Real Wedding: Alison + Robert at the Bradford

What a gorgeous wedding!  This couple was one of my favorites, from the moment I met Alison and her mom (aka best friend/wedding planner partner in crime!) at our first meeting at Cracker Barrel.  Alison and Robert have the most gorgeous baby boy who was only months old at their wedding, and was such a champ!  One of the highlights of the day was when they invited little Dawson onto the dance floor for their first dance - what an emotional moment! What a fairy tale day - not to mention her dress was to DIE for! Best wishes to you, Alison and Robert, for a wonderful, happily ever after! 

Venue: The Bradford
Photography: Jennifer Haygood Photography
Videography: 21 Films
Planner/designer: Becca/C&D Events
Florals: Bushel and Peck
Rentals: CE Rentals
Caterer: Green Planet Catering
DJ: Ross Merle
Ceremony Music: Amaree & Ben Davis
HMU: Makeup by Ashley Mooney
Cake: Details Cake Design

Elizabeth and Nick: St. Michael's Ceremony and Stockroom Reception

In honor of their 1st year anniversary - we are finally blogging about this seriously sweet couple! I met Elizabeth and Nick at Panera over coffee. We instantly clicked. Elizabeth is that person that you see and wonder how they became so genuine and kind. She is one of the warmest and sweetest person we have ever had the pleasure to work with. Nick is just as wonderful and one of those grooms that you hope your daughter will end up with one day. I mean they are both teachers and met teaching at St. Michaels. How cute is that!?!  I loved meetings with these two! It was never a chore, nor was it ever dull! We laughed, chatted, and at times got a little real about life. 

She sent us a random e-mail that she was looking for a house to rent for her family to stay in from Wednesday - Sunday. I replied back with - "well, I have this house -well venue actually - and it is free that weekend." This was the first time we had a group of people stay for an extended time. It was wonderful! We loved making the beds, washing the towels, making breakfast, and tending to their needs. They were the kindest people. I just loved that family! They held the rehearsal dinner there, and they invited everyone over for Sunday brunch the day after the wedding. It was one of those moments when you just got teary-eyed. THIS was what our vision was. Family and love. We were so grateful they chose us to host them for the weekend. 

She had a beautiful vision for The Stockroom and we were so thrilled that she also chose to use Bushel and Peck for her flowers. Becca was the designer and she did a great job! She wanted simple, lots of greenery, and very natural. 

Now this girl is gorgeous normally, but let me tell you- she was stunning in her dress. That dress! It was ah-mazing and fit her so perfectly- it looked like it was designed with her in mind. 

We loved every aspect of this night. Brett with Blest Studios was a dream to work with. Ryan with SPIN kept us laughing and entertained with their seriously awesome taste in music. Beau Catering gave us a delicious meal that was the talk of the night. We ended in an epic confetti blast that was released at "the note" from Whitney Houston's I will always love you. Total disclaimer here- Confetti is NOT allowed at The Stockroom. We didn't know- we do now and we know why. I am still finding gold confetti around The Bradford and in my bridal kit.

Enjoy these photos from one of my absolute favorites from last year! It was one of those events that makes you love your job so much. 

Our wonderful vendors:

Photography by Blest Studios

Design by Bushel and Peck Designs for C and D Events

Reception Venue: The Stockroom at 230

Ceremony venue: St. Michael The Archangel Catholic Church

Hair and Make-up: Perfection by Patricia

Catering: Beau Catering

Rentals: CE Rental

DJ: Ryan with Spin

Planning: Dana with C and D Events

Meet the Team: Bailey Leitch

We are pleased to introduce Bailey! We are so thrilled to have her as our Venue Manager at The Bradford and she has been such a blessing to us!

Bailey Anne Leitch

I am from Wilmington, NC and graduated from NC State University with a degree in Program Management (Event Planning, essentially). I am a wife of 1.5 years to Justin, avid book reader, and coffee addict. One of my greatest gifts and passions is hospitality. I love making people feel welcomed and loved, whether that is through simple conversation or delicious food. So, when a friend told me about a job opening at the Bradford I jumped on it. Now I have landed in what I can truly say is my dream job - managing a beautiful venue for people to celebrate in!

The Top 16: Chapel Hill Magazine

Hello Blog world! We are so excited to get back into the swing of things over here at C&D and The Bradford. It was a great break. Almost a full 2 weeks! It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with the kiddos, hubs, and all the family. I love Christmas, and this year I was much more intentional in how we spent our month of December. For the first time we celebrated Advent and I made a point to take no meetings between 5 and 7:30. For anyone in the industry, you know how hard that is! It worked out great and we had some great memories made - ones I will cherish always.

The week between Christmas and New Years was so discombobulating. We still had family here, wedding prep for a New Year's Eve event, and the need to do a little bit of inbox clean-up. I couldn't tell what day was which and at one point I spent the entire day thinking it was Thursday when it was in fact Friday. It was not until bed time when Sam said, "so when are we leaving tomorrow for Charlotte?" What?!? We are going to Charlotte on Saturday - not tomorrow. Then I was told it was Friday, not in fact Thursday.

During the week that I like to call "the haze,"Sam I took some time to do a year plan. It was our first ever, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But we had a great date night chatting about goals: plans for the kiddos, Behavioral changes we want to see, house plans, our savings, marriage goals, and personal things we want to work on. It was kind of exhausting, but also exhilarating knowing we are starting a new year, a fresh start. It got me thinking about our business and I started jotting down goals and things I am looking forward to in 2016.

For the next few weeks, we will be listing off our Top 16. It will be 16 things we are looking forward to here at The Bradford and at C&D Events.

Today, we are going to start off with Chapel Hill Magazine. CH Magazine came by a few months ago and wanted to do an article on The Bradford. It was neat chatting and telling our story about how we started in this industry. It was weird and slightly surreal to realize that we are where we are. There were a lot of times we didn't really want to reflect on 2013 and 2014. But now, looking back, it was all worth it and here we are! We are so stoked to be in a magazine for nothing other than following a dream, working our tails off, and still staying friends.

The article hits news stands tomorrow! Wahoo! So, to hold you over, and we will most certainly do a social media blast tomorrow as well, here is a preview of the magazine with:

The Top 5 Images that Didn't Make it Into the Jan/Feb Issue. 

Tomorrow - go and get a copy and flip to page 93 to see us, and read our story!