I had many friends tell me not to do anything myself and to hire someone to help with everything. I can understand the convenience of this and see how loads of stress could be relieved, but that just wasn’t my style. I wanted my hands in everything. I wanted to look back at my wedding and know that Ryan and I pieced it all together. The little DIY projects were time we spent together and with our family and friends who were so generous to help!

If you are a crafty bride and are about to embark on a lot of DIY projects like I did, you should make sure to enter one of your ideas into the 2010 DIY Wedding Challenge. You never know… your seating chart creation could win you a $500 gift card! Have fun with your DIY projects – years down the road, they just may be what you remember most about your wedding planning.

In this section you will see… dancing, cheering for Clemson, Unmarried Maddness Bracket (Where you move forward by staying unmarried the longest. Have I mentioned I love the creativity and the spunkyness of this group?), speeches, smores and fun fun fun!

Below are images from Susan and Chris wedding at Montfair Resort. The morning started off with rain, rain and more rain. Chris made the game day decision to go with plan B and executed it perfectly. Just as the ceremony was about to begin the rain let up and the clouds opened to a vibrant blue sky. It was simply stunning. Everything brighten up after the storm. We spent a lot of time after the ceremony making up for the outdoor pictures we couldn’t take when it was raining. It was nice to have that much time with Susan and Chris and give them the chance to slow down and really enjoy the moment.

Since I’m helping my friends come up with ideas and plan their weddings, I thought it would be fun to create a Wednesday Wedding Market. In this post I will feature either an item or an idea that you can use in your own wedding. Even if it’s not exactly what you were looking for, it just may spark a few ideas.

My first Wednesday Wedding Market item comes from Etsy.com (my favorite site!) from the seller RedLightStudio. I’ve seen a number of love birds as cake toppers over the years. This is one of my favorites. They are super cute and can be custom made to reflect certain specifics of your wedding… like your colors, formal wear of the groom, veil, no veil etc. I just love these!

Here’s a really cool story about how I came to photograph their wedding. Becky’s brother in-law was a groomsmen in another wedding I did last year. He had way too much fun with me and couldn’t pass up the opportunity of being photographed by me again…so what did he do, he recommended me! I had moved to Virginia when Becky contacted me. The majority of our conversations took place over the internet. She was kind enough to email me a photograph of her and Shawn. When I opened it up I thought “man she looks familar”. It took about 10 mins to figure out how I knew Becky. When I did figure it out, I just laughed and laughed. Back in college she and I were in a music video together for a friends band. We spent the day filming wearing leotards, legwarmers and sweatbands. That honestly may have been one of the last times I saw Becky.

I’m so happy to have that memory, but even more happy to have a fresh memory of Becky marrying Shawn on the Shelby Street Bridge!

Below are several images from their wedding on the bridge and their reception at aVenue. I honestly can’t say enough about this wedding… it was stunning, sweet and fun. Take a look at the images and you’ll see what I mean!

Their wedding was intimate,  as close friends and family watched the couple exchange vowes over the water.  It was a beautiful sight to see Jocelyn and Jim start their marriage with a kiss and walk off into the sunset hand in hand.