The pictures have all been uploaded, the gifts have all been opened, the honeymoon has come and gone...a year of planning every detail has ended and what was left was the best weekend of our lives.

I am someone who is extremely sentimental and I would like to think creative. The amount of time and thought that went into my wedding would probably make some people cry, but it was my goal to have a wedding that showed our personality. Hopefully these pictures will give other brides ideas on how to make their wedding more unique.

Rehearsal Dinner:

Rehearsal Dinner Centerpiece

Rehearsal Dinner Table Placecards

Groomsman Cake

Our Chuppah

 My MIL stitched this

I made this wish tree, which is now in our new home

Every bridesmaid bouquet had a different charm with their initials

So I dreamt up my perfect wedding weekend and while many things didn't look quite as I had envisioned, it was still the picture perfect wedding. I know that all the guests walked away really knowing Adam and I as a couple.

So many people have asked me how we chose Thailand for our honeymoon spot and here is the answer...

At first I was set on spending our honeymoon in Bora Bora. The beautiful bungalows over the perfectly blue, clear water seemed like an obvious choice for my fiance and I who love to scuba. The idea seemed even more perfect when a friend came home with the most incredible pictures of their Bora Bora honeymoon. When she told me that her 1 week honeymoon was the exact amount of time to spend there I started to think. How many times do you get to go on a honeymoon?? Because I own my own company, I am able to go for as long as I like and my fiance said that he was able to take off 2 weeks. The thought of laying on the beach and doing nothing sounds great for 1 week, but by the second week I know I would be restless. So where can we go that gives us the beach part, but something else to keep us entertained. After a lot of research, Thailand seemed like the obvious choice. We would start in Phuket for a few days of sand and scuba. We decided to splurge on the hotel booked the JW Marriott.

After Phuket we are flying to Chiang Mai to enjoy the mountain region of Thailand. We are staying close to the night bazaar at the modern Dusit D2.

After an adventure in Chiang Mai we are ending the trip in the city of Bangkok. While I have heard many people say don't waste your time there, I want to go and form my own opinion (not to mention we get to stay for free with hilton points). We are staying at the Hilton Millenium, which is next to the Chao Praya River.

Beach, mountains and city will create our 2 week honeymoon in paradise.

One of the biggest challenges I had was picking out a bridesmaid dress. With 8 bridesmaids, I was faced with 8 different body types. Since it is a winter wedding I wanted to find a long dress...for my best friends wedding, we wore a Bill Levkoff dress in the color wine and it looked amazing on everybody. 

I was looking for something similar, but different enough to separate our weddings. What I found was an Impression dress that looked good on everyone! I think the key is to find a thicker dress that is a-line and covers everybody's middle!

We ordered the dress in espresso and now all we have left is finding the tux to match!

So my bachelorette party was this weekend and the original plan was for 13 of us to go to New Orleans. Thanks to Gustav we were forced to change our plans and stay in Atlanta. At first, this thought really sucked since I am from here and I couldn't imagine what we could do that would be new and fun. Lucky for me, I have the most incredible friends who can take any place in the world and make it so much fun. On Saturday, 15 of us went to Saks and all got makeovers and then we went to the park and took tons of pictures. I am someone who absolutely loves pictures and this was one of the greatest ideas ever. We all had so much fun together and the pictures that we took will last a lifetime. 

Here are some of the many pictures that we took

After we took pictures in the park we came back and got ready for the night out. I love the 80s and the entire basement was decorated 80s theme and we all had matching shirts and outfits.

We played games and hung out before a limo came and picked us up to take us to Wild Bills and then Peachtree Tavern (two places I have never been).

Here is the whole group at Wild Bills

The night was probably the most fun I have ever had and not going to new orleans was really a blessing in disguise. More people were able to come since we stayed in town and having everyone I love with me was all that really matter. We could have sat around and did nothing all weekend and it would have been perfect. It is weekends like the one I just had that really remind you how important friends are and lucky for me I have the best!

There are many different opinions on having a photo booth at your wedding. I think it is a really great idea. We are having one that prints out two sets of pictures and one gets put into a guest book. Then, we have magnets for the strip of pictures so people can actually do something with it. The booth is an extra cost, however, we don't have to worry about getting a guest book for people to sign and also with the magnet it becomes a little gift so we don't need to buy something extra. So it's a win win in my book. 

For many, wedding invitations are a top priority. For me, I say don't waste your money. Wedding invitations are suppose to be elegant and nobody really even looks twice at them. STD on the other hand are often bookmarks or magnets, which get a lot more attention. More importantly, it allows you to get really creative and show everyone something about you. For my best friend, I made her STD Florida Gator themed since both attended UF.

Try having 7 parents. Growing up I always wondered how I would deal with getting married with my parents divorced and having a step-father who I am very close with. When I found out my fiance's parents were also divorced and both remarried I should have walked away then, but at the beginning of the relationship it really helped us understand each other better. The fact is every situation is different and trying to plan a wedding with 7 parents has not been as bad as one might think. My goal at the end of the day is to just make sure that nobody's feelings are hurt and to keep everyone up to date and included. Part of that is accomplished through the wonderful world of blogging. So while having 7 parents can sometimes get tricky, in the end it really just means more people that love you and of course more wedding gifts!

After months of searching through every Atlanta bridal shop I finally found the dress of my dreams. When I first started trying on dresses I was sure that I wanted a lace dress with soft beading. The very first dress that I tried on I wanted, unfortunately, the dress was way out of my price range. Sadly for me, it was in every bridal magazine that I got in the mail to remind me of what I couldn't have. So that leads me to my first tip: Only try on dresses that are in your price range.

The second dress I fell in love with was a Priscilla of Boston and it had the most beautiful train I had ever seen. Again, it was too expensive. Eventually, I found a dress that was in my price range and fit perfectly. It had no beading and no lace and while it isn't the most showy dress, I think that it is perfect. Funny enough, I got a call about a week after paying for my dress from the sales person who knew I loved the Priscilla dress telling me that it was being discontinued and I could have it for $1000! This leads me to tip #2: Find out if there is any chance the dress of your dreams will be discounted. Oh, this reminds me of my last tip. Tip #3: I felt a lot of pressure to buy my dress because it would take so long to make. I am sure this is true in many cases, but in mine it took 1 month (2 months less than they told me). So don't rush when it comes to something so important!

Creating my sister's video was probably the most emotional video I have ever made. I don't think I realized how much it meant to me to have her support until I created it...

You can view her video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgd0MlihnO4

Asking your closest friends to be a part of your wedding day should take thought and consideration. For me, the best way for me to explain why it was so important to have them by my side had to be done through a video. The response I got from the videos was overwhelming and it was a sure way to make sure everyone said "yes!" Here is the link to the video I created to ask my matron of honor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqVf9Id9iII