Real Nashville Wedding: Jennifer and Drew- Mt. Juliet, TN

Yes!I am alive and kicking over here in Weddingland! I am so excited to FINALLY be able to be blogging some of our weddings from the fall!

First on the list in Jennifer and Drew's Gorgeous October 9 wedding at Cedar Creek Yacht Club in Mt. Juliet, TN. Jennifer is the Wedding Designer for Scott Graham Florals out of Lebanon, so you can bet there were LOTS of details!

Jennifer and Drew: It was an absolute joy to work with you on making your dream day run smoothly.

Vendors:

Month of Coordinator: Your Day of Fairy Tales
Photographer: Chris and Adrienne Scott
Flowers: Scott Graham Flowers
Dress: Faccio Bridal
Venue, Catering and Linens: Cedar Creek Yacht Club
Cake: Signature Cakes by Vicki
Paper: Designs in Paper

Jennifer and Drew worked on the road 9 months out of the year while they were planning and they were able to find this jewel of a guest book while out on the road.

Coming up next: Mia and Rafael's spiritual vow renewal!

Have a great week!

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

It's Almost here! How to stay calm during this hectic last few days!

I really cannot believe that it's almost here!

  We have 10 Days until our wedding! 

Source

It seems like just yesterday that we got engaged, but in reality it's been 2 years! My family will start arriving Monday and to be honest, I am ready for it just to be over! The last few weeks have been extremely crazy and hectic and yes, I will admit, there was a point in which last week, I was ready to call it off! But the last week or so, people can't get over how calm, cool and collected I appear! 

Here is how I have stayed calm the last few weeks:

1. Breathing

(source)

 Every time I start to get anxious or nervous, I close my eyes and start breathing big deep breaths! I probably look absolutely ridiculous doing it, but hey! It has helped me through some difficult ones the last week (ie, my mom's veil not matching my dress, my shoes not being ordered when I ordered them a month ago, etc)

2. AC DC

Ahhh.. My favorite band of all times! These guys can help ease the stress by rolling down the window's and blasting it as loud as your radio can take it!

3. And last...

Ice cream from Sonic with this guy! This is my 95lb lab Rudy! Isn't he the cutest! Best of all, he doesn't talk back about any of my ridiculous ideas and actually thinks they are great as long as he gets his Ice cream and you pet him! :)

Have a Great Week!! 

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

Changing wedding plans

Have you ever had an uneasy feeling about something and knew it wouldn't work? Have you wanted to prove yourself right that it would be the way you thought it would be! I have been that bride this week.

When we first made our wedding guest list, I thought we MIGHT be doing good to have 100 people show up. Now let me tell you, this is before my mom and grandma got wind of my plans for a semi small wedding. Out guest list currently stands at 160 invites. Yes you read that correct. We are send out 160 invites. So let's do the math.

160 invites x at minimum 2 people per invite= a whopping 320 people!!!

Now the rule is to account for approximately 75-80% of your guests. The percentage goes down if a good majority is from out of town. Well from talking to family, that percentage ain't gonna go down! CRAP! When i figured on a decreased 60% i still come up with a 192 guest list!! So what do I do? I am already freaking out about the size of our venue and now we are talking possibly adding another 100 people! ( side note: the cutting of the guest list just isn't gonna cut it because most of them are unfortunately people James and I forgot to add in the first place.)

So what is my plan b? Our original plan A.


Our church is a little white church in the middle of some fields with cows grazing around. When we first were planning, we decided to just go the tent route and have it right there together. Well... The July heat won and we eventually moved the wedding to October. We found a place we loved in town that was relativley inexpensive compared to the pricey tent I had been quoted. But as I previously stated, it only holds 100 people and our guest list is 175.



So here we are two months before the wedding, two weeks before invites need to go out, and I am dealing with a reception venue change. It will all be worth it to have peace of mind October 16 that all our guests will have a place to enjoy their meal.

Have you had to change anything major when you got down to the wedding wire??


Hillary
Nashville Wedding and Event Planner

The most important part of your wedding day: The ceremony

The flowers. The cake. The uplighting. Weddings have gotten away from what really matters and moved more towards the superficial of what is "expected at weddings."

 Source

    I'll be the first to admit to you, that I am (or was) the same kind of bride. I work in the wedding industry. I research wedding trends A LOT and I read A LOT of blogs. But today, I had a revelation. It's not just about the whole wedding. It's about those 10-15 minutes that most people just want to get through so they can get to the party.

      Brides! This is the most important 10-15 minutes of your life and you are trying to rush it! Savor this moment with your one true love. Does it matter if the aisle runner is really straight or if the flower girl makes a fuss? No, what matters at the end of those 10-15 minutes is that you and your now husband are married. savor the moment. Look in each other's eyes. You will never have a wedding day with each other.

   I had every intention of turning this into a planning your wedding ceremony post, but after reading a blog post from Lara Casey, I am going to go transparent and just put it all out there. I met with one of my brides today and I have to tell you, she truly is a blessing sent from above. I rarely put my spirituality out in the open, just because as a planner and maybe a future educator, I want to appear transparent and open to all religions and types of ceremonies. I am still that same planner.
    My faith is strong. Always has been always will be. In the last year since I graduated college, my faith has definitely been tested. I never in all my dreams imagined that I would not have a "9-5" job after a year. Never imagined that God would truly bless me with some of the best clients and some clients who would test me as a coordinator and planner. "For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 NLT.

My bride today asked if we could have prayer before we left. Okay. Fine. Great! Man. Talk about an unexpected 10 minute prayer making such an important impact on you. I have been thinking about who I am as a planner, who my target bride is and what it is I want out of life since I left Mt. Juliet today. I want to be the type of planner who serves brides that care more about the ceremony than they do getting drunk and wanting the most important 15 minutes of their live to fly by so they can hit the bar. I want to be a servant to my clients and serve them, but not be taken advantage of. I want to grow relationships with my clients and form friendships that last well beyond their wedding planning days. I am tired of the craigslist bride who takes advantage of you for your Month of Coordination or a bride who tries to wheasel every service out of you for full planning of $2000. I want to make a difference and I want to put God first in everything I do, even my wedding planning business. "I can do all things through Christ who Strengthens me." Philippians 4:13.

A sermon that the pastor who is marrying us preached a few years ago sticks with me every day. The scripture comes from James 4:13-16.

 ¹³ Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” ¹⁴ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. ¹⁵ What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil."

We don't know where our lives will be a year from now, let alone tomorrow. Make the most out of what you have now and make things happen while you have the time! I am ready to make things happen!

Engaged since 2008, but why 2010 to get married?- 4 months to go.

To give you a little background, James and I got engaged on December 12, 2008.  I was still in college and attempting to finish in 3 years. To view our entire engagement story visit here...Clarksville Brides: Hillary and James

But why 2010 to get married when I could have easily planned our wedding in a year? Here is why. 2010 has been an exceptionally busy, but exciting year in the Capes household.  In April, we celebrated my grandparent's 50th anniversary. This event was truly special and celebrated what I consider to be the essence of making a marriage last and true love.

(Circa 1960)

Here are some pictures from their event:

Our family is super talented so everything was completed by us for the event! My sister, Courtney, took the photos, my grandmother made her own cake and catered the event and my mom and aunt, Sonja, did the flowers!

 Yesterday, we celebrated my mom and dad's 25th anniversary. A wonderful surprise celebration was held at my mom's office suite here in Charlotte!

(Circa 1985)

Today is their real anniversary and also the anniversary of the day we moved to Tennessee 15 years ago from Illinois on their 10th wedding anniversary!

So why 2010? We believe that with having these VERY special events in 2010 resulting in long lasting marriage is an omen that ours will be a long lasting wedding as well! 

Why did you pick your wedding date?