In all the wedding planning decisions, it’s easy to forget about the core purpose of a wedding. You are running around deciding which style of bridesmaid dress will flatter everyone of your bridesmaids, fielding menu requests from everyone and your uncle (gluten free, vegetarian, doesn’t like cheese, and can you put the carrots on the side of the salad?), trying to understand the difference in using local, seasonal, pesticide free flowers vs what you can get easily, year round and you haven’t even had the cake tasting yet. It’s not uncommon for talks of your vows to get pushed to the end. Then your scrambling, finding out your fiancé thought you were writing vows and you thought you would just use traditional vows, trying to figure out if your faith requires certain types of vows and wondering once again why you can’t just elope.
First step is to sit down with your fiance and talk about how you want to handle your vows. Do you have specific requirements for your faith? Do you want to use traditional vows? Do you want to write your own? Or maybe just tweak traditional vows a little? If you do decide to write your own vows, make sure you set a framework. Will you be writing your vows together or separately? Even if you each write on your own, talk through what you want them to look like so your vows flow. You don't want to pour hours into writing heartfelt, emotional vows and then hear your fiance recite just a couple lines back to you that you think he came up with about an hour ago... Feel free to use traditional vows as a template or search online for some other vows to start with. There's nothing wrong with using traditional vows either. That's what my husband and I chose to do - they were the words that spoke to us about marriage and what we were committing to each other. I, ________, take thee, ________, to be my wedded husband/wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part. The most important thing is to make sure your vows communicate what you are committing to each other. And what do you need to be reminded of 5, 10, 25 years into your marriage. Not when you're out on a romantic date, but when you are surrounded by screaming kids, dirty laundry, dirty dishes, missed deadlines, etc. - that's when you need the reminder the most! Exchanging your vows may be a small part of the wedding time wise, but they are the center of your wedding celebration. Take a date night to talk with your fiance about how these will best reflect you as a couple! - Becky
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Do you have a unique idea for your wedding inspiration that you're not sure how to incorporate? Or maybe you are looking for something unique and different? We are sharing some tips on how to incorporate a unique inspiration into a beautiful wedding design! Create an inspiration board Find images (not wedding images) that reflect your inspiration. For the design at this North Georgia wedding venue, vintage blue prints and soft, airy flowers were paired together. As you choose images and place them together, you will see which images blend together well. Narrow down to those items for your inspiration. Share your inspiration with designers, cake artists and florists to draw on their creativity in the design. Ask your vendors for help Cake artists, invitation designers, florists and many more vendors are naturally creative. They can provide suggestions on how to tie your inspiration into a beautiful wedding design. A wedding planner is a great person to have involved to make sure all the vendors are working together and everything comes together in one cohesive design. Never underestimate the impact of font and text. The seating cards and table numbers provide strong, masculine balance to the flowing blooms in this North Georgia wedding design. Choose a font and style that reflects your design - modern and geometric, romantic and flowing, soft and whimsical. Remember the details Sometimes the smallest things can show your inspiration in the most beautiful way. Your engagement ring design can be a life long reminder of your wedding day. The beautiful art deco style ring used at this North Georgia wedding venue is a gorgeous reminder of the architectural wedding style. Coordination/Planning - Winey Blonde Venue - Pleasant Union Farm Photography - Shannon Ford Photography Floral - Stems Atlanta China - The Prissy Plate Company Linens - BBJ Linens Stationery - Typo Boutique Menus/Placecards - Along the Lines by KB Rings - Union Diamond Bridal Attire - Bride Beautiful Cake/Desserts - Cake Envy Hair - Hair by Tori K Makeup - Hlee Moua Artistry Chairs - Peachtree Tents and Events Unique weddings are our favorite. Our all-inclusive packages provide plenty of options to customize a wedding to reflect your style - in a stress free way!
This gorgeous styled shoot featured a modern, organic style and - bonus - farm to table food and flowers! Our Farm Wedding Venue in Georgia was the perfect setting. We have pulled together our top tips to create a modern organic vibe for your North Georgia wedding. 1. Consider your table settings Your table ware can make a big impact on the feel of your wedding day! These modern glasses, plates and colorful linens are not what is expected at a farm wedding venue in Georgia, but they are gorgeous! Check out companies that specialize in renting table ware for options from classic to vintage to modern and more. 2. Flowers can set the tone Flowers make everything beautiful. The style and colors your choose create the overall style for your wedding day. These loose and colorful flowers are the perfect complement to the structured plates and glasses. We love working with florist that feature locally grown, seasonal blooms. There are lots of options in locally grown flowers that can't be found at traditional wholesale floral shops. Using seasonal blooms keeps your wedding look unique! 3. Craft a unique menu Think outside the box and look for fun, modern catering options. Modern bar-b-que, street tacos, or seasonally inspired menus add to the overall experience. Pro Tip: When talking with caterers, make sure they have catered weddings and understand the flow of serving 100+ people at one time. 4. Pay attention to Venue Details Items like modern glass doors or barn doors, surrounding scenery, unique windows or other elements play a key part in the design of your day. Talk with an experienced planner or florist to understand how they can make these elements pop and support your wedding day style. 5. Details are important Your dress, the cake design, invitation style - all of these items add to the overall wedding day style. There are so many amazing vendors in North Georgia that can fit your modern organic style and help you create a beautiful wedding day. We worked with some amazing vendors to pull this all together.
LowCo Motion Food Truck provided delicious farm to table fare including bbq sliders with pimiento cheese, a gorgeous charcuterie board and deviled eggs. Beautiful Wild Design used local, in season flowers from 3 Porch Farm and Earth Dog Flowers to create the flower design. The sliding glass doors and barn wood create a beautiful setting for a modern organic style and showcase the Georgia farm wedding venue in a different and beautiful way! Full vendor list below Venue: @pleasantunionfarm Photographer: @mejiajonesphotography Design + Styling: @juststyling Floral Design: @beautifulwilddesign Models: @keanna_janice + Dalton Isley Stationery and Signage: @mspeachplusdesigns Gown: @elayavaughn Tuxedo: @themoderngent Cake: @acunascustomcakes Caterer/Food Truck: @lowcomotionatl Fine rugs: @gallimorefinerugs Chair + Decor Rentals: @fourinchfold Hair: @hairby_torik Makeup: @hleemoua Groom Rings: @stagheaddesigns There are tons of places to pull inspiration from when determining your North Georgia wedding color palette (Pinterest, The Knot, wedding magazines, etc.), but you can also create your own palette around colors that have meaning to you (that’s what I love to see!) My husband is a Tennessee fan (Go Vols!) so orange was the only color he cared about – it also happened to NOT be one of my favorites. Blue and darker tones are my favorites, but we were having a Spring wedding. We ended up with shades of cream, pink and orange in the flowers with navy accents. And I ended up loving the way the orange looked mixed in. It was not done in a way that screamed college football AT ALL (probably myself and Cale were the only ones who knew why the orange was there), but it had a meaning behind it. So, what colors stand out to you? Do they have a meaning behind them? (It's ok if they don't, you can also choose colors that you just love from your inspirations) Typically, Spring and Summer weddings have lighter and brighter colors that complement the seasonal colors. You can mix in a favorite dark color to really add a pop - especially when you have an outstanding florist to back you up! Fall in North Georgia brings out our love for all things moody and saturated - colors that mix with the changing leaves and crisp air.
A great way to ensure your color palette melds with your wedding season is to use locally grown, in season flowers. We grow a variety of cut flowers on our farm for weddings. Choosing in season flowers gives you a natural color palette that is unique to your wedding date and works perfectly with the surrounding colors of nature. On my wedding day, Queen Anne's Lace and native orange daylilies were blooming along the roads. Every year when these flowers come into bloom, I immediately think of my wedding day. The main thing to remember is it's your wedding and rules are made to be broken (sometimes!). Choose a color palette that works for you and have fun with it! - Becky Finding your dream dress may be even harder than finding the perfect venue for your wedding. For one thing, there are WAY more options! It's also easy to fall in love with something outside of your budget easier (you go to the store to look at a few carefully priced options, see something in the window, and you're sold).
One way to avoid the heartache, is to visit a bridal boutique that only carries dresses within a certain budget. Did you even know those existed? There are two great options in the Atlanta area. Carrie's Bridal Collection - only carries dresses under $1,000. They have some gorgeous options (up to 500 dresses in the store) in sizes 0 - 28. Walk ins welcome! Adore Bridal Boutique - this cute little boutique carries dresses in the $900 - $2000 range. Set up an appointment to meet with the staff who will help you choose the perfect dress for you! Bridals by Madison - yet another cute little boutique to visit! Their average dress is in the $1,500 range. They focus solely on bridal gowns, so set an appointment and enjoy the attention! Rain on your wedding day - it's supposed to be good luck, but it's not what any bride dreams of, especially if they are looking at outdoor venue options.
There are things on your wedding day that are completely outside of your control and weather is one of those. However, putting a good plan in place will help you not stress over the "what ifs". The good news in Georgia is we don't often have full days of rain. There are often showers with breaks in between, and hopefully, one of those breaks will coordinate with your ceremony! We do a couple of things at our venue to set up a rain plan. One, we always set up the outdoor ceremony. That way, if we do get a break, we can rush out to dry everything off and let you have the outdoor ceremony you wanted. Two, we have a rain plan set at least a week in advance for you to approve. We show you the layout for the ceremony inside, talk through if you want to wait a few minutes if the skies look like they might clear, where family pictures will occur and where guests will mingle for cocktail hour. Having a good plan in place is key no matter where your wedding takes place. The trickiest part is not the ceremony, but having guests separated and comfortable while you take your family and bridal party pictures. Some venues have multiple indoor locations so you can set up the ceremony in one, have cocktails in another and reception in a third. Others, like us, just have a single large space. The size of your wedding and how much time you want for pictures will determine if we do a full ceremony set up and then flip it for reception or do a smaller ceremony, let guests sit at the tables and adjust things during pictures. Be sure you talk with the venue and your vendors about what additional staff or costs may be needed for each option. Most importantly, remember the day is about getting married! As long as you and your fiance are husband and wife at the end of the day - that's what it's all about! My husband told me several times that there was room under an umbrella from the two of us and the pastor, and that was all that mattered. Knowing that his key focus was marrying me, kept me from worrying about what the weather might do. - Becky Photo Gina Cellino Photography Your photographer has such an important role in your wedding as they work to document the day for you. As you are looking for a photographer, make sure you choose someone whose style you love and someone you feel comfortable around. Look through their galleries to see what types of shots they commonly capture, if they take more posed or candid shots and make sure they have a consistent editing style that you love. There are many things you can do to help them tell the full story of your wedding - let them know what the details are so they can capture them! The details are what you spend much of your time stressing over as you plan the wedding and you want to make sure you can enjoy those for years to come. We have compiled a starting list for you on what details you may want your photographer to focus on. 1. The rings - everything starts with the engagement ring and the wedding bands are the long lasting symbol of the vows you say on your wedding day. Most rings have gorgeous details that can be admired even more when seen in a close up shot. Your photographer can capture your ring in many ways that will help emphasize the overall feel of your wedding. Place your rings in a place that is easy for the photographer to access and take the detail shots as you are getting ready. Photo Ben Brinker Photography 2. The invitation suite - the invitation suite is the first impression your guests receive for your wedding and sets the tone for what the wedding day will hold. Bring an extra invitation suite on the day of your wedding so your photographer can capture it. Photo Kaptured Photography 3. Shoes - not only are they a key part of your wedding day choices (even if they don't make it all the way through the dancing!), but we have seen some great examples of personalization like a love note written by your fiance! Photo Kaptured Photography 4. The flowers - these may be my favorite part of weddings! They set the tone, color palette and are a big part of your budget. Make sure your photographer gets plenty of pictures so you can enjoy their beauty long after they are gone. Photo Ben Brinker Photography 5. The accessories - your jewelry and garter, your fiance's cuff links or watch; the finishing pieces of your wedding day ensemble are even better when they are shown on their own. Photo Ben Brinker Photography 6. The cake - once you cut the cake and share with your guests, it won't last long! Make sure your photographer gets some gorgeous pictures and focuses on any toppers you have to make it special. One of our couples had clay figurines of their dogs made for the topper - so cute! Photo Anchors Aweigh Photography 7. The place settings - if you chose chargers, china, monogrammed napkins - you don't want to forget these details. Your photographer can capture the way the sun shines on the gold rimmed goblets and allow you to savor the moment that may be a blur during your wedding. Photo Gina Cellino Photography 8. Signs - personalized welcome signs or illustrated signature cocktail signs are beautiful details that often find their place in your home after the wedding. Capturing them as you have them set in the venue, lets you see the day as your guests experienced it. Photo Gina Cellino Photography 9. Hair and makeup - these details help you feel gorgeous for your wedding day, so ask your photographer to get some images that highlight your intricate braided updo or soft eyecolor palette. Photo Kaptured Photography 10. The favors and welcome bags - you put a lot of thought into what you chose as a gift for your guests, so make sure you capture the display. If you put together a welcome bag for out of town guests, bring an extra one for your photographer. Photo Kaptured Photography
Make sure you talk with your photographer about the details you want photographed - make a list and give it to them. It's a great idea to place everything in a bag or box to give them when they arrive at the venue - the details are often some of the first shots they take. What other details did you add to your wedding? Let us know! - Becky Christmas Eve is a top time for engagements and, once you have stopped staring at your new sparkle (temporarily of course), it's time to jump into wedding planning. But, um, what exactly does that include? When I was newly engaged, I knew very little about planning a wedding. (I did however master the art of admiring my ring and the way it cast dancing sparkles everywhere - careful when driving, it can be distracting!) Now that I have been immersed in the world of weddings for a couple of years, I have a much better understanding of what steps and details are involved. The good news is there are some GREAT sites to help you plan everything. We have listed our favorites below.
1. Zola - www.zola.com Zola has a great set up that allows you to really customize your checklist to your wedding - including religious traditions and customs. This site includes access to a detailed checklist with due dates, website creation, guest list management, registry and more. The checklist offers great tips on items to help you know where to start. One of my favorite Pro Tips - create a wedding email. This lets you keep all of your wedding related emails in one account instead of wading through work, personal and junk email in your other account. 2. Wedding Wire - www.weddingwire.com/wedding-checklists.html Wedding Wire is another great customized checklist. They also give you access to their other tools in the checklist. For example, click on the Budget planning task and you get access to the Budget tool which is pre-populated with recommended spend by category based on your budget goal. You can easily search vendors and see reviews to narrow your search. Wedding Wire also offers a website builder and hashtag generator - it may not offer the most creative options, but it will give you some basics. Manage your guest list and many more items all in one place. 3. The Knot - www.theknot.com A well known name in all things wedding, The Knot is a great resource for planning and inspiration. They have a great resource of information to help you make informed decisions about your wedding. Plus they have a great Style Quiz as you start planning and you can share your style with future vendors. Hopefully one of these will be a great fit for you as you start planning your wedding day! Let us know what other great sites you use. We would love to share these with other new brides! - Becky Congrats - you're engaged! We know you can't wait to start touring venues, finding the perfect dress, picking out flowers and ... figuring out your budget, right?!? A budget is probably not the first thing you think of while dreaming and planning your wedding, but it definitely sets the parameters for most of your decisions. It's also an extremely overwhelming task when you have never had to deal with a wedding budget before. Should the DJ cost $250 or $1200? How much do flowers cost and how many do you need? What about all these different insurance options - liability insurance, day of wedding insurance??
Websites such as The Knot and Wedding Wire have good budget tools you can use to help estimate what you might spend and then track costs as you get actual quotes. There are a ton of details that go into many options - does your venue include tables and chairs or do you need to rent? do you want to upgrade table or chair options and what might that cost? does your caterer provide plates, cups, utensils? are they high quality disposable or china? do you want to upgrade to china and what is the cost? is cake cutting included with catering or venue? how many hours does your photographer included? 1 or 2 shooters? is an engagement session included? It's a lot and while we can't cover everything in the breakdown below, hopefully it will give you a basic idea of what you might spend based on your overall budget. Always remember you can shift allowances to focus on what is more important to you and your fiance. Wedding Budget Venue, Catering, Cake and Rentals - 40% - 50% - Many venues will provide an option including catering, tables and chairs to make it easy to combine these numbers. Some will require you to use their caterer and others are really just the venue. Make sure you understand what the price includes. You guest count is also the biggest driver in this cost. Flowers, Lighting & Decor - 8% - 18% - The types of flowers you choose and how many you need (or want) will drive this number. Photography - 12% - 20% - Make sure to look at photography styles, turn around time and how you connect with the photographers to find the best fit. Wedding Attire, Hair and Beauty - 9% Reception Music - 7% Wedding Planner - 3% - Wedding planners and Day of Coordinators will hep you and your family enjoy the day while they take care of the logistics. Invitations and Stationery - 3% Officiant and Ceremony Music - 2% Transportation - 2% Wedding Rings - 2% Favors and Gifts - 2% Plan a 5% contingency fund for items that come us that you missed or to allow you some freedom to splurge on the amazing photographer you have to have! Also, check with your venue on if they require you to carry liability insurance and what that cost might be. We highly recommend Day of Wedding insurance. This covers you financially if something unforeseen comes up that prevents the wedding from happening on your day. It's not something anyone wants to think about, but it's worth the piece of mind. Happy budgeting! - Becky Hello all! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed time with family and friends! We traveled to West Virginia to see my uncle (yes, he's the goat gifter) . Luckily we made it home without any new farm animals, although he tried to send us home with a couple of roosters...
My aunt is a wonderful farm-to-table cook and we feasted the whole time we were there. They plant a garden every year and she cans the produce so they can enjoy it all year. Along with the traditional turkey, we had mashed potatoes (from their garden), green beans (from their garden), home made rolls (y'all - I'm not a big roll eater but these were SO GOOD!) and so much more. We also had 7 kinds of pie - apple, cherry, lemon meringue, peanut butter custard, pumpkin, pumpkin cream cheese and pecan. All home made. All amazing. (ok, I didn't try all of them, but I know they were all amazing) This time of year is a favorite for bringing friends and family together to reconnect and enjoy great food. Earlier this Fall, I worked with some very talented vendors to pull together some inspiration on hosting your holiday gatherings. There are so many ways to host a meal that pays heritage to farm-to-table menus (even if you don't have a cellar full of canned garden vegetables). In Georgia, we are fortunate to have Georgia Grown to promote farm fresh state produce that you can find in local grocery stores. They have a wealth of great recipes all made with Georgia Grown produce you can incorporate into your meals! The finishing touches are what set the environment. Beautiful vintage china and glassware, cloth napkins, personalized place cards - these are all places to start. Pull what you have treasured in your closets, ask family to bring some of your favorite pieces you have always admired and bring it together to create an atmosphere to celebrate. - Becky |
AuthorPleasant Union Farm is a family owned wedding venue in North Georgia, about an hour north of Atlanta. Archives
June 2023
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