Pack your bags, grab your photographer and stylist and take-off to your favorite city to shoot your bridal portrait session!  These days most local photographers are ready for fresh, new locations - especially when that city is reflective of you!  Whether it’s a quick day trip to Charleston or hoppin’ a plane to NYC (see a recent Charlotte bride example below), it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that you won’t want to pass on!

Keep the logistics simple.  You’ll need a protective bag for your dress, one hotel room for hair/make-up (oh, and make sure it’s a cool hotel in the event of inclimate weather) and last but not least…some pizazz for that camera!

What are you waiting for?  Call you photographer now and get those tickets booked! 

Kristin Vining is a respected Charlotte Wedding Photographer and Crazy Fancy contributer.

He proposed, you said yes, now what?  I’m sure that question has run or is still running through many of your heads.  The best advice I have to is relax and have fun.  If you don’t have fun planning your wedding you’re going to get stressed and that’s not good for you, your relationship or any others helping you plan this special day.

I started planning by finding a handy-dandy monthly checklist leading up to the big day.  It can be found at http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/gallery/0,21863,1705005,00.html (click on the 16-month wedding planning calendar PDF) - it was a lifesaver.  This helped me figure out my top priorities.  I was also told to do ’nail down’ the following in this order: Venue for ceremony and reception, photographer, caterer, and florist, and members of the wedding party. I did just that.

Dustin and I knew that we were going to have the ceremony at the church I’ve grown up in and now he is also a part of this church; this was the easiest decision we had to make.  The church was open for any date we wanted.  We had orginally planned a fall wedding in October 2009, but my father quickly turned that down and said that he could not live with two women - my mother and myself- planning a wedding for a year and a half.  So, with that being said, we moved the date to February 7, 2008.  One thing we learned was that in wedding off-season venues, flowers, caterers are cheaper because they need your business.

We had it narrowed down to the Magnolia Room ( http://www.magnoliaroom.com/) and the Palmetto Room (http://www.palmettoroom.com/), both in Rock Hill, SC.   I loved the Magnolia room - it is a large open room seating about 300 people.  Grand chandeliers line the ceilings, a permanent dance floor located in the center of the room, and a beautiful mahogany bar were just a few of the things I fell in love with.  The Palmetto Room is a brand new facility located in downtown Rock Hill.  I was not as pleased with this space.  The walls are a light sea-green color which could possibly clash with a color scheme.  The main draw-back were the 4 columns that ran directly down the middle of the space and split the room.  With that being said, we chose the Magnolia Room and are thrilled!

After choosing the church and the reception venue, we began looking at photographers.  I had pulled a few names and Dustin had a few names.  We spent several weeks browsing their websites and figuring out what we liked and disliked about each.  We wanted a photographer that would capture the moment without the ‘moment’ having to be posed.  We narrowed it down to Fort Mill Photography and Jeremy Igo. FMP ’s photographs were good, but most seemed to be very posed.  With them you got two photographers, 500 or so proofs, all for a decent price, but it just wasn’t what we wanted.  We found exactly what we wanted with Jeremy Igo.  He is able to capture the moment is every single picture.  We met him at his studio, looked through several storybooks and hired him for our special day as well as for my bridal portraits.  (http://www.jeremyigo.com/blog/)

As for flowers, I had a reccomendation from a friend to check out the Flower Diva located in downtown Pineville.  I knew what color palette I wanted to use and knew I wanted roses and calla lilies.  My mom and I met Carrie at the shop and I loved every minute of it.  Carrie is spunky as spunky gets.  I told her what I wanted and that I wanted something a little different that people might not have seen yet.  She ran with my colors and ideas and came up with something wonderful.  She showed me an example of one of my centerpieces and a bouquet - I loved it!  (http://theflowerdiva.com/index.shtml)

As for our wedding party, I knew that I wanted my best friend since middle school to be my maid of honor, and three of my other girl friends to also share in this day.  Dustin asked his brother to be his best man and three of his closest friends to be his groomesmen.  This was a tough decision for both of us.  We didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by not asking them to be a part of the ceremony, but knew that we did not want a huge wedding party.

This is just the beginning.  Next comes invitations, my dress, bridesmaid dresses, and the smaller details.  Check back soon for more!

I was just reading an interesting conversation about children at weddings on our bridal message board. Its a subject that I think is not discussed much, but a very interesting and important one. I have seen weddings in both extremes. Last year I worked a wedding where the DJ was geared towards the 30 kids or so at the reception. He wore funny hats and wigs and even walked around the dance floor wearing huge rubber feet.

I have also worked plenty of weddings where children were no where to be found. Children do have a way of injecting unexpected moments into a wedding day.  It is up to each bride to decide ifthose moments are a distraction or a moment of levity.

Feel free to register on the message board and sound off on your opinion!

Children at Wedding

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Igo

Wedding Band shopping is an often overlooked aspect of the wedding preparation, but one of the most important ones! Gold or Platinum? Pricing? How can you be sure you are getting the most for your money and where in Charlotte are the most reputable places to buy?

All good question, but we want to hear from you! Please comment below on these questions!

Are you scheduling your wedding day down to the minute? If so, you are probably a project manager or have a like minded way of thinking.

Your day’s schedule may look great on paper, but trust me when I tell you, it will not go as exactly as planned. On your wedding day there are an average of 20 people working to put it all together. From makeup artists to DJ’s, they are all working independently for a common cause, YOU.

A few weekends ago a bride brought with her a precise timeline of events down to the minute of things that were going to happen. During our prewedding gameplanning consultation, I warned her that the schedule, while a good general outline of the day, would most likely not go as scheduled down to the minute. I told her not to stress about it, it is part of every wedding and to just enjoy her day.  She assured me that she had it completely under control and the timeline would be followed.

I arrived at her house on the wedding day, on time and ready to work. No answer at the door. A quick phone call confirmed the makeup session took 20 minutes longer than planned, and that hey were on the way. We had a nice laugh about it when she arrived.

Moral of the story? Do plan your day. Do not plan your day with no room for deviation. You will be putting more stress on yourself than you need. Instead give a general timeline of events with 30 minutes wiggle room. You will feel much better.

We at Crazy Fancy understand that planning your Charlotte wedding is a full time job. The purpose of this site is not just to provide names and numbers of local vendors, but for actual local brides to share their ideas and experiences about their weddings.

As such, we are seeking a handful of local brides to follow through their wedding process. We want to know the details and emotions behind what a Charlotte bride goes through?

Interested? Let us know!

This site is now active!

Soon Brides of the Carolinas will finally have a place to share their wedding plans and ideas!