Friday, August 22, 2014

JDE Brides: Alison

Alison and Jarrell's November 2013 wedding was SUCH a great time.  The bridal party was incredible, the party was such a blast, and the venue was beautiful.  Alison and Jarrell were introduced to me by my very best friend {one of the bridesmaids} and they were just so different from any other couple I've ever worked with!  Alison was so easy-going and just ready to be married, she wasn't too worried about many of the details of the big day.  And Jarrell was easily the most involved groom I've ever met.  Working with them was so much fun and, by the end of it, I felt like we were friends.




Who are you and who is your husband: Alison & Jarrell


How did the two of you meet? We initially met through mutual friends. He was dating someone, I was doing my own thing. It wasn't until we had a digital art class together at ODU that we started acknowledging each others presence. He would message me on facebook, always want to see my project and how it was coming along...basically all up in my business all the time! He came off a little cocky to me because he was writing columns for a local webzine at the time and would send them to me and tell me to read them. I was not interested by any means. It took him time after time of complimenting my outfits, trying to meet with me after class and about a million other methods to finally get me to watch a movie with him.


How did he pop the question? It was our 2 year anniversary...I was 5-6 months pregnant at the time? Yes. Pretty pregnant. He booked a room at the Hilton at the oceanfront for a little "getaway" weekend. Saturday night we went to Pacifica for dinner and came back to the hotel. He began acting really strange when we got close to the room, and asked me to walk in first. When he opened the door for me there were rose petals all over the room, lilies on the bed and balloons filled the ceiling. When I turned around to be like "What on earth?" he was down on one knee.



What 5 words would you use to describe your wedding? 5 words? Oh. Ugh. Um. FUN. PARTY. FAMILY. FRIENDS. FOOD. I'll just say 5 "F" words. Haha
What were your favorite/least favorite parts of wedding planning? All of it. I often wanted to throw in the towel because I'm the queen of procrastination. Holly was great at staying on top of me. I warned her in the beginning she'd have to get on me about everything or else I'd let it fall to the wayside. I like to attend weddings. Not be the center of attention. That was super rough for me.


Where did you go for your honeymoon? We stayed at the Divi Carina resort in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. Most beautiful island ever. I now want to live there. Such a remote, uncommercialized area. Beaches are filled with white sand and clear water. People are BEYOND friendly. We barely stayed on the resort at all. My husband and I are HUGE foodies, so we wanted to try everything in the area. We were there an entire week and I did NOT want to leave.


Who were your vendors? Our venue was Jasmine Plantation in Providence Forge/New Kent, VA. I had such a delightful experience with the owners that I have recommended the venue to all of my newly engaged friends. They were so helpful and accommodating. We used Mobile Pig-Nic as our caterer, delicious home-made southern soul food. Pulled pork, greens, 5 cheese Mac-n-Cheese.....chicken. You name it. It was delicious! Since the venue was SO gorgeous, we didn't need many flowers--we contacted Williamsburg Floral and they were super helpful on such a tight budget and short period of time. Some of our linens and accessories came from Distinctive Event Rentals and the rest I made myself. Our photographer is a close friend, Roberto Westbrook. He does amazing stock image photography! Check him out :). Our DJ was another close friend, Kyle "CanRock" Siebels and our cupcakes were made by Jennifer Hibbs of Battered and Baked Cupcakes. We were thankful to have SO many friends in the wedding business.


If you could do one thing differently, what would it be? Not have done any hoity-toity "crafty" things. I would rather have paid a little extra to just rent the centerpieces or have someone else make them. I also would have been more proactive with some of the vendors. I probably also would have done our original plan of having our wedding in September and not November. It was a tad bit chilly.


Any advice for future brides? Don't do a normal hotel venue. Everyone does that. You'd be surprised at how many farms, plantations, wineries have GREAT packages and it's something you can personalize. Make sure you shop around. Also, let your fiance take the wheel on some things. I'm a huge control-freak procrastinator extraordinaire, so mine was super helpful on making sure I had things done. All in all, enjoy every minute of it. I was lucky to have parents who basically let me do what I wanted and a husband that was willing to go along with my crazy ideas.

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