Southern Weddings

Jessica is living proof that a short engagement and planning a fabulous wedding can go hand and hand.  Bridesmaid dresses from {Ann Taylor} were the first wedding purchase and everything else fell quickly into place.  {Andrew Bryant} captured the special day at the {Treyburn Country Club}in Durham, North Carolina.  Jessica thought it was too good to be true when she found her Bella Couture dress early in a long planned day of shopping at  {Diamond’s Bridal Couture} of Raleigh, North Carolina.  More wedding details: Flowers by {Flower Patch}. Catering by Treyburn Country Club. Wedding cake by {Cindy Creative Cakes}.

How did the two of you meet?  Scott and I met at a Bible study we were both attending.  We hung out in groups for a couple months.  Eventually Scott asked me on a date and just a few months later he proposed.
Describe the proposal:  One Saturday morning Scott asked me to go out for breakfast. The whole time he was texting my sister who was planting the ring in my house.  Of course I didn’t know this. He told me that he was checking the weather, and I told him he was being very rude to me and the waiter.  After we got back to my house Scott started coughing and asked me to get water out of the refrigerator for him.  When I opened it up the entire refrigerator was empty except a teddy bear holding the ring.  He ran over and asked me to marry him.
What attracted me to my husband was:  His laugh and outgoing personality.  He is always in a great mood and can find humor in everything.
Why do you love your husband? He has such compassion for me and others.  He always strives to do the right thing.
What attracted me to my wife was: I could be myself around her.  I loved her shyness and good morals.
The weather on our wedding day was: Nerve-racking. I knew that when I planned an outdoor ceremony I was taking a risk.  My bridesmaids and I went outside to take pictures about forty-five minutes before the ceremony.  We heard the thunder and then came the downpour.  The storm passed just in time to have a beautiful sunny ceremony.
What was the design inspiration for your wedding?  The bridesmaid dresses were the first purchase.  I designed everything else to fit the style and color of the dresses.
Favorite design element of your big day:  I loved the patio that we had for our outdoor ceremony.  I loved how the white wooden chairs looked on the red brick patio with the staircase behind it. I felt like we didn’t need to over decorate it.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: Easy. I had planned a long day of shopping with my Mom and sister. I had made appointments all over town. So when I found my dress early that morning I thought that it couldn’t be that easy and that I should go to my other appointments.  Every other dress I tried on after that I would compare it to my dress. My sister asked me if I realized that I was calling it my dress.  So I went back and got it.
Describe your wedding flowers:  The girls carried green hydrangeas. They really popped against their pink dresses. My bouquet was green hydrangeas with some pink roses. The centerpieces and other decor were green and pink hydrangeas. We chose hydrangeas because they are not only beautiful but they are a low fragrance flower so they are better for my allergies.
Describe your wedding cake: Simple and Stylish. It was covered in light green fondant with cream ribbon and bows on each tier.  There were unique cream details on each tier. My favorite part of the cake was the four favors; peanut butter, white, red velvet and chocolate.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The food. Our venue did a great job customizing our food to fit a variety of taste.  There were multiple sections set up across the room which allowed our guest to mingle.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding?  We really wanted to keep the wedding small.  Deciding who to include and who to leave out was very difficult.
Scariest moment?  The thunderstorm right before the outdoor ceremony.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Joyful, Emotional, Fun.
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding?  Don’t be afraid of a short engagement.  I had just five months.  If you are organized and have the help of friends and family you can definitely do it.  Once you find a venue the rest will fall into place.  Also don’t let the stress keep you from enjoying the engagement.  The engagement parties, bridal showers and bachelorette parties are also once in a lifetime.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future?  We look forward to spending everyday together, raising our new puppy and spending time with our friends and families.

Happy Monday, y’all!  We have a fun wedding to share with you today… Karen’s aunt created the cake and worked along side with {The County Florist and Gifts} for the flowers and decor.  Photography by the fabulous Tim Will of {Tim Will Fine Art Weddings and Portrait}. 

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story… We met at a rodeo in Wyoming while we were both working at ranches for at-risk youth.
Describe the proposal: “Perfect.”  I had no idea it was going to happen!  He took me out to a beautiful dinner on the feast day of my favorite saint, Saint Therese of Liseaux.  Since we share a deep faith, it was really important for both of us that God be at the center of our engagement.  He proposed to me outside in a beautiful prayer garden next to a statue of St. Therese after we had spent some time praying together.
What attracted me to my husband was: His strength, both inside and out:  He is such an incredible man, a REAL man, who truly understands just what that means. While he fits into the definition of “a man’s man” – loving sports, the outdoors, and all things “masculine”, he also shows his strength at the same time through his selflessness and humility.  He is always putting others first.  He could have easily spent his life using his many strengths and abilities to get himself ahead, but his focus always has been, and continues to be on serving others first. Oh yeah, and he’s smokin hot.
What attracted me to my wife was:  There were two things that immediately attracted me to her; the first of course was her physical beauty (I’m a man after all), but the other thing that was easy to see right off the bat was a contagious joy bubbling out of her like a fountain.  I have come to love her for many other reasons, of course – her holiness, her intelligence, her kindness and sympathy for others, her selflessness, the list goes on…  oh, and did I mention that she’s ridiculously good-looking?
A date we went on that we’ll always remember:  Our first date: Scott took me to this adorable Italian restaurant, Adriano’s, in this the western town of Cody, WY. We had a fabulous meal and afterward we did some stargazing along the Buffalo Bill Reservoir.  A very romantic first date.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress:  It was more like the dress found me… We found it the first time my mother and I went looking.  We stumbled upon this adorable little boutique that was going out of business, so the whole store was 40% off.  I was looking for something stylish, but modest enough to wear in church without feeling uncomfortable.  The stunning Maggie Sottero stress that I found there was absolutely perfect. We bought it that day and since the store was going out of business I just took it home right off the rack.  It was the perfect size and everything… Like I said, the stress sort of “found me”.
The most unexpected event on our wedding day was:  When I (the bride) was locked out of the back door of the church.  That was a bit nerve-wracking when I was supposed to be walking down the isle in 10 minutes.  For Scott, it was when he was trying to figure out where the rings were.  They were with my maid of honor, who was locked out of the church with me.
Did you write your own vows? If so, what was your favorite phrase/verse/or line? Nope, we used the traditional vows give to us by the Catholic Church.

Check back later for more from Karen + Scott!