Serenbe Anniversary Peek | Aharon Hill Photography

This was my year to plan our 6 year anniversary celebration (we take turns planning weekend dates instead of buying each other things), and the moment I decided on the B&B at Serenbe as our romantic getaway, I knew that I wanted to create a romantic picnic.  I also knew that I wanted to snap some photos of it for my blog without making too big of a fuss over the documentation, and wanted to style it, without spending lots of money on props that were not personal to Richard and me. {side note: Richard treasures organic, real-life moments, instead of styled/staged ones… so planning this picnic was quite the balancing act!}

Step 1. Designing the itinerary. I created a tandem bike because it is such pretty imagery… and represents how we have joined forces in this crazy journey through life. The ride is not always as neat, unwrinkled, and perspiration-free as the image suggests… but what can I say, I am a hopeless romantic. {smile} And a few words about the itinerary design process.  I am not a graphic designer, but I love doing things myself. {This is actually one of my downfalls… see also my lessons learned in trying to be a decorator, lol.}  The design actually took me about 5 hours… which by lawyer standards, would be considered very inefficient.  Of course, it took forever to create the tandem bike design, but the most frustrating part of the project was deciding on the layout, fonts and colors. {This is why I have so much respect for graphic designers, like my March 26 bride, Lauren Lee of AC Design, my friend and stationary/invitation designer, Callie Shockley of Calliespondence, and my buddy from freshman year of college, Greta Gohn of Thrive Designs}

Step 2. Styling without styling. I gathered select pieces of our wedding china, a tray, cutting board, and pitcher (all wedding gifts), a wicker basket that usually holds pillows in our guest bedroom, a scarf I purchased on sale several years ago, Richard’s backgammon set (yes, we really play backgammon… we LOVE it) and pillows that usually adorn our sofa.  I took a very minimalist approach to the items I allowed myself to purchase, but those items included picnic necessities such as wine, sparkling mineral water, cheese, fruit, cupcake (all from Whole Foods) and a cheap picnic quilt ($26, Wal-mart).  Okay, I did take break my rule a teeny bit by buying lanterns to use on a bright spring day… but they were $1/each at the dollar store, so I don’t feel too bad.

Step 3. Enjoying our weekend. But the picnic only accounted for the first few hours of our stay (and photographing it only accounted for about 10 minutes… a personal record!).  Without giving away all of the romantic details of our weekend, we stayed at the Main House on the property, ate very well at The Farmhouse restaurant, and took lots of time to explore the property.  This weekend was yet another reminder of all of the blessings in my life, and what a wonderful partner I have in my husband ♥