My Bridal Portraits

A while ago, I posted some inspiration pictures that I found for my bridal shoot. I have always been in love with Spanish moss hanging from huge oak trees, and since we don't have any in upstate South Carolina; I knew exactly where we could find some!

I talked about Mepkin Abbey before, and how special it is to me; so I was thrilled to be able to have my pictures done there. It is the most beautiful location in South Carolina (in my opinion) and I LOVE going there!

Of course, it wasn't without sacrifice and a few problems along the way! Aside from the fact that it was about 100 degrees outside and 100% humidity, I was determined to make it work! I had my hair and makeup done at 8 AM in Grenville before having to ride to Charleston for almost 4 hours in the front seat of my mom's car. I didn't realize my hairstyle wouldn't allow me to sit back at all; so that was awesome.

We finally made it to the monastery, and I changed into my dress and wedding shoes in the tiny bathroom of the monastery gift shop. That was a sight to see, let me tell you! We joked and called my mom my "personal assistant." I don't know what I would have done without her! She was there to wipe the sweat from my upper lip, flick the bugs off my dress, and tuck in all of the fly away hair! My photographer, Allison, of Allison Elizabeth Photography and Design, was amazing as I knew she would be! She has such natural talent and a great eye! We walked all around the grounds of the monastery. I climbed through leaves and dirt and was COVERED in bug bites. The wind was pretty strong, and my veil had a mind of it's own and decided it wanted to be a kite that day.

It was rough, but boy was it all worth it! The pictures are all I could have asked for, and I still can't believe they are of me! They will definitely be cherished forever.

Here are a few of my favorites!




My mom chose this as her formal portrait to hang over her piano. We love the antique coloring, but we decided to have it done a little more natural. It turned out so pretty!




























I didn't want to pay a lot of money for a bridal portrait bouquet, so I made my own! Pictures coming soon!

I'm back...and I'm MARRIED!

I have really neglected this blog, but am back in full force and really want to keep this up as a way to journal our move to NYC!

Our wedding was on June 5 and was absolutely perfect. The months leading up to it were an absolute whirlwind, and the wedding weekend went by even faster! All of my hard work and planning definitely paid off; everything was exactly how I pictured it!

We don't have professional pictures back yet, but here are a few that some of our guests took!

My Best Friend's Wedding

My best friend Elizabeth got married this weekend and I can't believe it's all over! We have been planning our weddings together and it has been a blast! She married a wonderful guy and everything was absolutely perfect! They got married at The Citadel's Summerall Chapel in Charleston and it was such beautiful ceremony! The chapel is so pretty! Their reception was at The Citadel Beach House on the Isle of Palms and that place was breathtaking! It was 80 degrees and sunny on Saturday and was the perfect day for a Charleston wedding! Here are a few pictures of their special day:

She was such a beautiful bride and I hope that her and Ben are enjoying their week in St. Lucia!

My mom and I hosted her Bridal Brunch on the day of the wedding in Charleston and everything turned out so pretty! We rented tables and chairs and did all of the decor ourselves. I was so proud of us! The pink flowers were my favorite part! We used some of the milk glass for my own wedding and some clear candle holders for the centerpieces. We served pimento cheese biscuits, an assortment of different quiches, mixed fruit, and lemon cake for dessert. Everything was so tasty! Everyone really enjoyed themselves and they were all so impressed by the beautiful location! 

Our fabulous location...Rainbow Row!

FINALLY!!!

The one thing that has been stressing me out the most with this wedding is FINALLY taken care of!! What do you think it is? Something important like my dress, or accessories, or maybe the food?? NO...the freaking tablecloths! I have spent the past YEAR trying to find the right color green linens to suit me. My mom was starting to get fed up with me being so picky over colors of green (some were too lime, some too light, some too pukey) so I finally had to make a decision. AHHH!! I hate making decisions!

From the beginning, I have wanted the pop of green in our wedding to be a pear/apple green color. I got some swatches from the two sweet girls from CB Events (check them out!) and was so excited that they saw my vision! They found the perfect colors/fabrics for me and I couldn't be more thrilled!

I decided to use Pistachio Crinkle on the big tables under the tent at The Duncan Estate (picture this with those pretty gold chairs!!!):

Love, Love, Love. The color is PERFECTO! I also really love the texture! Gorgeous!

The beautiful ladies at CB Events steered me towards choosing two linen colors to break things up a little bit, so I chose Apple Green Lamour for all of the cocktail tables and my sweetheart table underneath the tent. 

This is showing up more like mint green but in real life it is a really pretty true apple green. Love the texture of this too!

I am so excited to have this finished! I really think it's going to tie everything all together! Can't wait to see how it looks on June 5!

The Church

The other day I decided to go to the church where our ceremony is and take some pictures with my fancy camera! It is so hard to plan the ceremony without having a picture of the sanctuary in front of me, so now I have plenty! 

Our ceremony is at Bethel United Methodist Church in downtown Spartanburg and is absolutely beautiful! I always knew that I wanted to get married in a traditional southern church and this is exactly what I wanted. My home church in Simpsonville is very contemporary so that made the decision to get married in Spartanburg much easier.

Here are some of the pictures from my little photo shoot!

Can't wait to walk down that gorgeous long aisle to meet my handsome groom!

Empire State of Mind

I have some really big, exciting news!

This Sweet Carolina Bride is moving to the big city...New York City, that is!

For someone that has lived in a 30 mile radius in South Carolina my whole life and has never been north of Pennsylvania; this is a big deal! Joe and I decided that he is going to Pace for law school and we are both thrilled! He is excited to get back above the Mason Dixon line after being in SC for 4 years.

We are going up there at the end of March to apartment/job hunt and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!