Wedding Archives - Future Southern Belle https://futuresouthernbelle.com/category/lifestyle/wedding/ Future Southern Belle is an everyday lifestyle blog that encompasses travel, recipes, East Coast lifestyle, and everything in between! Mon, 29 Apr 2024 23:53:03 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://futuresouthernbelle.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-Screen-Shot-2019-03-02-at-4.20.49-PM-32x32.jpg Wedding Archives - Future Southern Belle https://futuresouthernbelle.com/category/lifestyle/wedding/ 32 32 First Look vs Walking Down the Aisle https://futuresouthernbelle.com/first-look-vs-walking-down-the-aisle/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=first-look-vs-walking-down-the-aisle https://futuresouthernbelle.com/first-look-vs-walking-down-the-aisle/#respond Sun, 28 Apr 2024 22:07:17 +0000 https://futuresouthernbelle.com/?p=1536 This is the ultimate guide to choosing to do a first look vs walking down the aisle being the first time you and your groom see each other. Doing a first look on your wedding day or deciding to wait until you walk down the aisle is a very personal decision. For me, I wanted to wait until I walked down the aisle. It seemed traditional, and what I had always envisioned for my wedding day. However, after much debate with my (amazing) wedding planner, Linda, as well as my (fabulous) wedding photographer, Karen, we came up with the perfect solution. Fist Look Pros Having a first look just the two of you is a beautiful way to experience seeing each other for the first time in an intimate setting with just the two of you. This may also be a chance for the both of you to exchange more personal vows to each other. This also is the choice of most photographers that I spoke with. Wedding timelines are stressful, but when you incorporate a first look, it alleviates the need to cram all your photos into the cocktail hour. If you’re the type of person who wants to spend more time with your guests and partake in the cocktail hour, this is for you! First Look Cons I think most people’s hesitation with doing a first look is that their groom will only cry once when he sees you. Believe me, this is NOT the case. My husband cried at our first look and when I came down the aisle. The day is overwhelmingly emotional for the both of you and there are plenty of (happy) tears to go around. The only real con of doing a first look that I can think of is that people think it will take away from that first walk down the aisle. For me, it didn’t, but I can see why people would be hesitant to do this if they thought it would take away from that moment. Walking Down the Aisle Pros Whenever I looked at wedding videos or photos, I always saw the bride walking down the aisle and her husband crying when he saw her. That’s what I wanted for my day too. It seems like the perfect way to get the shot while also maintaining the excitement of not seeing each other before the wedding. I love the concept of this, but with wedding timelines, it’s not always feasible. Walking Down the Aisle Cons When you wait to have your first look as you are walking down the aisle, you miss out on a lot of pictures. When we were discussing the pros and cons of doing a first look vs walking down the aisle, we would have been missing out on 400+ pictures of our wedding. Not to mention, having our wedding party not able to partake during the cocktail hour because we all would have been taking photos together. To me, pictures were very important to me as I was paying a lot for them, so the more the better. That was our number one influence to getting us to do a hybrid approach to our first look. The Happy Medium The happy medium approach to doing a first look vs walking down the aisle was taking a little bit of both and blending them. Before our ceremony, we had our first look pictures before we got into family and wedding party pictures, before we went into our ceremony. We opted to have our families at our first look – immediate family and spouses only. They stood in a line that created an aisle for me to walk down. With Kevin turned the other way, I got into position, he turned around and his reaction is my favorite to this day. A blend of excitement, happy tears, and an overwhelming sense of gratefulness that lead us to this moment right here. It was the perfect happy medium of having a first look and walking down the aisle for the first time. We managed to take all of our wedding photos prior to our ceremony so we could have our wedding party eat during the cocktail hour. During the cocktail hour, Kevin and I took our newlywed photos. Plus we ended up with 1,400+ photos of our entire wedding thanks to doing a first look! You can read more about how I set the tone for our wedding day here. I also did a lot of prep work for getting my skin in great shape for our wedding. You can read more of what I did here. My photographer, Karen, also got some great shots of my beautiful engagement ring which you can read about here. XoXi, All photos captured by Karen Schanely Photography.

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]]> https://futuresouthernbelle.com/first-look-vs-walking-down-the-aisle/feed/ 0 The Search for the Perfect Ring https://futuresouthernbelle.com/the-search-for-the-perfect-ring/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-search-for-the-perfect-ring https://futuresouthernbelle.com/the-search-for-the-perfect-ring/#respond Sun, 17 Mar 2024 16:00:00 +0000 https://futuresouthernbelle.com/?p=1315 The Search Continues This is the story of how Kevin and I found my perfect engagement ring at Tiffany and Co. Now let me start off by saying that everyone has a unique story when it comes to their engagement ring. Please keep in mind that this is my own unique story of how Kevin and I came to find my perfect ring. That does not mean that I have anything against any of the other jewelers. This is just a reflection of my own personal specifications of what I was looking for in a ring. Exploring Our Options This is when we explored other jewelers besides Tiffany’s. While I had always dreamed of having a Tiffany and Co. engagement ring, I also wanted to explore other options because Tiffany’s engagement rings can be pretty limiting in terms of the selection. So then we went to a commercialized jeweler. An engagement ring is a big purchase and everyone’s is unique. We simply wanted to know what other options we had for purchasing such a special and meaningful ring. After looking at the options given to us by the sales representative, we sat down to consult with her regarding what we had envisioned our ring to look like. We explained that we wanted the emerald cut with a halo, as well as diamonds along the band. The coolest thing about this experience was how easy it was for them to create what we wanted. They were able to take a center stone diamond that we picked out, and add it to a band that already had diamonds and a halo. How cool is that?! While we were impressed with their efforts, as well as the affordability aspect, we both agreed that we wanted to keep looking. The second store that we went into was a family owned jewelry store. Blue Diamond Jewelers was amazing to work with! They were able to customize the ring we wanted, and were willing to work with us on the price. The service we received went beyond our expectations. I can’t say enough great things about their team. But both Kevin and I wanted to keep looking. Our third store that we visited was ROUGH to say the least. We went to the Diamond District. It was an unpleasant experience to say the least. Would not recommend going here to get an engagement ring. We were disrespected, talked down to, and their selection of ring options was less than optimal. Why We Chose Tiffany’s Ultimately, it came down to not only the ring, but the experience. Tiffany’s is an experience like no other. The staff is amazing, they know their stuff when it comes to choosing a ring and they choose quality over quantity every time. We spent countless hours working with our sales associate to ensure that we were getting exactly what we wanted. I tried on all different sizes, cuts, and styles until I found the style we wanted to go with. See how I didn’t say “the one”? That’s because while I was involved with the ring process, once we found which style we both liked, I wanted Kevin to take it from there and ultimately choose and pick out the ring he wanted to give to me. Needless to say, Kevin did amazing! The ring he chose was perfect. I have small fingers, so I didn’t want an overly large ring because it would look gaudy on my finger. He chose a beautiful emerald cut with a halo band around the center diamond. The band has diamonds about half way down as well. The quality of not only my diamond, but the entire ring is impeccable. It’s a platinum band which means it’s the most durable material a band can be made of. Tiffany sets the standard as far as engagement rings go, by exemplifying the brilliance of the diamond by how it sits on top of the band. My engagement ring from Tiffany and Co. is exceptional quality, and Tiffany’s standards of what they sell for their diamonds is extremely rare. I also loved how on both the halo and band, they are individual diamonds, instead of crushed diamond excess which most other engagement ring halos are made from. The Tiffany’s Experience The Tiffany’s experience was so memorable for both of us, it deserves its own section. When Kevin went back to the store to work with the sales associate to purchase my engagement ring, they gave him champagne and ushered him back to a private room to allow for a more luxurious buying experience. This was also what occurred when we went back to Tiffany’s to purchase both of our wedding bands as well. Fast forward to a few months after our wedding, we were in New York City and I needed a different size wedding band and needed my engagement ring smaller, and we had a similar experience. We were given champagne, a private room, and they were able to swap out my wedding band with a smaller size that day. They were also able to do a quick turnaround (less than a few hours) to reduce the size of my engagement ring – which is unheard of! This was such an incredible experience that had such a profound impact on us that we will continue to give Tiffany’s our business. You can read all about our New York City Tiffany’s experience here. All photos are by Karen Schanely Photography. You can see more photos of our engagement shoot here, and our wedding here. Highly recommend hiring Karen for your engagement shoot or wedding photography, she’s amazing if you are local to Charleston, SC! XoXi,

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]]> https://futuresouthernbelle.com/the-search-for-the-perfect-ring/feed/ 0 How To: Prep For The Wedding (Botox) https://futuresouthernbelle.com/how-to-prep-for-the-wedding-botox/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-prep-for-the-wedding-botox https://futuresouthernbelle.com/how-to-prep-for-the-wedding-botox/#comments Sun, 27 Nov 2022 18:31:32 +0000 https://futuresouthernbelle.com/?p=1362 Receiving botox is a personal choice for everyone. This first post in my How-To series leading up to my wedding is about my personal experience with botox. It’s important to note that receiving botox is a personal choice. I wanted help with relaxing my facial muscles so that my face didn’t hurt as much when I smiled all day long. It’s so tricky to know when to start treatments and preparing for your big day. I’ve outlined my specific schedule in my How-To series, to hopefully help you brides know when to start yours. My number one recommendation is to trial EVERYTHING. Haven’t waxed before but want to before your big day? Do a trial! Not sure how long to let your spray tan set in against your dress so you have a glow instead of a noticeable tan? Do a trial! First time getting botox so you can smile properly through all of your pictures? Do a trial! Get it yet? Botox So while I said above that you should get a trial for EVERYTHING leading up to your big day? Well I didn’t and that is why I am making it a point to tell all of you to get trials of everything. Weddings are a day that will be heavily photographed, both by professionals and your loved ones. While I didn’t look bad by any means, I do wish I had trialed a few things in advance. That being said, I received botox (for the first time) eight weeks before my wedding. My thought process was that if I received botox far enough in advanced to my big day, then the movement in my face for my wedding would be perfect. I did get a touch up four weeks before my wedding and that helped with refreshing my face. What Dosage Did I Get? I got 25 units of botox total. Your esthetician will be able to provide you with the appropriate dosage depending on the look you are going for. For myself, I received 12 units in my forehead, 12 units for my crows-feet (6 around each eye), and 1 unit for my gummy smile. I felt my dosage was perfect for me to look relaxed for taking pictures and smiling all day throughout my wedding. When I smile, my eyes definitely get smaller. It’s something I see in all photos of me, and the crows feet dosage really helped with opening up my eyes. The gummy smile unit also helped drop the side of my lip that tends to be pushed up when I smile. The photos below show how the botox really helped with all of my concerns! Where Did I go? I went to Cameo Facial Aesthetics in Mount Pleasant. I did a lot of research on their Instagram and was so excited to see that they are very reputable. They are always going to new trainings and learning more in their field. It made me feel comfortable knowing they are always up to date on the latest techniques and methods for injectables. I will also note that they were willing to work my budget as well during my consultation. I opted for less units than they suggested so I could stay within my budget but still achieve the look that I wanted. It was a great experience and I highly recommend them if you are in the Charleston area! If you liked this wedding content, be sure to check out my other post about setting the tone for your wedding day! XoXi, All photos captured by Karen Schanely Photography.

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]]> https://futuresouthernbelle.com/how-to-prep-for-the-wedding-botox/feed/ 1 Wedding Website: Setting The Tone For Your Day https://futuresouthernbelle.com/wedding-website-setting-the-tone-for-your-day/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wedding-website-setting-the-tone-for-your-day https://futuresouthernbelle.com/wedding-website-setting-the-tone-for-your-day/#comments Wed, 23 Mar 2022 18:13:15 +0000 https://futuresouthernbelle.com/?p=1342 Now that our wedding is only a few months away, I’m excited to start sharing our journey to planning our dream wedding. We found that the best way to dive into wedding planning, was looking at the tone we wanted to set for our wedding. The first thing guests see are your wedding website and your stationary. It sets the the tone for your day, so you want to ensure you look for ways to clearly show your guests what the vibe will be. In the early process of wedding planning, I focused on wedding websites. I wanted to have a wedding website that matched our stationary. A wedding website and wedding stationary set the tone for the wedding and indicate to the guests what the vibe of the wedding will be. Wedding Website I did this kind of backwards, I will admit. Kevin and I looked at wedding website templates before we looked at stationary options. I just crossed my fingers there was a matching stationary set! Luckily for me, there was a matching set of stationary that went with my wedding website template. As I started to think of my wedding vibe, I was concerned with us getting married outside and in the summer. I didn’t want my wedding to come off as too casual or rustic. To counteract that, we went for more of a formal wedding website and stationary set. I was aiming at classy, clean and formal for our stationary. We had been looking at different options for who to go with for our website and stationary. Ultimately, we found that Minted had everything we wanted in a wedding website template. We opted to upgrade our free website to include a custom URL which was a one time fee of $15. Since we wanted people to RSVP online, we found it worth the $15 for our own URL. Pros of Minted I looked at a few different options before I decided to go with Minted. In addition to Minted, I also looked at The Knot and Zola for wedding websites. When setting up the website, I really liked how user friendly it was. I was quickly able to figure out how to use the pages and different options for layouts. It was a very easy process to input the information I wanted. A few of the things we were looking for in a wedding website was the ability to do a photo gallery. We had so many engagement pictures that we wanted to share. I was also looking for the option to have an events page. Since we chose to get married on a big holiday weekend, we wanted it to be more of a wedding/celebration weekend and not just a one day event. We wanted to share with our guests all of the events we were inviting them too. The events page made that very easy to put in details for our wedding, as well as our welcome party. It also had a map at the bottom of the page where guests could click on the event, and the map would automatically pull up on Google maps. There was also the option of adding on additional pages which I found very helpful. With us tying the knot in such a beautiful city, we wanted our guests to know what there is for them to do for the weekend. On our website, we included an additional page for ‘Things To Do’. Our wedding is a destination to everyone except for us, so most of our guests will be staying a few extra days. We wanted to include activities for our guests to do as well as some of our favorite restaurants. Cons of Minted Although I loved our wedding website, there was one process that I wish would be improved. For our rehearsal dinner, we were required to gather meal options from our guests that were attending. The only option was just for guests to write in what they wanted. I think the design element could be improved by doing a click button for what each guest wants for the first course and second course. This would eliminate people forgetting to include what they wanted, or only putting in what they wanted for the first course, and not the second. That is really the only part of the website where I felt could use a little improvement. Overall Thoughts On Our Wedding Website I really loved our wedding website! It definitely helped set the tone for our wedding to be more of a formal affair. The script text along with the clean colors helped make the vibe more formal. We have started to receive RSVP’s and are having so much fun tracking when they come in. I love how easy it was to use Minted. Everything about the process was so simple. We were able to get what we were looking for in a wedding website and stationary set, all in one place! Kevin and I have received so many compliments on our website as well. I would love to hear about your wedding vibes below! Tell me all about what aesthetic you were going for, and how you incorporated that vibe into the details. XoXi, Photo at the top was captured by Karen Schanely Photography.

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]]> https://futuresouthernbelle.com/wedding-website-setting-the-tone-for-your-day/feed/ 2 It Finally Happened – I got engaged! https://futuresouthernbelle.com/it-finally-happened-i-got-engaged/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=it-finally-happened-i-got-engaged https://futuresouthernbelle.com/it-finally-happened-i-got-engaged/#respond Sun, 10 Jan 2021 21:29:27 +0000 https://futuresouthernbelle.com/?p=1310 It finally happened…I got engaged! While we were on vacation in Charleston, South Carolina in early December, Kevin got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. It was a magical, and exciting moment for the both of us! We are in total bliss! Be on the lookout for a new series that I will start publishing, on our wedding planning journey. I will be going over everything that I have experienced – from when I first got engaged, all the way up to the wedding and honeymoon! Planning a wedding nowadays is an adventure all on its own. With COVID as well as everyone postponing their 2020 wedding to 2021, we are finding creative, outside the box ways to celebrate our journey to marriage. Now onto the proposal! One year ago… Yes, our proposal did start one year ago. Kevin and I have never been ones to do things “normally”. We (and by we I mean me and dragging Kevin along) started looking at engagement rings about a year ago. If you know me, you know that I am VERY picky about jewelry. I have a Cape Cod bracelet that I wear, a KJP infinity necklace, and pearl earrings in my jewelry collection. That’s it! I am very minimal and classic when it comes to the pieces of jewelry that I wear. That being said, I knew that I wanted to be involved in the process of picking out an engagement ring. This is the first step of our abnormal proposal story. Some people have been super weird about the fact that I wanted to be involved in the engagement ring process. But here’s my point: this is a piece of jewelry that I am going to wear for the rest of my life. This is something that I am going to look at every single day. Since I am super picky about jewelry, I want it to be exactly what I want! Finding the perfect ring This was hands down the most fun part of the whole process! What girl wouldn’t want to go into all the different jewelry stores and try on all the rings you want! Now I will say, if we could do it over again, we probably shouldn’t have started our ring shopping at Tiffany and Co. For most of 2020 we exclusively went to Tiffany’s and tried on all sorts of rings. Different cuts, colors, clarity’s and styles of rings. It was a glorious six months! After about six months of figuring out what I wanted, we then got serious about buying a ring. At this point in our engagement ring hunt, we knew that we wanted an emerald cut with a halo and diamonds on the band. Beyond that, we were willing to explore what our options were. **Disclaimer: I will be writing a whole blog post on the ring and all the details! Be on the lookout for that post. Pre engaged Flash forward to August when we decided we needed a vacation. We had always wanted to visit Charleston so we decided to check out prices for a vacation. After a few weeks of figuring out when and where to go, we decided on December because we wanted to escape the heat. People from Florida will understand LOL! We also planned a trip in October to see my family back home in Maine. During our trip, I suspected that Kevin would be asking my dad for my hand in marriage. After a sneaky trip to Bass Pro Shops with my dad, I had a feeling that Kevin was talking to him about the possibility of proposing. Of course my dad stayed silent and wasn’t wiling to give up any of the juicy details. While I knew that Kevin was planning on proposing in Charleston, I had no clue as to where he had scoped out to pop the question. While some people may think it’s not normal to know when you are going to get engaged, Kevin and I do things differently. I LOVED being a part of the process of finding an engagement ring that suits me best. Stay tuned for more wedding content and the next post will be about actually finding the perfect ring! Xoxi,

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