The DIY bride’s first priority when planning her wedding was that she wanted it to represent she and Chris as a couple. They didn’t want to be anyone but themselves. Marianne designed and made the invitations, as well as the centerpieces for the ceremony and reception. Her second priority was hiring an amazing wedding photographer, which they found in McCoy Made.

Fresh by Carry Ann designed the wedding flowers. The bride carried a bouquet of ivory hydrangeas, reneculas, lisianthus, and white feathers while the groom and groomsmen wore red roses.

The couple was married on June 26^th, 2010 in a black-and-white ceremony at the Greenvale Community Center in Milton, Tenn. Marianne’s grandmother attended the schoolhouse that used to stand on the property, so the spot is very special to the bride’s family.

The couple’s clean red, black, and white color palate put a modern and edgy twist on the otherwise traditional vintage- inspired wedding. Marianne wore vintage jewelry and chose a wedding dress that reminded her of her late mother’s gown.

The reception took place in a tented area not far from the ceremony site. Guests enjoyed a traditional southern meal of pulled barbecue, cornbread, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, and sweet tea of course. Ribbons of Chocolate catered the event. Instead of choosing a conventional tiered wedding cake, the couple had an 8” round strawberry cake made for cutting and twelve dozen cupcakes for guests to enjoy. Simply Sweet Treats made the delicious cake and cupcakes.

Marianne and Chris are both HUGE Nashville Predators fans, so they had a Predators cake made for Chris. Creative Cakes by Melanie designed the logo groom’s cake.

Congratulations to Marianne and Chris Mandrell!

Simply Stunning Events
Nashville Wedding Planner

Why did you choose to work in weddings/events? How did you get started?

I love weddings.  I loved weddings before I started photographing them.  I think it’s so wonderful to be a part of such a happy occasion for a couple and their families. I actually got started photographing wedding after my own.  I started working with my wedding photographer and just fell in love with it.

How would you describe your style/product?

My favorite photos that have a very natural, relaxed look.  I want the the emotion of the day to show through in the images.

What separates you from other Nashville area vendors?

Something I always strive to do is communicate well with my wedding couples.  Great customer service is something I always strive to give  my couples.

What would be doing if you did not work in weddings?

If I didn’t work in weddings, I would still be working in photography. I also photograph families & children really enjoy doing that.  Having started working in photography as my second career, I can’t imagine going back to anything that didn’t include it.

Favorite TV show and why?

I love tv shows that make me laugh, so right now, my favorite is Parks  & Recreation.  I love all the characters, especially Ron Swanson.  He is awesome.

Funniest moment you’ve ever witnessed at a wedding?

At a reception last year the groom and one of his good friends danced and lip synced to a song (singing back and forth to each other).  It all appeared to be very choreographed, but I found out it wasn’t.  It was great, seemed like they’d been practicing for years!

What advice would you give to brides on choosing a photographer? 

Make sure you choose a quality photographer, someone with experience doing weddings and someone you can trust these once in a lifetime images with.  Make sure that you select someone who meshes well with your personality and someone who will help you relax and will do a great job for you on your wedding day.

What advice would you give to brides on the wedding planning process in general?

I know this is a wedding planner blog, but honestly, you need to get a wedding planner.  I’m not kidding, we had one when we got married and I’m so glad we did!  It is just so helpful to have someone in the planning process with you. The other thing I would say is to try to not spend time stressing over things that really won’t make a huge difference.  It all seems really important while planning, but I would suggest you really try to focus on a few things that are really important to you instead of trying to do tons and tons of things – another area where a wedding planner can help you!

Thanks so much for sharing with us Mandy! To learn more you can visit Mandy Whitley’s website, or follow her on twitter!

Simply Stunning Events
Nashville Wedding Planner

High school sweethearts Katie and Jim were married December 18, 2010 at Scarritt-Bennett in a classy winter white ceremony. The bride’s favorite movie is Breakfast at Tiffany’s, so she wanted to go with an old Hollywood glam vibe with a few holiday touches here and there. She kept a wintry color scheme of blacks, ivories, whites, and silvery glitters.

The bride carried a bouquet by Brocade Designs of white peonies, white rannunculas, silver boronia, and tulips with crystal accents. The flowergirls carried pomanders of white cushion mums and wore crowns of white spray roses, silver boronia and crystal accents. The ceremony was decorated with white flowers and dozens of candles that set a romantic and enchanting mood for a perfect holiday wedding.

The stunning photos were done by Dove Wedding Photography. Check out the glamorous wedding couple below!

The reception at the Union Station Hotel was covered with silver glitter dust that resembled the look of freshly fallen snow. Guests danced the night away and enjoyed a delicious edible martini bar catered by the hotel. Patty Cakes provided both a gorgeous six-tired ivory wedding cake and a groom’s cake fashioned after the University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium. After the last song, the couple was whisked away in a vintage car as true Hollywood royalty.

Congratulations Katie and Jim!  You are truly a stunning couple!

Vendors:

Simply Stunning Events
Nashville Wedding Planner

Wedding 911: How a Professional Wedding Planner Puts Out Fires Small and Large

Simply Stunning Events
Nashville Wedding Planner

Photographer David Molnar captured stunning images of the couple, their wedding party, and guests throughout the day. The fall leaves were a gorgeous backdrop! See what I mean below!

3^rd Avenue South was turned into a modern yet classy space for the couple and their guests to enjoy a night of good food and dancing. The bride used her own chandeliers that were hung in the space while Blue Nova added the elegant white draping. Nashville Event Lighting gave the space a fun romantic feel.

The Justin Caldwell band kept guest on the dance floor (and at the bar) for the entire night playing jazz meets rock meets pop tunes perfect for dancing. The bride and groom share a love for music and both work in the industry, so having a great band was important to them.

After a whirlwind day, the fun-loving couple took off and began their life together. It was great working with you!

Wedding Vendors:

Planning and Coordination: Simply Stunning Events
Baker: Publix
Beauty: Amy Lynn Larwig
Ceremony Site: St. Matthew’s Catholic Church
Band: Justin Caldwell Band
Florist: Brocade Designs
Lighting: Nashville Event Lighting
Photographer: David Molnar Photography
Reception Site: aVenue
Rentals: Connie Duglin Linens, Music City Tents and Events, Blue Nova Desigs
Videographer: David Hamby and Andy Adrian

Simply Stunning Events
Nashville Wedding Planning

Krystal Mann from Mint and Sage Photography braved the rain and captured the mood of Lesli and John’s wedding perfectly. Be sure to check out some of the breathtaking photos she took of the couple below.

The bride and groom kept things simple for the ceremony with only two in their wedding party. The matron of honor was one of the bride’s good friends while the best man was John’s grandfather. The colors were simple and clean: soft ivories, pinks, and taupes to accent the already colorful landscape. The bride carried a bouquet by Rhonda Patton Designs of white polo roses, and the matron of honor carried a bundle of white roses, hydrangeas, and orchids mixed with a few peach garden roses.

After the ceremony, guests headed to the protection of the tent across the yard for good food and dancing. Bar-B-Cutie catered the event while The Wooten Brothers kept jazz tunes playing all evening long. A friend of the couple made the delicious garden-themed wedding cake.

Congratulation to the gorgeous couple! It was a joy to work with you!

 
Vendors:
Wedding Planner: Simply Stunning Events
Florist: Rhonda Patton Designs
Lighting: Nashville Event Lighting
Officiant: Ralph Griggs
Photography: Krystal Mann
Rentals: Music City Tents and Events
Bartending: Hamilton Bartending Services
Transportation: Matchless Limousine Service
Band: The Wooten Brothers
Catering: Bar-B-Cutie

Simply Stunning Events
Nashville Wedding Planner

Photographer Erin Lee from The Collection did a great job capturing Kristie and John’s special moments and kept the bridal party relaxed and laughing all day. Check out her work below!

Kristie and John’s elegant Catholic ceremony needed little decor as the venue simply spoke for itself. The bride carried a bouquet of fresh phalaenopsis orchids while the bridesmaids carried similarly colored bouquets of white denrobium orchids and yellow garden roses that complimented their chic dark dresses and bold jewelry.

After the reception, the guests headed to the Hermitage Hotel for dinner, drinks, and dancing. The hotel also catered the event and offered a delicious-looking New York strip, roasted chicken, or, for vegetarian guests, traditional gnocci as the main entree. The bar was open at guests convenience offering an assortment of mixed drinks, beers, wines, and the Hermitage Hotel’s own Chardonnay and Merlot. Guests loosened up and danced for six hours to turn-table mixed beats.

The decor was again clean and simple with yellow and white centerpieces varying from glass vessels full of lemons and votive candles to white crsythemums and orchids. Kristie included a candy bar at her reception that included lemon heads, yellows gumballs, and tropical Twizzlers. Instead of a traditional wedding cake, Kristie and John opted for cupcakes by Naticakes in five different flavors: Devil’s Food, Vanilla Bean, Opera Cake, Lemon, and Banana Split.

Kristie saw a topiary she really loved on Martha Stewart Weddings and decided she had to have one of her own! She worked with florist, Rhonda Patton Designs to create this one to included her signature yellow with lemons and decorated her place card table with it.

Congratulations to John and Kristie Christie!

Wedding Vendors:

Wedding Coordination: Simply Stunning Events

Photography: The Collection

Videographer: Focal Point

Ceremony Venue: Cathedral of the Incarnation

Reception Venue and Catering: The Hermitage Hotel

Floral Design: Rhonda Patton Designs

Cake: Naticakes

DJ: Beats and Bells

Make-Up and Hair: Sherita Leslie

Simply Stunning Events
Nashville Wedding Planner

The couple was very easy going and really looking for someone to help make their wedding day run smoothly. Jennifer didn’t want too much of the traditional wedding features but still wanted to savor the day and get the most out of it. They were adorable together and really a great fit.

Photographer Jennifer Creed was always on top of things and great to work with. Check out some of her work from Jennifer and Jon’s special day!

Jennifer and Jon had an elegant outdoor ceremony in a beautiful garden surrounded by trees. They were blessed with the perfect weather for their Autumn-inspired wedding. Although the guests saw the actual ceremony set up, we waited until the grand entrance to turn down the barn lights and turn on the string lights. It created more of a dramatic feel.The bride carried a bouquet of an eclectic mix of colors with flowers including purple dahlia, orange unique roses, white stock, and Monte Carlo asters.

After the wedding ceremony, the guests headed inside Loveless Barn for dinner and a night of dancing. Tomkats Catering provided a delicious Southern meal complete with fried green tomatoes, grits cake, pork loin, mac ‘n’ cheese and, of course, Loveless Café’s world famous buttermilk biscuits and homemade preserves. Josh Rose of Cosmo Creations kept the party alive with four hours of crowd-pleasers while the guests enjoyed taking pictures in the photo booth.

The wedding cake was a two-tiered square vanilla and chocolate cake that was a recreation of the cake Jennifer’s parents had on their wedding day. The couple was married on the anniversary of the bride’s parents, so this was their way of honoring them on their special day. The cake was really simple and classy, and everyone complimented it. The bride and groom rubber ducks were Jennifer and Jon’s way of bringing their feel to the cake.

The couple exited beneath a glow of sparklers to end their spectacular day. Congratulations to you both!

Wedding Vendors:

Wedding Coordination: Simply Stunning Events
Photography: Jennifer Creed
Ceremony and Reception Venue: Loveless Barn
Officiant: Ralph Griggs
Floral Design: Ingrid Derrickson
Catering: Tomkats
Cake: Publix
DJ: Cosmo Creations
Make-Up and Hair: Trim Classic Barber & Legendary Beauty
Wedding Dress: Arzelle’s
Men’s Attire: Street Tuxedo
Transportation: Nashville Wedding Car

Big thank you to Photographer Jennifer Creed for shooting and providing such stunning images!

Simply Stunning Events
Nashville Wedding Planner

I write a lot about finding the right photographer and videographer for you and how important it is to book vendors whose work you love, whose personalities you love, and that fit in your budget. A trend I’ve noticed recently is that couples are booking the photographers and videographers they love, but booking packages with less hours in order to stay within their budget. While this may seem brilliant, very few couples really examine the potential length of their wedding day and just think “oh we’ll make it fit somehow”. Then when the day comes to create the timeline with their wedding coordinator, everyone realizes that they don’t have nearly as many hours as they need and are suddenly faced with an unexpected additional expense. And that’s not cool. So I’ve put together a few guidelines to consider when choosing how many hours to book.

First let me point out one common misconception. The number of hours in the package is NOT equal to shooting hours. The clock starts ticking as soon as the vendor arrives at the first shooting location (typically where the bride or groom is getting ready) and runs continuously from that point on. So the more locations you have on your wedding day, and travel time between the different locations, the more time is going to be eaten out of those hours. That’s something to think about when you’re planning to book ceremony and reception venues that are 45 minutes apart (and then decide to get ready in a completely different location on top of that). Just something to keep in mind.

So how many hours should you book? Personally, I feel that 7-8 hours is sufficient for a typical wedding day that includes some getting ready photos, 2 hours of portraits, a 30 minute ceremony, and 3-4 hour reception in which all locations are within reasonable distances from each other (10-20 minutes). In this case the photographers and videographers typically won’t stay for the full reception, instead they will only stay until the cake has been cut (or for the bouquet and garter toss as long as they aren’t scheduled too late in the evening) so they will actually only shoot about 2-3 hours of the reception. If you aren’t planning on a grand exit, this usually works out great!

Now if you are planning on a grand exit from the reception and want photos and video of it, plan on 9-10 hours of coverage time! (Yes, I put that in bold for emphasis). Same goes for if there will be a lot of travel time between locations on the wedding day. That may seem like a lot, but you’d be amazed at how quickly the time flies and how long a wedding day truly lasts. To give some perspective, my team and I begin our wedding days by checking in on the bride and/or groom while they are getting ready (so we get there about 30 minutes before the photographers and videographers do) and then stay until tear down is complete at the end of the reception, and that usually amounts to about a 13-14 hour day.

Now you might be wondering about those 5-6 hour packages that some vendors offer, what are those for? Really I would only say that 5-6 hours of coverage is enough on a wedding day if you have a smaller, more intimate wedding in which the ceremony, reception, and getting ready locations are all at the same venue and you’re fine with having a shorter reception (or don’t need the vendors to stay for more than half of it). There are some couples for which this type of package is fine, but the majority of couples I work with really need to plan on more hours.

One last word for all the vendors out there. Please, please, please be honest with couples regarding the number of hours they need before they book you. Do not try and convince them that they should book a smaller package just because it’s in their budget, when you know that they’ll probably have to add hours later on, just so you can make the sale. That’s unethical. If they really need 8 hours of coverage and all they can afford is your 5 hour package, please point them in direction of a more affordable photographer for them. It’s the right thing to do.

I hope this helps in deciding how many hours you’ll need for your wedding photography and videography!

Simply Stunning Events
Nashville Wedding Planner

We worked over the course of a year with Yael and her mother, Judy, to create a classic, clean wedding using shades of purple, light green, and white. We were so excited to work with Chris & Adrienne Scott Photographers once again, who always take amazing photos but also keep the couple relaxed and laughing throughout the wedding day. Take a peak!

Amazingly, we did get about 10 minutes of sunshine that day at which point everyone scrambled to get outside for a few brief photos before the rain returned.

Brocade Designs did a beautiful job with all of the floral elements. The bride’s bouquet was comprised of ivory hydrangea, vendela roses, white calla lilies, and lots of white peony and white phalaenopsis orchids. The bridesmaids carried bouquets of purple hydrangea and green cymbidium orchids. The boutonnieres were mini purple calla lilies. Hillary also created a beautiful huppah which was draped in white organza then embellished with white dendrobium orchids, white roses, and green ivy. The centerpieces were a mix of high and low with half of the tables topped with low bowls of mounded purple hydrangea and arching white tulips and lily grass. The other half of the tables were topped with tall pilsner vases submerged with white cymbidium orchids, and then topped with white hydrangea, white roses, and long stemmed calla lilies with lily grass.

After the ceremony, the guests all headed to the reception room for dinner and dancing (and there was LOTS of dancing!). The wedding cake was a beautiful 4 tiered round cake with purple sugar flowers and vanilla buttercream created by Dulce Desserts.

Congratulations to the beautiful couple! It was a spectacular day!

Wedding Vendors
Planning & Coordination: Simply Stunning Events
Photography: Chris & Adrienne Scott Photographers
Ceremony & Reception Venue: Congregation Micah
Floral Design: Brocade Designs
Catering: The Daily Dish
Cake: Dulce Desserts
Rentals: Music City Tents & Events
Linens: Connie Duglin
Band: The Respectables
Paper Goods: Social Graces
Make-Up & Hair: Amy Lynn Larwig
Attire: The Bride Room
Transportation: Matchless Limousine

Simply Stunning Events
Nashville Wedding Planning