If you have a copy of our 2013 wedding issue of clutch, the bride’s guide to have and to hold, chances are you caught a glimpse of this “everyday wedding” in print. When I first laid eyes on these photos, I knew that we had to feature them in our magazine! I love the fact that the wedding takes place at a beautiful residence, has amazing florals and includes chandeliers hanging from trees. The colors are beautiful and the bride is stunning. I adore the fact that she chose her grandmother’s vintage dress as her exit outfit … that is one of my favorite parts (I am a vintage clothing junkie!).

Here are some of Elizabeth’s own words about her wedding. We didn’t have room for her full story in print, so I am excited to include it here:

Our wedding day was a perfect representation of who we are individually and as a couple. Capron and I are both non-traditional people from traditional background,s and we really love our families and friends, so we wanted our wedding to not only reflect our love but express our love to the people we care about.

Having the wedding in my parents’ backyard seemed like an obvious choice. I have so many memories in that yard. Capron proposed to me on the back porch that overlooks the beautiful with terraces, gardens, and fountains – it is really perfect for entertaining. We wanted the whole thing to be relaxed and beautiful, like a candlelit garden party.

The dresses that my bridesmaids wore were their own choices. My sister wore a dress that belonged to my late grandmother, Mary. We were looking through a bunch of her old dresses from the 40′s, 50′s, and 60′s, and she found a gorgeous blue cocktail dress. We both thought that it would be perfect for the wedding, and she tried it on and I thought it looked gorgeous on her. I felt like it would be a great way to honor Granny’s spirit.

Since it was a blue dress (and blues are my favorite), I asked my bridesmaids to choose their own. They all have different styles and personalities, and it wouldn’t have felt right having them all wear the same thing. By allowing them to choose I knew they could find something to fit their different bodies, personalities, and budgets. The dresses ended up showing off their unique personalities, which is something I love about all of them, so it worked really well. Originally, I wanted to wear blue but eventually decided to wear white.

When my Memaw (mom’s mother) heard I was doing blue bridesmaid dresses she offered her wedding dress, which was a beautiful baby blue tea-length dress from the 50′s. As soon as I saw it I thought, “Nope, this can’t be a bridesmaid dress – this is for me!” It fit like a glove, and I ended up wearing it at the reception.

Capron and I made our own iPod playlist for the reception. It was a really fun thing for us to do together, and we knew the type of music that our family and friends would want to hear that was still in line with the ambiance we wanted. That worked out really well.

Everything just felt so laid back and warm. The ceremony was definitely my favorite part. We had an amazing officiant, and you could just feel the love radiating from the people around us. Capron and I went into the whole experience with the feeling that as long as we were married to one another at the end of the day and we got to share that day with everyone we loved, then our wedding would be perfect – everything else was just details. That made the planning feel fun and stress-free and it did turn out to be truly perfect. My mother was an incredible help in planning. She has incredible taste and I relied on her for many things. It was truly the best day of our lives.

Thank you so much, Elizabeth, for sharing your heart. Again, I adore the story of the dresses! Enjoy these photos of the wedding, which were taken by Jeremiah of Stone Blue Productions. Elizabeth and Capron, I wish you the best in your life together!

Photography – Stone Blue Productions

Catering – Avenue Foods

Cake – Montana Plains Bakery

Wedding Dress – Church Street Bridal (Pnina Tornai) (Alterations by Grace at Sew What)

Chair/Table Rental – True Value Hardware

Officiant – Rev. Anne Gibbons (Lynchburg College Chaplain)

Flowers/Decor – Rod Meek & Company

If you would like to view more of the work of Stone Blue Productions, click here to view another posting.

Stephanie of Stephanie Yonce Photography has such a crisp, clean style that I adore! This couple is one that was very special to her, and their wedding was effected by our famous derecho of the summer of 2012. Read about what Stephanie had to say about Kate and Brandon’s wedding day:

A derecho swept across Lynchburg on Friday evening, the night before Kate & Brandon’s wedding day, and wiped out power all over the state. 70% of Lynchburg was without power, and the temperatures were forecasted to soar into the low 100s. When something like this happens, or when Hurricane Irene wreaked havoc on Richmond last summer, all you can do is take a deep breath and hope for the best. Because at the end of the day you’ll be married to your best friend. And that’s all that really matters.

Kate was up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning calling around to find out what plans she would need to adjust to accommodate the mass power outages. As she called around, and friends and family began letting her know the status of different areas of town, we were all amazed to find out that both the church and the reception venue (the AMAZING Tresca on 8th) had power. We weren’t going to have to MELT!! Everything fell surprisingly and wonderfully into place.

What a great story, and I know that everyone involved was thankful. Enjoy taking a glimpse of Stephanie’s work on this unique wedding day.

Photographer: Stephanie Yonce Photography

Reception Venue: Tresca on 8th

Cake: Coffey Cakes

Gown: Celebration

Caterer: Avenue Foods

To see more about the beautiful Tresca on 8th, just click here to view a fun video. Brides, don’t forget that Bliss, a fine wedding fair is coming up soon. Be sure to register here … so fun!!

There are so very many things that I love about what I do … from dealing with wedding vendors (I adore them!) and inspiring brides who are excited in such a happy phase of life, I really do have a lot of fun. One thing that I really, really enjoy is the privilege of giving away a wedding each year to a deserving couple. It may be under the name of I Dream of a Wedding, but the dream wedding would not be possible without the many vendors who donate their services and items to make the wedding possible.

This year our bride, Erika (below in the purplish-blue v-neck), made her trek to Celebration, which is in downtown Lynchburg, to pick out her dress. The staff at Celebration is knowledgeable and fun, and they helped Erika picked out her perfect gown. Many thanks also go out to Kimberly Burke of KD Burke Photography for being our “on assignment” photographer for our I Dream of a Wedding behind the scenes sneak peeks.

Today, enjoy going along with Erika and her family as she searches for the perfect gown … the wedding is a mere month away!!

Here is a listing of the vendors who are participating in the actual wedding:

To view more of our I Dream of a Wedding journey, just click here to view more posts. It’s such an exciting time!

I’m taking a week “blogiday”, so enjoy these oldies but goodies! 

I am going to level with you … be straightforward as it were. About six months ago, I had somewhat of an “I’m fed up with this” outburst on the Hill City Bride facebook page. At the time, I had encountered several passé “trends” that people were still including in aspects of their weddings, and I had just had enough! Well, I posted the following status …

I am seriously thinking about doing an “in” and “out” posting … like what trends are in and which ones are out. I have some that I can NOT stand!! Any ideas on what should go into this posting? Feel free to sound off … I know I will when I write it.

As suspected both brides, former brides and wedding vendors stood their ground and posted what they were tired of seeing, and (in my humble opinion) things that should never be. So, welcome to my “In and Out”. Truly, this is not meant to offend as these are just opinions, but if you take the advice of professionals and those that are in the know, I would heavily consider listening to the experts (names withheld to protect the not so innocent).

Here is the first of my two postings …

Strapless Dresses or a Too Revealing Dress

Ok, seriously. I think strapless dresses are beautiful but so are one shouldered and cap sleeved. I feel like each and every bride in each and every photo is wearing a strapless dress (ok, not 100%, but it is such a nauseatingly high percentage). In my opinion if everyone is doing it, it’s not really a fashionable trend anymore … why not dare to be different? Kudos to those of you who are bucking the masses and opting for something out of the norm.

Also, modesty is beautiful … not that you have to don a turtleneck to ankle to wrist dress (please don’t as that went out in the 80s!), but don’t show all your wares. Truly! As one vendor put it, “Dresses that are too tight or too low cut (are out), especially for a church ceremony! Save that for the wedding night. Classy can still be beautiful.” I think we just witnessed this when Kate married Prince William, don’t you think?

Smashing Cake

This is one that I have never understood. You just proclaimed your love for each other in front of God, family and friends. Two people have dated and decided to spend the rest of their lives together, and they demonstrate their love by … squishing icing and cake into each others faces? What bride wants to have her makeup smeared, and what groom wants a nostril full of buttercream?

If you simply must be playful, don’t be vindictive. A sweet (no pun intented) way to have the same effect is to lovingly take a dab of icing and touch the end of your bride’s nose playfully or put a bit on your lips and kiss your new husband on the lips. Think of a creative way to have fun instead of being mean. Enough said.

Candle Contraptions

I had not really thought about this but one responder said, “… candle contraptions that take forever to light …”. How true is that! I have been to one to many weddings where it took an eternity to light the candles. It is not the best way to honor your groomsmen by having them set an entire legion of candles ablaze with a long stemmed bronze fire stick … seriously, has he even lit a candle in his bachelor pad before? Think about this before you opt for bonfires on the sides of your wedding set.

Photos with a “Pop” of Color

My, oh my. This is NOT a trend … at all. No matter how much you want to do this, please do not. Having a black and white photo with one thing in color (or any amount of things, normally it is a bouquet or some other focal point) is very passé. Please do not do this as this trend was out a long time ago. There are ways to focus on the beauty of an object without making it the only thing that is in color. Truthfully, this is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me!

Receiving Lines

Forming a line where each guest has to meet every bridal party member (do they really want to meet your best friend from elementary school?) takes time away from important things along with creating some awkward situations and overly quick introductions. While filtering guests through a line is out, saying hi to all of your guests is not … be polite and try to make your way around to talk to each guest and/or table individually. That way you can have as much time as you need (or don’t need) with each person, and the time is much more meaningful than if you are forced to spend seconds with people being funneled through on their way out of the ceremony.

Ok, that’s it for Part One … stay tuned for Part Two coming soon!

Images from top to bottom by: Wonderlane, reynolds.james.e, jeremiahandrews, canorus, and mbaylor all from Flickr. 

Rustic setting + cowboy boots + horse = a wonderfully fun bridal session by Visions by Heather Photography.

Here is what Heather had to say about the session…

These were taken at her fiancé’s mother’s horse farm.  His mom was there during the session and shared that horse is actually blind. This is also where they are getting married… up in the loft of the barn. She is a sweet bride who doesn’t want anything too fussy on her wedding day… she does not plan on having a cake and is doing cobbler instead! 

So beautiful and serene. If you would like to see more work by Visions by Heather Photography just head on over to her site.