Monday, October 14, 2013

Bonnie & Tim | Wedding Story

Allan and I had the pleasure of photographing Bonnie and Tim's gorgeous, vintage-inspired wedding at Brownworth Manor in Clinton, TN earlier this year. I asked Bonnie and Tim to share a bit about their amazing wedding and then I selected images to tell their story. We had a blast with them, their wedding party and their families and friends and wish them a lifetime of love and happiness. 

Enjoy!

OK, Bonnie and Tim, we're ready for you to tell us your wedding story...

We met and were in the same group of friends all through high school. It was after our freshman year in college that we started dating. Ours was a classic friends first love story.

What advice would you give couples planning their wedding?

Decide on a vision for your wedding and decide what is important to you. If it isn’t important to you or doesn’t fit into your vision...don’t do it! So many people give the advice to just focus on food, drink and music because the decor no one really cares about. Well for me DIY is such an important part of my life and I knew that I wanted to create a one of a kind vintage wonderland for our wedding to really make it uniquely ours.

images from vintage inspired wedding

Also don’t worry so much about what you are “supposed” to do at a wedding. Customize it to make it your own. For example we had  a really young flower girl so we just let her walk down the aisle with her mother (a bridesmaid) instead of when the flower girls normally process. We decided it worked better for our situation and it turned out wonderful.

bridesmaid holding flower girl and a bouquet of flowers

Where did you find your wedding attire?

My wedding dress came from an absolutely wonderful bridal shop in Decatur, GA called Sweet Elegance Bridal. I made my veil and hair piece. My shoes were Seychelles.

photographs of bride, bridal gown, wedding shoes and accessories

For the bridesmaids I wanted a mismatched look all in our color scheme so I let the girls pick their own dresses. They came from places like ASOS, Dorthy Perkins, Anthropoligie, Chloe Loves Charlie, Nordstrom and Dillards. I custom made jewelry for each one of them as a gift.

photograph of bridesmaids wearing beige dresses and accessories

For the boys (including the groom) we purchased grey suits from Jos. A. Banks. They also wore skinny black ties from Express.

photograph of groomsmen and groom wearing dark grey suits and black ties

Favorite memories from your wedding

Bride:The first look I had with Tim. I loved seeing how excited (but surprisingly calm) he was. Also walking down the aisle with my father was a very special moment. Dancing it up on the dance floor with all our wedding party and friends was an absolute blast. Basically ALL OF IT! It was an absolute dream!

photographs from wedding reception, bride dancing to Thriller, lots of love

Groom:The first time he saw Bonnie in her dress. Dancing and getting lifted up in a chair. Eating delicious food and cake (although he wishes he would’ve gotten seconds and that he got more cake on Bonnie’s face)

photographs of bride and groom cutting wedding cake, eating wedding cake, lifted up in chairs and the first look

Musical choices:
Processionals - We loved the idea of a Bluegrass Trio to give it that fun outdoor East TN vibe! We found a great group so we just let them play some of their regular numbers for the processional and recessional.

love sign and bluegrass band playing

Bridal March - For this I had the trio learn “The Gift of Love” which was a favorite hymm of mine growing up. I wanted to have something different than the norm.

First Dance - “Living of Love” by The Avett Brothers. We both love the Avett Brothers (and actually went to a concert of theirs a few days before Tim proposed). This song is so beautiful and we were excited to make it “our song”.

bride and groom dancing their first dance

DIY Projects and Wedding Décor

Tell us about them!

- Refinished furniture - refinishing furniture is a passion of mine so I knew that for my wedding I wanted little vignettes of shabby chic vintage furniture scattered throughout the venue. Pieces I thrifted and redid included a welcome desk for the ceremony, a guest book sign in desk, a table for extra seating by the dance floor, 14 mismatched chairs for seating at the head table, a coffee table for the seating area and a few others.

photographs of wedding party, casual image of wedding party hanging out on vintage furniture

- Lawn games - for our playful outdoor party we needed games like cornhole and life size jenga. We built both games and I painted the cornhole set.

photograph of handmade cornhole set, life-size jenga, wedding guests playing at reception

- Vanilla Extract Favors - For our guest favors we made handmade vanilla extract and gave them out in little glass bottles

photograph of DIY projects at a wedding in East Tennessee, vintage inspiration

- Table centerpieces - we collected literally hundreds of glass bottles over the year to be able to use in clusters for flowers on the tables
- Table assignments - For these which we displayed on an antique gate , I made tags from brown cardstock then stamped them with a custom stamp I had created for this and lastly signed each person’s name and table number.

photograph of DIY projects at a wedding in East Tennessee, vintage inspiration

- Buttons - We made 1.5” buttons for people to wear as wedding flair. Took a long time but was sooo fun. We rented the machine to do this online.

photograph of DIY projects at a wedding in East Tennessee, vintage inspiration

- Signs - I painted signs for the wedding ceremony and reception on reclaimed barn wood that was cut into arrows. I also did a string art sign that said B&T. We also made some chalkboard signs.
- Burlap table runners

photograph of food at wedding reception

- Dessert stands made out of thrifted plates and candle sticks
- “Sweet Treats” bunting for the sweets table

details of wedding decorations handmade by the bride, vintage inspiration

- Book page lanterns to hang in the gazebo.
- Cones of dried lavender to toss during the ceremony
- The arbor we got married under was a DIY project built for us by my godfather and stained by us.

arbor made for wedding with a chandelier, bride and groom posing with the arbor

- Jewelry for the bridesmaids.
- My veil, headpiece and garter.
- Framed photos of Tim and I at each table with a picture of us at that age.
- Citronella candles in jars and tin cans

photograph of DIY projects at a wedding in East Tennessee, vintage inspiration

- Hydrangea boxes - we cut, assembled and stained 14 boxes to fill with hydrangeas as table decor.
- Teacup succulents - I thrifted 25 teacups and filled them with baby succulents for decor.
- Boutonnieres - I made them out of bolls of cotton and other dried flowers.

photograph of DIY projects at a wedding in East Tennessee, vintage inspiration, bridesmaids, flower girl picking grass, wedding cake

Why did you choose to create them?

I live for DIY and knew that filling our wedding with all of these little projects would make it uniquely ours and really help execute the overall vision we wanted for our wedding. I worked on these projects all year, calling it my “wedding nesting” and it made the big day just that much more special.

bride in wedding gown, wedding rings, wedding bands, wedding dress, bride and groom in gazebo

What were your colors? Why?

Warm neutrals (beige, cream, blush pink) with splashes of mint green. The neutral color palette felt more vintage inspired to me and it allowed me to layer many items and colors all in the same color family without having to match colors exactly. I love mint green so I chose that as our splash of whimsy on a few furniture pieces and other decor items.

bride wearing mint green sunglasses, reflection of photographers in sunglasses
{Mint green shades and I couldn't resist capturing both Allan and I in the reflection! ~Lisa}


wedding invitation, ampersand, brown paper, mint green

Did you have a plan to share your wedding photos socially? 

Yes I plan to share them on Facebook. Some of my friends have already shared on Instagram using #bonnieandtim. I also want to share DIY tutorials for things I did on my blog www.creationsbybonnybee.blogspot.com, now that I finally have time to blog again!

bride, groom, instagram, wedding decor, sunflare, sun flare, wedding, vintage inspiration

Honeymoon
We went to the beautiful Sandals Grande Antigua for five nights. We stayed in a private rondoval with a garden view backyard and a private pool. It was very secluded and very luxurious. {This sounds absolutely heavenly! ~Lisa}

The companies and people that made your day special

bride, groom, reception, video, videographers. hair, makeup, dj

Photography // ALM Photo
Ceremony // Brownworth Manor
Reception // Brownworth Manor
Catering // Abner’s Attic
Make-up // Bangs and Blush
DJ // Special Occasions DJ
Ceremony Music // True Blue Bluegrass Trio
Bridal Gown // Sweet Elegance Bridal
Bridesmaid Dresses // ASOS, Nordstrom, Dorothy Perkins, Anthropologie, Dillard's
Suits // Jos. A. Banks
Bridal Shoes // Seychelles
Engagement Ring // Levy’s Jewelry, Birmingham, AL
Wedding Ring // Levy’s Jewelry, Birmingham, AL

bride and groom posing with legend-married sign
{This was one of my favorite images from the day. I love that sign and their pose! ~Lisa}
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