These two Wahoos used their love of The University of Virginia as the inspiration for their wedding day. Think your school colors won’t work? If Blue and Orange can look good together, anything is possible with the right help!

And boy do I have love for their cakes!

http://www.cakelove.com/

Any time you come across a Cake Love bakery go in and buy a cupcake or a slice of cake and experience the excellence for yourself. If you want your wedding guests to remember the cake you served them, get it from Cake Love.  End of story.

Jason and Tammy Keefer get all the credit for these glorious wedding photos. They were the perfect match for Amanda’s wedding day. I can’t imagine her wedding without them! Amanda was such a beautiful bride – inside and out. She is one of my best friends and I am so incredibly happy for her and Cale. Here are some of my favorite details from the wedding day:

I love this florist! Mary Jane Tropea does some of the prettiest work out there.  I am privileged enough to get to work with them for at least 2 weddings this spring. I will be sure to post pictures of her bouquets and arrangements! For now, check out the website: Bella Fiore

More often than not your DJ will ask for your insight into the reception playlist. You can at least come up with a “Must Haves” list and a “Do Not Play” list. Just in case you need some help allow me to suggest a few songs to add to your “Do Not Play” list:

“Irreplaceable” by Beyonce

“Since You’ve Been Gone/Already Gone/Breakaway/Walk Away” by Kelly Clarkson, you get the point

“Me and Mrs. Jones” by Micheal Bubble or others

“Bad Romance” by Lady GaGa

“Whatcha Say” by Jason Derulo

“3″ by Britney Spears

and so on…

If you ask why, simply google the lyrics to any one of those songs. You’ll get the point. I’ve heard nearly all of those songs  played at various wedding receptions and I think keeping a positive view of love and romance is the best way to go during a wedding. I’m just saying…

Ruth and Barlow got married at Grace Episcopal Church in Keswick, VA and the reception was held at the Keswick Hunt Club. Though unbearably cold outside, the wedding was absolutely gorgeous! Here are some details from the day:

Check out photographer Matt Eich’s wedding website for some amazing images of the wedding day!

Once you’re engaged, creating a personalized wedding website is a great way to communicate wedding information to guests quickly and efficiently. You get to have fun and upload photos, tell your engagement story, talk about your bridesmaids, create an online guestbook and much more. There are many useful sources available to build your site on:

TheKnot.com

MyWedding.com

WedOrama.com

My newly engaged sister just created one for her June 2010 wedding. Check it out here! Be practical – once you have the information gathered, add hotel contact numbers, travel directions, wedding attire, the weekend’s events, and local attractions. Have fun with it! It’s a great tool to use when planning a large wedding.

1. You will go over budget. Don’t be naive about the money it will take to make your wedding happen. Just count on going over. I see it happen every time.

2. Think of an upside down bell-curve: expect the beginning of your planning to be hectic, stressful,  and full of decision making. Then there will be a lull in planning followed by a crazy, stressful 1 month count down. Plan on it. (Also hire a wedding coordinator to help manage it.)

3. You will have trouble creating, cutting down and finalizing your guest list. Don’t break up with your fiance over this – it can be worked out!

4. You will have some guests who do not return their response cards and make it hard for you to chase them down by phone.

5. Your groomsmen will take their sweet time to complete their tux rentals.

6. Not everything will turn out exactly how you envisioned it – sometimes better, sometimes not as great.

7.  At the end of the wedding day, you will be married and that is what matters most!

Buying “off the registry” is a gamble.  Most engaged couples these days assume that guests will check out their gift registry. Registries are a great tool to see what the couple really needs and wants for their new life together. I’m sure we’ve all heard our mothers talking about how they received 4 waffle irons, 6 crockpots, 12 gravy boats, 4000 coasters but no silverware. People love to give gifts that they are sure the couple will need. There’s usually nothing wrong with purchasing a gift that is not on a registry but when the registries are available try and use them.

Registries aren’t fool proof though. I registered for one 9×13 Pyrex baking dish and received 8 of them! Sometimes people forget to take the purchased items off the registry. Luckily most stores are great with exchanges and returns. We were just visiting with some friends of our who got married this summer and were laughing about their 3 different, everyday salt and pepper shakers. They had only registered for one type, but a couple guests just wanted to be sure they didn’t go without seasoning their meals! When in doubt, use the registry.

Seriously ask yourself this question. Are all the planning, details, glitter and glamor for you and your soon-to-be spouse or is it for everyone invited who witnesses your wedding day? I think it’s for the guests.

Obviously, I believe that the actual covenant that takes place on your wedding day is for the bride and groom alone and, yes, the wedding is all about the couple. But what is the point of dressing up a table, creating place cards, printing programs, or hiring a DJ if the wedding celebration is for you? You don’t need to be reminded of the order of service or where each guest eats dinner. We make weddings beautiful for our guests in order that they might see how excited we are to be sharing with them in our most special day.

If a wedding celebration is for the guests, then think about how you can make the experience the best for your guests. This means taking time to plan out the details, hire a coordinator to keep the flow of things going, use real dishes instead of paper products, if it’s a hot summer day provide AC and bug spray, if it’s cold then provide a heated room, hire a caterer who provides the clean-up service. Each and every decision made to improve your invited guests’ experiences will not be forgotten.

The best weddings are the ones where guests walk away thinking, “What a wonderful time we just had. I’m glad we were invited to this wedding.”