Make Your Wedding Uniquely Yours

My biggest piece of advice (besides hire a wedding planner) is to make your wedding yours! If you want to ditch a tradition, or all of them for that matter, do it! For example - I definitely got some looks when I told a few people that we decided to do online RSVP’s, but I’m SO glad we did it! It kept count for me, saved on paper and postage, and encouraged everyone to look at the wedding website I spent so long on - haha. If you followed my wedding journey you’ll know that I DIY’d A LOT and that alone gave my wedding a ton of personal touches, but we didn’t stop there!

All of my vendors and links are at the bottom of this post.

Style

Pick the look that reflects YOU! I opted for a strapless dress and paired it with some big awesome earrings that I ordered from an etsy seller based in India. I didn’t go with a veil, I decided to wear my dress the whole time instead of changing into a dancing dress, I added a custom faux leather jacket at night, and I changed from my sparkly heels into wedged sneakers for comfort after the ceremony. My makeup was very glam and featured glitter on my eyes, big lashes, and a red lip. My hair fell IMMEDIATELY because of the humid rainy weather, but I opted for a sparkly hair piece, wavy hair (rip, lol), and extensions for a fuller and longer look. Zach chose a paisley tux jacket and he and all of his guys wore skeleton Grateful Dead socks as a nod to Zach’s favorite band and the fact that we were getting married the weekend before Halloween.

Ceremony

The focal point of our ceremony as you walked in was the beautiful geometric arch that Zach’s dad made for us. It started with a Pinterest photo that I showed him, and he created my vision perfectly. Zach and I will be using it in some way in our new house that is currently being built (ahh so cool!). During the ceremony we each stood by 5 girls and 5 guys, I had two maids of honor and Zach didn’t choose a best man because he didn’t want to rate his friends, haha. Zach and I laid out our ceremony word for word with the help of our officiant. My biggest request to Zach was that our vows be personal and that we read them out loud (don’t forget to hire a DJ that will mic you so that your guests can hear you). We decided on five individual vows that started with “I promise” where we swapped back and forth with personal banter that was secret to each other until that moment, and ended on “I promise to always be your best friend” and “I promise to always be your best friend, too.” Our ceremony also included a rose ceremony that thanked our parents and ended with us presenting a rose to each of them. The venue also featured several of the signs that I DIY’d including welcome, seating chart, order of events, drink menu and more.

Reception

We knew we wanted time for photos after the ceremony so we entertained our guests with a cocktail hour complete with a digital photobooth featuring a DIY where we made big heads of our dogs Sweetpea and Loki to use as props, passed hors d'oeuvres that included options for everyones dietary needs (a big reflection of Zach since he is vegan), alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks with custom '“Drunk in Love” koozies, and a playlist that Zach made himself! (We would have also had cornhole had it not rained). Our guest tables were lined with floating candles that I sourced and planned, numbered with another simple DIY that Zach and I did with dried flowers, and each table had crayons and a coloring sheet of our dogs Sweetpea and Loki that I had custom made by an illustrator on Etsy. We did our grand entrance to “Beastie Boys - Fight for Your Right to Party” where I debuted my custom leather jacket that I DIY’d days before the wedding with my new last name on the back - it was awesome! Zach also created another playlist for dinner where we snuck away to the greenhouse on the property and had a private dinner with just the two of us featuring a gorgeous table setting from Prissy Plate Company and Stem’s Atlanta. I highly recommend doing this! It was quiet, we talked, enjoyed the food, and could hear Zach’s playlist in the distance - so magical. Speaking of food, we hired a caterer that knew how to make delicious vegan food! We opted for a few non-vegan options, too - but really made a point to create a buffet that reflected our personal tastes. When it was time to cut the cake, we chose five cupcake flavors (2 vegan options and 3 non-vegan options) that sat under another smaller arch also built by Zach’s dad. Besides the formal dances, we chose to only play upbeat music for the entire night complete with bubble guns on the dance floor and my bridesmaids surprising me with hilarious animal heads. We ended our night with a sparkler send off and “pretended” to leave in one of Zach’s dads old cars (we hired a car to actually take us home though as we had been drinking).

What personal touches did you add/want to add to your wedding? Leave them in the comments below :)

My Dress: Wedding Angels in Roswell, GA (if you get alterations make sure you request Karan)
Zachs Suit: Savvi Formalwear
Bridesmaids Dresses: Etsy
Groomsmen Grateful Dead Socks: Stance via Amazon
My Earrings: Etsy
My Ceremony Heels: Asos
My Reception Wedge Sneakers: Bebe Hi-Tops
Hair: My Hair: (Maxine from Arrow Salon) + Bridesmaids and Mothers Hair: Meg Me Beautiful
Makeup: Meg Me Beautiful
Hair Extensions: Laced Hair
Bouquet and Arch flowers: Venue’s personal florist
Formal Place Settings: Prissy Plate Company
Private Dinner Flowers: Heather with Stem’s Atlanta
Hand Lettered Place Cards and Tiles: Haley at Wilde Flower Paper Co
Pampas Grass: Sourced from Cut Flower Wholesale in Atlanta, GA
Venue: West Milford Farm in Cumming, GA
Photographer: Diamond Eyes
Photobooth: Smilebooth
Videographer: LT Photo + Film
Illustrator for coloring page: Etsy
Custom Koozies: Etsy
Catering: Penni with Flavorful Events
Cupcakes: Splat

TRAVEL: A WEEKEND GUIDE TO AUGUSTA, GA

Zach and I had the pleasure of being invited to Augusta, GAby the Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau team for a weekend trip a few weeks ago and I Insta-storied the whole thing. Incase you missed it, or are planning a trip there yourself, I figured a blog would be a good choice to reference so you can see what we got in to. If you don’t know, Augusta is a small city about 2.5hrs away from where we live in the suburbs of Atlanta so it was an easy drive to get there, and we brought the dogs along to make it a nice family getaway. I’m going to break up what we did in sections: lodging, activities, and food, but feel free to visit the official Augusta, GA website to see a lot more options!

LODGING:

We stayed at the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center. This hotel is right in the middle of Downtown on the Savannah River. The staff was nice, the room was very modern and clean - plus, we had a killer view. In addition, the hotel lobby is really nice, it features a coffee shop and restaurant, they have a pool, and they are pet-friendly!

ACTIVITIES:

We did various activities, and changed up our itinerary, because it was raining the day we got there. I’ll categorize everything by indoor and outdoor in case this happens to you as well.

OUTDOOR:

• Stroll along the Riverwalk : we did this at sunrise and took the dogs for a walk since it was literally right outside of our hotel. Plus, it was a gorgeous view.

• Kayaking and Stand Up Paddle Boarding at Betty’s Branch with Outdoor Augusta : this was on our list of things to do but because of the weather we didn’t make it.

• Phinizy Swamp Nature Park : this was about a 15min drive from the hotel and we took the dogs there for a nice walk. You get to see the swamp waters, they have a kids playground, and really easy walking trails.

• The Carolina Georgia Fair : this one is a bit more seasonal since I believe it is only there in October, but we went on a whim and had a good time. Plus, who doesn’t love a good ole funnel cake?

INDOOR:

• Augusta Candle Co - This place was awesome. You smell A TON of scents, write down your favorites, pick out a candle container, and go to the bar area where someone helps you create your own custom scented candle. It takes about 2 hours for the candle to harden so we ate lunch and killed time before we picked them up.

• Fitness classes - again, we didn’t get to go, but it was recommended that I check out Oxygen Fitness Studio. They offer: yoga, pilates, spin, barre, cross-training, and HIIT classes.

• Shopping (sort-of) - to be honest we didn’t really shop, but I got several messages on Instagram saying that I should check out Final Cut. It’s an “Anthropology/Free People Outlet” from what I understand. The place is huge and smells kind of funny, but if you’re into funky furniture and sifting through boxes of clothes - it might be your jam.

FOOD:

• Humanitree House: we got really, really delicious cold-pressed juice and smoothie bowls. It’s all vegan, organic, and local. The place is super eclectic with art everywhere, and they even have a few vendors set up selling items and more food.

• The Southern Salad: another really tasty spot with plenty of healthy options. Zach ordered the Grain Burrito Bowl and I had Toast + Lox. The also have salads, smoothies, more grain bowls, more toast options, snacks, and desserts.

• Sole: This was our dinner spot and I highly recommend sitting outside. They have strings lights, heaters, and you can hear the extremely varied, yet awesome, music choices. This place isn’t very vegan friendly so Zach managed with a veggie roll and edamame, but if you’re into sushi and tapas they have you covered! I ordered a few of the speciality rolls and one of their signature cocktails. The service was also really great!

• New Moon Cafe: This place was an awesome breakfast spot, but they serve lunch as well. They offer vegan, gluten free, and Keto options! They were quite busy when we got there, but the food came out quick. Zach got the avocado toast and espresso, and I got cheese grits, a lox bagel (again, I know), and a vanilla latte.

We only went for a weekend, so if you’ve been to Augusta before and have even more recommendations please leave them in the comments below!