My First Wedding Planning Experience: Part 2!

I had such an amazing time helping Rebekah plan her rustic Camden wedding. I was super depressed about my own wedding being over, so it was fun spending the summer helping with hers!

I offered to order all of her flowers from Costco (like I did with mine) and I picked them all up in Greenville on the Thursday morning before her wedding. Thank God I took our big Expedition, because it was a HUGE load!

Joe and I headed down to Camden early on Friday morning, so we could be there to help set up the chairs under the huge magnolia tree. It was sweltering hot, and I was drenched in sweat...very attractive! Thank goodness I had enough time to shower before the rehearsal!

I was super nervous about coordinating the rehearsal! I knew what all I had to do, but it was difficult trying to tell everyone what to do! I'm not used to being in charge! The run through went well, but was cut short by a thunderstorm. We crossed our fingers that the same thing wouldn't happen the next day! The rehearsal dinner was so much fun, and the food was delicious! I spent the rest of that night trying to finish the programs for the ceremony. Rebekah wanted fan programs so guests wouldn't die of a heat stroke! Those dumb programs were such a pain, but they turned out gorgeous! It took four of us a few hours to put them together that night; needless to say, I was ready for bed after that.

I thought I would have enough time to make all of the bouquets/corsages/boutonnieres/centerpieces on the day of the wedding; boy did I cut it close! Our sweet friend Marian Bryce came early to help me, and I don't know what I would have done without her! We spent HOURS putting together all of the flowers, and still had to finish decorating everything else. I am now obsessed with the wildflower look for bouquets. All of our hard work definitely payed off; the flowers were to die for!

I was so scared to watch the weather forecast for the night of the wedding; I just knew it was going to rain. I was really hoping that we would get lucky, and the storm would just blow on through. The guests starting arriving for the 7pm ceremony, and the rain started falling. The poor bride was watching everyone huddle up under the porch and tree from her bridal suite, and was starting to freak out. Luckily it was a small wedding, and we were able to get everyone into the house and onto the porch to stay dry and we waited the storm out. The rain stopped just in time for the ceremony to start, so I sent Joe and a few other boys out with towels to quickly wipe down all of the chairs. The guests took their seats, and the ceremony started under the beautiful magnolia tree. The wedding party all took their places, and Rebekah walked down the aisle to her groom looking absolutely gorgeous. At that moment, everything was perfect! The ceremony went off without a hitch, and I patted myself on the back for getting through the most stressful part! I always knew that no wedding was without problems, and I definitely experienced that first had that night. You just have to have backup plans in place and have to be ready to use them!

The reception was so much fun! The DJ was great, and there was a special performance by the lead singer of Sequoyah Prep School. He sang their favorite song "Nobody But You," and there wasn't a dry eye in the whole place.

The cake was one of the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen. A lady made it at her house, and charged Rebekah something like $100. I still can't believe she made all of those little petals by hand! I forgot to take a picture of it before I had to cut it. (Yes, I had to cut the entire cake by myself - another problem that popped up) Hopefully she will get the professional pictures back soon. That cake deserves a whole post all by itself. Not only was it beautiful, but it was delicious. I'm a sucker for red velvet! It looked a lot like this:


The weekend was definitely bittersweet, because we started our move to NY the following Monday. It was the perfect way to spend my last weekend with some of my best friends! Rebekah and Matt were so happy, and I was so glad I could help make their special day perfect.

Here are some of the pictures I took:

The beautiful bouquets!


The table in the entry way; I framed some of their engagement pictures and their wedding invitation. The birds nests were carried by the ring bearers as "pillows!"


I used the mason jar lanterns from my wedding, and we hung them from the magnolia tree where the ceremony was. Wish I would have gotten a picture of them in action! It was breathtaking!


One of the tables with the smaller centerpiece. These tables had mason jars and milkglass vases filled with flowers on top of wood cut by the bride's father from their yard. Love how these turned out!


Here are the gorgeous programs, and also the favors Rebekah made. She had Moo cards made with their engagement pictures on one side, and a statement saying they made a donation to the local animal shelter in honor of their guests. She attached the cards to little bags filled with dog treats. Such a cute idea!


Tall centerpieces:



I decorated the mantle inside with flowers in milkglass vases, and draped it with their old pictures! Loved how this turned out!


The weekend was a huge success, and I would LOVE to have the opportunity to help with another wedding!

My Beautiful Bridesmaids

I am biased, but I am pretty sure I had the most beautiful bridesmaids ever! One of my favorite parts of planning our wedding was picking out their dresses! I was super picky about what I wanted, and they turned out exactly as I envisioned them. Everyone says they want to use bridesmaid dresses the girls can wear again; but I really think mine can (some have already worn them out!)

I posted before about the dresses we chose, and I am excited to finally show pictures! Most of the girls chose different styles, and they all looked absolutely gorgeous! The color was perfect and the quality of the silk dresses was impeccable; exactly why I chose LulaKate!









Wedding Pictures by Allison Elizabeth Photography

Told you my girls were pretty!

Our Wedding Trailer

We decided to find a videographer late into our wedding planning. I knew that most people would probably already be booked, but I searched anyway! I came upon the website for Better Tie Productions, and fell in love with their style of wedding videos. I contacted Daniel, the owner, and to my surprise, June 5 was their only open day! I decided it was fate, and booked them at our first meeting!

They were absolutely wonderful to work with, and I recommend them to anyone in SC that needs a videographer! Their prices were great and the quality of the product is absolutely amazing. We received our full wedding DVD a couple of weeks ago, and it is perfect. It is so creative and fun to watch, and it is so great to relive the best day of our lives!

Our trailer:

Moore + Fornadel Wedding Trailer from Better Tie Productions on Vimeo.

I am so in love with it and have probably watched it about 50 times! :)

Bourbon Pecan Chicken

This is an old picture, but this is the meal I made for Joe last February for Valentine's Day. He still tells me it is all time favorite meal that I have cooked! I got the idea from one of our favorite restaurants, City Range. They have Bourbon Pecan Chicken on the menu and I order it every single time we go there! I have been craving it and am thinking about making it this week, so I thought I'd share the recipe!

Hope you make it and love it as much as we do!


BOURBoN PECAN CHICKEN


Ingredients

* 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
* 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
* 8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 1/4 cup clarified butter, melted
* 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
* 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
* 2 2/3 tablespoons bourbon whiskey
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* 3/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
* 1/2 cup sliced green onions


Directions

1. Stir together the pecans, bread crumbs, and 2 tablespoons of clarified butter. Spread the mixture out on a plate. Press the chicken breasts into the mixture to coat on both sides. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of clarified butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Place the coated chicken breasts in the pan, and fry on both sides until nicely browned and chicken meat is cooked through, about 10 minutes per side.
2. In a small saucepan, whisk together the Dijon mustard, brown sugar, bourbon, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce until smooth. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, then remove from the burner, and whisk in the 3/4 cup of unsalted butter one piece at a time. Do not return to the heat.
3. Arrange the chicken breasts on a large serving plate. Pour the sauce over the chicken, and sprinkle with green onion.

My First Wedding Planning Experience!

Everyone has their absolute dream job, and being a wedding planner is mine! I also LOVE floral design, photography, and designing wedding stationery. My HUGE dream is to one day own some kind of full service wedding company! Has anyone ever read the The Bride Quartet of books by Nora Roberts? The books are about a group of friends who live in a fabulous wedding venue, and offer all of my favorite things. If you haven't read them, you must...such a guilty pleasure!

Anyway, enough rambling; I got to have my first real experience (outside of my own wedding) doing all of my favorite things when my sweet friend Rebekah got married and asked me to be the planner/florist/director. I had the most amazing time helping her, and am so sad it's over!

When she first got engaged and asked me to help, we sat down and looked through the hundreds of wedding inspiration I saved on my computer, and also did Google Image Searches for "rustic weddings," "outdoor weddings," "wildflower bouquets." She is a girl who loves to be outside and her favorite place in the world to be is riding horses.

Soon after she was engaged, I went to her hometown, and we toured a lot of potential venues. She knew she wanted the ceremony and reception to be outside, and after seeing a few no go's, we found the most perfect place.

She decided to get married under this beautiful magnolia tree, on the lawn of a gorgeous historic home in Camden, South Carolina. I was so thrilled she picked Louise C. Proctor Hall because I had a million ideas running through my head the second we pulled in the driveway.

We scoured the internet some more and found the perfect collection of inspiration pictures:






*Image from Tahni and Joseph's Wedding by Clayton Austin

The rest of our inspiration came from one of my favorite blogger's beautiful wedding. Samma, from Spice and Sass became Rebekah's wedding crush and we loved everything she did! We especially loved all of the flowers, and decided that we, too, wanted the look of wildflowers!

Here are a few pictures from her gorgeous wedding!






How beautiful was her wedding? I absolutely love the look of all of the different color flowers in the bouquets. I could go on for days about everything I loved about Samma's wedding!

With our newly found inspiration, we were all set for the wedding of Rebekah's dreams!

Coming up: Pictures of Rebekah's special day and all of my hard work!

Shrimp and Grits

Since moving up north, I have been craving some good ol' southern comfort food! I have been thinking about Shrimp and Grits and have been salivating for weeks, so I decided to finally make my favorite dish!

My mom found a recipe for Shrimp and Grits in Cooking Light that is almost like the version from our favorite restaurant in Simpsonville, Stella's Southern Bistro. By the way, if you live anywhere near Simpsonville or Greenville, SC; you absolutely have to go there and order the Shrimp and Grits (well, everything they have there is heavenly!)

Here is the recipe from Cooking Light (changes I made are in parentheses):


Ingredients

* 3 cups low-fat milk
* 1 cup water
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
* 1 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits
* 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
* 4 slices applewood-smoked bacon (I like a lot of bacon so I used 6)
* 1 pound peeled, deveined large shrimp
* 1 cup thinly vertically sliced white onion
* 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
* 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce or chopped chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
* 1/8 teaspoon ground or crushed red pepper (I omitted both the pepper sauce and red pepper because I'm a wimp!)
* 1/4 cup green onion strips


Preparation

1. Combine milk, water, butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer; gradually add grits, stirring constantly with a whisk. Reduce heat to medium; cook 4 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in cheese.

2. While grits cook, cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings; crumble bacon. Add shrimp to drippings in pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove shrimp from pan. Add white onion to pan; sauté 1 minute. Stir in bacon, tomatoes, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/8 teaspoon black pepper; sauté 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add shrimp, pepper sauce, and red pepper; cook 1 minute or until shrimp are heated. Serve over grits; sprinkle with green onions.


I'm telling you: this recipe will change your life! You're welcome! :)

Quick Fix!

My grandparents got new dining room furniture this past year, I was the lucky recipient of their old set! I knew we wouldn't have room for all of it in our studio, so we stuck it in my parents' attic until we move somewhere with a dining room.

Fast forward to the first week of August (a week before the big move;) I had a huge "AHA!" moment after searching high and low for two chairs I could use as extras for our dining table. I already have 4 shabby chic white chairs, but I wanted two totally different chairs to use when we have guests over. I never could find exactly what I was looking for until I was in my parents' attic packing up boxes for the move. I thought, "DUHHH!", why don't I just reupholster two of the beautiful wood dining chairs that my grandparents gave to me??

I've helped my mom reupholster her dining room chairs before, so I knew it would be super easy and a quick fix! I headed out to my favorite fabric store in Greenville in search of the perfect fabric. I knew I wanted something fun in one of my accent colors (aqua, pear green, or orange), and in a fun, graphic pattern to contrast my floral pillows on the couch. After walking round and round the store for way too long, I found the perfect fabric. I bought a yard for $10, and was so excited to get started:


(new fabric on the left, pillow fabric on right)

I absolutely LOVE the polka dots with the floral pattern. I am a huge fan of mixing patterns...some may think that's against the rules, but I say go for it!


(original chair and fabric on the left)

It was super easy to reupholster! I unscrewed the seats from the chair and laid it down on the fabric to see how big of a piece I needed to cut. After cutting the fabric, I used an electric staple gun and stapled the new fabric to the underside of the seat; making sure it was taught all the way around.

They look amazing and are exactly what I wanted! What a cheap, and quick fix!



Here they are in action (not being used since we don't have any friends yet! haha!):


I have seen tons of chairs at thrift store and on Craigslist that are in need of some love! If you are in need of new chairs, think about doing this quick fix!