Fridays with Hillary

Sit back, grab yourself a cold Dr. Pepper, put your flip flops on and enjoy Friday's with Hillary! Starting this week, I am going to be video blogging every Friday and letting you know what is up with Your Day of Fairy Tales and Life in General. I will be presenting planning tips and other wedding related tips! Enjoy!

*Photos Courtesy of McCoy Made and Jennifer Herniak

Real Wedding: Engagement Pictures

I would be lying to you if I said these last 3 months have been easy. In fact, they have been BUSY VERY busy! I have had several weddings, as well as focusing full steam on our wedding which is happening in 31 days! 31 DAYS! When we started this Journey 2 years ago, I had 500+ days to plan our dream wedding. I am down to 4 weeks, 1 month! Hard to believe that in just a short time, I will be someone's wife!

I wanted to take time and share a few of our engagement photos from the ever so talented Mark + Noelle McCoy of McCoy Made out of Franklin. We <3 these two and CAN'T wait to have them capture our wedding day!

So without further ado.. Our engagement pictures.

Like I said, We are really excited to have them be a part of our special day and if you are looking for a WONDERFUL photographer duo, Check out Mark + Noelle!

Hillary
Your Day of Fairy Tales
Nashville Wedding and Special Event Planner

Real Wedding Inspiration: Pink!

I don't know about every other woman or girl, but when I was a little girl, I LOVED Barbie dolls! In fact, I still get a new Holiday Barbie EVERY Christmas! But what I loved infact was the pinkness of the dolls! Everything was pink and all her accessories were pink.  Now what I love is a Bride who utilizes every shade of pink and pulls it off fantastically!

Photos by: Erin Thacker Photography

Flowers by: Flowers By Trish and your day of fairy tales

Look at the variety in these flowers!

The Bride wanted a beautiful floating gerbera daisy arch to be married under!

Beautiful Favor Table Display incorporating varying shades of pink

Beautiful Cocktail table arrangement. Notice the fushia uplighting provided by Nashville Audio Visual

Check us out next week for some more wedding inspiration!

count down til we are married contest

That's right folks, it's time for yet ANOTHER count down contest! We are at 10 months from today until we get married! So excited!



Last month's winner Cassandra won a fabulous dinner and a movie package to Regal Movie Theatres and the Melting Pot! Congratulations Cassandra!

So what is this month's you might ask? Well, another thing that James and I enjoy doing is going to good ol Wal-Mart or Target and Acting like total goofballs!

With that being said, this month's contest if for a $25 gift card from either Wal-Mart or Target.



To enter: Leave us a comment telling us what you and FI would do with your gift certificate and how it would strengthen your relationship. We will randomly select one winner using a randomized method.


(** Entries MUST be posted by 11:59 cst Sunday December 20, 2009 to be eligible. Engaged couples only please.**)

In the mean time, What do you think about this bouquet for a springy outdoor wedding?

Until Next Time,

Hillary

Nashville Wedding Planner: Vendor Feature: McCoy Made Photography

I have had the pleasure over the last 3 months to really get to know Mark and Noelle McCoy of McCoy Made (http://www.mccoymade.com). You might remember them from their previous name of McCoy Studio. Their new name and website are very user friendly and I just love their video blog series "Mondays with the McCoy's." In fact, here is the Monday with the McCoy's that we were featured on!




Here are some questions I asked the McCoy's in our interview!




1. Who are you and what do you do?

We are Mark and Noelle McCoy, of MCCOY MADE. We are a husband and wife photography team who travel the globe doing what they love to do, capturing couples uniting themselves in marriage.

2. What budgets do you work with?

We will try and work with anyone! But, we do have a base starting point that we believe is geared towards the bride who is recession savvy but still wants fabulous imagery. We take on a limited number of weddings per year, therefore ensuring that we work with brides who love our work and who like our personalities!

3. How many weddings have you been involved in?

So far for 2009 we have shot 25 weddings and we will 5 more this year!

4. What is one of your strengths in the industry?

Being a husband/wife team, we like to take pride in the fact that we pay just as much attention to the groom as we do the bride! There will always be two perspectives of the same moments, and we can be in two places at once. We have started several new polices for 20

10 here in our studio, one of our favorites is that we will be scheduling your GALLERY PREMIERE within two weeks of your wedding date! So, everything will be completely edited and ready to go shortly after you return from your honeymoon.

5. What makes you different from other vendors in your category and why should a bride and groom hire you?

The most important difference MCCOY MADE has that no one else has, is us. We take our jobs very seriously, but we love to laugh at ourselves as well. We strive to serve people with our hearts, and keep communication lines open.

Our style is simple but we believe that our images speak volumes. We always take time to get to know our clients so that their gallery can be a personal reflection of who they are. While we cover weddings in a journalistic way, we don’t like to limit ourselves by a “genre” of photography. We are hands off and unobtrusive in our coverage, but we do believe that there is a time for gorgeous casually posed images of the bride and groom and bridal party. We understand that family images are heirlooms that record your family in one of the most important events of your life.

6. What areas of Middle Tennessee do you service?

We serve all of Middle Tennessee, and beyond! We have captured a bride and groom in Italy, and at the latter part of the year will travel to Guatemala to cover a wedding!

7. Describe your favorite wedding or special event you have worked with?

This one is hard. I don’t think we’ve worked with a bride and groom that we didn’t fall in love with! Our favorite part of any wedding, is the people. But, if we had to pick just one, it would be a wedding we shot this past summer on a horse farm. The farm was theirs, and the horse drawn buggy the bride arrived to the outdoor ceremony in, was theirs. They all wore cowboy boots, and the groom wore a Stenson hat. All theirs. They were so true to who they are, not a single detail was a forced replica out of the latest magazine. That it made the entire event special (and more fun to be a part of and capture)!

8. Do you have any money saving tips to offer couples planning a wedding?

Do your homework. Hire a coordinator. One option that we offer, is that a bride can register with us! People can buy gift certificates to be put towards helping the bride and groom purchase their pictures or album after the wedding!

9. One more last piece of wisdom for the couple…

Always interview people. For photography, knowing that you “click” is important (no pun intended!). You want to get along, and feel comfortable, with your photographer, as they will be with you all day long. Always ask to look at sample wedding albums so you can get a feel for what you’re signing up for.

Thanks Guys! If you are looking for a photographer, definitely give Mark and Noelle a call! They are wonderful and funny people and even better photographers!

Nashville Wedding Planner: Vendor Feature: 2duce2 Videography

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting for supper the fabulous Heather and Eugene of 2duce2 videography this week! Now, if when you think wedding videography, you think of an unsteady, handed camcorder from Wal-Mart, think again! Heather and Eugene have a UNIQUE and fascinating approach to something that was once boring and unattractive.

If you think that you can't afford a videographer, think again. Heather and Eugene's prices are reasonable and are very budget friendly compared to other videographers in the area. Plus, their videos are the best I have seen, so why wouldn't you hire them?

Here is a teaser from a wedding they recently videographed. I love how they captured everything from the beginning of the day til the end of the day when you are exiting.




Check out their website at www.2duce2.com