Trameika and Joe's River view wedding day

Samford Pharmacist graduate bride Trameika had her dream wedding day this March with colors of Firecracker, tangerine and platinum.  The day began with all the girls gathering together for hair and make up and bride Trameika and on her way to the church in "Jack", a beautiful black Buick from Coats Classic Cars

One of my favorite moments is when the groom gets to see his bride for the first time on the day of their wedding.  Groom Joe is holding his bride's bridal bouquet and ready to see her!

And Joe is overwhelmed with emotion as he hands his bride her bouquet

I love these looks of love between a bride and groom.  Priceless

Beautiful colors of tangerine, firecracker orange and soft peach in Traeika's bridal bouquet created by Carol Riley of Lillies

A happy Groom on the day of his wedding, Joe is a 9/11 EMT hero from New York City and I was completely honored to plan this wedding

Bride Trameika had her late Mother right beside her the entire day with this locket with her Mom's picture pinned to her bouquet

This is one of the joys of my job as a wedding planner;  to see the happiness and fun my brides and grooms have on their wedding days.  Joe and Trameika are the best couple

Love this image of our 9/11 New York City EMT hero Joe sitting in this beautiful Buick "Jack"

Single long stem roses with ribbon were used as our pew markers in this old and historic church

All the Groomsmen met each bridesmaid at the alter of the church and handed her a bouquet before processing up to the alter.  

Our little ring bearer was absolutely adorable and carried this square of moss, tied with a ribbon and calla lillie.  A colorful and fabulous alternative from a ring pillow

Bride Trameika was escorted by her brother for half of her walk down the aisle, and was then met by her Groom Joe who joined her and they walked the rest of the aisle together

Groom Joe meets his bride half way down the aisle to walk with her to the alter

Finally husband and wife

Trameika and Joe were the first to exit the church after they were married and carried out a bouquet of white balloons.  They stood together in front of the church for a private moment of prayer, led by Joe, to honor and recognize Trameika's Mother in heaven.  The balloons were released after a moment and made their way to heaven

And now it's time to celebrate!  Bride and groom are off to their reception on the river, driven in "Jack"

Guests were greeted with a signature drink created and named especially for our bride and groom.  "TJ's" Blood Orange Margaritas were served upon arrival and were made with fresh blood oranges

The Demopolis Civic Center completely transformed for this beautiful wedding.  White draping covers the walls, platinum twist linens and firecracker pintuck linens cover all the tables and high tops and silver chiavari chairs were brought in to add more elegance.  When the sun went down, the lighting design completely moved this look to the next level

Each food station had it's own menu of favorite items starting with the Joe and Trameika's Alabama favorites of fruits and cheeses, spanikopitas, bruchetta and Alabama Caviar all thanks to Bill Bouloukos of Happy Catering Company

A splash of color with two high top tables in firecracker pintuck on the dancefloor of our ballroom.

The Gobo design in the background is beginning to glow as the sun sets in Demopolis Alabama.  

The patio on the river was lined with more high top tables with firecracker pintuck linens tied with a platinum sash

A shrimp and grits bar gave our New York City guests who joined us a Southern taste as The Happy Catering Company created this station called "Soul of the South"

A closer look at one of our tablescapes.  Very simple centerpieces of various candle heights, low vessels of flowers in bright colors atop silver twist linen

Our beautiful bride's cake was placed on a round glass cake plate with buttercreme icing tinted in a soft peach/orange and accented with white lillies.  Surrounded by bridesmaids bouquets, this cake was created by Diane Olexa of Birmingham Alabama

Another look at our exquisite cake by Diane Olexa.  The uplighting in the background is just beginning to glow

A beautiful view of the river at sunset 

Lights are aglow with a gobo design of the bride and groom's initials on the draping and uplighting all around the room.  Thank you to Andy Tolar of Design Productions LLC

Our bride and groom share their first dance together as the bride sings to her groom

Such a special moment for this couple

Abstract lighting design on the patio at sunset as guests enjoy the view of the river.  It was a bit windy this night, but guests enjoyed to cool breezes

Joe and the guys enjoy a good cigar

There is something about holding a cigar that makes guys just serious..... :-)

Time to toss that bouquet to the next bride to be

One last dance to finish off the evening

A fun evening for our bride and groom and all of our guests as Trameika and Joe are showered with rose petals

And our bride and groom are off to Jamaica for a fabulous honeymoon!

Demopolis Alabama is about 2 hours driving distance from Birmingham where I am based and I was able to form a team of fabulous wedding professionals to travel with me.  This was absolutely a top notch team and I could not have done this without these vendors I had the honor of working along side for this wedding and many others.  Thank you so much to James Coats of Coats Classic Cars , Carol Riley of Lillies, Andy Tolar of Design Productions, Geoff Carlisle of Jamm Entertainment, Angela and John Deaver of Main Street Productions, Bill Bouloukos of Happy Catering Company, Laura Eason on make up, Lisa Davis of Perfect Events Music, Diane Olexa for bride's cake and the always fabulous Jerrod Brown of Jerrod Brown Studios for all of these gorgeous images

Hope you enjoyed this fabulous wedding for our Samford Graduate and 9/11 hero!!

Blessings,

Anita

Tuscany Wedding Scene

I have so much fun doing photo shoots for magazines and this one for Southern Bride Magazine was probably one of my favorites!  With my heritage, being 100% Italian, I felt right at home planning this fun scene and was able to use several family heirlooms including my Great Grandmother's tea set featured on the cake table.   We pulled together natural elements such as deep purple eggplants and richly colored pears tied with raffia, light green apples, artichokes and richly colored grapes to create our table design and other points of interest. The use of the beautiful floral centerpieces, created by Carol Riley of Lillies, together with china patterns from Bromberg's and soft linens made this table scape so vibrant with color and texture.

The wedding business is so enjoyable to me and the people I get to work with everyday have become my "wedding family." I truly feel so blessed to be a part of this happy industry.  We all work so hard at our jobs and the results and goals for all of us are to create an elegant and blessed day for our brides and their families.

This is a look at a Behind the Scenes Vimeo of our Tuscany photo shoot for Southern Bride Magazine.  As the planner on this shoot, I was able to pull together some of the best vendors in this business to create a dinner party sure to please any guest.  Many thanks to Lillies - Carol Riley, Andy Tolar with Design Productions, Diane Olexa's Cakes, Foto Atelier for all the photography featured in the magazine, Bromerg's in Birmingham for all the china, flatware and stemware and of course our videographers John and Angela Deaver with Main Street Productions for this fabulous vimeo of our shoot.

Enjoy!!!

Anita

Adrianne and Brad's Romantic Garden Wedding Day

Adrianne and Brad had visions of their wedding day in a romantic garden setting in Spring time.  The month of April in Alabama can allow for some beautiful weather with fresh greenery and flower buds ready to burst.  Not only was this Adrianne's fairytale wedding day, it was also the Royal Wedding of Prince William to his bride Catherine, as you see on the TV screen in the background while Adrianne has her make up done.

Adrianne's Mother was with her in spirit as she wore the same tierra from her Mother's veil

Bride Adrianne is dressed and ready for her wedding day...

A moment with her beloved Mother who shared her daughter's wedding day from heaven, Adrianne had her parents wedding pictures on the guest book table

Strolling through the gardens on a beautiful Alabama Spring day......

A beautiful bride at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham Alabama

One of my favorite images of bride Adrianne with her delicate hand and holding her gathered wildflower bouquet of lavenders and lilac by Carol Riley of Lillies

Father of the Bride is SO excited to see his daughter on her wedding day!

Groom Brad is ready to get married under that beautiful blue sky at the Botanical Gardens

Brad escorts his Mom to her seat and both could not resist stopping for a moment to smell the roses and cherish this experience

Adrianne and her Daddy are ready for their walk down the aisle

I love the look on this groom's face as he sees his bride for the first time.....so precious

This was such a small and intimite wedding for Adrianne and Brad.....exactly how they envisioned their wedding day to be....

A happy bridal party for our bride and groom

A long flowing wedding gown follows as this bride and groom take in the moments on their beautiful day..

A surprise for our groom,  Baxter the couple's beloved dog, got his own collar and joined us at the Gardens for pictures

A true Royal Wedding Day was complete with a horse and carriage ride including Baxter the dog

Riding off to their reception

An elegant wedding lunch was the perfect way to celebrate this romantic morning wedding ceremony...Bride Adrianne celebrates with a glass of champagne

A quiet moment in the wine celler of the Veranda on Highland in Birmingham Alabama

Adrianne and Brad were a very private couple who only wanted a small luncheon and not too many formalities for their wedding reception.  Only to have their loved ones celebrate this special day with them.  At the end of the afternoon our DJ Geoff Carlisle with Jamm Entertainment invited all guests outside to see the bride and groom off to their honeymoon.  We knew this couple's favorite song and caught a glimpse of them sharing this private moment before leaving.  Geoff slipped in and played their favorite song and this couple had a very special and very private "first dance" exactly how they would have wanted it.  Just the two of them......  Very sweet

Ready to begin their new life together

I love this image!

This wedding for Adrianne and Brad was a very special day;  not only because it was their wedding day, and not even that it was the same day as the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine, but because two days prior to this day Alabama experienced major damage from F5 tornadoes in both Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.  The damage to the city knocked out power for several days and roads were blocked with trees down and debris.  Our bride had no power as well and moved to a hotel which was also affected from the evenings storms, knocking out their power as well.  Bride Adrianne had such a positive attitude and only focused on marrying the man of her dreams that day and put all her trust in God and also her wedding team of vendors.  I can not stress enough how important it is to have a solid and professional team of wedding vendors for your wedding day and this team went above and beyond their contracted services to enable this day to happen flawlessly.  Several of our vendors had direct damage to their homes and vehicles but thier professionalism really came through and they did what they had to do to make sure this bride and groom had the wedding day of their dreams. 

Many many thank you's go out to my team on this:  Carol Riley of Lillies Flowers, Jamm Entertainment - Geoff Carlisle, The Veranda on Highland, Birmingham Botanical Gardens and all these beautiful images are from Greg Hawkins of Studio G

Blessings..... Anita :-)