Beautiful Birmingham Wedding

Enjoy these beauties from Robert Norris Photography. They perfectly capture the joy and beauty of Laura Ann and Roger’s Big Day! With a beautiful Bridal Party, a precious pup, and pews at the reception – how could this wedding have been anything but fabulous?!

Thanks to Alice Hendry and Avon Theater for such a great reception – love seeing our pews in action! A guest from the party contacted us to say “They helped so much with the flow of the party and created two layers of dance floor viewing. Such a great asset to a fun reception!”

Q&A with: Kathryn and Patti of WED Memphis

Oh my goodness, this week’s chitty chat was with two women who are truly sweet as tea. Everybody we share with y’all on this blog is somebody we are happy to get behind and introduce you to, but we seriously wanted to just give you a novel of Kathryn and Patti … except you came for a blog post, not a novel, and thus we will contain ourselves. Kathryn Sparks and Patti Ruleman are a mother-daughter duo who just opened WED Memphis last year. (The first reason we adore them is because they told us we were cool.)

Courtesy of WED Memphis

Here is what you need to know about the Memphis natives:

They are best friends. WED came to be because the two had so much fun planning Kathryn’s wedding. Wedding and event planning was “always on the short list of ‘careers I’d love to pursue,'” says Kathryn. “I knew that even if my mom’s name wasn’t on the business card or website, she would still be a part of my business behind the scenes,” and so they went ahead and officially partnered. “We’re always together anyways, having lunch or exercising together,” she says. “Plus, I can’t think of a more dependable and reliable person to have as my business partner than my mom.”

Courtesy of WED Memphis

Mother knows best. Kathryn knew Patti would be dependable; but, if she had any doubts, her mom likes to remind her of their childhood. Kathryn is one of three children, all born consecutively within a year of each other. “I’m pretty sure if you can juggle a 1-, 2- and 3-year-old at the same time with a husband who travels a lot for work … you can handle anything,” says Patti. (We think this bodes extremely well for the well-being of your wedding.)

They let their little light shine. One of Kathryn & Patti’s favorite moments of a wedding is lighting candles at the ceremony and/or reception. It’s “one of the last things we do before guests arrive … it’s a rush knowing that all of the bride and groom’s family and friends are about to walk through the doors to celebrate their marriage,” says Kathryn.

Courtesy of WED Memphis

They know all about wedding crashers. Is it every planner’s nightmare to have an Owen Wilson-style wedding crasher? Well, perhaps; but, Patti knows from personal experience that they can sometimes be tame. “There is a man in a lot of the wedding photos, but no one knew the man,” they say. Seriously, Patti and her husband asked everybody to no avail! “He appeared to be having a grand time in all of the photos!”

They are detail queens. “We love the little details because it’s all in the details.” Just take Kathryn’s own wedding, a year and a half ago. Her wonderfully personally details are like the most exciting laundry list ever: NYC-themed groom’s cake with an Empire State Building on top; Sinatra cover band and black-and-white-checked dance floor at the reception; late-night snacks of milk and cookies (both chocolate and white milk, of course), donuts from a local favorite spot, sliders and sweet potato fries. Best detail of all? “We had a mailbox and postcards set out so that our guests could “send” us their best wishes, thoughts, advice and etcetera,” says Kathryn. “After our wedding, my Mom mailed us a few postcards at a time for months.” How sweet!

Courtesy of WED Memphis (from their launch party)

They have honeymoon envy. “I’m always a little jealous as newlyweds get in their car,” says Kathryn, because she knows they’re off to their honeymoon. “I wish I could go on my honeymoon all over again!” In the meantime, Kathryn and Patti can dream of New York and Mobile – their favorite pews.

Courtesy of WED Memphis

Thanks to Kathryn and Patti! Be sure to check out their website … while you’re at it, have you seen our new look?!

What We’ve Been Up To: Snapshots

Man oh man has life been interesting around here lately! The kind of interesting that has left us invigorated but slap-happy. We always love getting a glimpse into vendors’ day-to-day lives, so we thought maybeeeee you might feel the same way. Because it’s a lot more than smackin’ some pews down in a field and calling it a day, people! Here’s what February brought us:

Venue scoping! This is a definite perk of the job – visiting beautiful potential venues with brides to strategize the pew plan.

Look, we are no photographers. And these photos are frame-able. Gah, we live in a beautiful world.

We also got some new pews! We love finding old guys with a solid structure and unmistakable story to tell …

And then we work some magic on fixin’ ’em up. 

All pretty and repainted!

A little glimpse into the pews’ humble abode:

Alas, it’s not all fun and games. Sometimes there’s a little bit of drama if the pews don’t fit in our truck just so or something like that. Here we are finagling an unloading situation on a cold winter’s night:

So, there ya have it. We’ve been on. the. road. a lot lately, can you tell? But so much goodness!

What have y’all been up to lately? It’s March! That’s code for almost-spring!

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