Kelly Plans a Wedding Archive

If you tuned in last week, I explained that the number-one priority for our wedding day to me is sufficient, beautiful, lovely, extensive documentation of the day. I am pouring my heart and soul into the planning and execution of our wedding and while it is obviously not the be-all-end-all of our MARRIAGE, it is a huge milestone and a symbolic ritual celebrating our love for one another and our lifelong dedication to each other in front of God and our loved ones. It’s the kickoff of our marriage. And as crucially important as those vows are going to be, I don’t want to forget a single line.

I want to relive the moment Drew sees me for the first time as his bride {a vision in white!}. I want to eternalize the change in my father’s countenance as he meets me at the stairs when I come to walk down the aisle. And as much as I know I’m probably going to sob my ways through my vows, I want to be able to hear them over and over. I want to hear Drew take me as his wife, “to have and to hold, from this day forward, for as long as we both shall live.” I’ll hear it all on the day-of, of course, but judging from my experience getting engaged, it goes by SO FAST. The day will be a blur of excitement, happiness, euphoria, and blissful chaos. I’ll be present in it, but I don’t want a second of it to get lost. I want to hold on to it.  I want to show it to my children, let them hear their mother’s and father’s voices making that commitment years ago.  I want to watch it with my husband on every anniversary, hear our dear friends singing and playing heartwrenching violin solos.  I want to be able to see my sweet infant niece carried by her father years after she’s grown.  I want to have a lasting record of Drew’s and my grandmothers dancing and laughing with friends.  I want to hear the prayer said over me by my bridesmaids minutes before we make our descent down the stairs, long after it’s been said.  I want to be 92, holding my husband’s wrinkled hand, and watch the look on his face as the seventy-years-younger image of myself walks down the aisle to the song he wrote me decades and decades ago.

As my dear friend Lynette has said, time and time again, “Sometimes only video will do.”  Fortunately for Drew and myself, Lynette and her amazing team at McNeal Wedding Films will be documenting every step, laugh, banter, smile, tear, and song on our wedding day.  From the moment my mother and sister help me into my dress  until Drew and I climb into our getaway car and wave goodbye, we will have our most special day taped start-to-finish.  We will have the tremendous fortune to relive every moment in vivid detail.

Things I’m particularly excited to have recorded forever:  My hilarious sister giving her speech. {There is NO telling what will come out of her mouth.} Our vows, of course. Dancing with my husband and my father. Our officiant’s spiel on making a lasting marriage. Friends dancing ridiculously. AST’s traditional sorority sing.  Feeding each other delicious wedding cake. Inevitably crying all day long. Being announced in as husband and wife! Our declaration as “Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Dellinger!” So, so many moments.

Lynette, I am so blessed to have you as a friend and colleague. I have tremendously enjoyed the past eight months of working with you directly, listening to your sound advice, sharing stories, and seeing weddings through your eyes. Drew and I are so so so excited to have you be right there with us throughout our wedding day… thank you for everything!!!

Inspiringly,

~ Kelly

One of my number-one wedding priorities is definitely the documentation of the day. I want to be able to relive every second of that pivotal moment in my life… the ones burned into my memory forever and the ones I glaze over or miss because it does go by in such a blur. I’ve learned in the fifty days I’ve been engaged {yes, I’m writing this 12/30… I can count!} that life happens a lot faster once you’ve finally gotten what you’ve been waiting for than the time you waited for it. Since that spectacular Thursday evening in November, time has flown by insanely fast. It seems like yesterday I was gushing over the Amsale “Aspen” gown to Stephanie after The Bride Room got back from NY Fashion Week, weeks before I ever stepped foot in the salon to find and try on MY heavenly dream dress. It’s been seven years since I first decided what my wedding color scheme was going to be {it has changed since then, for the record}, but I still remember the exact thing that inspired it so many years ago. I’ve seen brides who frame their wedding dresses and display them in their bedrooms on Pinterest {amazing idea, right?!} and I love clamoring over wedding portrait canvases in my married-friends’ homes.

Weddings are just something magical – easily the most important party one will ever throw, but so much more than just that.  They’re a celebration of a huge milestone in life, the declaration that your life will never again be spent alone, but in the company of another who will share it forever.  The only other occasion I can think of where someone’s loved ones from all walks of life will be gathered in one central place, together, is a funeral.  As morbid as it might be that I just actually said that, think about it.  WHEN will your college roommates, your sorority sisters, work colleagues, childhood pals, near and distant family all be together to celebrate with you?  Unless you come from a really small town and never leave it, it’s inevitable that people move on and move away and the opportunities to get together lessen and lessen.  Your childhood best friend who moved to Germany might not be able to justify a thousands-of-dollars plane ticket to come to your birthday party, but your wedding? Absolutely.

So with all that said, it’s obviously very important to me that my wedding be properly, sufficiently, and beautifully documented. One of the ways to ensure this has been carefully choosing my wedding photographer.

Let it be said – it is difficult choosing the perfect wedding photographer when you are heavily immersed in the wedding industry as I am.  If you’ve ever looked at my “All Things Wedding” Pinterest board, you will see I’m no stranger to beautiful wedding photography. At this current point, I am pushing 1600 pins. In one board. That I’ve had since late January. To say I’m no stranger is a gross understatement. I am constantly perusing gorgeous wedding blogs and magazines. I’ve had the great fortune to work at a host of delightful weddings and see firsthand how they were translated from real-life to permanent frames. And through my beloved StudioWed, I’ve also gotten to see the best of Nashville’s business.

Once I figured out approximately what I wanted to invest in wedding photography, I narrowed my choices down to about 15-20 vendors who offered the packages I thought were reasonable and in my price range.  Couple that with going back-and-forth a zillion times on our wedding date {September 29th? August 25th? Fall 2012? November ’12? January ’13? March ’12? May 12th? July 7th? July 21st? July 22nd? July 28th?} and trying to find out photographers’ availability for a date that wasn’t set in stone… talk about a headache. For two good weeks, I forced Drew and my bridesmaid, Laurajean, to sit through entire gallery slideshows of different photogs’ work. Even my friend and bridesmaid Heather, who lives in Kansas, had to endure constant text messages and emails asking her to visit blogs and tell me her perspective.  By the end of it all, I had interrogated a zillion people {including my former youth pastor circa 2002 who now has a fantastic photography business in Atlanta} and narrowed down the list dramatically, but it was still up to me to decide.

God gave me peace about getting married in July, so that helped us get one step closer. We wrestled with four or five potential weekends to set the date at, but after considering family circumstances and some of our other must-have vendor availabilities, we decided on Saturday, July 28th as our final* date. {* denotes the fact that July 28th is NOT actually our final date, it was just what we decided when we were going through this ordeal.} And so our choices were narrowed further.

From that point on, it was a simple decision as to who we’d go with. She had been a top contender throughout the whole ordeal, but I felt like it was my duty as a wedding aficionado to exhaust all my options before just going with who I knew was the right one. Part of my indecisiveness stemmed from the fact that I had planned out every detail of my wedding to the NAPKIN before we ever got engaged. Little did I know then in my compulsive planning that almost every thing I had anticipated wanting and having with ZERO question was not actually what I’d want or have in reality.  “You feel like you’re breaking up with them,” Hillary of Brocade mentioned to me last week when I met with her to discuss my evolving color scheme.  When you’ve lived with the idea of how your wedding will be for years and suddenly all those little details no longer fit perfectly into the big picture of reality, it isn’t always easy.  As silly as it sounds, I have had to go into mourning for a few things I thought I wanted but couldn’t have. That doesn’t mean they’re not still absolutely lovely and perfect for other weddings, and it certainly doesn’t mean I’m not happy with the things for which I’ve changed my mind… it just means you don’t always know what you want or what’s best for you until it’s all in hindsight.

To find out who we chose and read the rest of this post, visit the A Delightful Day blog! :)

Inspiringly,

~ Kelly

While “Barbie” isn’t your typical wedding-vendor category, I had to include her in with my wedding planning chronicles! Let me give you a little background info… my bedroom suite at home? Vintage Barbie duvet, pillows, sheets, the works. My senior sorority formal attire? Barbie-inspired. My 21st birthday party theme? Barbie. My signature stationery suite? Vintage Barbie drawings letterpressed. The wedding cake topper I purchased months before Drew proposed? Vintage Barbie & Ken wedding-couple Christmas ornaments!!!! {They’ll be the first ornaments we trim our inaugural married tree!!!!}

In honor of my slight Barbie obsession, here’s this amazing series of wedding photographs by Beatrice de Guigne (via Glamour). So appropriate.

Inspiringly,

~ Kelly

In my experience, wedding bands are always hit-or-miss.  Don’t get me wrong– I’ve heard plenty of wonderful musical groups who keep the guests dancing until the cows come home, but when it comes to planning my own wedding, I’d rather not take the risk of having a so-so band no one will dance to.

Enter Cosmo Creations. In the entire two years I’ve been with StudioWed Nashville and A Delightful Day, Brent from Cosmo Creations (based in Cookeville) has never, ever disappointed. Never cheesy, always SO professional. Prompt. Cheerful! Pleasant to work with. I’ve never had to worry about hearing some horrible “This is Cossssmo Creationssss!” dubbed over dance music at a wedding reception. [Dear all other wedding DJs, This is a wedding, not a dance club. Please don’t confuse my guests by making them feel like they’re at FUEL.] He can read an audience and play exactly what they’ll respond well to but still stay true to the wedding couple’s style and taste, no matter how diverse of a group the guests are.

(What a ladies’ man!)

My fiance and I truly believe in working with wedding vendors we enjoy as friends… the people we hire on to work with us will be heavily involved in one of the most memorable days of our lives, so it’s IMPERATIVE to have a fantastic team.  I met Brent at the StudioWed Grand Opening back in March of 2010 when he emceed our first party and have been impressed ever since. It seriously didn’t even take me but a split second to decide we HAD to have Brent be our wedding DJ. No question. I will refer him to every and any bride that ever comes my way… I am that confident in his spectacular customer service and performance. {PS:  Cosmo’s other DJs are wonderful too!!!!}

So the day after I got engaged {okay, so a few weeks before I got engaged and Drew and I had talked tentative dates}, I emailed Brent and let him know we had to have him.  Fast-forward a few weeks and 3 date changes {things get complicated, y’all!}, and we are locked in with the best of the South’s wedding DJs! Woo hoo!!!

So so thrilled to be working with you, Brent!!!

And as a little added bonus, here are a few of the songs we’re playing at the reception! ;)

• “It’s Raining Men” – The Weather Girls
• “Over the Hills and Far Away” – Led Zeppelin
• “Wonderful Tonight” – Eric Clapton
• “September” – Earth, Wind, & Fire
• “Wagon Wheel” – Old Crow Medicine Show

Inspiringly,

~ Kelly

PS: If you want us to set you up a meeting with Cosmo Creations for your future wedding, give us a shout at leigh@studiowed.net!!!