Jimin and John’s wedding was planned to feel like an intimate backyard dinner party with friends.   Handmade invitations. Fresh picked flowers in vintage mason jars.  Abundant candles and a very relaxed bride made for a perfect evening set in a Virginia winery.  What a perfect start to a long and happy marriage.

Jimin & John | August 1, 2009 | Hillsborough Vineyards, Purcellville, Virginia

How he proposed
Approaching our one year anniversary of dating, I knew John and I would have to spend this day separately since I was in California visiting my parents for Thanksgiving, and John had to stay in DC for work, where we are currently from. Meanwhile, I had decided to hang out with a friend from LA and go check out The Getty Villa in Malibu, CA. Not knowing that John had been planning every moment of this day’s events.  My friend Jenn and I were walking around The Getty Villa until she left me alone to go to the bathroom, or so I thought. John literally came out of no where, surprised me not only with his visit, but with a very very surprising proposal!

The ceremony
Who ever knew there were beautiful vineyards in Virginia? We were married in a serene Tuscan-looking vineyard in Purcellville, Virginia called Hillsborough Vineyards on a late Summer afternoon. Our outdoor ceremony was on the deck of an original barn house, overlooking the vineyards and a beautiful view. We got lucky with the weather.

The moment Jimin will never forget
Seeing John for the first time on our wedding day! We saw each other all dolled up, and I instantly cried a mess.

My second favorite moment is captured best in some of the photographs. My sister (MOH) and bridesmaids running in with a hello kitty napkin to stop my “face” from melting on me.

The reception
Our reception of 100 guests was held in the intimate and barn-like indoor reception area of Hillsborough Vineyards. The atmosphere of the night was romantic, intimate and relaxed. We wanted our guests to feel as if they were spending a fun night at someone’s backyard barn, with yummy organic food, wine and good friends.

The wedding theme
While I never had a color theme, all I wanted was a barn-like relaxed vintage atmosphere. The winery was so beautiful to begin with, that we didn’t have to do much for the decorations. I handmade and printed all the invitations, decorations and signs myself, with the help of my incredibly talented artist friend Dan-ah Kim (www.dkim-art.com). I used lots of different shades of gray, green and beige (talk about no color theme). Flowers were picked by whatever was most fresh that day and placed into vintage mason jars. Candles and lanterns were placed everywhere. I think the entire wedding was carried not by one color or one centerpiece, but by the personal and vintage touch I tried to add to everything. It was fun and easy planning a wedding where not everything needed to look perfect and match!

What made her wedding dress “The One”
I wanted a dress that was simple, comfortable and a bit Grecian goddess looking. I picked out my dress from the David’s Bridal catalog, went into the store, tried it on along with other similar styles, and came out with it. I wasn’t emotional at all about this process, but felt that this dress fit the rest of my vintage romantic wedding perfectly well. I loved the dress!

Her advice for other brides
It is the biggest day of your life, but then again, it’s just one day of your life. Decide on what’s most important for you, your groom, and your guests. As long as you keep reminding yourself of those things, you won’t have nights of panic and hopefully you won’t become a bridezilla! After everything, you, your husband and your guests won’t remember how expensive and elaborate the centerpieces and wedding venue were, but will remember the love and good times everyone shared that night.

Jimin’s Wedding Dress: David’s Bridal 9ST9637

Wedding Photography: Brian Lusby

Palm Beach has such a distinct vibe.  Fun. Fancy. Special.  What could be a better setting for a wedding?  Lauren and Tom brought the Palm Beach yellow right into their wedding theme.  And incorporated some fun surprises for their guests.  I’m completely in love with this wedding. Take a look and you’ll see why.

Lauren & Tom |November 7, 2009 | The Brazilian Court Hotel and Beach Club in Palm Beach, Florida

How he proposed
Despite growing up only a short distance away from each other in St. Louis, we didn’t meet until introduced by mutual friends in Houston. One year after meeting, Tom surprised me with a ring while on our daily run through Memorial Park in Houston with their dogs.

The ceremony
We had an outdoor sunset ceremony with 130 guests in the North Courtyard of the Brazilian Court in Palm Beach, FL.  A close friend of my family married us.

Since I am Danish, our string trio played the Prince of Denmark’s March as I walked in.  We surprised our guests with a 16-person Bahamian Junkanoo band that came out dancing, pounding their drums and blowing their whistles right after we said “I do” and led us dancing back down the aisle to the reception courtyard.  They continued to play and dance with guests as they arrived into the courtyard for the reception.

The moment Lauren will never forget
There were A LOT of memorable moments, but I’ll never forget after being pronounced “man & wife” the shock, awe and excitement on everyone’s face – especially our families – when our surprise Bahamian Junkanoo band started playing.  We were so excited to finally be married, but we knew we could start to relax because it was the beginning of an amazing and unforgettable night!

The reception
We had our reception outside under the stars in the Fountain Courtyard at the Brazilian Court.  A string trio played throughout the reception as everyone munched on the fantastic food from notable NY chef, Daniel Boulud’s Cafe Boulud.  We moved inside for dinner where we had The Edge, a South Florida band play latin and jazz throughout our fantastic dinner from Cafe Boulud.

Cafe Boulud created a beautiful 4-tiered vanilla and chocolate wedding cake with vanilla mousaline and berries in between each layer.  The outside was decorated with hand-made sugar orchids.

Our last surprise for our guests came at the end of dinner where we had four Brazilian flamenco dancers entertain and get our guests out on the dance floor.

The theme
We integrated several themes – we love the yellow striped awnings you see every where in Palm Beach and so we carried that design thoughout the wedding from our flowers, cocktail napkins, cigar bands, welcome basket bags and welcome notes, ribbon wrapped around the brides bouquet, escort cards and even our Save-the-Dates.  We also created two crossed flags with a T on one and an L on the other – it was our signature monogram that was on everything.  We also wanted to keep our wedding fun and slightly non-traditional which is why we added fun surprises like the Junkanoo Band, a cigar wrapper and flamenco dancers.

Her wedding dress
I’m very decisive, but I never thought that I’d buy the first wedding dress I tried on which is exactly what happened.  I loved it because it was fashion forward, both classic and modern at the same time and fit me so perfectly.  It was perfect for a Palm Beach wedding.

Advice for other Brides:
Don’t get caught up in the details, and be yourself!  It will help you enjoy the process so much more.

Lauren’s Wedding Dress: Vera Wang Helene

Photo Credits: Lauren Lieberman & Rich Graulich / LILA PHOTO

I love the white flowers and white bridesmaid dresses from Liz & Andrew’s wedding.  The flowers and decor and beautiful in and of themselves – but they are such a perfect match for the venues.  Honestly, check out the church.  Is it not stunning?

Liz & Andrew | September 4th, 2009 | Des Moines, Iowa

How he proposed
We had been dating long distance (me in Chicago, Andrew in Des Moines) for a year when we decided I would move to Des Moines. I was very sad to leave Chicago, but absolutely certain it was the right decision.  I had two weekends in the city left, and I made a list of all the things I wanted to do (and couldn’t believe I’d never done in the 4.5 years I lived there) before I left.  One of them was to ride the Ferris Wheel and watch the fireworks at Navy Pier.  After dinner with friends at Gibson’s, the 4 of us headed to Navy Pier.  We rode the Ferris Wheel, watched the fireworks, and walked up and down the pier enjoying the night.  Our friends walked away and “pretended” to be having a serious talk, and Andrew and I parked it on a bench at the very end of the pier.  He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him in the sweetest way possible.  To this day, I still can’t believe he risked being that close to water with the ring!  I was shocked and could have very easily knocked it out of his hands in excitement!  Andrew said he wanted to propose in a place we would always be able to go back and visit – and I love that he did it that way.

The ceremony
We had a traditional Catholic ceremony at the historic, gorgeous Saint Ambrose Cathedral in downtown Des Moines.

The moment Liz will never forget
As my gift to Andrew, I suprised him with a four piece brass band that played the Iowa Fight Song as we exited church (not many things in life are more important to him than the Iowa Hawkeyes).  I will NEVER forget the look on his face when we walked out the church doors.  We were married, all of our friends and family were surrounding us, and the Fight Song was playing in the background – it was perfect.

The reception
I normally navigate toward a very modern/contemporary style, but with an event like a wedding, I prefer a more classic look.  I’d say classically modern would be an accurate description of our wedding The reception was held in the Grand Hall at the Temple for Performing Arts – a historic building in downtown Des Moines.  Cocktail hour was followed by a dinner of crab-stuffed shrimp and steak, and, in lieu of a traditional wedding cake, my grandma made 600 bite-sized white “cake balls” that couldn’t have been a bigger hit.  The dance floor was jam packed until 1am!  It was literally the wedding of my dreams.

What made her wedding dress “the one”
I tried on 5 dresses, but when I put this one on I immediately knew it was for me.  The detail on the neckline was unlike anything I had ever seen, it definitely adds a “wow” factor and sets the dress (and bride!) apart from other gowns.  I cannot even tell you how many people told me it was the prettiest dress they had ever seen I felt exactly how a bride should feel in their dress.

Advice for other brides
Go with your gut.  There a million choices out there, and it is easy to get caught up in all of them.  Create a big picture in your head, and focus on that when you are deciding on the details.  Details are extremely important – but finding the “perfect” detail will exhaust you.  When you find something you love, go with it!

Liz’s wedding dress:  Pronovias Rania

Photographer: Mark Kegans

I’m really touched by the generous spirit of today’s couple.  Not only did they prioritize paying for their guests accommodations (to make it as easy as possible for their guests to attend), they created a charity registry in lieu of traditional wedding gifts and offered their guests their own charity donation instead of favors.  Their kindness was, undoubtedly, felt by all of their guests.

Lesli & John |September 19, 2009 |College Grove, Tennessee

How he proposed
John proposed on Christmas night.  Being the car mechanic that he is, he somehow rigged my car to break down on our way home from his parent’s house.  He then preceded to climb underneath the car to see if he could figure out what was wrong.  Then, he asked me to get out of the car, that he had found something that we must had run over.  As I bent down to see what it was, he pulled out a big shiny ring and asked me to be his wife.  John has not always been the most romantic of men, but he made our engagement truly unique and unforgettable.

The ceremony
John and I were married in my parent’s front yard in College Grove, Tennessee.  The rain stopped literally minutes before the ceremony and the sun broke through as we read our vows. We wrote our entire ceremony from beginning to end.  Being that this is the most important part of the day, we wanted it to represent who we were and what we believed in.

The moment Lesli will never forget
Of course I would love to say the moment I walked down the aisle or when John read his vows to me, because they were unforgettable moments.  But, the moment that I will never forget is, while I was reading my vows, someones car alarm went off.  I don’t know if it was because I was so nervous, but I busted out laughing.  It was a true ice-breaker, and I believe it saved me from boo-wooing all the way through my vows.

The reception
For the reception, guest’s moved from the front yard, to the back yard.  We mixed and matched table sizes and shapes, with each table having a different centerpiece.  We used white roses and hydrangeas which we placed in clay pots.  We also had our florists create centerpieces made of wheat and lavender.  Candles were of course a must.  We wanted to create a casual feel, so we encouraged guest’s to wear whatever they wanted to.

Many opted to wear blue jeans, instead of ties.  Perfect attire to indulge on our menu of bar-b-que and beer.  After dinner, guest’s danced into the night to the beats of the Wooten Brother’s.  One of our few splurge’s was the band, and it was worth every penny.

The theme
Our wedding did not have a specific theme.  We tried to keep it simple and focus on things that were important to us.  We did try to make our wedding as comfortable for our guest’s as possible.  Having been to several weddings, we know how expensive they can be to attend.  John and I cut back on things that weren’t extremely important to us, like floral arrangements and food costs, and instead paid for all of our guest’s hotel rooms.  We also had our guest’s bussed to and from the hotel and wedding.  Also, instead of having a gift registry, we set up a charity website, where guest’s could donate money to our favorite charities.  In return, instead of doing wedding favors, John and I donated money to our charity.  I believe, if you do things that are true to who you are as a couple, your wedding will be special, theme or no theme.

What Made My Dress “The One”
I have to admit, I was the girl looking at dresses before we were even engaged.  Unfortunately, my dress was not the first dress I tried on, but the last dress I tried on.  I went to every store in town, probably trying on at least 100 dresses.  I was looking for that perfect dress, as every bride wants.  When I tried on my dress, “the one”, I knew it would be mine.  Actually, I knew when I saw it on the hanger.  To me it represents who I am, simple and romantic.  It was love at first sight.  I took very special care of the dress, knowing that another bride would someday where it again.

Advice For Other Brides
A lot of times, the bride and groom can get lost in their own wedding.  Your parents, in-laws, wedding planner, friends, will all have different opinions of what you should do, but in the end it’s your day.  Stand your ground and make your wedding a true representation of who you are as a couple.

Lesli’s Wedding Dress: Paloma Blanca 3858

Photography: Krystal Mann Photography