Southern Weddings

Whitney + Steve’s “Jessica Simpson” inspired reception at {The Carolina Inn} was perfectly pink and covered in pink roses by Lyn Graves at {Fresh Affairs}.  It looks like {The Maxx} band, out of Atlanta, put on a wonderful show.  I love the picture of the Whitney + Steve taking the mic!   I am currently drooling over those perfect little cupcakes created by {Sweet Memories Bakery} in Apex, NC.  Perhaps I should take a little road trip to go get some for myself. Cigar bar by {Coastal Cigars}.  Thanks again to {Joey Seawell} for sharing this special event! Be sure to take a look at event planner, A Southern Soiree’s {Blog} for more details.

The
weather on our wedding day was: absolutely beautiful!

What was
the design inspiration for your wedding? As corny as it sounds, Jessica Simpson’s.  I wanted candlelit, light pink roses, and
romance!

Favorite
design element of your big day: I loved every bit of it!  From the initials lit up on the wall, to the
cigar bar, to the enormous arrangements of pink roses on top of the candelabras. 

Tell us about finding your wedding dress: It
was the 5^th one I tried on! 
Only took about 2 hours – I knew it was the perfect dress! 

Describe
your wedding flowers:
that’s easy….pink roses!  Yes, every one
– and there were A LOT!

Describe
your wedding cake:
Simple is best!  It was a five tiered
white cake with edible pearls throughout. 
Each layer was outlined by black ribbon. 
A few pink roses (I know, a surprise!) were sprinkled on
top. 

Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Steve
said the cigar bar.  I’m torn between
two: the milk and cookies they served as the reception was coming to an end and
our giveaways.  They were cupcakes made
by Sweet Memories.  However, they were
very special because the recipe that was used was that of the New York famous,
Magnolia Bakery.  These were very special
to us, as the first year we dated, Steve lived in New York City while getting
his masters at NYU.  Every time I would
go up to visit him, we’d always have to make a trip to get a cupcake at
Magnolia Bakery (even if the line was wrapped around the building!)

What was
the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? Where to have
it.  Steve’s from Fayetteville and I’m from
Advance (near Winston-Salem).  We
considered Bald Head Island, but it wouldn’t hold enough for us.  So we ultimately decided on my Alma Mater
(Steve’s law school Alma Mater) where we could have room for all of our friends
and family, be with in walking distance of anything you wanted, and be right in
the middle of Fayetteville and Advance.

Were
there any special family traditions you included in the wedding? Steve wanted me to
have the blusher over my face; although not a family tradition, he likes the old
school style.  We did follow all of the
old school traditional traditions: something old, new, borrowed, blue; no
seeing each other after midnight the night before the wedding; having a stand
in for the bride during the rehearsal.

Scariest
moment?
There weren’t any scary moments…well I take that back, I guess a button falling
off my dress as I was getting into it at the church would count.  However, again, my fabulous wedding planner
found a glue gun and had that button back on in minutes.

Funniest
moment? My veil fell off walking down the isle – and the only thing Steve had requested
was the blusher over my face! 
Thankfully, however, just days before I decided to add a hymn into the
ceremony.  So, while we were all singing
the hymn, my fabulous wedding planner and her assistants ran down the isle and
put my veil back in.  They did it with
such grace, all the guests thought it was all a “planned revealing”. 

The most
unexpected event on our wedding day was: I can honestly say, thanks to all of my
wonderful vendors, it went just as planned….Steve however, may not have
expected that I would actually smush the cake in his face when it was my turn
to feed him!

Three
adjectives that describe the day are: The BEST, unforgettable, FUN

Did you
write your own vows? No, we’re very
traditional.  In fact, we even found a
more traditional version that even our minister offered us.

What advice would you give to someone
planning their wedding? Remember what the day is about.  It’s not a production, it’s not the perfect
dress, it’s ok if the cake happens to show up late, or your shoe strap breaks –
because it’s about you and your best friend getting married.  And as long as he and the minister show up,
nothing else matters.  Enjoy yourself!

Best
advice or most memorable comment someone made to you during the wedding
celebration:   I will never forget a woman telling me a few
days before the wedding, “Whitney I hope your wedding turns out as magical and
perfect as you’ve always dreamed”.  I
just thought that was so sweet!

Fun details: Our out of town goodies bags were my favorite details of the wedding!  I made a welcome booklet so that everyone
would have important numbers, the schedule, and things to do around town.  Inside we had a bottle of wine with a blue Tarheel foot on the label, a bottle of water with our monogram on the label,
pink homemade heart cookies from mom, a bag of pink M&Ms, peanuts, and
craisins, and finally a small bag of pink popcorn – are you seeing a pink
theme?  I
really liked having a cocktail hour on the front lawn on the Inn with the
signature drink of spiked pink lemonade and a jazz band in the background.  It was so much fun riding up in the horse and
carriage and seeing all of our guests enjoying themselves outside.  I loved that, thanks to my dad, our entire
family, bridal party, and some close friends all stayed at the Carolina Inn.  So we got to spend a lot of time together!  One last thing that I really enjoyed was
having a brunch the morning after the wedding, I wore a white sun dress I had
made with my new initials in pink!  Oh yeah, and the honeymoon was a surprise!  I didn’t have a clue where we were going,
(just knew it was Caribbean) until we landed in Miami and Steve gave me my
ticket to Aruba!

What’s
next for you as a couple? Right now, we’re just really enjoying being
married!  We wake up, make each other
laugh, go to work, Whitney goes to the gym, the grocery store, and cooks
dinner.  Then Steve comes home, we eat,
watch TV, kiss each other good night, and the day starts again.  We try to find the simple joys in life each
day, and are just happy we have each other! 

Congratulations Whitney + Steve.  We wish you a lifetime of happiness!

We are so excited to feature a real Chapel Hill bride today… this one truly hits close to home.  In fact, much to my surprise, I went to high school with one of the bridesmaids!  It sure is a small world.  {Joey Seawell} is a wonderful photographer in the area and we are so glad he sent this wedding our way.  Wedding planning by Cara Zeulkhe of {A Southern Soiree}.  I really enjoyed reading over Whitney’s thoughts below.  Their Big Day was packed full of heartfelt traditions that southern weddings are all about!  You MUST read about Whitney’s most memorable moment at the bottom of the page.  Goosebumps galore!  Love it.

How did
the two of you meet?
I was a rising senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, moving into my new house on campus
with my roommate.  Because we were
impatient and didn’t want to wait for our parents to come to Chapel Hill to
help us move our furniture in, we decided to try it ourselves.  As I was trying to shimmy the mattress to my
bed out of the back of a truck, this tall dark and handsome man came across the
street to ask if I needed help with it. 
The tall dark and handsome man turned out to be Steve who had just
finished at Carolina Law School and was in the midst of studying for the bar
exam.  He helped me move in the
furniture, and the rest is history.

Describe
the proposal:
We were at Holden Beach, staying at his parent’s beach house.  It was the only tropical storm of the summer
of 2007.  I was upstairs getting ready to
go out to dinner.  Steve kept telling me
that he wanted to go outside and have a drink by the ocean.  When I got downstairs, he insisted that we go
out by the ocean and have a glass of wine under a gazebo they have at the end
of the walkway.  I looked at him like he
was crazy, I had just finished getting ready for dinner and there was a
tropical storm going on outside!  I
asked, “Can’t we just stand in the doorway and pretend we’re outside?”  He said no, and said “come on, I’m going out
to make sure it’s still raining.”  “Still
raining?!” I said, “The rain is beating against the house!”  However, after he started to walk out, I
decided he might be up to something and that maybe I should follow him.  So I followed him out to the gazebo, glass of
wine in hand, and being beaten by the wind and the rain.  We stood under the gazebo and he started
telling me that I was his best friend, how much he loved me, and other sweet
things, when I realized, “oh my gosh, he’s going to propose!”  I quickly realized I had my wine glass in
hand and how could he ever put a ring on my finger with a glass in my
hand.  So I sat the glass down and Steve
looked at me like “what are you doing?! I’m just trying to talk to you”.  So feeling silly, I stood there and talked to
him, and then thought, “Maybe if I look away towards the ocean he’ll get down
on one knee.”  So I looked away, and
looked back, and he was STILL there! 
Finally, after what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few
seconds, Steve got down on his knee and asked me to marry him!  Of course I said yes!!

What
attracted me to my husband was: his drive, his height (I’m 5’11”, so I
appreciate him being 6’3”), his heart, his love of the Lord, his love of
children, his overall sweetness

Why do you love your husband? He is that guy
that does the selfless things for people, and does it anonymously so that he
doesn’t receive the credit.  He makes me
smile every single morning I get up.  He
says silly things out of no where! 

What
attracted me to my wife was: her sweetness followed very closely by her beauty

A date
we went on that we’ll always remember: Drinks at sunset at the Southernmost point
in Key West Florida.  We had been scuba
diving in Key Largo with my scuba class from UNC.  I got a little nervous going down on the dive,
so Steve held my hand all the way down and during the dive to make sure I made
it.  However, half way through the dive,
I scrapped my leg on a piece of coral. 
That deep in the water, the colors are distorted so the scrape looked
black to Steve.  I pointed to the scrape
on my leg, and, because Steve saw black and thought it was dirt, he rubbed it
really hard not once, not twice, but three times!  Because I had my oxygen line in my mouth, I
couldn’t tell him that it was blood and not dirt!  After we surfaced and got back on the boat,
we laughed about the fact that he literally “rubbed salt (water) in my
wound”.  Later that night, we headed to
Key West and had drinks by the sunset.

What was
your most memorable moment about your wedding day? There’s two:  My Dad and I are very close.  I’m definitely what you’d call a Daddy’s
girl.  Needless to say, anticipating
walking down the isle with my dad was a scary thought.  All I could imagine was mascara flowing down
my face and dad sniffing his tears away. 
So in hopes of alleviating that, I arranged for a surprise the morning
of my wedding.  I ran to Mom and Dad’s
room at 8 AM just as Mom was leaving.  I
jumped onto Dad’s bed and sat down beside him. 
He wasn’t very excited, as he is not a big fan of surprises.  About five minutes later a man from the
Carolina Inn rolled in a flat screen tv and dvd player.  There was a knock on the door and another man
brought in our breakfast to enjoy.  I
pushed play on the dvd player, and there Dad and I sat for the next hour and a
half watching Father of the Bride together. 
It was wonderfully sad.  We both
cried for most of the movie – tears of joy of course – but tears none the less.  It was the most memorable time I can ever
recall with Dad, and definitely the perfect way to start such a wonderful
day.  In case you were wondering, it did
the trick!  Neither of us shed one tear
walking down the aisle – I don’t think we had any left after the movie.  The
second moment I’ll never forget is the moment we walked into the reception area
and were tucked away in a closed room before being announced.  There we sat, just the two of us – for the
first time all weekend – we were alone! 
We sat there on the pink couches, eating a bite of each of our foods and
celebrating with a glass of champagne. 
It was such a special time, just taking in the fact that we had just
gotten married!

Check in later for Part II of Whitney + Steve’s Chapel Hill wedding!

Laura Lea + Tripp’s South Carolina wedding took place in Laura Lea’s family home complete with a wedding cake made by Laura Lea’s grandmother. Friends from church helped with the decor and all of the preparations.  This is what southern weddings are all about–family and community. The bride’s bouquet was created by {Plant Peddler Flower Shoppe}. Reception catering by {Melaine Rowe Catering}.  Thanks to {Blue Nalu Photography} for submitting these lovely photos. Check out more stunning shots on Blue Nalu’s {Blog}.

How did the two of you meet? Tripp and I both grew up in Rock Hill, SC.
Our parents and grandparents have known each other for a long time. Our
friendship began when we attended the same middle school, although, we
did not date seriously until our college years.

Describe your engagement: Tripp proposed early one Sunday morning. He
said it was the only way he could catch me by surprise, and it worked!
We were near the lighthouse on Sullivan’s Island.  Afterward we met
some friends to go to church and brunch at the Old Post House in Mt.
Pleasant.

What attracted me to my husband was: Tripp always has something
exciting or different to do, and he is very friendly. I love his
generous heart and I know he is always willing to listen to me. He
helps me slow down and put things in perspective when I take on more
than I can handle.

What attracted me to my wife was: Laura Lea is very smart and
ambitious. She is the girl I have always dreamed of marrying, my best
friend. We can share everything, and we love doing things together,
like boating, fishing, tailgating, and cooking.

A date we went on that we’d always remember: When Tripp was a freshman
at The Citadel, he invited me to attend the Corps Day Hop. We had a
fantastic dinner downtown at High Cotton, and then a beautiful walk
down The Battery. Then we met up with friends for a night of dancing on
the USS Yorktown. It was the quintessential Charleston date!
The weather was: Perfect! It was clear skies, about 80 degrees, with light winds. We didn’t have a backup plan for the outdoor reception, just a lot of people praying for good weather.
Did you have a theme for your wedding? No! But we wanted a celebration that truly reflected who we are and from where we came from. It was a very hometown affair.
What colors did you choose for your wedding? The bridesmaids’ dresses, which were a deep indigo, were the first major choice that we made. We loved the style of the dress and wanted something different. We tried to avoid pastels and go for bold colors instead. Most of the flowers in the ceremony were green and white, and the bridesmaids’ bouquets had a touch of lavender hydrangeas. The centerpieces at the reception were another focal point. We used pinks and reds in the pool area, blue and lavender under the tent, and oranges, yellows, and reds in the outer yard area.
Describe your wedding flowers: I wanted a bouquet that was very loose and airy. We chose cymbidium orchids as the focal point, with lots of smilax coming out from the edges. It also had lily of the valley, which I love! I didn’t want to have a round, definite edge to the bouquet. The vines and greenery allowed for a natural, flowing look.
Describe your wedding cake: Our cake was one of the most personal details of our wedding. It was a five layer, round-shaped pound cake with lemon curd. My grandmother made it. She has been making wedding cakes for many years and even made my mother and my aunts. Growing up, grandmother always made my families birthday cakes and we were thrilled when she agreed to do our wedding cake. Putting it together on Saturday was a family affair. We assembled it on our kitchen table.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Our wedding was beautiful because it was a group effort. Our friends did all of the greenery in the church, the candelabras and the pew markers. Mrs. Lisa Matthews, another family friend, designed all of the reception details, including the table linens, containers for the arrangements, lighting, and layout. Our garage was converted to a florist shop for the entire week leading up to the wedding. It was so much fun putting it all together. So many special friends were coming and going, family was arriving into town, and everyone helped to put it together. One of the most unique details was the swan topiary and lily pads floating in the pool.
Where there any special family traditions you included in the wedding? I wore my mother’s veil, which was made by my grandmother for her wedding in 1981. It is a fingertip length veil, edged with scalloped lace and embroidered with pearls.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Seeing Laura Lea walk down the aisle with her father. The bagpipes were playing and it was a very emotional moment.
Scariest moment? One of the lanterns that was suspended in a tree came crashing down. Fortunately, no one was injured.
What were your something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue items? My old item was my veil. New was my dress and shoes. Borrowed was the crystal brooch on my sash. My mom bought it for each of her daughters to wear on their wedding day. Blue was the monogrammed handkerchief with my new initials.
Why do you love your husband? Tripp is a loyal friend and very dependable. I see qualities in him that I want for myself – patience and compassion. We are both fortunate that our parents have given us a wonderful example of how a Christian marriage works. Family is very important to Tripp. He is a great listener and also a very good cook!
The most unexpected event on our wedding day was: At about 4:00 pm we discovered that the electricity in the tent was not working. My dad had hired an electrician to put in the extra wiring we would need for the band, but somehow the wires were crossed. He can fix almost anything, so in about an hour it was working fine.
How was your wedding different than the way you’d always imagined it would be? It was exactly the way I pictured it. When I told my parents that I wanted to have our reception at the house, we talked about what we wanted. My mom was the genius in the details, taking care of all the little things that I didn’t think about. Having the reception at our house meant that we needed extra electricity, extra restrooms (we had to rent a trailer), and the huge tent.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Personal, joyful, emotional.
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding? Have a long engagement! It takes away some of the stress of finding what you really want, because you have time to shop around. Plus you get to really enjoy being engaged to each other, which is a very special time in your relationship. Don’t let the planning consume you or you will lose focus of what it’s all about!

Congratulations to Laura Lea + Tripp!  We wish you a lifetime of happiness!