For every real wedding feature I ask the bride “What was the best wedding planning advice you received?”  I usually get the typical take-time-to-enjoy-the-day response.  But not this time.  When I opened Kathleen’s recent real wedding interview the first thing that caught my eye was the last thing she wrote on the page.  Her advice:  “Don’t lock your knees!”  Now THAT is the kind of advice I’m talking about!!!

Kathleen Poe recently wed Jon Ross on May 22, 2010 and the details about how Jon proposed to her seriously gave me goosebumps!  This cute couple have a lot of original flair.  Both musicians met while attending a year long graduate program for music journalism at Syracuse University.  Kathleen says “We were fast friends in our class of 16 arts journalism students, and by the end of the summer session I think we both had developed crushes on one another. Jon didn’t actually ask me out until the end of October, so there were a few confusing months of not-dating-but-hanging-out-a-lot before we became an item!”

Now for the proposal that gave me goosebumps.  Kathleen tells all..

“Jon and I had tickets to go see Josh Ritter, an indie/folk singer-songwriter from Moscow, Idaho, where Jon grew up, who is one of our mutual favorite musicians. I had missed his previous concerts in Atlanta, so this was my first Josh Ritter concert. A couple of months earlier when we had been talking about getting engaged, Jon had joked that he could propose at the upcoming concert during the song called Kathleen, which is Josh Ritter’s biggest hit (and clearly a favorite of mine!). When the concert rolled around, I had that in the back of my mind, but I knew Jon didn’t have a ring (or so I thought) so I was pretty sure it wouldn’t happen. Little did I know that his mom had sneakily given him her engagement ring three weeks earlier when we were visiting her out in Idaho! Sure enough, about halfway into Josh’s set, the band launched into Kathleen. Jon was standing behind me and pulled me close with one arm and started fishing in his pocket with the other while saying some nice things into my ear, so I figured out pretty quickly what was up! We were officially engaged before the last chorus came around. We stuck around to enjoy the rest of Josh’s set and then left to go home and call all our family and friends and tell them the news.”

Kathleen’s dress was perfect for her.  She says  “I loved the swiss-dot fabric and all the tulle, and the fact that it didn’t bustle but had a small sweep train to it. It took a lot of searching to find it, so I’m really glad I kept at it and didn’t settle for something not as lovely.”

You KNOW I love me some honey wedding favors.  But, what makes Kathleen and Jon’s honey favors so unique is that THIS honey was actually harvested by them.  It came from the beehives in Kathleen’s father’s backyard.  Kathleen says “The jars also doubled as escort cards. We had a bunch of extra jars set out at the end of the evening and they all were snatched up by our guests.”

A girl’s gotta have something blue too.

I love it how one of Kathleen and Jon’s most important elements of their wedding was music.  So many times the selection of the wedding music isn’t chosen until the very end and thus ends up being rushed.  Rather than having typical tunes, the couple really invested thought and energy into what their guests would hear and experience.

“Since we’re both musicians, we were determined to have awesome music for all parts of the day. We worked with our organist to program pieces that you don’t normally hear at weddings for the ceremony, and we also had two dear friends who are professional singers perform during the service as well. We got lots of comments afterward on how remarkable the music was! For the cocktail hour, we had a jazz quartet led by saxophonist Mace Hibbard, one of Jon’s buddies in the Atlanta jazz community, and gave them free reign to do their thing, which was of course excellent. We had a DJ for the dancing portion of the evening, and we made sure to get him a list of our favorite party tunes but also gave him the flexibility to read the crowd” says Kathleen.

More about their wedding…

What was your splurge?
“The biggest splurge was our photography, which I knew would be the case up front — photography was at the top of my priority list. I found Our Labor of Love through some baby photos they had done (for Top Chef’s Richard Blais) almost a year before we got engaged and made a note to myself then that, whenever I got married, I wanted to get them to photograph the occasion! They are such amazing artists, and truly wonderful people too. As you can see from the gorgeous photos, they were definitely worth saving up for!”

Was there a theme or inspiration behind the decor?
“We didn’t have a theme, other than things we like — I just wanted to the day to be a reflection of us, and it definitely came out that way! In terms of colors, I knew I wanted things to be bright and happy for spring, so I stayed away from pastels or anything too dark. Once we settled on our reception venue, which has a lovely ambiance on its own — skylights, tall windows, exposed ceiling beams and brick walls — we knew we wouldn’t have to add much to get the feel we wanted for our wedding. White paper lanterns were the perfect finishing touch in that space. ”

What were your playful twists that made your wedding unique?
“The most playful element of our wedding was definitely the Smilebooth, which was a huge hit! I don’t think any of our guests had seen one of those before, so while it’s not terribly unique in the wedding-blog world anymore, it was still a novelty for our crowd. People of all ages were having fun in the Smilebooth all night long, and the pictures are totally hilarious.”

CREDITS:  Photography by Our Labor of Love |  Venue:  The Foundry at Puritan Mill |  Event Planner:  Ashley Baber Weddings |  Flowers: Unique Floral Expressions |  Makeup: Tara Young |  Hair: Van Michael Salon (Buckhead) |  Reception Catering: Bold American Catering |   Cocktail Hour Jazz Music: Mace Hibbard Quartet |  DJ: Spectrum Entertainment |  Lighting: MAGNUM Special Projects |  Photo Booth: Smilebooth |  Smilebooth Backdrop & Cake Topper: DolciOdille |  Cakes: Highland Bakery |  Program Printing: Claxton Printing |  Dress: Bridals by Lori |  Groom’s Tux: J. Crew

** The Foundry at Puritan Mill, Bold American Catering and Spectrum Entertainment are Occasions Magazine advertisers**