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1.29.2012

Wedding-The Details :)

Rehearsal Dinner 



Beautiful decor & centerpieces by Nancy Setzer







The Details

The Dress...




Love this pic :)




The Rings



The Bouquet










Creative framing by Angela Marino Photography



Amazing videography by John & Angela Deaver -


Picture perfect day




Ceremony



Going to the chapel... 


and we're going to get married...


Going to the chapel...





and we're going to get married. 


Gee, I really love you and we're going to get married. 



Going to the chapel of love. 





Reception











The Wishing Tree









 Entertainment and Photobooth by Feel the Beat Entertainment



The Chapel and Barn at Sunset with Lantern-lit Trails



Thank you to all who made this day so special.  And thanks to Mark, my wonderful husband and best friend. 


11.29.2011

Excerpt from Seth Godin's Blog

I think this sums up a pull I feel every day to make a difference in our world and use the powerful tools that we have at our fingertips to create the change we wish to see in the world .....


"A great way to give thanks for the privileges we've got is to do important work.


Your job, your internet access, your education, your role in a civilized society... all of them are a platform, a chance to do art, a way for you to give back and to honor those that enabled you to get to this point.


For every person reading this there are a thousand people (literally a thousand) in underprivileged nations and situations that would love to have your slot. Don't waste it." 




Click here to subscribe to Seth's Blog.

11.28.2011

Time for Winter!

The weather is getting chillier and it's time to find some fun things to do indoors! One of my favorite sites for entertaining my creative side and filling lulls on quiet evenings is Polyvore.com

The site lets you either clip fashion and design inspiration from other websites to piece together your own collections or use items that other users have already found to spark your imagination!

Their latest newsletter contained this cute piece of advice - "Glow without outshining the bride by taking clues from the invitation. Is the script flowery on beige paper or is it more modern? Is it outdoors or indoors? You may want to bring layers and even a change of shoes if you want to get down on the dance floor!"

What to Wear to a Winter Wedding


And this weekend, as the weather FINALLY turns colder down here,  I put together my own winter inspiration board!

Winter Chill



9.12.2011

The wisest words I've ever heard from a politician

‎"Don’t speak to me about your religion; first show it to me in how you treat other people. Don't tell me how much you love your God; show me in how much you love all his children. Don't preach to me your passion for your faith; teach me through your compassion for your neighbors. In the end, I'm not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as I am in how you choose to live and give." ~~ Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, NJ

8.06.2011

Wedding Update: Choosing the Venue

Okay, it has been several months since I have updated you about anything with the wedding and we are getting pretty close to Fall and the big day!

I thought I would share our top three choices for wedding venues and how we came to make our final decision.  Birmingham has an amazing selection of event facilities from art galleries (www.mattjonesgallery.comwww.artsbma.org) and historic theaters to beautiful gardens, country clubs, and hip hotel ballrooms.  There is certainly a venue for every type of personality.  Since this will be the setting for the rest of your event, choose something that matches the style you want for the wedding and you'll save yourself a ton of time and money in decorating.  Don't pick a modern warehouse if you are looking for a soft and feminine feel for the reception.  For a great list of places check out http://findalabamaweddingvendors.com or just the good ol' www.weddingwire.com.  (Side note: Maybe one day, if I get my butt in gear, I will finally create the event resource blog/website that I've talked about for a year now :)


Before going to visit any venue,  I recommend that you sit down with the important people involved in your wedding decision-making and decide on budget, how many guests, and the overall feel that you want for your event.

Mark & I had a few top things in mind when looking for our wedding venue:
1. Ceremony & reception held at the same general location.
2. Natural surroundings - since we both really love natural beauty and Alabama has a ton of it!
3. A venue that was experienced with weddings and supplied a majority of the details.

We spent weeks doing a lot of online research first.  This gave us a good idea of what each other did and didn't liked before we sacrificed a Saturday to visiting venues that wouldn't work.  Before scheduling any visits we also found out:
- how many people they could accommodate
- if they allowed outside catering
- what type of fees were involved (if we could find it on their website)
- if they supplied tables, chairs, and any other items to keep us from having to rent

Once we had eliminated several places, we made phone calls to the rest to get the details on what was included with their rental fees and visited our top choices.   Once we had a top 3, we weighed the pros & cons* of each, which looked a little something like this:

1. The Sonnet House
Pros: Drool-worthy setting with authentic southern flair; the staff - Jared, Corey, & Candace - are super-friendly and knowledgeable; option for outdoor ceremony and also a chapel option if it rained
Cons: Outside of our budget :(

2. Aldridge Gardens

Pros: Beautiful hydrangea-filled gardens, option for outdoor ceremony by the lake
Cons: Even though you can use the house and the pavilion, the pavilion is open-air which meant I would really want to have a Plan B in place - whether we needed it or not


3. American Village

Pros: Rolling fields with a lake and millions of outdoor photo-ops; Although it was a bit more than our budget, you get lots of set up time and the use of several buildings so our wedding party has separate ready rooms, there is a gorgeous chapel, and a separate space for the reception 
Cons: Farther out of town in Montevallo, limited hotel options in the area,  it's out in the 'country' so our guests traveling from out-of-state will not get to experience all the city has to offer

*Please note that these pros & cons are personal opinion only and reflect what worked for our particular situation. 

Ultimately, American Village really offered a setting that Mark & I both fell in love with! Although we didn't really have any connection to the colonial theme, the property offered acres full of beautiful scenes with fields, giant oak trees, and a lake with a bridge spanned across it.  And even though we had been considering an outdoor wedding, the natural beauty of the chapel with huge windows and natural sunlight filling the space, struck a chord in both of us that made it really click as 'the right place'.   As a bonus, they have two options for the reception space - a more formal ballroom with gorgeous chandeliers or the new, more casual barn with exposed beams and a rustic feel.  We ended up picking the barn because I knew from the start I wanted a space that really made everyone feel cozy and at-home.  

The wedding coordinator out there is Lori and she is nothing short of a pro.  They have golf carts to shuttle you around on the big day and walkie-talkies to help communication between the different buildings.  We have called her on many occasions to ask more questions and she is always responsive.  The most reassuring thing has been a recent visit that I made out to the barn on a Saturday afternoon while they were setting up for a wedding.  

The space looked great and the florists were busily putting the details on the centerpieces.  An employee came through just to check on them and see if they needed anything and after she left I heard her call in to the bride on the walkie-talkie to let her know that everything was coming together beautifully.  I almost cried! Brides are emotional people, you know - and knowing what's going on with the reception you have so carefully planned is not something you really consider.  That is the down-to-the-detail stuff that really shows a venue cares about their customers and reassured me that I would receive the same consideration when it was my day. 

5.03.2011

Blog is now "An Event-Full Life"

Hello All,   Just wanted to leave a short explanation on the recent face-lift for the blog.  The blog will now encompass more of my personal life as well as my work life and hopefully also an occasional rant or insight on life in general.  I have some exciting things to share with my blog fans - all 3 of you ;-)  about some new developments in my world.  But not yet.... More to come soon!  Until then, please be sure to update your blog feed for our new address - http://event-full-life.blogspot.com

2.10.2011

T'town Has a Sweet Tooth

There's a new store in Tuscaloosa and although it only sells one thing - the line has been out the door every day since it opened 3 weeks ago.  What's got the whole town talking?  It's Gigi's Cupcakes - a cupcake boutique that sells different flavors of cupcakes each day of the week.  In this fast-paced world where businesses are trying to anticipate and meet every need of their client, Gigi's has focused on just one thing and it seems to be working.

 I got to experience Gigi's for the first time last year at their Huntsville branch.  I was so excited about my cupcake, called the Miss Princess, with it's pretty pink cake, towering icing, topped with a little pink crown and sparkly sprinkles - that I took a picture of it and shared my excitement with my Facebook friends.  So I'm not surprised that other visitors to the store are just as excited to spread the word.   
I still, however, was not prepared for the scene when I visited the Tuscaloosa store last Saturday.  The store, located in the new Midtown Village, is tucked right in the heart of the shopping center.  The line of cars swirling around the parking lot, and the circles it took for us to find a parking spot should have clued me in.  Here's my pic of what the store looked like from the outside.  Inside, patrons had thoughtfully cued up in an S pattern to fit as many people as possible into the space.  Thankfully, I never had to squeeze inside, because my brother-in-law and niece were our 'men on the inside' making the deal to get our sweet treats for the rest of the family.  My sister and I waited patiently in the cold and chatted it up with the other people debating whether a half hour wait was worth it for what might be the tastiest cupcake they've had to date.

Was it worth it?  Of course it was!  But I definitely have a soft spot for sweets.  Take a look at today's menu and you'll learn why Tuscaloosa just can't resist - 

Read more about the cupcake phenomenon and see an interview with store owner at WVUA's news page - http://wvuatv.com/content/gigis-cupcakes.  Find out more about Gigi's Cupcakes and all of their locations on their website at http://www.gigiscupcakesusa.com