Besides the heat we had the most perfect day I could have dreamed of. I am a slacker and just now working on my wedding album and it's funny how many pictures and little moments I've already forgotten about in just 2 short years. Since it's my wedding month (and probably many of yours since June = weddings) I thought I'd recap our special weekend:
We kicked things off Thursday night with some of my girlfriends who made it to town and we had a private shopping party at a boutique called Fabrik, 20% off the whole store. Awesome!
Friday we had my bridal tea at Anis Bistro in Buckhead. It was thrown by my Mom's 4 sisters, my Aunts, and it was perfect! They did a great job with the decorations and the food was yummy too!
Some of my bridesmaids...
Not too long after that we headed off to our church for the rehearsal, one Southern tradition I didn't do is have a stand-in (clearly).
This is one of my bridesmaids, Sarah, a good friend from high school who now lives in NYC. Across the streeet from our church is a trifecta of well-known Buckhead bars like Peachtree Tavern, Hole in the Wall, and Moondogs. Almost everyone I know has spent at least 1 crazy night at these establishments and everyone (esp. the groomsmen) thought it was so funny to get a picture with that in the background.
My lovebug and I in front of the church, about to head to our next stop, the rehearsal dinner at Canoe! My rehearsal dinner dress was a gift from my Aunt, we ordered it from Bridals by Lori and then I had a fabulous milner, Nicholas Kniel, attach the peacock feather ribbon as a belt.
I wish I had more personal pictures of the rehearsal dinner because it was perfection! Luckily my photographer {Tina Rowden} was there and has some great shots that I can have once I order my wedding album. :)
This is Ryan's sister and our brother in law out in the gardens on the Chatahoochee River at Canoe. The weather was amazing and the view here is one of the best in Atlanta as is the food. Ryan's mom did a great job with the dinner, flowers, and decorations. I definitely recommend Canoe for a special dinner in Atlanta.
At the end of our rehearsal dinner before we head our separate ways...
....Ok I'm lying we made a pit stop at the bars like East Andrews to hang out with all of our friends and family before the night was over...
Here are some of the girls and I getting ready to head to the church...
My dress {Francesca} and veil were from Priscilla of Boston by Melissa Sweet... My mom's dress was a Priscilla and I always imagined picking out a dress there.
I had one of those cute metal hangers that said "Mrs. Bowden"...
Squeezing into the dress... amazing what wedding stress can do to a girl's figure... it just melts right off ya like butter...
Getting everything just right with my mom and photographer Tina Rowden...
My beautiful bridesmaids in their bright pink & chiffon Amsale dresses from Bridals by Lori...
I wish I had a pic of my sweet little flower girls... the front of their dresses had their monograms in pink, so perfect.
I was uber traditional in that I did bridal portraits... this was one of my favorite things I did... it gave me a chance to test run everything and see if anything needed tweaked for the actual day. The pictures are also aahhhmazing...
Portraits at Summerour Studios near Atlantic Station in Midtown.
My handsome groom... his heart is even better than his good looks! Love him! XOXO
Ryan's parents, loved his mom's dress too... you can see where he gets his looks from...
My beautiful mother, loved her dress, it was soooo perfect for her. stunning.
Here is my first prince charming, my Dad, about to walk his little princess down the {long} aisle at our church.
No turning back...
It's official, Mr. and Mrs. Bowden!
After some pictures we headed off on the trolley with our crew to the reception, one of my favorite things. Sidenote: I apologize to anyone following our trolley for the guys hanging out on the back as we rode down Peachtree...
Our first dance to one of "our songs" from when we first started dating, Colbie Caillat's Bubbly. Love the hot pink BM dresses with my mom's jewel tone blue dress against the black and white floor.
Our reception was at Park Tavern Garden Tent on Piedmont Park in Midtown, here we are out in the park with the Atlanta skyline.
In the vegetable gardens at Piedmont Park...
Our estate tables... each table was named either an ACC or SEC school name like Tennessee, Clemson, FSU, etc... This went with our southern theme... we had southern food like shrimp and grits, Kentucky bourbon pork tenderloin, and a hashbrown station to name a few... oh, and did I mention the southern heat we had that day? Yeah, that was part of the theme too...
We had a lounge area in the meadow next to the tents and had these custom pillows made and scattered around the reception. Custom linens was one of the other best decisions I made.
After that got the party started...
Cuttin the cake....
Our grand sparkler exit... up the narrow staircase... one person may or may not have caught their bridesmaid dress on fire...
Off we go in our London taxi... hello Mexico...
Like I said, I am finally working on our album right now and it's made me realize what a wonderful and special event this was. Ryan and I were truly blessed to be surrounded by so many people that love and cared about that day and over the weekend. Our parents really did make every bit of the weekend perfect and full of lasting memories. God has really blessed us in so many ways.
I also had a fabulous crew of people like my wedding planner, Ashley Baber, who's one of the best if not the best planner in Atlanta. My photographer Tina Rowden is equally as amazing and talented. She not only did our engagement pics, bridal portraits, rehearsal dinner, and actual wedding but has gone on to do some of our Christmas card pics as well, I'm sure she will be used for big milestones in the future as well! :) Our florist Julie from Floral Expressions, Tamara from I DO Linens, and the band Moxie were also a huge piece to our wedding and awesome to work with.
The week before the wedding, it said 100% rain and 95 degrees, the day of the rain held off and it was sunny as could be with a little heat but who cares?... It's a day that I'll never forget...
If you're like me and like looking at wedding videos and pictures of your friend's weddings or even perfect strangers (c'mon, you know we all do it!) here's a couple quick highlight videos of our big day...
http://vimeo.com/16402765 by videographer Shaun Clearie
http://slideshows.tinarowden.com/amyryan/ by Tina Rowden Photography
Thanks for letting me post about my wedding, it's been fun looking back on all of the memories. More on how we celebrated our 2 year anniversary in our next post... plus a couple house updates...
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