Today’s ONE DAY feature is all about Andrew and Erinn. I “met” Erinn on Twitter and was thrilled that she wanted to share some of her lovely wedding details. They got married December 10, 2010 at The Cypress Grove Estate House in Orlando, Florida. Erinn describes their wedding palette as “dark sapphire blue, berry and green.” Learn more about their wedding day below:

1. What do you remember most about your wedding day? Laughing my whole way down the aisle. This sounds silly, but for those that know me, you know I’m always smiling. When I’m nervous, I make myself laugh. You’ll see a common trend in all of our wedding photos that I laughed the whole day. My husband and I had been dating since we were in the 8th grade – which is so, so long. But as I walked down the aisle and saw Andrew, it was like everything we had been working towards, everything we wanted to be had lead up to that particular moment. I was overwhelmed with joy.

2. What was your vision for your wedding before you actually started planning? How did that vision change by the time you were finished? I had been working as a wedding planner for 3 years when we got engaged. I was constantly surrounded by pretty details and dresses that I knew in my head exactly what I wanted to happen. My vision was simple, southern and bright. I wanted the colors to grab your attention before you knew what to do with them. I wanted vibrance, classic charm and personal touches. We grew up together in Florida, so we wanted it outside by a lake in the perfect December weather. We wanted to dance under a canopy of market lights with amazing music and our closest friends that we grew up with. It never changed and was beyond perfect.

3. What was your favorite and least favorite part of wedding planning? Favorite part had to be planning everything with my Mom. I’m the girly girl of the family, so it was no surprise to anyone that I whipped out a huge binder of all of my favorite wedding ideas the day we got engaged. My mom and I planned every single detail together, and I wouldn’t have changed that. My least favorite part is easy, the budget. Hands down. I had no problems telling my brides where to spend their money – but for some reason this was a really difficult task for me.

4. How did you go about finding your wedding photographer and videographer? I picked our wedding photographer right away. I had worked with Lindsey of Pure Photography several times before. We were friends, and we grew closer as she was so involved in the wedding planning with me. Her images are fresh, vibrant and breathtaking. I knew she’d fit in perfectly. We opted out of not having a videographer, and now I wish we would have. If anything, for the speaking moments of family members and friends.

5. Did you have any favorite DIY wedding projects? I had so many! We made tissue paper pom poms to hang between the arch ways around the dance floor amphitheater. It was the perfect touch and so easy to do! We folded them up and brought them with us, while we all were getting our hair ready we prepped the pom poms and hung them ourselves. We cleaned and polished my great grandmother’s antique silver catering pieces and spread them out through out the wedding – from the centerpieces to the favors, it was a constant reminder of family. My most favorite though, was instead of a traditional guest book we used green and berry Christmas tree ornaments and let our guests write their well wishes right there, and then hang them on a tree. Our first Christmas at home was filled with these ornaments in random vases, bowls and even some on the tree.

6. What advice do you have for newly engaged couples that are starting to plan? Do your research! Read blogs, know that you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to have the wedding of your dreams, go to several stores to try on dresses even if you are convinced that it’s the right one…take your time! If something isn’t a good fit, recognize it from the beginning and do something about it. I changed our florist half way through the planning because I realized they couldn’t deliver what we wanted. It was best decision of the whole process. The flowers really pulled everything together.

Their photographer was Pure by Lindsey, flowers by Thallo Floral Design , coordinating by Swoon Over It.

Today’s ONE DAY feature is all about Josh and Sarah (both 28). They got married Friday, July 23, 2010 at in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Their ceremony and reception was held in the Riviera Ballroom and they held their cocktail hour on the Lady of the Lake! Sarah describes their wedding palette as “shades of green, pinch of yellow, white, and grey.” Learn more about their wedding day below:

1. What do you remember most about your wedding day? Our wedding day was one of the hottest days of the year and it rained, more like poured, the whole night before and right up to the start of our 5:00 ceremony. So, the one thing we remember the most about our wedding day was when the clouds parted, the rain stopped and a beautiful rainbow appeared over the lake.  How many people can say they had a rainbow on their wedding day?

2. What was your vision for your wedding before you actually started planning? How did that vision change by the time you were finished? I am not the type of girl that thought about their dream wedding ever since they were little, so I didn’t have a vision to live up to.  The only thing I knew was that I wanted to get married in Lake Geneva.  Josh and I spent many nights while we were dating at Lake Geneva, making it a very special place for the two of us. Our vision became very clear once we stepped foot into the Riviera Ballroom. We immediately fell in love with it’s decor and amazing view. The green subway tiles at the four corners of the ballroom sparked the idea of shades of green in our color palette. The view of the lake and boats gave us the idea to do a boat cocktail hour instead of the traditional after ceremony drinks. From there everything just fell into place and it was perfect!

3. What was your favorite and least favorite part of wedding planning? We truly loved planning every detail but having 120+ people look at us (all day) was the hard part. We are not ones that like a lot of attention so it was really hard to be the main attraction. I cried a lot about this!

4. How did you go about finding your wedding photographer? Our photographer, Kelly Vanderploeg, went to the same high school as us.  She was a few years older than us but had younger siblings Josh and I knew.  Of course we loved that we knew Kelly but we also truly loved her work.  Her pictures capture moments not poses and thank goodness for that!  As part of our wedding day schedule we planned for “picture time” before the wedding and after the ceremony but with the heat and rain both were canceled.  However, I knew I didn’t have to worry if our pictures would turn out or not because of Kelly’s specialty-capturing the moments not poses.

My sister is also learning about photography and has started a small business.  She was so happy when I asked her to take a few of me on a beautiful sunny day.  I loved getting all dressed up again!  Those day after photo shoots should be more popular-I was so relaxed.

5. Did you have any favorite DIY wedding projects? I had a few DIY projects and the nice thing is other people took on the tasks!

• My favorite project, of course, was collaborating with you to create our beautiful, one-of-a-kind invitations, programs, place cards, table numbers, and guest book postcards. Your hand drawings of the Riviera and The Lady of the Lake were my favorite parts.
• My sister-in-law monogrammed each linen napkin with a “B”. She did all 120 by hand! The napkins added a wonderful personal touch to the dinner tables without breaking the bank.
• My mother-in-law bought four large urns and planted several different green vines and white flowers in them. We used these at the front and end of the aisle during the ceremony. She tended to these flowers all summer long so they would be perfect on our special day. We now use the urns on the front porch and back patio of our new home.

6. What advice do you have for newly engaged couples that are starting to plan? Spend money on what is important to you…not what is important to others. To us we wanted to get an amazing photographer and a sunset boat cocktail hour. Knowing that these two things were very important to us, we worked with our budget and cut things that weren’t as important (wedding favors for example). We are so happy we did this because we love our pictures and everyone still comments about how fun the boat ride was.

Sarah also shared where they purchased many of the wedding party’s attire:

• Dress/belt/flower
• Shoes
• Bridesmaid Dresses
• Groomsmen Suits: Ralph Lauren Summer Collection
• Flower Girl Dresses
• Little Boy Shoes
• Cake Toppers: Vintage Pez (part of Josh’s large Pez collection)

Today’s ONE DAY feature is all about Dave (34) and Amy (29). They got married June 17th, 2011 at North Bank Park in Columbus, Ohio. Amy describes their wedding palette as “Natural meets Industrial: Green Apple, Lemon Yellow, Burlap Brown + Muted Gray and Black Steel.” Learn more about their wedding day below:

1. What do you remember most about your wedding day? I think the most memorable moment was the “send off.” Our friends lined up on either side of us with sparklers to send us off. We ran through the tunnel of sparklers to a pedicab that took us to the renaissance hotel. It was just such a beautiful sight. Followed by a relaxing & quiet ride with my husband up the city streets at night with champagne in hand. A friend of ours created a short video that captured the moment perfectly.

2. What was your vision for your wedding before you actually started planning? We wanted it to be intimate, happy, bright, modern, and warm. We wanted to show off the city we love to all of our friends and family and that guided a lot of our decisions. For example, we chose North Bank Park for the wedding day location because it has one of the best views in Columbus and we chose Via Vecchia, a local winery located close to our home in German Village, for the rehearsal dinner.

How did that vision change by the time you were finished? I like to think we kept it warm, modern, and intimate. In fact, I created a mood board when I was coming up with inspiration for the wedding and any time I went to meet with vendors, purchase supplies, or check out a location I brought the mood board. It may be a little nerdy but the wedding process can get out of control quickly – having that kept me focused on what we really wanted versus what our vendors wanted.

3. What was your favorite and least favorite part of wedding planning? I will say planning a wedding was not a lot of fun for me. I was surprised by how stressful it can be. That said, I did like working with my designer friend on the invitations, menu, and signage. I liked seeing my vision become reality every time I got a pdf in an email from her or opened a box from the printer. Most of all, seeing all the pieces and parts come together was my favorite part of the “planning” process. My least favorite part was having excruciatingly detailed conversations about things I consider unimportant. For example, I remember having a last minute email exchange with my caterer about napkins — specifically, the fold of the napkin. I am happy to never have a conversation about ways to fold a napkin again.

4. How did you go about finding your wedding photographer and videographer? I looked on The Knot for recommendations by other brides. That’s how I found our videographer who is actually a student just beginning his business. We also ended up having a friend give us a gift of captured shots from the wedding so we luckily received two videos that captured the day. We LOVED our photographers, A New Day Photography. I actually found them on a wedding blog called Once Wed and am so glad I did. They moved back to Ohio from Atlanta, Georgia and were trying to build their business in Ohio. In choosing a photographer, it was really important that we like them as people. You will be spending most of your wedding day with them, after all. Not only were they INCREDIBLY talented, they were very professional, responsive every time I sent an email, very organized, and so sweet. During our wedding day they were a joy to be around even while standing in a hail storm to get the perfect shot.

5. Did you have any favorite DIY wedding projects? 

• My Dad surprised me by building the arch for the ceremony.
• Since Dave and I share a love of music and music festivals, we created cds and made the cd cases as our friend’s escort cards and gifts.
• My friend, Stephanie, made 200 cupcakes from scratch that received rave reviews.
• We created the programs. My friend Jamie designed them. My family from Brazil brought ribbon bracelets from Brazil called fita’s that we used to tie the program pages together. Fita’s are to be tied around the wrist with three knots and the wearer is supposed to make 3 wishes. When the bracelet breaks naturally, it is said that the wishes are granted.
• My friend Jamie also designed the invitations, save the dates, menus, and signage.
• I created the centerpieces using pieces of wood from my family’s farm, moss, glass vases, green apples, and wooden numbers spray painted dark brown.
• I also created a scrap book as a guest book with a page devoted to each of our guests and space for them to leave us a message.

6. What advice do you have for newly engaged couples that are starting to plan?

• To everyone: Start with a budget and try your best to stick to it. Also, you can’t do it all. As the date approaches you will realize you can’t do everything, make a list of what you have left to do and mark which things are necessary and which would be nice to have. Then, forget the nice to haves and move on. Most of all do not stress – you will enjoy the day even without those chair covers.
• To the procrastinators: Yes, the planning starts this early ;)
• To the bridezilla: Make sure he can “own” certain aspects of the wedding. This is his day too. Dave’s thing was music. We made the decision to cut back in some areas to make sure we had a good live band.
• To the budget conscious: (1) Get a great photographer. Those pictures out last everything. After going through this I now agree with those who said “Spend money on a good photographer.” That was the best decision we made. (2) Get some stuff on video. Through a videographer or friend’s iphone – You will watch it, get a little teary, and be glad you have the memories. (3) Hire a Day of Coordinator. I worked with Lourdes Barroso De Padilla from A Time to Toast  and it was another one of the best decisions we made. She made the day go on seamlessly, kept the vendors on track, set up, decorated and cleaned up after the wedding, and even brought the left over cupcakes to the after party! (4) Go with your gut. When everyone is telling you to spend the money on something but it doesn’t feel right – listen. For me it was makeup. Everyone told me to get my makeup professionally done “for the pictures.” I had two test sessions and I looked drastically made up– not horrible, but definitely not myself. I waited until the last minute to cancel thinking I had to have ALL of this make up on my face even if I felt unnatural (and was crazy expensive). I decided to do my makeup myself. I saved over $100 and felt more beautiful than I ever felt in a test makeup session. And, I look just fine in pictures. I look like myself!

It’s true. Another week has gone by and still no One Day post! It’s like I’m sleeping on the job. Next week, I promise!

Ashley, a fellow Columbus dweller, approached me awhile ago to be a part of my One Day series and I was so excited when we decided to highlight all her DIY projects. She and her husband had a fall wedding and so I knew it would be helpful for all you soon-to-be brides planning for YOURS in 2011.

[Pictured above] Ashley saw the ring photo idea online and printed out her own sheet of paper with the numbers spaced accordingly to fit the rings as zeroes. She bought wooden hangers at Target and floral wire at Michael’s and bent the wire to form the letters (drilling holes in the side of the wood to hold the wire). I absolutely love these two ideas and incorporating typography into ordinary items.

[Pictured Above] Instead of the traditional pew bows or expensive flowers, Ashley used fake fall floral arrangements that she found at Michael’s. Her grandma tied ribbon on them which dressed them up a bit (and allowed them to hang over the pews). She also bought a birdcage at Hobby Lobby to use as a card box and decorated it with the same floral arrangements and ribbon. At the reception, the centerpieces were created with a candle base and they wrapped fake berries throughout the middle.

[Pictured Above] Ashley designed and printed her own wedding invitations (she’s a graphic designer) and utilized the design on other parts like the stick candy favors. [Pictured Below] I always love the idea of couples creating their thank you notes from a photo taken at the wedding. Ashley hand painted their signs in a script font.

[Pictured Below] Ashley also created her own guest book, added a little ribbon to her bubbles, and carried over the floral design onto her escort cards. It’s the little touches like that that unify your wedding in the most simple and easy way!

All of the photos were taken by their wedding photographer, Jennifer Schaaf of JOJO Photography and Film.

Check back tomorrow for part two of my Vegas trip!

It’s week 2 of One Day and this week I’m featuring Carrie’s wedding! Her and her fiancé are getting married May 20th, 2011 and I was able to discuss some of their plans and vision. Hopefully I’ll be able to follow up with them after their honeymoon to Puerto Rico and share exactly how everything went! For now, here are a few style boards. Enjoy!

Their colors are sage green, yellow, and ivory (and yes, she is going to wear yellow heels under her wedding gown)! They are throwing an intimate wedding with some family and close friends. Since it is both their 2nd marriages, they are aiming for simple and relaxed. The vibe of the wedding itself is vintage, kind of a ’50′s glamour vibe.  Her gown is a strapless Justin Alexander (an ivory silk with a shelf bust with rhinestone detailing).

Carrie is wearing her grandmother’s vintage rhinestone necklace (something old & borrowed) and we love this idea. Wearing something like a locket that your mother or grandmother wore can be such a wonderful touch. [Wedding photography above by Megan of Megan W Photography. Yellow shoe photograph by Abdi of Three Photographers.]

Carrie shared, “We’re having an evening wedding, & then a twilight candlelight cocktail reception.  We are planning on having a champagne bar with mixers.  We are having it at a gorgeous English tudor bulit in the early 1900′s.”

I loved Carrie and Patrick’s attitude about everything. They’re letting the bridesmaids pick their own dresses, instead of a large wedding cake they’re serving an assortment of 4-5 flavored cakes, and Carrie’s 12 year old son will be a groomsman. I’ll be looking forwarding to see the photos and hear all about it!

I’m excited and happy to be continuing my series, One Day, every week on Wednesday! To kick off the first week back, I decided to collaborate with Heather to create her dream wedding styleboard. We’re covering everything from flowers, dresses, venue, to favors. Enjoy and take it all in!

After many requests, I’m bringing back my wedding series, “One Day.” However–I’m still in the process of revamping the series and making it something that will keep you all interested and excited. If you recently have gotten married or are getting married (or maybe you know the perfect couple to recommend), please contact me at salutations@allisonlehman.com! Maybe you’re not even close to getting married but would like to create a dream wedding mood board? Let’s do it. Whether it’s tips, DIYs, ideas, traditions, vows or anything that made your special day unique, I want each post to be different. To read past “One Day” posts, click here. And to all my other readers, thoughts or ideas?

Photos found here and here.

This is the fourth post in our One Day series and I’m happy to introduce Mitch and Amy! After a 15 month engagement, they were married in Holland, Michigan and danced the night away on Windmill Island. Enjoy reading some of Amy’s thoughts and take a look at some of their beautiful photographs.

1. Now that it has been almost a year since your wedding day, what do you remember most about the day? What I remember the most is the way I felt. I’m not sure I prepared myself for how emotionally overwhelming a wedding is. Having all the people that you care about the most take so much time out of their lives to spend celebrating you was absolutely overwhelming and amazing. That’s what I remember the most, and what my husband and I talked about the most on our honeymoon was how loved we felt and how awesome the people in our lives are.

2. What was the vision for your wedding day before you started planning? I wanted it to be personal, original, and memorable. I was tired of seeing gerber daises and tooling and all of the other typical wedding trends (sorry). I wanted to do something different that fit Mitch and I.

3. How did that vision change by the time you were finished with the planning? Near the end of my planning I started to not care as much because I just wanted to be married! Honestly, I grew tired of spending so much money and started to “weed” out my ideas and only chose to do the ones I thought would be remembered and would show a personal touch. For example, I had a semi-elaborate picture in my mind of what I wanted the front of the church to look like for our ceremony, but decided to go with the more traditional flower arrangements that we could use at the reception. Since our ceremony lasted a whopping 20 minutes, I’m glad I didn’t waste time decorating the church.

4. What difficulties did you face while planning a wedding in Holland, MI? I didn’t face too many difficulties. Holland is a city built on Dutch traditional (meaning, we’re cheap!) so everything was pretty affordable, and there are a lot of options to choose from. We also know a lot of people who offered to help with things from sewing our table runners to decorating to lighting candles, cutting our cake, and cleaning up after wards.

5. What was your least favorite part of wedding planning? My least favorite part was feeling stressed about feeling like I had to please everyone. I know it’s supposed to be “your day,” but there are a lot of people involved, and all of their opinions, at times, need to be considered. Everything was so new to me as I had only attended a couple of weddings before my own, so I needed a lot of guidance and advice in everything from how to word invitations and programs to what to register for to names/seasons of flowers…etc. I had no clue!

6. What was your favorite part of wedding planning? I love being crafty, so it was a lot of fun for me to think of creative ways to do invitations, programs, seating cards…etc. I absolutely loved working with Allie Lehman on designing my invitations and programs, she does amazing work!! I also lived with 3 engaged friends at the time, too, so it was fun to bounce ideas off of each other and complain about certain aspects of planning.

7. How did Mitch (the groom) fit into the wedding planning process? I always bounced my ideas off of Mitch and he respectfully listened, but never really had an opinion. He just always said everything sounded great. When he could, he came to meeting with the photographer and caterer with me. He did help with all of the invitations and programs. He also made and painted some flower boxes that we put our seating cards in. He was fun to craft with, but I am sure he’s glad it’s over!

8. If you could go back in time – what would “married Amy” tell “engaged Amy” before the wedding planning started. First of all, I would tell her that marriage is the best thing that will ever happen to you, so whatever you do or plan for the wedding doesn’t really matter, at the end of it all, you’ll be married either way! I think that I would also say to do some research and figure out a budget so at the end, you’re comfortable with what you spent because it’s what you planned on!

Amy and Mitch’s wedding photography by Steven and Jessica Fox.

Welcome to the third week of my new series, One Day, where I am able to feature a couple who recently got married. This week, I’m excited to introduce Michael and Mary Kate! After a 9 month long engagement and a budget of $35,000, they were married at Old St. Mary’s Church (the first and oldest Catholic Parish in Chicago) and celebrated the night away at Salvage One. I was able to design their invitation set + program and I will always remember their style and personality. Enjoy some tips from Mary Kate, a inspiration board revolving around their chocolate brown-green-butter color scheme, and take a peek at some of their GORGEOUS photos.

1. Now that it has been about 6 months since your wedding day, what do you remember most about the day? I remember I was in a church filled with 200 people but it felt like just Mike and me. I remember our MOH and BM speeches. I remember the day and night just felt truly magical. Great vibes!

2. What was the vision for your wedding day before you started planning? Before we got engaged we discussed a destination wedding or maybe even eloping!

3. How did that vision change by the time you were finished with the planning? We did a little research on a destination wedding and when we realized our grandparents wouldn’t be able to make it, we decided to stay local. After the decision to stay local was made, we had no clue what our wedding would look like.  Since I work in the meetings/events industry and have been to several banquet hall/hotel weddings we knew that’s what we didn’t want, but we could not pin point what we did want. The key for us was baby steps, taking one task at a time. Visualizing the big picture was impossible. Once we found our venue, we could start to picture it coming together. What we finally ended up with was a traditional wedding in an nontraditional spot with personal touches.

4. What difficulties did you face while planning a wedding in Chicago? Being able to afford a unique venue in the city of Chicago with great food. AKA BUDGET! Also weather, Chicago weather is so unpredictable so we planned for a hot day, but we had a back up plan for a cooler day.

[From top to bottom: flower girl dress via J.Crew, chocolate brown wedding programs via theknot.com, cowboy boot image via theknot.com, potential rehearsal dinner dress via Anthropologie, apple favor idea via theknot.com]

5. What was your least favorite part of wedding planning? This may sound odd but choosing my hair style for that day was my least favorite part of the entire wedding planning process.  I could not decided and when I did, the styles I tried looked terrible on me.  After several hair trials, I just said just decided to not worry about it.

6. What was your favorite part of wedding planning? Negotiating with vendors. Vendors want your business. Being able to negotiate with the vendors I was able to save us a lot of money.

7. How did Mike (the groom) fit into the wedding planning process? Mike choose the reception venue.  We worked together on budget, rings, music and menus. He also styled the groomsmen.

8. If you could go back in time – what would “married Mary Kate” tell “engaged Mary Kate” before the wedding planning started? Eat everything.

All of Michael and Mary Kate’s photography was taken by Emotia.com.