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Jess

SMITH-WINCHESTER WEDDING | PORTRAIT SESSION

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Hi! Happy Friday! I apologize for the absence and delay of continuing to post our wedding photos.  The blog was compromised and it took many emails and calls (and near hair pulling out) to get the issues fixed but thanks to Natasha of Nicely Built, we’re up and running properly again!

In the order of how the day went, here is our first look. We chose to do this to take off a little pressure and to allot time for portraits. So so glad we did a first look, highly recommend!

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We shared many tears of joy. I get choked up when I see this photo because I’ll never forget him turning around and seeing his eyes well up with tears of happiness. What a moment!

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The venue’s home, where we all got ready and hung out, has a green house so of course we took advantage and got some shots in there. This was a definite favorite.

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Because we picked the pasture as our ceremony location we had to have something to drive myself and my dad to the alter otherwise it would have been a long walk or golf cart ride.  Sweet Meadows had posted a wedding on their blog a while ago that used this old taxi cab a local resident had restored. I fell in love and asked if we could track down the guy.  He agreed and was really sweet. So glad it worked out because it was truly perfect for the transportation and photos!

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He’s taken (º◡º)っSuit by Calvin Klein, tie from Tie Bar, collar shirt via Charles Tyrwhitt

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Dreamiest dress by Jenny Packham and hair vine from Anna Marguerite’s Etsy shop, fur was borrowed from friend (thanks KJO!) and is vintage

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Of all the photos we put on Facebook the above pic got the most likes. I’d agree, it’s a goodie! Getting scratched and ripping my dress on several briar plants was worth it!

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SO many we love that it’s going to make picking a few to print difficult. May just have to have entire gallery wall of us! (I kid I kid)

All photos by Ben and Colleen

Have a good weekend folks!

Next up: the ceremony!

SMITH-WINCHESTER WEDDING | GETTING READY

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Took some time to step back, take in all the wedding photos and look at them, over and over and ovvver. Didn’t want to put a ton of pressure on myself to post before I was ready but now, I’m ready to share!

There were 1,195 but don’t worry, I narrowed them down to my favorites.  This first run is both wedding parties getting ready.  We had private suites on the property making our experience intimate and comfortable!

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Eliz and KK admiring the contouring the makeup artist was doing on me. I was a little nervous it’d be too much but I was so happy with the outcome after I got used to the “new me”! It seriously felt like I got facial injections with the way it highlighted and ‘lifted’ areas of my face. Contouring is no joke!

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Hair and makeup by A Glamour Affair who did a fantastic job on me and all my ladies! Everyone came with a photo for the stylists and it was replicated perfectly. We were all impressed with their work!

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I don’t know what I would have done without my girls there helping, calming, hanging and making me laugh. I love each of you, especially you Momma!

Meanwhile the guys were out in the pasture shooting skeet like true Southern gentlemen!

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Even if you’re not into guns, this is pretty sexy!

This activity was such a nice touch to the day and all the guys really enjoyed the bonding! At the end of the day my dad gifted the above gun to Dustin. It’s special because it was the gun his dad (my Papa Joe who passed away many years ago) shot his first deer with and it’s a Winchester (which is my new last name) model 12. Meant a lot to both of us.

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According to my dad, Dustin was “the man” with target hitting, making me proud!

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The grooms suite was so fitting! It had a taxidermy deer head and a gun safe, the ultimate man cave!

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Cheers!

We got ready from 10:00-2:00 with our first look at 3:00 which is the next post + our portrait session!

All photos by our photographers: Ben and Colleen

THE NEW YEAR

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Much like everyone, everywhere, I’m entering the New Year with a set of intentions. I say intentions because we’re all guilty of aiming high and often times falling short of accomplishing everything we set out to conquer. I don’t want to beat myself up if I fail to check off everything on this list but rather praise the intentions I do complete.  So here goes:

I’ll start with a no brainer – be a good wife. It’s been 67 days and I’d like to think I’ve done a fair job so far. They say, the first year is the toughest. But I say it’s what you make it. We did the pre-marriage counseling, which helped prepare us big time. We loved it.  We also lived together for a bit, which we think helped prepare us as well.  There’s been a few tightly wound moments here and there (which didn’t shock us being that it was the holiday season) but so far, so good!

Read more.  These days I’m all about fast scrolling through photos and reading quick blurbs. I want to get lost in a novel again.  I mentioned this to a friend who loaned me The Devil in the White City, a book about the Chicago Fair, murder and supposedly magic (haven’t gotten to this part yet).  She swears I’ll like it and so far I do.

Drink less.  Approaching thirty I’ve come to terms with needing to reel in the alcohol a bit. I’ve chilled out with partying (bars, clubs, 3am diner runs) but having wine with dinner, after dinner, on the weekends…gotta keep it in check.

Save for a house. This one doesn’t really have to do with a New Year since we started months ago but it will affect this year.  We are hoping to buy in May 2017!

Declutter. I’ve been doing this for the last year or so but we could still stand to keep donating to Goodwill. When wedding gifts started rolling in I started hauling stuff off but we still feel like every single nook and cranny here has something in it. I’d like to get minimal is more around the house.

Continue eating healthy. Day to day we both eat pretty dang healthy (gotta balance out that drinking, lol)  We use Blue Apron for 3 nights a week and shop organic at our local Kroger.  But we also cheat some.  Our cheating isn’t Burger King or Taco Hell it’s usually fries from somewhere local but … still. We could tighten up a bit.

What, you thought I wasn’t going to mention anything health/fitness? Come on it’s a New Year post, ha!

I think all this is reasonable and I know someone that would agree with the first one ;)

Hope everyone’s 2016 is off to a great start!

-Above photo is of my newest tattoo while we were in Colorado (can you tell from the goosebumps? High was 21 that week!) over the break. Also sporting a new Penfield jacket from Shopbop. Full length photo of jacket coming soon!

2015: AT A GLANCE

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This year has been a great one, I mean afterall I did get married and go on an amazing honeymoon!

There was a lot of fun stuff that went down before October 31st, so I wanted to recap 15 blogged about highlights. Here we gooo!

(Above) That time we got a custom stamp by a local maker and made our own save-the-dates, not pictured is our also diy’d wedding invite. Lots of work but worth the beautiful outcome!

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Big highlight was going to New Orleans with two of our favorite couples and not having planned it on purpose but it happened to be Saint Patrick’s Day weekend!

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After a long time of gawking behind a computer screen, a wish of mine came true when I attended my first Kinfolk supper in Nashville!

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Hair finally got long enough for a milk maid braid, whoop! Also, wore last year’s Kate Spade sunglasses Christmas gift approximately 322 days of 2015 :P

One thing I noticed while going through this year’s blog posts was that there wasn’t a ton of outfits but more lifestyle which is the direction I want this blog to go in. So far so good, however, I need to post a lot more this coming year!

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Watching my friend elope at Hangout Music Festival was a memorable day!

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Having a press pass at the Fest and getting super close to my favorite bands was also awesome!

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Friends rented a party bus and 22 of us hung out and partied on Lake Lanier till way past the sun going down!

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My bridesmaids threw me the dreamiest boho bridal shower. Just look at that backdrop!

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Dustin invited a bunch of us to Daufuskie where we tried to catch alligators and got a really big kick out of it, captured here by our friend Cristi!

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Our mode of transportation while on the island. We have some fun (and dangerous) memories on this thing!

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Feel like I’m getting the hang of this whole cocktail recipe and styling thing.  Need to keep it up, practice makes perfect!  This was the best of all of them, see full post here.

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Realizing I spent a good bit of time in Nashville, because: COURTNEY! Becoming close with this lady has been awesome. She’s always up for a good time, fashionable, ridiculously kind and generous and really really healthy which has rubbed off on me!

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Hit up several vineyards in 2015. Not surprising if you knew me because I love me some chardonnay!

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Loved our weekend getaway before the wedding. Georgia in the Fall is something else!

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2015 had several collaborations with brands, which is my favorite part of blogging. The best was with Williams-Sanoma when Dustin and I staged a camping adventure in our friend’s backyard. Since then we took out all the gear for a real trial and give everything from that post a seal of approval!

Obviously, these are the just some of the highlights and there was definitely more to our lives than what hit the blog. For example, we see a lot of music but I rarely blog about it because I usually don’t bother shooting but this is one of our favorite things to do!

And this doesn’t include some of our personal highlights, the low points that is reality and little moments I take in privately.

2015 was a solid year!  2016 has some competition!

Have a safe and happy New Years Eve!

WEAR 13

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This year’s Christmas for Dustin and I is a bit unusual.  We’ve already celebrated it TWICE and it’s only the 21st!  Once with my siblings since my brother and his wife are spending the holiday in Ireland and once this past weekend with his family who are heading to Colorado. Next up, we’ll be hanging with my folks in Atlanta and then meeting up with his family to ski and spend New Years in Beaver Creek.  If you want to get technical, there’s a third celebration since we’ve already done our gift swap- he got his coveted Frye boots and I got a much needed ski jacket so I wear one that actually fits this year!

With Thanksgiving and all that comes with celebrating Christmas, it’s been a busy married life so far but great! (Confession: I won’t be complaining when January rolls around and things slow down!)

For Saturday’s present exchange and supper I wore this comfy look which is pretty much all Madewell. This brand is my new obsession – especially this oversized sweater!

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We laughed at this last photo but I kinda like it, POWER SHOULDERS!

Sweater, shirt, pants and necklace: Madewell, sunglasses: TOMS and boots: Sam Edelman

The sweater is new and already a staple.  I wanted to link it for you all but it appears to be sold out! My boots and shades are older so I linked some comparable ones. The jeans are my first pair from Madewell and so far so good- comfy, seems to hold the elasticity..now if they could just keep the color and not fade after a few washes!

First time in many years that I’m not scrambling to get last minute gifts, so, good luck to you if you are!

Next up:  2015 at a glance!

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