Miss Magnolia, Atlanta
Age and Occupation: 28, Public Affairs and Government Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Lobbyist
Engagement Date: December 1, 2006
Wedding Date: January, 2008
Blogging Since: September 6, 2007
Venue: catherdral ceremony/private club reception
About Me: Mr. Magnolia and I are thrilled to be planning an evening, winter wedding for 200 people in Atlanta. We both work in politics and share a love of University of Georgia football, pop culture, and good food! I'm a runner who adores wedding magazines, bad reality television, and a
good glass of wine. Most of the time I like to think I'm pretty organized, but between wedding planning, house hunting, and a full-time job, I'm being put to the test!
Although he fought it at every turn, Mr. Magnolia eventually gave in to some formal shots as a groom-to-be. More than likely, it was just that he knew how disappointed I would be if we got our pictures back and found zero of him…
He’s so dapper, isn’t he? 
And yet, so uncomfortable. I do feel a little bit bad, having subjected my husband-to-be to a photo session, which he’s so vocal about hating…but really, consider the alternative. No pictures? Not an option!
…and finally, our photographers’ favorite. Capturing the cab in the background was great!
All pictures by 35Atlanta.
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Miss Magnolia, Atlanta
Age and Occupation: 28, Public Affairs and Government Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Lobbyist
Engagement Date: December 1, 2006
Wedding Date: January, 2008
Blogging Since: September 6, 2007
Venue: catherdral ceremony/private club reception
About Me: Mr. Magnolia and I are thrilled to be planning an evening, winter wedding for 200 people in Atlanta. We both work in politics and share a love of University of Georgia football, pop culture, and good food! I'm a runner who adores wedding magazines, bad reality television, and a
good glass of wine. Most of the time I like to think I'm pretty organized, but between wedding planning, house hunting, and a full-time job, I'm being put to the test!
Since the boys snapped up all of the sunlight for their group shots (greedy beasts…), my bridesmaids and I suffered through our photograph session by artificial light.
I kid, I kid. 35Atlanta did an amazing job of lighting the courtyard at Christ the King, and I’m truly thrilled with how our group pictures turned out!
Ray and Erica, our photographers, told us to link arms, start walking, and laugh hysterically. Hey, nobody ever said that we couldn’t follow directions!
Hey now, you guys are too slow!
Our moms (who had been peeking out the window for the last twenty minutes) decided that they may as well just come downstairs and witness the photo session up close…
Mama Magnolia on the left, MIL Magnolia on the right.
And now for the big finish! Ray suggested the ever-popular jumping picture, but we decided to kick it up a notch. My bridesmaids kicked off their shoes and we all climbed up on the short stone wall in the middle of the courtyard.
Should we?
Hells yeah, we should! The girls pretty much just stepped off the wall, but not me! I jumped straight up in the air!
(What you don’t see in this picture is our landing on the slate courtyard. OUCH!!!)
All photos by 35Atlanta.
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Miss Magnolia, Atlanta
Age and Occupation: 28, Public Affairs and Government Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Lobbyist
Engagement Date: December 1, 2006
Wedding Date: January, 2008
Blogging Since: September 6, 2007
Venue: catherdral ceremony/private club reception
About Me: Mr. Magnolia and I are thrilled to be planning an evening, winter wedding for 200 people in Atlanta. We both work in politics and share a love of University of Georgia football, pop culture, and good food! I'm a runner who adores wedding magazines, bad reality television, and a
good glass of wine. Most of the time I like to think I'm pretty organized, but between wedding planning, house hunting, and a full-time job, I'm being put to the test!
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, a Weddingbee Blogger named Mrs. Magnolia started posting her wedding pictures……and then she stopped, because life intervened, and she started traveling like a madwoman, and all of her free time was devoted to cleaning and gardening and raising a puppy, and oh yeah - being a newlywed and spending quality time with her wonderful husband.
But she’s back, and ready to post more wedding day photos, so here goes nothing!
With our wedding scheduled for 7:30 pm in January, nighttime pictures were a given from the start, especially since Mr. Mags and I decided not to see one another before the ceremony. I wasn’t worried about it, because I really do love the ambiance of evening pictures. In fact, I was looking forward to seeing what our photographers came up with.
Anyway, with that said, the boys did get their group shots in before the sun set completely, and I just love how the “city at dusk” lighting came out!
Mr. Magnolia and his Best Man, BIL Magnolia:
(In these pictures, BIL Magnolia looks IDENTICAL to his father on his wedding day…right down to the haircut. It’s kind of scary.)
My handsome guy:
Hey, hey, the gang’s all here… since the boys got ready at the Four Seasons in Midtown Atlanta, they literally just stepped outside the front doors of the hotel to take pictures.
One of my favorites…even though Mr. Mags hates having his picture taken, clearly he had a little bit of fun that day!
Normally, I’m not a big fan of the fisheye lens, but to capture the Midtown highrises (Symphony Tower on the left, Four Seasons on the right), it totally worked!
This one was taken a little later, at the church…I like to call it “STRONG LIKE BULL!”
All pictures by 35Atlanta.
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Miss Magnolia, Atlanta
Age and Occupation: 28, Public Affairs and Government Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Lobbyist
Engagement Date: December 1, 2006
Wedding Date: January, 2008
Blogging Since: September 6, 2007
Venue: catherdral ceremony/private club reception
About Me: Mr. Magnolia and I are thrilled to be planning an evening, winter wedding for 200 people in Atlanta. We both work in politics and share a love of University of Georgia football, pop culture, and good food! I'm a runner who adores wedding magazines, bad reality television, and a
good glass of wine. Most of the time I like to think I'm pretty organized, but between wedding planning, house hunting, and a full-time job, I'm being put to the test!
I have got to say, we have had a TIME trying to complete our everyday china since the wedding. We received approximately four bread and butter plates, forty-seven salad plates, twenty-one dinner plates, one soup bowl, a sugar bowl, and a notification that a mug has been on backorder since Christmas. Thanks a million, Macy’s and Bloomie’s.
We selected Wedgwood’s Night and Day pattern, and while it doesn’t seem to be heading into retirement anytime soon… well, it’s also not the *easiest* pattern to find. I do take partial blame, since I insisted that we not register for the five-piece place setting. While that would have been easier, I couldn’t be less interested in a cup/saucer combo. Bring on the soup bowls on mugs! Anyway, I’ve suggested to Mr. Magnolia that we supplement our everyday china with some plain white pieces (hello, Martha!), but he’s surprisingly adamant about keeping our stuff very “matchy-matchy.”
I do love the contrasting fluted/checkerboard patterns on this china. I just wish we could collect all of it! [Image courtesy of wedgwoodusa.com.]
The other day, I was reading a fellow bridal blog, and I came upon a fantastic suggestion! Honestly, it really never occurred to me to look for our china pattern (formal OR everyday) on eBay. Not only did I find various pieces that we’re missing, (and a Replacements store!) but there are other sellers which feature items that I never even knew about! My personal favorite is the vinegar jug:
[Image courtesy of eBay seller DOGWOODS.]
And how about these? It looks like they simply attached a salad plate and a dinner plate to silver handles, but I think they’re cute!
[Images courtesy of eBay seller myTableware.]
Has anyone else dealt with registry completion pains? How did you work around it? Did you find additional pieces to complement your existing items?
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Miss Magnolia, Atlanta
Age and Occupation: 28, Public Affairs and Government Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Lobbyist
Engagement Date: December 1, 2006
Wedding Date: January, 2008
Blogging Since: September 6, 2007
Venue: catherdral ceremony/private club reception
About Me: Mr. Magnolia and I are thrilled to be planning an evening, winter wedding for 200 people in Atlanta. We both work in politics and share a love of University of Georgia football, pop culture, and good food! I'm a runner who adores wedding magazines, bad reality television, and a
good glass of wine. Most of the time I like to think I'm pretty organized, but between wedding planning, house hunting, and a full-time job, I'm being put to the test!
While we were primping for literally hours at our house about four and a half miles away, Mr. Magnolia and his groomsmen walked around Piedmont Park, toured the Coke Museum, and eventually made their way back to the hotel roughly fifteen minutes before they were due to start taking pictures. Our photographer, Ray, actually sat around at the Four Seasons for a couple of hours, waiting for the boys. At one point, he was approached by a security team and questioned about his photography equipment - it turns out, the Chicago Bulls were in town to play the Atlanta Hawks, and they were staying at the Four Seasons as well. Security was afraid he might be paparazzi! (Well, he was - but for me, not them!)
But hey, he got this great shot:
We rented tuxedos from Black Tie by Lori in Sandy Springs:
I love this picture of my husband-to-be. He was pretty nervous all day, but he looks perfectly relaxed here!
Mr. Mags with his groomsmen (minus one):
The engraved julep cups that he gave to his groomsmen as gifts:
Okay, guys….enough stalling! It’s actually time to get dressed!
The missing groomsman (my brother) finally shows up for pictures:
Well, getting dressed took all of 3.2 minutes. Now what?
(To be continued…)
Photography: 35 Atlanta
Tuxedos: Black Tie by Lori
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Miss Magnolia, Atlanta
Age and Occupation: 28, Public Affairs and Government Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Lobbyist
Engagement Date: December 1, 2006
Wedding Date: January, 2008
Blogging Since: September 6, 2007
Venue: catherdral ceremony/private club reception
About Me: Mr. Magnolia and I are thrilled to be planning an evening, winter wedding for 200 people in Atlanta. We both work in politics and share a love of University of Georgia football, pop culture, and good food! I'm a runner who adores wedding magazines, bad reality television, and a
good glass of wine. Most of the time I like to think I'm pretty organized, but between wedding planning, house hunting, and a full-time job, I'm being put to the test!
Okay, here we go! I’ve shown y’all some details, and you’ve seen some non-pro pics, but it’s now that time to really start posting our professional wedding pictures by the fabulous 35 Atlanta.So here we go - pictures of me and my girls getting ready!
We didn’t actually start getting ready until about 1:30 or 2:00 in the afternoon. Since our ceremony was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., we actually had other things going on that day. I ran a 5K that morning, and my mother-in-law’s best friend threw us a perfectly lovely bridesmaids luncheon at the perfectly-Atlanta Swan Coach House. We were a little rushed leaving lunch, and we headed back to my house to begin getting ready as quickly as we could.
Things were pretty hectic - at one point, we had one bride, six bridesmaids, three beauty professionals, two friends, one mom, one cousin, and two photographers in our little 1200 sq. ft. house, but I wouldn’t have changed our setup for the world. I was kind of frazzled, rarely sitting down and constantly coming up with “one more thing” that needed to be done, but someone was always one step behind me, taking the dustpan out of my hand, cleaning up the wine glasses from the coffee table, and steaming the bridesmaids dresses and sashes.
Cortney, the wife of one of Mr. Magnolia’s cousins has a side business doing wedding and prom hair, so she came by to do updos for me and my MOH. While she was busy curling MOH’s hair…
…she had me put my hair up in rollers so that the curling iron process would take less time:
A little wine was a must-have to calm the nerves - note that I’m already wearing my e-ring on my right hand!
My mom’s stylist, Misty (who also did my hair in high school and college), provided blowouts to all of the girls except my MOH. Here she is with Mr. Magnolia’s sister:
And some of the girls groomed each other!
Meanwhile, my fabulous cousin Chad from Three Custom Color was hard at work on makeup for the girls:
At the last minute, I found a hair inspiration that was significantly different than the one I used for my hair trial. And this was what we decided to go with:
Cortney figuring out where to place the silk flower in my hair:
And attaching my cathedral-length veil:
Chad hard at work on my mom:
And finally, Chad begins the makeup process on me:
Hold that thought, Chad! I have to make one more phone call to see how Mr. Mags is holding up…
(To be continued…)
Photography: 35Atlanta
Hair: Misty King and Cortney Nelms
Makeup: Chad Hayduk, Three Custom Color
Accessories: Silk flower purchased at LaRaine’s Boutique, Veil ordered from obridal.com
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Miss Magnolia, Atlanta
Age and Occupation: 28, Public Affairs and Government Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Lobbyist
Engagement Date: December 1, 2006
Wedding Date: January, 2008
Blogging Since: September 6, 2007
Venue: catherdral ceremony/private club reception
About Me: Mr. Magnolia and I are thrilled to be planning an evening, winter wedding for 200 people in Atlanta. We both work in politics and share a love of University of Georgia football, pop culture, and good food! I'm a runner who adores wedding magazines, bad reality television, and a
good glass of wine. Most of the time I like to think I'm pretty organized, but between wedding planning, house hunting, and a full-time job, I'm being put to the test!
See part one (favors) here.
Flowers are a detail that just about every bride worries about, right? Well, I was no exception. Choosing a florist proved to be one of the most difficult wedding-related decisions I had to make. (And truly, this was a decision that I had to make, because Mr. Mags wanted no part of it!)
I interviewed several florists, but I just didn’t get a feel that anyone was going to take my requests based on my (very) limited knowledge of flowers and run with it. I didn’t want someone who was going to execute exactly what I asked for, because I had very little idea what I was actually talking about!
Enter desperation mode. At a staff meeting one Friday morning, one of our managers asked if anyone had any additional business, and I blurted out, “Does anyone happen to know a good florist?!” Smooth move, Mags.
Luckily, a colleague took pity on me and slipped me a piece of paper with the name and number of my savior on it: Bettina McDowell, with Riverdale’s Floral Boutique. Not only did Bettina and I immediately hit it off, but I absolutely felt that she would be able to capture my ideas and expand on them. Mission accomplished, Bettina!
My bridal bouquets:
Yes, there were two of them. The day before the wedding, Bettina called me while I was getting my nails done. She said that she wanted to run something by me…so my stomach flipped over, I braced myself for the worst, and I said, “Okay…”
“I’m afraid that the hydrangeas in your bridal bouquet may wilt during pictures, so I’m going to make two so that you are sure to have a fresh one to walk down the aisle. Is that okay?”
Bless her. Seriously, she rocks. (Warning: this emotion may be repeated a lot during this post…)
Corsages for the mothers:
Previously blogged here, our mothers attached these beauties to their clutches before walking down the aisle. (yes, they are both in that picture…)
A close up on the bridesmaids’ bouquets:
And Mr. Magnolia’s boutonniere (I hope that’s spelled correctly):
So, centerpieces. For whatever reason, I wasn’t content to just have one kind of centerpiece, or even the popular “high and low” pairing. No, I had to opt for FIVE different kinds of centerpieces. Bless Bettina. She rocks.
The tall centerpieces on our buffet table:
First centerpiece for our high top tables:
Another centerpiece for the high top tables:
LOVE the coffee bean detail shot:
First centerpiece for larger tables:
This picture (although not a close up) also shows off our table runners, made by my MIL and her sister.
And the final centerpiece for the larger tables…hydrangea and rose petals floating in water in glass cylinders.
Whew. Well, that’s that. One last thought, because it simply can’t be said enough? Bettina rocks, y’all!
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Miss Magnolia, Atlanta
Age and Occupation: 28, Public Affairs and Government Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Lobbyist
Engagement Date: December 1, 2006
Wedding Date: January, 2008
Blogging Since: September 6, 2007
Venue: catherdral ceremony/private club reception
About Me: Mr. Magnolia and I are thrilled to be planning an evening, winter wedding for 200 people in Atlanta. We both work in politics and share a love of University of Georgia football, pop culture, and good food! I'm a runner who adores wedding magazines, bad reality television, and a
good glass of wine. Most of the time I like to think I'm pretty organized, but between wedding planning, house hunting, and a full-time job, I'm being put to the test!
NASCAR came to Atlanta this weekend, and this article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution totally cracked me up:
Atlanta NASCAR Fans Start Race with “I Do”
Excerpts from the article include:
The start and finish line of a racetrack could be the most appropriate place to start a marriage. The sport is a lot like being wed — hours of monotony in which participants try and keep everything together until crossing the finish line, punctuated by wrecks, drama and occasional public spectacles of embarrassment.
On Sunday, five couples vowed to find out if the metaphor applies to them when they said “I do” on the black-and-white checkered line at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton— two hours before 43 drivers thundered across it for 325 laps at the Kobalt Tools 500.
There were signs of potential marital trouble ahead as brides — and grooms — advertised their loyalty to another man, donning numbers like “88,” code for Dale Earnhardt Jr., or the name “Jeff Gordon” brazenly spread across a blouse.
But the newlyweds said men like Gordon and Earnhardt or even Kyle Busch would never come between them.
So, I would say that this could only happen in Georgia, but I also know that NASCAR is the second most popular sport in the U.S. Personally it’s not for me, but I do think that getting married at the speedway is pretty hilarious. Anyone want to try for next year?!
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Miss Magnolia, Atlanta
Age and Occupation: 28, Public Affairs and Government Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Lobbyist
Engagement Date: December 1, 2006
Wedding Date: January, 2008
Blogging Since: September 6, 2007
Venue: catherdral ceremony/private club reception
About Me: Mr. Magnolia and I are thrilled to be planning an evening, winter wedding for 200 people in Atlanta. We both work in politics and share a love of University of Georgia football, pop culture, and good food! I'm a runner who adores wedding magazines, bad reality television, and a
good glass of wine. Most of the time I like to think I'm pretty organized, but between wedding planning, house hunting, and a full-time job, I'm being put to the test!
Technically, I guess my post on oliviamoon’s pendants was my first in the “detail” series, but since I didn’t number it as such, we’ll just start this one as one, shall we?
Mr. Magnolia and I didn’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about favors. We basically figured that if a great idea came to us that wouldn’t break the bank, then we would have them… but if nothing came to mind, we just wouldn’t worry about it.
Initially we considered hiring The Varsity Catering truck to show up at midnight and serve chili dogs, onion rings, and F.O.s (Frosted Orange drinks), because there’s very little that’s more “Atlanta” than the Varsity. Plus, I was hoping they’d give us a discount since our reception was pretty much around the corner from the restaurant. Ultimately, we decided that it was out of our budget, plus there was the issue of the catering department not being particularly responsive… something I have a serious problem with. Anyway, eventually I decided on another course of action in the favor department - something that was definitely still intricately linked to the city of Atlanta…
Coca-Cola!
I have to disclose that I do, in fact, have a connection to the company that allowed me a significant discount on nine cases of the special edition holiday bottles (a glass, non-contour design, circa the mid-1890s).
I would suggest, if you decide to purchase Coca-Cola bottles as favors, that you check out your local Costco, Sam’s Club, or other bulk merchandiser. Buying the six-packs retail can add up quickly!
I also purchased favor tags from etsy seller paperfarrago - mostly in shades of blue and brown, both with and without yarn or ribbon attached. On one side of each favor tag, I wrote a thank you message to our guests. I say “one side,” because some of the tags were made of one-sided paper, while others were two-sided. In those cases, I simply wrote on the lighter side.
Paperfarrago was a great etsy seller who responded quickly, shipped the tags promptly, and I would definitely consider ordering from again!
Overall, our favors were a big hit with our guests, and I’m truly pleased that we were able to come up with an affordable way to represent us as well as honor the city we love.
Is anyone else planning to do favors that are related to their wedding location?
All photos (except the first one) by 35 Atlanta.
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Miss Magnolia, Atlanta
Age and Occupation: 28, Public Affairs and Government Relations
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Lobbyist
Engagement Date: December 1, 2006
Wedding Date: January, 2008
Blogging Since: September 6, 2007
Venue: catherdral ceremony/private club reception
About Me: Mr. Magnolia and I are thrilled to be planning an evening, winter wedding for 200 people in Atlanta. We both work in politics and share a love of University of Georgia football, pop culture, and good food! I'm a runner who adores wedding magazines, bad reality television, and a
good glass of wine. Most of the time I like to think I'm pretty organized, but between wedding planning, house hunting, and a full-time job, I'm being put to the test!
Lately, I’ve noticed a strange kind of reasoning coming from my husband. I’m a girl, I struggle with my weight, I break out from time to time… basically, I have the same superficial concerns that you’ll find in many young women - single, engaged, or married.
Except now, when I whine to Mr. Magnolia about my favorite jeans being too tight, his response is, “But you’re married…” On our trip to Wal-Mart this weekend, I snatched up some ever-helpful Oxy 10, and he asked, “What do you need that for?”
“To help clear up my skin,” I replied. You can guess his response:
“But you’re married…”
I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t look at a wedding ring on my finger as a reason to “let myself go.” First of all, I have a corporate job that really prefers me to look put together, and second of all, it’s not really about looking a certain way for other people. I like it when I know I look good. And yes, I like to look good for Mr. Mags as well! I didn’t start running to “catch a husband,” and I don’t plan to stop now that I have one! Similarly, I would prefer to keep my skin clear, because it kind of grosses me out when I’m overtaken with pimples.
Be honest - is there anyone out there who thinks she just might (even if inadvertently) “let herself go” after the wedding? Or do you think your husband has/will do so? Anyone who thinks MY husband will do so?
*Please excuse any errors in this post…I’ve typed it on my blackberry while stranded at the DC airport.*
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