Their photographer was Jonathan Hobson of Vizarti Studios, who took all of these photos.

Here’s my cameo of helping the bride up to the ceremony area by holding her train out of the mud.

Ralph Griggs officiated the ceremony, which was held on the back lawn of the observatory.

The reception was held under a tent provided by Nashville Tent & Awning. They have a special tent that perfectly fits the back of the observatory. Chairs and linens were rented from Grand Central Party, and Nashville Event Lighting did a romantic orange wash on the ceiling of the tent. Shelby and Darrin also wanted a custom gobo, so they ordered one from goboman.com for use in my projector.

The cakes were done by Mary Asherbranner, and the reception was catered by Down South Delights. Ben Hamric was the bartender for the evening. For table centerpieces, we stuck with the fall theme and picked up some pumpkins and faux fall leaves. Some candlelight completed the ambiance during the evening reception.

I’m so glad I could be a part of their day!

The White Room in Lebanon is having a Maggie Sottero trunk show on January 9th and 10th. All Maggies will be 10% off. To make an appointment, call 615-449-9756.

Faccio Bridal is having a Rivini trunk show on January 8th through the 10th. You can meet renowned stylist Monte Durham and enjoy 15% off all purchases. To make an appointment, call 615-778-9437.

I need to play catch-up on the blog and post about the remaining two weddings I had in 2008, but first I wanted to share my new year’s party decor with you.

Most of this was based on designs from the Hostess with the Mostess site, so I won’t take credit for it. I went with a red and silver color scheme to match my house (which is mostly decorated in red, black, and white). I always decorate my Christmas tree with red and silver, as well, so it gives the added bonus of being able to reuse a lot of the stuff for next Christmas.

You can see here that I did some of the Martha Stewart pom-poms above the bar.

Here’s a view of the table before a ton of food was put on it. Wrapping paper was used as a table runner. It would work best on a square or rectangular table, but since I was doing set-up in about two hours, I didn’t have time to move my rectangular table downstairs.

I cut up some silver bead garland to attach to the champagne glasses.

The centerpiece cost less than $15 thanks to after Christmas sales at Hobby Lobby. I cut strips of cardstock in both silver and red and pinned them to the candles. The numbers are just silver stickers.

Their photographer was Steve Herlihy, who provided all these great photos!

The ceremony was held at Cheekwood’s Reflection Pool with a string trio from the Wedding Musicians Company providing the music. Robin’s make-up was done by Lisa Johnson of Brides by Lisa, who did a fantastic job.

A reception followed at the Pineapple Room Restaurant. The cocktail hour was held on the deck and a sit-down dinner followed inside the restaurant. Wedding Musicians Company again provided the music with their jazz trio.

All the flowers were put together by A Village of Flowers.

The Bake Shoppe created the cakes.

Overall, it was a fantastic day and a group of wonderful vendors!

The day started off well with a call from the groom saying that their DJ was bailing out and sending someone else in his place for the ceremony; the regularly scheduled DJ was supposed to still show up at the reception. I talked to the new DJ and made sure he knew what time to be at the ceremony location so that I could go over the cues that we had agreed upon with the previous DJ the day before at the rehearsal.

Luckily, this was the only issue the entire day. While we were all half worried that he wasn’t going to show either, he did. The ceremony prelude music wasn’t exactly what they had planned, but luckily I had a copy of the rest of their music to give to the new guy. The ceremony on the plaza started right on time, just as the bells begin to ring downtown to indicate the new hour.

The original DJ never did show, even for the reception like he said he would, but luckily his replacement stepped up to the plate and no one ever knew the difference. All the dances at the reception went off without a hitch, and you can see me here in the background (on the right) trying not to cry as I watch the newlyweds. I’m such a sap at weddings.

Dawn and Joey, I’m so glad I could be a part of your wedding day!

You can check out more of Dove’s photos of their wedding here.

I helped my future mother-in-law plan a shower for Ellen, the bride. She took care of the food (minus the cupcakes) and I took care of the decorations and the games.

I made a few of those Martha Stewart tissue paper pom-poms.

We put together some flower arrangements as well that the bride ended up using the next day for her bouquet!

Here you can see the recipe box I put together. I instructed all the guests to share some of their favorite recipes to put in the box.

As for games, we played the clothespin game (we couldn’t say the bride or groom’s names or the word ‘wedding’) and “How Well Does the Bride Know the Groom?”, which was a lot of fun.

Check out some of the delicious food. The cupcakes were from the Hermitage Publix, which I picked up right before I left town.

Now, onto the wedding. I didn’t have any part in the planning of the wedding, but I did act as a pseudo day-of coordinator and also their photographer! (Note: This is not a service I offer; I only have a little point and shoot, but they were having a very tiny wedding and just wanted someone to document.) Here are some of the pictures from their day.

Congrats to the newlyweds! I can’t wait till next year when I join the family.

Top: Centerpiece from My Cleveland Wedding; gown by Jim Hjelm; bouquet from yoraflee on The Knot
Middle: Topiaries from The Knot; cake by Pink Cake Box; bouquet from Love and Splendor
Bottom: Drinks from Martha Stewart; bridesmaid dress from Alfred Angelo

I put together a guestbook that he could look at when he gets older. Each guest filled out a page with stuff like what he will be when he grows up, where they traveled from, any advice they have for him, and then they could draw a picture of him. For the book itself, I bought a plain blue 8×8 scrapbook with a slot for a picture, then stuck a metal “happy birthday” sticker on the front and printed out a black and white picture of Alex. It turned out so cute! Here’s a picture of the blank pages and the book itself.

The theme was Winne the Pooh with blue and yellow as the colors. I got some cheap vases at Joann’s, spray-painted them a light yellow, and turned them into honey jars to use for the floral centerpieces.

My dad made some of his awesome barbecue.

His Nana set up this super cute cupcake tree.

And here’s the birthday boy!

I’ll talk more about their details when the photos are up, so I’ll just do a quick run-down of their vendors for now. I want to say “thank you” to all of them for making the day as wonderful as it was!

Ceremony Venue: War Memorial/Legislative Plaza
Reception Venue and Catering: Uptown 162
Photography: Dove Wedding Photography
Florist: Dick’s Flowers
Cake: family friend
Rentals: Mid-South Tent Rentals
Trolley: FADDs Entertainment

Photo by Dove Wedding Photography.

Top: table from Toast and Tables; pie from Jehovah Jireh’s Bakery; drink dispensers from Pottery Barn
Middle: bridesmaid dress from Alfred Angelo; invitation from Relish; photo of Oakland Manor from One Source Weddings
Bottom: bouquet by The Bellevue Florist; Coca-Cola photo from Flickr; guitar photo from Kate Crafton

Top: Invitations made by Miss Flamingo on Weddingbee; parasols by Bella Umbrella; dress by Joan Shum on Etsy.
Middle: Flowers by Michelle Nonis, photography by Jessica Johnston; thank you postcard by Red Leaf Studios; cake topper from Fancy Flours.
Bottom: Tag by Blue Bird Lane on Etsy; telegram program by VintageGlam on The Knot; shoe clips from Absolutely Audrey.

I had the honor of attending their official launch party this afternoon and got to meet and chat with the creators, Stephanie Resch and Rebecca Vajdos. They are super nice, so if you have any special requests for your invitations, just ask them! For those of you with international friends and families, their website states that they can print your invitations in other languages, as well as printing a specific number in English and a specific number in another language. Also, contact me to find out how to receive free shipping on your order.

Tomorrow is their online launch party, and they will be doing giveaways, so be sure to check it out.

Cool Spring Wines & Spirits is hosting a spring drink mixing class. It’s on May 17 from noon until 2:00 at Criallo’s Bistro & Bar, 1935 Mallory Lane. There is a $20 per person fee (plus tax & gratuity) that includes food and drink.

Email events@coolspringswines.com for more information or to reserve your spot.