Our Wedding Inspiration

Happy Friday, y'all! Hope everyone has had a great week! Does anyone have fun plans for the weekend? Will and I don't have much on our agenda which is nice for a change. Usually we have a bunch of errands we run but not this time!

Have you all enjoyed all the posts from this week? If you need a recap you can catch them all below.

Our Wedding: Preparation and Formals
Our Wedding: The Ceremony
Our Wedding: The Reception
Our Wedding: The Details

To finish things off, I'll be ending things with all of our wedding inspiration. What Will and I envisioned our day to look like, how everything came today, and all the things in-between!

If you asked me to describe the way I wanted our wedding day to be like, I would say I wanted it to have a rustic romance feel to it. I wanted the ceremony to have a traditional elegance to it with a touch of modern whimsy. And I wanted the vibe of the reception to feel like a big southern soiree!

For all of the festivities, we wanted to make sure our guest experienced our love and joy. We wanted those feelings to flow out in every detail. We wanted everyone to feel comfortable enough to let loose, and enjoy each moment that passed by. To assure all of those things, we made sure are focus from the beginning was on the location for both the ceremony and reception. We were inspired by our reception venue because it gave off the vibe that you were right at home.

In the ceremony post I did earlier this week, you got a good idea of what everything looked like and how the ceremony played out. But what really inspired us to hold the ceremony at this venue? Well, besides the fact that I attended church there every week while a student at Peace College, it was a venue that was already so beautiful, and I could incorporate simple, minimal decor that emphasized the beauty of Dinwiddie Chapel itself with ease.

Oh the flowers. They were perfect in every way. Marsha with Mews Designs went above and beyond and met all of my expectations. My bouquet was a lush and textured assortment of blush, peach, and white flowers with touches of foliage and greenery. The trailing silk ribbons added a whimsy feel.

For my bridesmaids bouquets, I went with something simple. Baby's breath. The bouquets went well with the dresses my girls wore, and were simple but spiced up with greenery and ribbon. Just like my bouquet. My inspiration for the flowers was something that reminds you of Steel Magnolias. 

Oh my wedding dress. How I LOVED wearing it so much. It was the third dress I tried on at the first boutique I went to. It was an Amy Kuschel gown, the style was the 'Rita'. My inspiration for the dress was something lightweight, was made of lace, and reminded me of The Great Gatsby. This dress was all of those things. It even had cap sleeves and a vintage inspired brooch that was the icing on the cake so to speak. Before the night ended, I changed into a different dress to depart in. It to was also made of lace and actually looked pretty similar to my wedding dress!

I've always been known to give thoughtful gifts and I was inspired to do just that for my girls as a thank you gift to give them at the bridal shower. I wanted to gift them with something extra special. Something that they could wear on my wedding day and to be reminded of our sweet friendship. So after lot's of thinking, I knew I wanted to give them earrings. I wanted them to be gold and they had to be unique. So I decided that if I wanted all of those things, I'd have to make them myself. I ended up doing just that with the help of the girls at Beads Inc. in Charlotte!

For hair and makeup, I wanted to go with a more natural look. I didn't want to have crazy color for eye shadow, but I still wanted my eyes to pop! The gals with Makeup by Ashley Mooney did a wonderful job. We went with gold tones for my makeup and a classic up-do for my hairstyle. You can get more of an idea of what types of makeup looks and hairstyles I was was inspired by from taking a peek at my hair and makeup Pinterest board.

Look at my handsome groom. Will did a great job in picking out the suits he wanted him and his guys to wear. Will decided on a light grey suit and mint green ties that looked perfect for our summer wedding. He wanted something that his guys would be comfortable in, and would be able to wear more then once. I think they all looked great, don't you?

An Engagement Party

What a successful weekend, y'all! All month, Will and I have been looking forward to our engagement party which was put together by my mom, my future mother-in-law and maid of honor. Thankfully, my mom was able to come up to Charlotte on Friday and we did some last minute shopping and errand running, and because my mom is so good at keeping us on schedule, we were able to join Will and a few of his family members for a casual dinner at Taco Mac before calling it a night!

Saturday we woke up, picked up breakfast, and while we got ready, my mom, Mary Lou and Emily were at the clubhouse where our party was held setting everything up. Everything and I mean everything turned out so perfect! We had around 40 of our closest family and friends there, the decorations were beyond amazing and all of the little details that were incorporated into the party brought such big smiles to our faces. I mean...take a look at the napkins Emily got made for us and the tree stumps the drink dispensers sat on. I was #obsessed!

All of the food was homemade and perfectly southern. From the green beans, mac-n-cheese, and cornbread, all the way down to the pimento cheese, pasta salad, bbq and banana pudding, everything was lip smackin' good!

One of the most memorable parts of our engagement party, besides having our loved ones there was when we played the newlywed shoe game. Every party needs at least one game played and I loved that some other couples joined in on the fun. Everyone's answers to the questions had be laughing hysterically and I'm so glad that I have a few photos to look back at.

 

Oh and let me take a minute to tell you about the dress I wore to the party, which was from The Palm Tree Boutique. Considering the theme for our day (an I Do BBQ), I wanted to wear something that was comfortable but still felt dressy to me. I know, I know...usually brides-to-be incorporate white or some sort of cream color into their outfit, but this 'All I Could Ever Need' dress in Pumpkin was just perfect considering Thanksgiving is days away! And I honestly don't have anything in this color and was really excited about wearing this dress as soon as it arrived at my doorstep.

Now until the end of November you can receive 15% off when you use the code SSM15% at checkout, and shipping on orders $50 or more are always free! With the seasons changing and temperatures dropping you are bound to find something you love. I have my eyes on this sweater, this adorable dress and this hat!

And a special thank you to Caitlin for taking all of these photos for me! I will treasure them forever.

Lucky I'm In Love With You

You may be following me on Instagram (@mmackvick) and also on Facebook and probably saw a few engagement photos that were posted last week! My wedding photographer, Callie with Nancy Ray Photography also shared this blog post with a handful of them and I couldn't help but show you all of my favorite ones too! It was hard to narrow them down because I love so many but hope you enjoy the one's I chose. I've already gone ahead and put in an online order to get these beauties printed (thanks to mpix) and can't wait for them to arrive so that I can display them all throughout our home.

On another note, I  would like to give a quick shout out to my sweet and adorable Mom! Today is her birthday and even though I am not able to celebrate it with her in person, I hope she feels extra loved and knows how important she is too so many people in this world.