Southern Weddings

This wedding is special for many reasons.  First, it took place at Claxton Farm, a beautiful, beautiful venue in Weaverville, NC that burned down last November.  Impressively, the amazing staff succeeded in rebuilding the barn in time for their summer brides to enjoy it.  Second, this is Mr. and Mrs. Snow’s wedding!  For all of you who are familiar with my slight Weddingbee obsession, you know that this is very exciting for me.  Third, it’s the perfect blue + red wedding to lead us into the Fourth of July weekend!  Mary + Greg asked Oh, Darling! Photography to document their day, and I must say, that was an excellent decision.  Aria Floral provided the beautiful blooms — don’t miss the bouquet tile from SW fave Paloma’s Nest!  More DIY goodness coming your way in part two!

How did the two of you meet?  Tell us your story.  We met eight years ago on a punk rock community website.  We chatted online, met in person over university spring break and hung out as friends off and on for several months.  We finally started dating in June of 2002 after attending a Piebald concert where Greg interviewed the band for his zine. The rest is history. We usually just tell people we met at a punk rock show!
Describe your Proposal:  Greg’s proposal was very unique. We knew we would get married since the first summer of punk rock love in 2002, but several significant life events pushed us off the wedding path. In addition to a cross-country move from our beloved North Carolina to blustery Wisconsin for graduate school, Greg battled cancer twice in five years.  (We’re cautiously optimistic we’ll continue to see our favorite words, “All clear,” from here on out).  Needless to say, it felt like tempting fate to plan something so joyous in the face of such difficult times.  Still, on our anniversary, 7 years into a great relationship, we had an amazing discussion about moving our relationship forward and finally making the scary but exciting decision to get married!  We researched and chose the ring together, and I asked for no surprises with its delivery.  We’d had enough surprises in the past four years!  When it arrived a week later, I signed for it and waited patiently until Greg arrived home from work to open it.  After we called our families, we celebrated with friends at a Decemberists concert – our musical courtship come full circle – and found ourselves laughing hysterically at the irony of our first post-engagement date being chock full of songs about love-gone-wrong. Strangely enough, it was a perfect proposal for us.
Three adjectives that describe the day are:
From Greg: Appropriate, specific and relevant.
From Mary: Creative, local and love-filled.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The cohesiveness. Our planning was somewhat fractured due to distance, and we were nervous about our ideas and projects working cohesively when finally put together at our venue, which we’d only seen once, by the way!  Seeing the paper goods, fabric, attire, food and décor come together on the wedding day proved very emotional and rewarding for us.
What was Southern about your wedding?  What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? From the local bluegrass band to the favors containing Cheerwine, Moon Pies, and Texas Pete, our wedding was an homage to our Southern heritage. Being recent transplants to the Midwest, we missed our home state of North Carolina a great deal. Our wedding was a chance to celebrate the cuisine, arts and traditions of the South with our guests who had traveled from fourteen different states.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: As a bride on a budget, I decided to explore alternative bridal options. While visiting Charlotte over the holidays, my mom and I scheduled an appointment at Bella Bridesmaids – they’re phenomenal, by the way.  The shop had a “bridal alternative” version of Lula Kate’s Christy dress in the shop for another potential bride.  I tried it on, and everyone in the shop agreed that it was perfect.  We added a perfect pale pink sash, and the look was complete. I adored my dress!

Written with love by Emily