Still Deciding On Favors? Consider Thistle Farms For Your Wedding!

 At the ABG Sex and the City II party last summer, I first learned about Thistle Farms and their amazing work. At that point, I had already picked some edible favors for our guests but was totally intrigued by the idea of favors that support charity.

I was contacted by Carolyn at Thistle Farms to introduce me to their mission and ask that I do a blog feature here on Big Spoon Little Spoon. However, if you follow other Nashville bridal bloggers and newlyweds, you probably already know all about them through Louise at The Thirty Something Bride. Her feature from last year puts anything I can write here to shame.

Thistle Farms is a Nashville-based non-profit organization which has great wedding options that are earth-friendly, budget-conscious and support a great cause!

The hand made items are created by women who have survived lives of violence, prostitution and addiction.  Purchases of Thistle Farms products directly benefit the women who make them.  They have recently come up with some bridal-specific ideas including gift baskets full of our handmade bath and body products, perfect for brides to give to their bridesmaids or coordinators to give to their brides.  For more information about our custom bridal product, visit their website.

When you incorporate Thistle Farms into your wedding, you are showing others your belief in the power of love by personally helping women who are on the road to healing.

Now that you know all about them and their wonderful work and products, go check them out at a variety of places around Nashville, such as the Frist Center gift store, Fire Finch, Ten Thousand Villages and Wedding 101.

We're Being Featured!

Over the weekend, I was thrilled to receive an email from Ashley's Bride Guide asking to feature our wedding on the ABG blog and Facebook Fan page this week! Although I'll certainly update this post with links after it's up, be sure to watch for it on Ashley's Bride Guide.

ABG is the "go-to" resource for Nashville weddings. I found so many great vendors, made many friends and attended wonderful events during my wedding planning process all through Ashley's Bride Guide! It's a wonderful resource and great place to start if you are newly engaged or looking for that last fabulous vendor.

While you're at it, check out her amazing website True Wedding Junkie - an enormous blog roll of wedding vendors, bridal blogs and more wedding inspiration than you can handle!

Heartbroken in the Aftermath of Nashville Flood 2010

{via Huffington Post}

I consider myself a Nashvillian, although my hometown is an hour away. I grew up in TN and I've lived here my entire life. I've seen all sorts of weather from the great ice storm in 1993 to a mile-wide tornado that tore through my hometown of Lafayette, TN just two years ago, but I have never seen anything as wide spread and devastating as this. How did we get so lucky as to have escaped damage or flooding or a tornado even?

The Cumberland River has engulfed Downtown Nashville. 19 people are dead and many, many more have lots homes, cars and businesses. I'm heartbroken and worried about our beautiful city and surrounding counties. So much of the city's culture and uniqueness is under water. Lives have been lost and folks who never thought they would need flood insurance are facing the worst.

Let's all work together to find opportunities to give assistance - physical or monetary - in any way we can. It's a shame that the national news coverage is more concerned about a bomb that DIDN'T go off than they are about people dying of natural disasters right here in their own country.

Here are some places you can give:

Nashville Area Red Cross
Soles for Souls
So Nashville is Flooded ... How Can I Help via Nashvillest

Our biggest obstacle this week is conservation of water in Davidson County. Please do you part and refrain from washing your car, your dishes, your laundry ... you might consider not washing yourself every day. This is serious. We are in very real danger of losing our second water plant.

I hope that Rep. Jim Cooper is able to convey to President Obama how serious the situation is here and how much we will need the government's help.

This blog has been started to host the many YouTube videos out there of the flooding and aftermath.

The great Nashville flood of 2010.

(from TwitPic)

As anyone who's been in Middle Tennessee over the past few days knows, we had some of the most monstrous flooding on record, nearly doubling our previous record 48-hour precipitation rate. To preface this, Little Spoon and I are fine. We had a tiny bit of water leak into our garage, a dribble from one corner of one window that a towel shoved up in the blinds took care of, and some waterlogged soil. That's it. And for that, we're very, very thankful.

But our city is devastated now. And I can't think straight to work. Both because of sadness and a roiling anger at some of my fellow citizens.

One of the two water treatment pumps is out. The other one would have gone under if the waters had risen less than two-thirds of a foot more. The mayor has requested that we curtail our water usage by at least half - using water for drinking and food preparation only. Our water reserves are down 15%. And yet, car washes remain open (with some people doing it themselves), apartments leave their sprinkler systems on, and people continue about blithely as if water is not a scarce resource.

Grow. The Fuck. Up. People.

We are all in this together. We must make these small individual sacrifices so that everyone can have the resources we all need. Yes, it seems like a joke about running out of water in the middle of a flood, but it's not. This is part of your duty as a citizen. Yeah, we might be a stinky people for a few days by forgoing showers; we may have dishwashers chock-full of food-encrusted wares for a while before turning to disposable plates, cups, and cutlery; and our laundry could get a bit funky waiting to get done.

But that smell around you? That's the smell of banding together in a time of crisis. Wear it with pride. It's a pungent badge of honor.

As I watched the torrents pour ever faster down the street in front of the house Sunday, I grew frightened. I thought that an earthquake was the disaster I'd least like to experience. But the slow, sneaky, relentless onslaught of the flood waters made me think otherwise. It wore away at the levees. It overflowed the banks of the Cumberland and other rivers. It sent silt down into the basements and first floors of landmarks, businesses, restaurants, tourist attractions, and other spaces, threatening to overwhelm our water treatment capacity.

Are we going to let our ignorance finish off what the flood began?

C'mon, people. Better to be unpretty than to be parched in the midst of a lake.

Big Hug

The bridal blog community in Nashville is wonderful. I'm happy to be acquainted with you all and Big Spoon and I really appreciate all the comments and suggestions you leave on our posts. I just wanted to send you all a big virtual hug and "thank you" for being such wonderful people!

- Little Spoon

Engaged Nashville

While browsing a few blogs that have left comments on ours, Big Spoon found a local "bridal" event and insisted that I attend. Sponsored by Ashley's Bride Guide and Nashville Bride Sarah Elizabeth, "Engaged Nashville: A Bride's Night Out" took place at the Aloft Hotel in Franklin this past Thursday night.

I had such a wonderful time meeting so many Nashville brides, sharing ideas, learning new things and talking about our weddings! I met several "blogger brides" and Ms. Ashley herself! The event was catered by Down South Delights (super yummy) and featured other key vendors (Simply Stunning Events, Brocade and Donald Yeager Photography.)

It was a refreshing environment: the hotel was chic, the vendors were informative and I especially enjoyed hearing Jessica from Budget Savvy Bride talk about her wedding and tips.

You can find links to all the lovely Nashville bride bloggers in the right hand column.

Engagement pictures ... check!

Well, we did it. We survived an engagement portrait session! Yesterday was crazy for both of us, but for different reasons.

The most stressful thing to happen to me was that my normal hairstylist's flight was canceled and she lost her phone, so there was no way to reach me to let me know she would be unable to style my hair. I panicked, then scrambled, calling friends and friends of friends, until I found a salon that could work me in that afternoon.

It began raining around noon and promised to pour the rest of the day. The photographer called to gauge our commitment to the photo shoot considering the weather. I went on a gut instinct to not cancel, which in the end worked out for the best.

I gathered up my clothes and hair inspiration pictures, Big Spoon's tie, my red high heels and headed out to Harlow Salon in Nashville. These ladies were wonderful and my makeup lasted well through the night.

Big Spoon and I met up near his work, met the photographer and headed over the Public Plaza first. Second, we took a few brief shots at the Schermerhorn before getting kicked off the property (which bugs me because I am a patron of the symphony).

We then took random, urban shots in downtown Nashville along various interesting backdrops and wrapped up our session on the Shelby Street pedestrian bridge. It began lightly raining as our photographer took the last shot. I really enjoyed working with our photographer, Derek Lee and his assistant.