceremony, Planned to Perfection, Ring Bearers, Sound Travels, Talon Winery, Wedding Cakes
Post categories: Budget Beautiful, Little Black Book Blog

Salvo and I met in Italy when I had moved there to study art after college. I was determined to learn Italian so I decided to find Italian roommates. Salvo had a mutual friend in common with one of my roommates and we met one evening when he came over for dinner. We dated for almost three years until I decided I wanted to move back to the U.S. Salvo wasn’t ready to leave so we broke it off. Though we kept in touch over the phone, we didn’t see each other for three more years, both of us trying to move on. Finally Salvo decided to quit his job and moved to the U.S. and a couple months later we decided it was meant to be.

Family is such an important part of both of our lives. The most important thing to both of us for the wedding was that we wanted our communities to merge. We wanted all the wonderful people that are a part of each or our lives to talk, laugh, dance and celebrate with one another. Salvo and I come from very different backgrounds. Salvo was born in Africa and his parents moved to Italy when he was two. I was born and raised in Colorado. We knew it would be a challenge to find ways to break down the language and culture barriers at the wedding but we were determined to find ways for everyone to get to know each other and step out of their comfort zones to interact.

Because so few of my family and friends speak Italian, we had everyone tie different color ribbons to their wrists which identified the languages they spoke. This way an American who spoke French and an Italian who spoke French could recognize that they could in fact communicate, or at least laugh trying.

Our guest book was a map where guests wrote in their name identifying where they were from. We spiced it up by including facts about each guest that they had to identify and attach near their name.

Another way we encouraged everyone to interact was by mixing up the seating. Over dinner every table had to come up with the most creative thing that they all had in common. A representative from the table came up to share and Salvo and I voted. It was an amazing and hilarious way to get everyone talking.

We got married in my mother’s beautiful garden at the house where I grew up in Colorado. Our ceremony was in the front garden and the guests wove there way through christmas lights into the back garden for the reception.

Several months before the wedding I saw a beautiful paper star lantern in a store and had a vision of hundreds of paper lanterns lighting up the sky as we danced into the night. I bought the lantern, took it home and took it apart to figure out how to make one myself. I taught my friends and family members how to make them and pretty soon we had almost 80 handmade star lanterns made by all our friends and family. Salvo is an electrical engineer so he designed an LED light that went inside the stars which could be turned on and off with a remote control. It was magical!

Flowers: Painted Primrose / Catering: Amelia and Savory Cuisines / Wedding Dress: Caroline Devillo / Groom’s Attire: Palzileri Italian Suit / Pie: Kim and Jake’s Cakes / Photography: Julie Afflerbaugh Photography

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Post tags: Backyard Wedding, Birds, Boulder, Budget Beautiful, Caroline DeVillo, Casual Elegance, Colorado, Do-It-Yourself Inspired, Flower girls, Italian wedding, Julie Afflerbaugh Photography, Kim and Jake's Cakes, Lanterns, Maps, Painted Primrose, Palzileri Italian Suit, pies, Savory Cuisines, Stars, Wedding Photography
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Little Black Book Blog

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From the Bride…On May 21, 2011, I married my high school sweetheart. I met Eddie as a 16-year-old working at Chick-fil-A. We spent the early period of our love working together over fried chicken and sweet tea… our flirtation mostly manifesting itself by trading mixed tapes – handcrafted ‘Inspiration-O-Plenty’s’ that have become staple of our life now. As our summer drew to a close, our love didn’t. Even with me moving away to a college over 300 miles away, we were able to keep our love strong. Now, almost six years later – that same young love was made evident through our DIY southern style wedding, held at Twenty-Eight Twelve, an estate venue in Brandon, FL.

When Eddie and I got engaged, we knew our wedding wouldn’t be the typical extravagant affair. As much as I wanted to have a blow out wedding, there was no way we could afford it. Even with this budget in mind, I was extremely optimistic. I scoured wedding blogs and DIY sites to find the perfect pieces to use in our wedding.  I had so many ideas and crafts that I knew I wanted to do – the only problem was the fact I had two jobs and was wrapping my senior year as an accounting and finance major at Florida State.  Finding time to balance work, school and planning a wedding from counties away was exhausting. Eventually I learned to prioritize and this helped me narrow down exactly what I wanted to do. I had to figure out what was important to me, what represented Eddie and I as a couple and whether or not I had the resources to do the project justice.

After many months of looking through blogs and magazines, I finally had a vision for the wedding. It was perfect, because I knew it would look fantastic, be fairly inexpensive to implement and be very personal to Eddie and I. We picked a gorgeous venue, a private estate tucked away in our hometown for a backyard wedding and estate-style reception. The overall theme for the wedding was a sunset colored, southern style wedding, with an emphasis on lovebirds and pennant flags.

Wedding Photography: Jessica Charles Photography / Caterer: Chick-fil-A Valrico Florida / Venue: Twenty-Eight Twelve Event / Guest Book: Inspired by design from Bleu de Toi / Music: Alafia Strings Quartet / Wedding Cake: SunBaked LLC

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Post tags: Aladia Strings Quartet, Budget Beautiful, Chick-fil-A, Do-It-Yourself Inspired, Florida, Jessica Charles Photography, SunBaked LLC, Twenty-Eight Twelve Event
Post categories: Budget Beautiful, Do-It-Yourself Inspired, Florida Weddings

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Kyle and I got engaged in July of 2009 while we were living in Iowa. He was attending school and set to graduate in October at which point we’d head back to Arizona, where we are both from. We decided not to do any wedding planning until we got back as we figured it would be much too difficult to plan long distance and since we wanted a fall wedding, there wasn’t a huge rush. We had a few blissful months of what I call stress-free wedding planning.

One night while laying in bed, Kyle sound asleep, I thought “What if we could make this wedding mean something more than just a party for ourselves, what if we could somehow take the money we would spend on this event and help other people with it instead, all while still having a wedding?” That next morning I presented the idea to Kyle, who looked at me with a furrowed brow and then did as he always does; supported the idea fully. This was likely because I mentioned the word wedding which was generally a queue for him to tune out and just agree; he had no idea what he was getting into!

I had recently been to a local bridal show and I emailed every single vendor as I thrashed through the bag of business cards and brochures I collected that day at the show. We set guidelines and a simple request: vendors would donate all or part of their time or service and we would in turn donate to charity instead.

The response was exciting. We received a lot of questions and many people were skeptical of our motives, but then there were some vendors who just seemed to get what we were trying to do. Just about everyone – vendors, family, and friends included – had never heard of a concept such as this and we all adapted and evolved as we went.

First on board was Melissa Dunstan, our photographer, who was one such vendor that never asked what was in it for her or questioned our motives. As an avid volunteer who is extremely charitably minded, she just thought it made sense which was a huge boost of confidence for us as we weren’t really sure if it did make sense or if it would to vendors.  We didn’t want vendors doing it as a favor for us; we wanted them to come on board as if this was a joint effort to help others. Melissa was instrumental in helping us find other vendors including Kim Duncan of KD Event Designs, our event designer and Dana Micklos, our florist.

The more vendors we got on board and the more we talked about the process on our blog, the more receptive people became and before we knew it we had all our vendors. The process inspired and motivated us to do even more so we held various fund raisers and events to raise awareness for different charities along the way. We determined that the money from what would have been spent on the vendors would be divided among three charities: The American Heart Association, Second Chance Center for Animals, and Camp Soaring Eagle.

In terms of the wedding itself, it functioned exactly like a normal wedding. We selected Tequa plaza as our venue because it was outdoors and had a beautiful view from the roof top terrace where the reception was held. It was essentially a blank canvas which allowed Kim to do just about anything with the décor. We really wanted the natural beauty of Sedona to be the focus and all the details to just compliment that. We wanted sort of a vintage, handmade type feel so we scavenged thrift stores for vases and candle sticks and made a lot of little things like chalkboards, signage, and fabric flowers.

Our goal was also to spend as little money as possible to maximize what would go to charity at the end so we made cuts where necessary, used recycled items, and made whatever we could including the invitations. Kim did an excellent job of pulling all the random elements I gave her, with a bunch of random elements of her own to create the beautifully cohesive mix-matched look we were trying to achieve. I put a lot of trust and confidence in both Kim and Dana to do what they do best and didn’t give much instruction in terms of specific colors, flowers or design. I wanted them to be able to be creative and not be stifled by what I thought would look good. Many details including my bouquet were a complete surprise until the day of the wedding which was really fun for me and also it took a lot of the stress and pressure off me.

Family is really important to us and we wanted to incorporate them however we could. I wore my Grandmother’s necklace that she wore on her wedding day.  She gave me that before I even had my dress and I literally designed the style of my dress around that necklace. We incorporated family wedding photos and my stepfather served as our minister. It was intimate and so special to include little bits of the people that are so important to our lives. An Etsy jewelry designer and friend, Carly Thomas, made cameo necklaces that I gave to my bridesmaids to tie us all together and to pass on a little bit of my wedding tradition on to them. Kyle’s family owns a restaurant and they provided all the food. The people that work at the restaurant have become an extended family and it made it feel even more intimate to be surrounded completely by only people we knew and loved.

My dress was custom made by a small local store, Victorian Cowgirl, and I wore a beautiful sash given to me by Marie of Emici Bridal as well as a hair piece designed by Marie. I felt absolutely beautiful and so honored to wear these pieces that were custom made just for me, for this day. The girl’s and I wore red shoes in an effort to bring awareness to heart disease and on our invitation we asked our female guests to wear red shoes as well. This was important to us because Kim, our event designer’s, mother died at a young age of heart disease and it was important to her that we incorporate that in some way. It was so fun to see all the ladies dancing in their red shoes! Plus no one complained that I gave them an excuse to go get new red shoes! Kyle and some of the groomsman wore Tom’s Shoes and I even had a pair once my heels got to be too much to handle!

The day was perfect in every way and without question our dream wedding. Due to the generous support of our vendors and our fund raising efforts we were able to donate over $6,000 to various charities. We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to use our wedding to help others. Most weddings are over quickly, but we feel like the impact of our day lives on in the people we were able to help. I love weddings and all the details and this was meant in no way to make other people bad for spending money on their weddings. We truly believe a wedding should represent and reflect the couple. Many people do that through a theme, or through décor, for us creating a wedding centered around others was the way we wanted to represent ourselves through our wedding.  We fully encourage all couples to figure out what will make their wedding unique to them and do it, regardless of what other people think. What we got out of doing our wedding this way was so much more than what we put in and we are so grateful for that.

Dress: Victorian Cowgirl / Hair Piece & Sash: Marie of Emici Bridal / Shoes:  Me Too & Toms / Event Design and Planning:  KD Event Designs / Photographer: Melissa Dunstan Photography / Floral: Glamorous Occasions / Caterer: Red Rock Café / Hair:  Brides Sister, Erin McDonald / Venue:  Tequa Plaza / Cake:  Sedona Sweet Arts / Rentals:  Classic Party Rentals / Cinematography: Taltos Productions

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Post tags: Arizona, Budget Beautiful, Casual Elegance, Classic Party Rentals, Color Palette Red, Custom Dress, Emici Bridal, Glamorous Occasions, KD Event Designs, Me Too, Melissa Dunstan Photography, Red Rock Cafe, Sedona, Sedona Cake Arts, Tequa Plaza, The Charity Wedding, TOMs, Victorian Cowgirl, Wedding Planners & Designers
Post categories: Budget Beautiful, Little Black Book Blog