Amanda Jerkins Design

Wedding Planner or No?

amanda — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:18:52 +0000

Wondering if you should hire a wedding planner? The answer is YES, YES – a million times YES!

A wedding planner – a good one – will be able to reduce your stress level by about 90% – 99.426% on your wedding day. This is from a scientific study I just now did in my head. Imagine that your rental company accidentally double-booked those lovely Chiavari chairs you’ve been eyeing since you were twelve… who has every rental company in town on speed dial? Your wedding planner. Your baker got a stomach bug and is unable to deliver your cake… who knows how to get 200 cupcakes on short notice? Your wedding planner.

You and your Aunt Wanda will have enough to worry about that day. So why not hire someone else to handle placing the candles in the church, to make sure the food tray makes it to the groomsmen and to keep the photographer on schedule?

Look, I have flowered, attended or been a bridesmaid (twelve times, to be exact) in SO many weddings over the years that I can promise you this: weddings WITH a planner versus weddings WITHOUT a planner are the difference between Disney World and a neighborhood fall carnival. Trust me.

Those of you planning your wedding in Nashville are in luck because we have a great resource for planners: The Nashville Wedding Planners Group. Here you will find a group of hardworking experienced professionals who know this town inside and out. I’d be more than happy to recommend several planners whom I have worked with and trust – just say the word.

Happy wedding planning!

Trapnall Hall ~ Little Rock, AR

amanda — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:01:27 +0000

Both Amanda Jerkins Design and my photographer husband Stephen Jerkins had the pleasure of working a lovely wedding at the historic Trapnall Hall in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. It was a great venue for an outdoor ceremony with an indoor reception (or perhaps vice versa). Trisha – the stunner of a bride with excellent tastes – selected a pretty champagne/grey dresses for her bridesmaids. For flowers she was wanting romantic, muted blooms with tons of texture. I came up with these beautiful creations… I really love the way they turned out and I have reason to think she did as well!

Photos by Stephen Jerkins

Style Me Pretty!

amanda — Wed, 02 May 2012 18:50:40 +0000

An invitation to be a vendor on THE top wedding blog??? I accept! Thank you kindly!

You’ll now find me listed for Florals and Event Design in Nashville and Memphis. If you know anyone who needs my services in these areas, by all means, pass along my info!

Happy Anniversary!

amanda — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:19:03 +0000

Happy 1 year Anniversary to my baby brother-in-law and sister-in-law! I’m so glad you guys chose each other! Here are a few more highlights from their lovely wedding at the Memphis Botanic Gardens.

All photos by Aaron Snow Photography

Aren’t they the cutest! Love her hair- still my favorite bridal hair style yet.

Memphis Botanic Garden Wedding

amanda — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:52:21 +0000

Jamie, my now sis-in-law, booked her wedding last year at the lovely Memphis Botanic Gardens, with the ceremony to be held in the minimalistic lobby with its beautiful glass doors and windows. As gorgeous as the space was, a plan was needed to make it “wedding-ready”. She asked me to design the ceremony (and I was honored), so I sketched up an idea (see below) and Jamie loved it! .

I used two sizes of classic white and ivory tissue puffs, intermingled with paper lanterns, hung by fishing line. Added to the mix were two of my large stemmed glass containers with curly willow arrangements to frame the bride and groom.

Above photo by Stephen Jerkins

Above two photos by Aaron Snow

B H L D N Houston Store Visit

amanda — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:33:53 +0000

It does exist! And it’s perfect… just as I expected. Two of my favorite things – Anthropologie and weddings are combined to create the most lovely and completely beautiful bridal brand B H L D N. First came the site, then came the store in Houston, TX with one on the way in Chicago (opening on Valentine’s Day).

Lucky for me, we headed to TX to visit family and I snuck away for a bit to see the store for myself. I am here to tell you, it did not disappoint. The best way to describe it would be ‘beauty overload’. From the layout of the store to the incredible light fixtures to the shoes to the gowns themselves, it was all perfection.

Here are a few (ok- a ton) of photos I took during my visit.

I couldn’t leave the store without buying a little something! The perfect little book found me in the decorations room, A Flower Wedding by Walter Crane.

New Year, New Color

amanda — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:35:35 +0000

In honor of the new year and finding out that the new addition to the family will be a boy, we decided to paint… our own bedroom. Selfish huh? Sorry baby, I’ll get around to the nursery at some point. Though the act of painting is no fun, the end result is so satisfying. (That is also what I am told about working out but I wouldn’t know from firsthand experience.)

Here’s to a new year!

Photo by Stephen Jerkins

Style Me Pretty Feature

amanda — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:33:20 +0000

High-fives around the Jerkins household… not only was AJD featured on Style Me Pretty today, but so was Stephen Jerkins Photography! What an honor. The featured wedding was a lovely event we did together in Florence, AL at the bride’s family farm. Peruse the original post, but also be sure to not miss the gallery images (they tucked all of our favorites there).

P.S. Thanks to Kelsey and Nick (aka the bride and groom) for being so awesome!

Images by Stephen Jerkins Photography

New York Trip (part 3)

amanda — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:11:26 +0000

Although we were in the greatest city on Earth for some pleasure, we were mostly there for business.

Sallie and Clark’s wedding was on Saturday, Oct. 1st in Stamford, CT – just a 45 minute car ride from the Empire State Building. Stephen and I headed up on Friday with a car full of beautiful flowers. The wedding was outdoors, on the grounds of the pretty little church where the bride and groom attend.

Sallie is wonderfully laid-back and gave me completely control over choosing colors for the wedding as well as the flowers themselves. All she knew was that she wanted it to be an “autumn wedding”. Although I love fall weddings, my desire was to do something different from the traditional gold+orange+brown that is usually done. I went with an array of colors with a couple of key jewel-toned pieces to anchor the concept. Her bouquet was a mix of calla lilies, roses, eucalyptus, spray roses and leaves.

For the centerpieces, I used an assortment of natural baskets and milk glass as containers. Not a single centerpiece was alike, which I think added interest to the reception. The day was wonderful and I am so thankful that both Stephen and I got to be a part of it!

Images by Stephen Jerkins

New York Trip (part 2)

amanda — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:39:56 +0000

One of the most exciting aspects of working Sallie and Clark’s New York (okay, technically Connecticut) wedding was the fact that I had a chance to shop for flowers at the best flower market in the country. A whole city block, in fact. Fortunately, I have a handy knowledge of the market thanks to my former job as a store designer at the Crate&Barrel on Madison Ave – the job that, in fact, taught me most of what I know about flowers. Our store was the flagship store, so we had a rather generous weekly floral budget. Every Thursday I would meet another store designer at the market and we would gather all the flowers we could cram into a cab and head back uptown to the store, spending the rest of the workday creating the displays throughout the store. Although the faces where not the same this trip to the market, the sights, flowers, bustle and slight hint of burning trash were all as lovely as I remembered.

Here I am at one of the many floral supply shops on 28th St. looking determined to conquer the store. I did.

One of my favorite flower suppliers! Associated Cut Flower Co.

Me and my some of my purchases.

Transporting some of the flowers (Stephen is carrying some too) to our home base in Harlem via the subway.

Photos by Stephen Jerkins

In addition to the flower market, I hiked over to Mood fabrics. In part, the errand was to see the sometimes-backdrop of one of my favorite shows, Project Runway. But mostly, I was there to do some work. The ribbon selection is mind-numbing and while shopping for ribbon for Sallie’s bouquet, I took advantage of the trip to load up on materials for several upcoming brides back home. It was such a treat to see the space I’ve seen only on TV for so many years… it’s like seeing the Plinko board from the Price Is Right in person, but more exciting. I will say that while the fabric supply is nearly endless, the store felt smaller than it looks on the show. No Tim Gunn, but the visit WAS capped by meeting a celebrity – Swatch the dog. He was just as nice in person as you would think. And well groomed.

Nothing more inspiring than a trip to NY!