Good morning all! So today I am sharing some pretty little shots of an adorable couple from their engagement shoot. This is isn’t dripping in details, but what got me all aflutter was that when the ever talented Krystal from West House Photography submitted the shoot, she told me it was actually the bride herself that wanted to see the pictures up on our blog! Jennifer, thank you so much for reading! The outpouring of love and support from our local brides and vendors has just blown me away! It warms my heart when someone I don’t even know yet has been reading and loves The Jacksonville Bride! Congrats girl on your big upcoming day!

First of all… that dress!!! Swoon worthy, am I right? second how cute is that little pup!

On her e-sesh experience, Jennifer said, “I absolutely LOVE Krystal, she is so talented and has the sweetest personality to match. She made us feel comfortable and directed us on what would look best. I kind of let her take the reigns because I trust her so much and love her work. The shoot was a blast!”

Photographer Krystal made this darling “Love is Sweet” banner herself and used it in her own wedding! Too precious!

We can’t wait to see Jennifer and Darin’s blush and gray vintage style wedding at Nocatee Crosswater Hall! Enjoy May 25th, y’all. It will be the best day of your life! XO

Details: Photography West House Photography

There isn’t a better way to start my Monday off than looking at pretty images from a romantic St. Augustine affair. You would think after posting wedding after wedding we would get sick of it all, but it is quite the opposite! I love LOVE! I love seeing two people celebrate marriage surrounded by pretty details! It makes for a happy day : ) This wedding was sent our way by Weber Photography and has one element that really surprised me. The groom put a super personal touch in the table numbers by donning their pups with bow ties and snapping shots of them for each table. Those of you who have little furry friends can totally relate, we love them probably way too much! I love how it added a fun element to the night and probably had the guests talking!

Did you catch the absolutely adorable ring bearer!?! Love him!!!

The Details: Photography Weber Photography | Flowers Rose of Sharon | Venue The White Room | Cake Metro Custom Cakes | Make Up Artist Make Up By Paulina Perez | Entertainment Skip Kelly Productions | Officiant Sensational Ceremonies

Okay so I got this little gem from Threaded Together Photography in my inbox back in late October and just loved the concept of a “Main Squeeze” lemonade and Southern goodness styled engagement session. I am so excited for spring to hurry it’s little self on up here so I decided to share even though there is still a little chill in the air! Hopefully this will brighten your Friday and inspire you to create an adorable engagement session of your own!

Ahh. Spring. I wait on you patiently : ) Happy Friday Jacksonville Bride!

The Details: Photography Threaded Together Photography

Good Tuesday morning ladies! Boy am I excited to finally share this little gem with you! Last June (wow seems like a lifetime ago!) I asked my sweet friend, Julie Paisley, if she would want to team up with me on a styled shoot. She jumped at the idea and I was all aflutter, because we all know how fab her photography work is! So I hit the drawing board to decide the style I wanted to achieve and came up with an idea for some whimsical flair with a twist of modern touches of clean lines and pops of glass elements. I called up some other amazing vendors & designers around town to see if they wanted to be apart of the fun and whalaa! A photoshoot was born! Jacksonville Wedding Styles Magazine published the shoot in their last issue and I was humbled when the final title was named, “What Megan Loves!” I was literally floored when I got the images back from Julie, and hope you will love it as much as I do!

A big thank you goes out to everyone who was involved in bringing this shoot to life! I couldn’t have done it without the talented bunch below! So thank you!! Also, thank you to Jacksonville Wedding Styles Magazine for picking up the shoot. You can see it on page 24 by clicking here. For an extra dose of fun, check out the behind the scenes from our favorite videographers, Visual Power Cinema! They have done it again!

Jacksonville Bride Styled Shoot from Visual Power Cinema on Vimeo.

Details: Design & Planning Megan Martin | Photography Julie Paisley Photography | Set up Laura Seeback | Videography Visual Power Cinema | Paper Goods Declaration Boutique | “Forever” Banner Amber Veatch Designs | Rentals Beachview | Cake Sugar Rush Confections | Cupcakes Sweet! By Holly | Flowers Blossoms and Accents | Dress The White Magnolia | Hair MAC Hair Studio | Make up Jill Stonier | Models Aimee & Spencer Lloyd | Location Verona Park

Happy New Year ladies! I hope you enjoyed this past holiday season surrounded by friends, family, your hunny and sweet dreams of walking down the aisle! I am so excited to see what 2013 brings to the wedding scene and to share gorgeous photos from our Jacksonville Brides (and their talented photogs, of course!)!

Today I am not sharing a wedding rich in detail, but photos of the bride and groom that will literally knock you off your feet. Alexis evokes a sense of sensuality and mystery in her bridal portraits that is nothing short of captivating. Photographers Flora + Fauna should really get a standing ovation for these.

“Formals” is the traditional term you will hear thrown out in your photography timeline, but ladies, they have come a LONG way from just standing at the front of the aisle with 50 different people and the same smile. It is crazy to see how wedding photography has evolved in the past 5 years. Some may call it it trendy, I call it art. You spend thousands of dollars to get your big day looking right, so why not hire a photographer who can literally bring out the essence of you in each snapshot? That takes a true artist. Prime example:

Photography Flora + Fauna

I know I can’t be the only one that loves all things chevron. Chevron has taken over my life from my cell phone case to my Christmas gift wrap. If you don’t know what I am talking about it is that lovely zig zag pattern. When Cassandra Cherneski of Flaire Weddings told me she was planning a bridal shower brunch for one of her sweet clients and she wanted to incorporate chevron I knew it was going to be good. She chose a pink and orange color palette for the shower and the floral centerpieces and pops of chevron fabric on the tables tied everything together well. The Deerwood Country Club served delicious breakfast foods like quiche, eggs benedict, grits and biscuits just to name a few and served them with assorted juices, coffee and mimosas, of course. There were fun games like gift bingo where guests filled in what gifts they thought the bride would get. As she opened gifts the guests crossed off the items they filled in and the first one to cross off their squares won a prize. My favorite detail of the shower was the festive backdrop made of crepe paper. Enjoy the photos by Corinna Hoffman and tell me what you loved the most.

The Details: Photographer CORINNA HOFFMAN PHOTOGRAPHY | Event Planner, Paper Goods and Backdrop CASSANDRA CHERNESKI FLAIRE WEDDINGS | Venue and Catering DEERWOOD COUNTRY CLUB | Banner AMBER VEATCH DESIGNS

What is a Featured Jet Setter you say? It is when a Jacksonville Bride chooses to say I Do in a new destination! Our featured jet setters today chose the gorgeous city of Charlotte, North Carolina to host their family and friends on the best day of their lives! What to know about Jet Setting you wedding? Hire a PLANNER!!! And a good one : ) As much as friends and family will want to help, there is just no replacing a professional planner in your destination city that is established and can connect you with the best possible vendors for your unique event. Our wedding today comes from our fabulous friends, Serendipity Weddings and Events. We just love the olive green and black color combo with touches of lace and bright white to keep it light and fresh! This is a perfect fall/winter color scheme that doesn’t have to be “holiday” at all! Are you Jet Setting for your day in white? We want to feature all your destination details! Email us at megan@thejacksonvillebride.com!

The Details: Photography Project Life Photography | Event Planning Serendipity Weddings and Events | Catering  Something Classic Catering | Entertainment  Split Second Sound | Baker  Wow Factor Cakes | Cloth Connection | Classic Party Rentals |Flowers  Stems by Serendipity | Extravaganza

Today is a very special day for my husband and I. It is our two year anniversary! To celebrate I would like to share our after the wedding session. I was planning on doing one around this time but I saw that the ever-so-talented Julie Paisley was looking for models for a workshop she was hosting in Amelie Island. I happen to be a fan of Julie’s so much to the hubster’s delight I volunteered us. For me, it was an amazing experience to be back in my gown and enjoy my husband’s company in front of the camera. It was a workshop so we were in front of at least ten cameras. We had our own little paparazi. My favorite moment was when I saw a darling little boat and had to have my picture taken in it. Said boat was covered in mud and a sweet as can be photographer attending the workshop wiped off the seat with her own pants. Way to take one for the team! It rained on our way to the session but it cleared up just in time for these gorgeous photos that I will forever treasure. Thanks again Julie and company!

The Details: Photography JULIE PAISLEY PHOTOGRAPHY | Hair AMANDA ADAMS, ONCE UPON A STYLIST | Banner AMBER VEATCH DESIGNS

Happy Monday Morning, Y’all!! Today we are bringing you a down home, sweetly styled, happily ever after! Allison and Kris tied the knot at Skeeter Ranch in Jasper, Florida. If you are looking for a barn beauty to say “I Do,” the short hour and a half drive over is worth it! What I love most about this wedding is the darling ceremony set up. Rows were made from bales of hay and covered with unique quilts borrowed from family and guests for an extra soft seat! In true Southern fashion, you can tell that a whole lot of love went into making each and every detail perfect for this blue and white country affair! Enjoy : )

The Details: Photography Couture Wedding Studios | Ceremony and Reception Music The String Group | Baker Gilmon’s | Caterer Sheryl’s Buffet | Florist Celebrations Florist, Live Oak | Wedding Planner Donna Hinton | Hair Stylist Heather Schultz

Good morning brides to be! I hope you are finding yourself enjoying this process of planning the biggest (and most fun!) day of your life! Today’s Lowdown is a mixture of a gorgeous photoshoot from Tonya Beaver Photography and a big bit of advice that I hope you will listen carefully to and heed! (It is also much lengthier than our normal everyday posts, but I promise it is worth reading through for some serious thought!)

We all know what “The Friend Zone” is, and we all know how bad it is to be in that zone! So today we are putting a little twist on the meaning of The Friend Zone, but it can still be just as awful to be in. We’re talking about asking/hiring/expecting your friends, 2nd cousin, aunt, neighbor or anyone that isn’t a professional wedding vendor to do a specific job for the big day. Now we are not talking about asking your friend to be in charge of delivering your cute DIY details or assigning a family member to be in charge of making sure the gifts get in the right car. No ladies, I am talking about the big BIG no no of leaning on a friend or family member to take care of wedding details such as the cake, your photography, designing the flowers, coordinating the day of and etc.

I get it girls, weddings can get astronomically expensive and in this economy, a penny pinched anywhere can save you from financial stress, but let’s talk about why asking friends can lead to a very bad experience.

• Contracts: There is a reason why professionals hand you over an official document explaining the terms of their service for you. That reason is to make sure that both parties are fully aware of what will be included for the price you are going to pay. If they don’t meet the terms, you can use the contract to show just cause of why you should receive some sort of refund. If you don’t pay the full amount, you are not entitled to the services stipulated. It gives both vendor and bride a clear black and white picture of what will make up the services provided and received on the wedding day. Many times when we get friends involved, there is no contract. No document to ensure you are actually going to get that cake you have been dreaming about for the past year or the beautiful edited pictures in vintage style that you keep eying on photographers websites. When the wedding day arrives, it is far too late to deal with a no show and you can end up missing key details you’ve always wanted. Almost worse than a no show: an awful product. Your best gal and you thought it was a genius idea for her to design the flowers and deliver them on the big day. But what you didn’t think about was that your gal pal has no way of keeping hundreds of flowers fresh during and after the assembly process and that doesn’t even get you to the delivery and set up. And no one wants dead flowers on their reception tables. That’s a conversation starter in a bad way!
• Experience: Has your aunt ever planned and coordinated the day of a wedding besides her own? Or her daughter’s? My guess is that even if she was heavily involved in planning her daughter’s wedding, she didn’t take on the full role of coordinating the day of. Coordinating is far more work than making a check list and crossing off the events as they happen on the big day. With my brides, I start the Day of Coordination work a whole month before she even puts a toe on the aisle. Contact is made to each vendor, contracts are heavily reviewed to know what she is to expect, details DIY or professionally done are listed and checked two, three, four times to ensure everything shows up on the wedding day, a master timeline is made and sent to every vendor so everyone is on the same page while some vendors like the photographer and videographer have more detailed timelines of who to shoot and capture at what time. On the day of coordinators put all the work into action by keeping the flow of the timeline so that every vendor can give you the best service. We all hope for a flawless execution, but we’re working with humans here and mistakes can happen. Experienced coordinators are educated on how to fix many problems that can arise without a moments notice, and I can bet you that your friend did not know or deal with every kink in her big day. Of course she loved planning her day, who doesn’t love to dream up gorgeous details for the most romantic day of your life!? But ladies, trust me when I say planning is not princess like. It is tough work to make every one of those dreams come true for that gorgeous day : )
• Follow Through: This coincides with contracts, but goes much deeper than that. Professional vendors are business owners. Weddings and events are their livelihood. They don’t jeopardize their business by handing you an unsatisfactory product on your wedding day. They do everything in their power to make sure you get the day of your dreams and take great pride in their work. Yes, I know there have been instances when someone blows it, but it is my experience that if a major mishap happens, a vendor will to anything in their power to make it right for you. This doesn’t pertain to “vendors” who just got done planning their wedding and have decided to start their own business and design a logo. I am talking about the respected vendors who own reputable businesses. The best way to know if someone owns a business you can trust is to ask your other vendors. As a planner, I never EVER refer to any Joe who approaches me and asks me to start referring to them just because they own a DJ company. I only refer to professional vendors whom I trust and have had phenomenal experience with. I do that because if you put your trust in me, I want to not only deliver, but continue to keep my business reputation positive. Every business works in this way and won’t risk referring you to any ole person to ensure you have complete satisfaction at the end of the day. If you know without a shadow of a doubt you have a great team of vendors around you, you can rest assured that the follow through will be there on your day in white.

With that, comes our pretty session to look at today. Jennifer and JD were in The Friend Zone on their wedding day. They asked and trusted a friend to take their wedding pictures to save a dime (actually a few since the friend offered the service for free!), but were highly disappointed with the images they received. There was no going back as they couldn’t redo their big day. Jennifer explained, “I was trying to cut corners since it was my 2nd marriage. I had checked around and every photographer I talked to was in excess of $3,500. I really struggled with this decision because I love photography. I thought if I could find someone that would take the pictures, I could edit them. The person that we used was not new to photography, and he had shot weddings before. When we approached him, he was not going to charge us at all because he was a friend of ours. Great!!! Until we were given the jump drive. Major disappointment.”

Jennifer decided to contact Tonya Beaver to do a “re-do” of sorts and have an After the Wedding/Trash the Dress sesh. I am so glad that they now have some gorgeous eye candy to look at and remember how they felt on their big day. Of her second chance at her wedding photography Jennifer said, “To have the opportunity to have our wedding pictures taken again was very emotional and important to me. Even though it was not on our wedding day, Tonya was able to catch moments with me and JD that were absolutely beautiful. When I look at them, I cannot believe that’s me!!! To be able to work with her behind the camera/scenes and to be able to be in front of the camera was an honor. Anyone that thinks cutting corners on their wedding is OK, please don’t.”

The Details: Photography Tonya Beaver Photography

Thanks for checking in! I hope you will highly consider not putting yourself in “The Friend Zone!” If you need some suggestions of vendors we adore, check out our Preferred Vendors List! Don’t see what you are looking for? Email me at megan@thejacksonvillebride.com and I would love to help point you to a vendor who will wow you! Happy Planning!