Northwest Arkansas Wedding Vendors: Maggie & Austin

Maggie and Austin were married just weeks ago on Saturday, August 8th. What you don't know is that the planning began long ago, almost immediately after these LOVELY clients and I met at a local bridal event last year. To be exact, the planning began November 13, 2008!

My job as a coordinator is to match you, the client, with the perfect wedding pros for your big day. It takes a lot of consideration on my part, thinking about things like your personality, style, budget, and organizational style. I believe that we assembled an All-Star Team for this bride & groom's big day!

Maggie had already selected fresh, fun, fabulous Arkansas wedding photographers Dale & Meredith from Benfield Photography to capture her day. We were off to a great start! All of the photos in this post are courteous of their fantastic skills!


It all began when we went to visit Stone Chapel at Matt Lane Farm, and Maggie instantly fell in love. The "old" feel mixed with the new property was exactly what this bride was looking for. The all-in-one capabilities of the venue were very important to us as well. I always enjoy my time with Allison & Donna out at the Chapel, and working on this wedding was no exception.


I knew a perfect match for Maggie & mom Diana would be the caring, entertaining, and creative Amy Hannon of Sincerely Yours Paper, Inc. when it came to paper products. Maggie is a paper girl and loved layers, patterns, color, and sparkle! So, Amy loved her! Amy put together an ensemble that made sense from beginning to end including Save the Dates, Invitations, Ceremony Programs, Escort Cards, Menus, Table Numbers, Napkins, and even a custom lighting design to pull it all together!


Next, we tackled the rentals. The pro's at Eventures helped us narrow down our selections on linens, china, chairs, decor, candles, chandeliers, and MUCH MORE! I always love the creative vibe you get when you walk through their doors. Such a fun hustle bustle around there!


After we knew what our linen selection, we knew centerpieces and flowers were up next! Maggie's giggly, joking personality was a fun match for Julie at Jules Design. We designed the perfect floral ensemble and never had to look back! Maggie got all she had ever hoped for!


Next up...food and drink! Because of their organized, professional, yet FUN approach to food I selected Catering Concepts for Maggie. We tried the chicken boursin and these Southern girls were sold! For our need of developing a fun, different bar experience we brought in Jonathan from Beyond the Bar. We showed him an image of a drink we loved (matching the wedding colors) and he brought it to life, along with wonderful wine & beer selections.



We moved on to dessert next, and Maggie knew right where she was headed. Rick's Bakery! Shannon walked us through the process so easily, and we all enjoyed the cake tasting too!



After we were full from eating, drinking, and tasting we got down to who would capture the wedding day in motion, now that we knew how fab the wedding would be with all of these vendors in line. My favorite local videographers from NILO Productions joined the team after Maggie sampled their incredible work.


For the music, Maggie and Austin loved a jazzy style and I knew the perfect matches for them immediately! Emily Knight and her soultry voice and skilled hands provided the vocal and piano accompaniment for the wedding ceremony. We even had a mock walk down the aisle in her house just so we could get the timing right! For the reception entertainment I called in the always entertaining Larry Bedell, from the Fort Smith area. His love of soul music and keeping the crowd entertained was a great fit for the fun reception we were dreaming of. When we decided that we were going to have a cocktail hour on the lawn I knew we needed some music to accompany the guests as they strolled through the hand passed drinks and hors d'oeuvres. After hearing a local jazz ensemble at another client's wedding I brought in their sax player, CJ Weatherford, to keep the guests entertained.


Last but not least we finalized the plans with transportation. We brought in the pros from Hotel Executive Transportation of NWA to get our wedding party from place to place throughout the day via a beautiful black limo. For Maggie & Austin's getaway we visited Simple Pleasures in Bella Vista and had a blast choosing the perfect car for their drive away into Happily Ever After.


I would like to extend my most heartfelt thank you to each and every vendor and their teams that brought this day alive in true perfection. You all treated my clients to true customer service and stellar products. You were excited with us through the process and provided a true bridal experience for Maggie, which is what I look for the most. Your organization and professionalism make my job easy, and you are truly appreciated. Way to go team!

Day 2: Maggie & Austin Wedding Details

You may know that weddings become "their own" in the details. Maggie had the perfect eye for detail, and there was a personal touch around every corner at their August 8th Fayetteville wedding. For more detail shots, check out Dale and Meredith's blog today! Here are a few of my favorite touches:

I'm a girl who loves shoes, especially when a bride chooses to opt for a non-traditional bridal shoe. Check out these sparkly metallic gold Fendi kicks that Mags wore.


Kenna, Maggie's fashionista sister and Maid of Honor, chose this fun hairpiece to accent her sweet bob and her especially chosen chocolate brown dress.


As you can see, Maggie gave the girls the option of choosing their own dress to fit their personal style and body type. I love this "out with the old" attitude when it comes to bridesmaids dresses. Allow your girlfriends to feel comfortable and beautiful as a part of your wedding!


Maggie and Austin chose an Engagement Guest Book for their guests to sign, rather than the traditional book. Guests were able to enjoy their engagement photos, and the new Mr. and Mrs. plan to keep this book out on their sofa table.


For the ceremony, Maggie and Austin chose to personalize their unity candle with this vintage styled cross.


Their programs incorporated not only their colors and fonts from their Save the Dates and invitations, but it also carried the signature paisley graphic into the ceremony.


We chose simple, sweet aisle markers for the Chapel ceremony by utilizing moss balls and orchids as the decor. You'll see the moss balls again later...


Maggie's bridal bouquet was to die for! I love that she went for the less-tradtional (not non-traditional) brightly colored bouquet. This girl loves color, if you can't already tell! One of my very favorite flowers, the ranunculus is included in her bouquet. Do you know which one it is?


If you know my personal favorite bridal styles, you know that I am one big SUCKER for the long veil, and Maggie pulled it off beautifully. I think the veil is the ulimate finish to your bridal look, and truly tops off your personal style.


After the ceremony we had a cocktail hour on the front lawn of the Chapel, complete with signature drinks, tasty hors d'oeuvres, and a jazzy saxophone player. Our signature drink was a layered drink in Maggie's colors of garnet red and persimmon orange, completed with a pinkish red rock candy garnish. YUM!!


As guests moved on to the reception, they were greeted by my staff helping them to find their personalized escort card for their table. Each guest was assigned a table to ensure that families could stick together, but they were free to choose their own seat at that table. The escort cards also doubled as a menu, with the meal printed beautifully on the back. Again, you see the signature paisley graphic making its way into the reception!


Our table settings were gorgeous, sophisticated, and fun all wrapped up in one. (Reminds me of the bride!) We mixed and matched 3 different centerpieces to vary the size, shape, and height around the room. We draped the napkins at each seat to add more dimension to the table as well. Each table had a coordinating table number that fit nicely with the other lovelies in Maggie's paper ensemble.




My favorite centerpiece was one with a personal touch to it. These frames that surround these bright flowers were constructed and finished by the Father of the Bride! Thanks Mr. Doug for the beautiful centerpieces!


I loved the long head table and all of its drama! The change in shape and size of this table truly set it off from the other seating in the room. It created a royal presence for the bride & groom and their wedding party. Not only did we vary the size and shape, we also inverted the colors of linens on this table to allow it to "pop" even more in the room.


Hanging from the ceiling were fun rustic, candlelit chandeliers. When we thought they were looking empty, the crew from Eventures ran and picked up their fun moss balls and we carried Maggie's tiny touch of green (and her love of moss balls!) upward in the reception.


I always urge brides to consider fun lighting details for their reception, and we went for a fun dance floor design for this party. There's the paisley again!


Maggie and Austin chose a charitable organization to give to in honor of their guests, rather than spend money on expensive favors. After choosing the American Heart Association as their recipient, Maggie found these inexpensive heart shaped cookie cutters as a take home treat for the guests.


For the groom's cake we knew Austin wanted to incorporate the Yankees and the Oklahoma Sooners. I suggested the solution of the stadium surrounded by OU cupcakes, and it turned out great! The stadium was a fun sight for everyone to see, and the cupcakes were a great hit for a quick bite of sweets.


After a long, but wonderful night of dancing Maggie & Austin hit the road through a sea of bright sparklers and hopped into their vintage Tempest ride!




It took a very talented, hard working team to pull all of these details together. Come back tomorrow to hear my raves on some of NWA's best wedding vendors! I like to call them rock stars...

Maggie and Austin: Day 1...My Favorite Portrait

This week we are going to be featuring Maggie & Austin's gorgeous 8-8-09 wedding ALL WEEK! Fantastic Arkansas wedding photographers Dale and Meredith from Benfield Photography once again hit this one out of the park with their beautiful work. I may even throw in a few of my photos that I snapped with my new camera!

Today I am going to kick it off with one photo. My ultimate favorite portrait taken in their time together prior to the wedding ceremony. Seeing each other prior to the ceremony is a must in my book for many, many reasons. Getting the time to capture moments like this is one of them. (Of course, I won't make you see each other before but I can tell you a long list of why to do it!)

I love their smooch, how she is dipped back just a tad, how she is holding her bouquet, and the gorgeous drive of the Stone Chapel at Matt Lane Farm (only one of my many FAVE things about this uber-charming Southern venue).



Dale is also showcasing his favorite portraits today over on his blog. I'm sure he will have MANY more that you will love. Click here and go check it out.

Come back tomorrow for details galore...and trust me there are lots to look at!

Maggie & Austin

Guess who got married this weekend? Maggie & Austin!!! I can hardly wait to share more photos with you, but here they are just after picking up that super important piece of paper the day before their wedding. Check back this week for all of the wonderful details!

New Clients!

You may be wondering where I have disappeared to over the last few weeks. It's been a busy month and I am gearing up for another wedding this weekend. (Check back for the details as Maggie & Austin's day unfolds.)

One exciting thing I have been doing over the last few weeks is gaining new brides and grooms-to-be! I love expanding my family and we are growing quickly. Check out the line-up...

September 12th, Little Rock: Pamela & Jim...not sure if I have officially welcomed them yet but we have been working together for quite some time now!

Check out their engagement pics here!

November 21st, Fort Smith: Mollie & Stephen; Excited for these high school sweethearts to tie the knot in a hometown wedding. I have been working with Mollie for several months now and the details are moving right along!

January 9th, Little Rock: Rebecca & Caleb are such a fun couple that I caught up with in Tulsa! Rebecca and I are sorority sisters and it has been fun to re-connect through the wedding world. Check out their engagement pics here!


May 15, Fayetteville: Brittany & Chase; I can't wait for this casual chic wedding to come to life already! Brittany has a super cool style that will be perfect for this upscale home wedding.

May 29th, Memphis: Chelsea & Seth are a wonderful, fun couple who have been together for 9 YEARS! (I think that's right...Chelsea?) We have begun the work on this stunning, sophisticated wedding being held in the yet-to-be-completed Teton Trek at the Memphis Zoo. Sounds fun right? Check out their engagement pics here!

June 19th, Rachel & Travis; We are still on the hunt for the PERFECT spot for this couple looking to treat their guests & the kiddos to a wonderful evening of celebration. I think we may just make our decision tomorrow!

August 28, Fayetteville: Kimberly & Chase! I couldn't be more excited to work with this hillarious, spunky couple looking to plan one heck of a swanky evening. Love their style, love their personalities, love their laughs! I am just dying to really get going with these two!

I also have several dates on hold (meaning a contract is out or a consultation is scheduled), including March 6th, April 24th, June 5th, June 12th, July 10th, and I am already receiving calls for Fall 2010 dates. Needless to say, our calendar is quickly filling up and our dates are booking fast. If you are interested in our services for 2010 please call so we can get you on the calendar. We don't want to miss out on you!

A New Addition to the J.Bailey Occasions Family

Remember these two love birds?


Well, these two have now become a sweet family of 3! We want to send our excited congratulations to Devon & Michael out in California who welcomed baby Michael Benjamin on Friday night. He was a surprise to them, arriving 6 weeks early! He weighed 5 lbs 2 oz. and is 19 inches long. Proud grammy Mary sent me photos today and he is a doll.



Mom Devon is doing great! The baby is strong & active, but is still under the watch of the doctors and is on some assisted oxygen since he made an early arrival. Keep them all in your prayers as he continues to grow & develop.

Michael Benjamin joins Raylee Jade as our two J.Bailey Occasions babies for now...I know there is one more on the way! Congratulations to Devon and Michael. You are going to be wonderful parents!

Summer Re-Cap

Helllooooo blogger friends! I can't believe my last post was at the end of June. Hopefully you can tell that it's been a super busy remainder of the summer for us. I just wanted to do a quick summer re-cap of all of the FAB J.Bailey Occasions weddings that have turned into exciting new marriages for our couples.

I like to think that our summer season starts in May, so here we go....my top 3 favorite things from each of our summer clients:

May 2nd: Jeff & Erin
1. Their sweet, teary eyed vows to each other in St.Catherine's at Bell Gable. AKA the sweetest, most whimsical place in NWA.
2. The musician groom's cake, which was a gigantic guitar made by Rick's bakery.
3. The bluegrass music that took over the reception later in the evening. This was a perfect fit for the crowd, as the dancing instantly began! The bride & groom even sang a sweet, funny duet for everyone!

May 10th: Chesna & Matt
1. The bride's relentless pursuit to get married outside, even if it meant standing in the rain in the open air.
2. The way she carried her vintage Hollywood design all the way through to the music she chose, which completed the whole vibe.
3. The trail mix buffet, rather than the candy buffet. A great twist on a crowd favorite!

May 16th: Stephanie & Tom (Check out some pics here!)
1. I love that this was the first wedding in my home church's new Worship Center (which my parents worked ENDLESSLY on!) and that the groom's dad performed a beautiful ceremony for them.
2. The crazy congo line that wrapped its way around the entire reception!
3. Working with Kristi Matthews, a floral designer in NWA, who builds as she goes and allowed my team to think creatively with her to complete the look of the reception.

May 23rd: MEMORIAL WEEKEND BREAK! I had a great time with my husband and family enjoying this relaxing weekend.

May 30th: Sara & Tyler
Photo by Ray Peoples
1. I love the incredible look we pulled off on a pretty tight budget.I love the reactions of the wedding guests as they entered the reception and saw the transformation of the space. Probably the best reactions we've ever gotten!
2. I loved Sara's cake! It was awesome!
3. I loved that with Sara and Tyler it was about the marriage, not necessarily the wedding. They wanted a great one where everyone would have fun, but they kept the focus on the important stuff!

June 6th was a 2-wedding weekend for us.
First, I worked with Roxi & Ryan in Fayetteville.

{Photo by Benfield Photography.}
1. I loved their groom's cake. You can't go wrong in Arkansas with Razorbacks made of icing!
2. I loved the groom's garter performance. HA!
3. I loved that the bride's twin sister walked her down the aisle.


Ki and Gina were in Hot Springs working with Ashley & Ben. I think I could communicate 3 really great things from the wedding for them:
Photo by Will Flowers of Flowers Photography.
1. Their cake table was super fun with a monogrammed runner with their new married initials.
2. Ashley had 2 separate reception spaces, and utilized them in different ways. She kept a cohesive look but had one act as the dressier space and one a bit more fun.
3. Ashley brought a Fayetteville fave to Hot Springs...Rick's Bakery!

June 13th: Lauren & Matt
Photo by Sarah Bussey
1. I loved the look of their simple Old Main Lawn ceremony, with white paper lanterns hanging in the trees behind them.
2. I loved the fan programs to keep the guests cool on the muggy evening.
3. I loved the midnight pizza snack, which like I said before, brought me about 100 new best friends! :)

June 20th was another 2-wedding weekend for us.
I worked with Whitney & Aaron in Joplin, Missouri...
Photos by Lauren & Jessica from Benfield Photography
1. Whitney & Aaron's cakes were so cool! The bride's cake was funky & fun and the groom's cake was also fun to look at and a special tribute to his relationship with his late father.
2. Their ceremony is one of my very favorites. They wrote their own vows and they were precious. We also incorporated some pretty non-traditional music in a very traditional way. Can you say Coldplay on a string quartet?
3. I loved that we were very creative with their budget and made the money count where it needed to, allowing the important things to shine through on the wedding day.

Ki & Haleigh were in Little Rock with Megan & Clark...
1. I hear the band was rockin'!
2. I know Megan had a Pi Phi circle, which is near & dear to my heart.
3. The fact that I have such an amazing staff with Ki as my right hand that can pull of such large weddings in other parts of the state while I am in another state. And I don't even worry a bit or think about it while I am working on my wedding. Girls, YOU ROCK!

June 26th was my mini-trip and my favorite thing about this trip was that my Pi Phi girls won the prestigious Balfour Cup for the 3rd year in a row, which is practically unheard of! The Balfour Cup is awarded to the #1 Pi Beta Phi sorority chapter internationally, and the girls at the University of Arkansas have been in that position for 3 years now. WAY TO GO ARKANSAS ALPHA! I couldn't be prouder! (If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw the pic of me kissing the cup. HA!) I also got to continue this trip into the 4th of July weekend with my extended family. Thank you again for the much needed break!

And that leads us to this past weekend...July 11th: Felicia & Casey
Photo by Benfield Photography
1. I loved the way the vendors in our area pulled off one of the best weddings of the year despite difficult circumstances.
2. I loved the "big reveal" we did to kick off the dancing! More to come on that...
3. I loved that the bride & groom got to preview the reception prior to the guests' arrival. Oh, and if I can add one more favorite thing...I loved the wedding party entrance into the reception.

I will blog more about Felicia & Casey's big day soon, once I have recovered! :)

So, this is the summer in review. It was our busiest, but best summer yet and we are so thankful for our wonderful clients and the opportunity to serve you all. We are looking forward to the remainder of 2009 with some really fantastic, creative, exciting weddings just weeks away!