Southern Weddings

I just want to hug Emily for letting me introduce this wedding to y’all! Being the office color-lover, I’m a big fan of weddings with a wide color scheme. This aqua, coral and yellow soiree is going all over my Pinterest! Joanna + Paul wanted their big day to feel like a fun and casual get-together in their backyard. “The venue we chose was a chapel built in a small Texas town in 1904 and later relocated to a great spot just south of downtown,” said Joanna. “The building itself was stunning, but all of the history it held made it even better.”

With bright interiors and beautiful stained glass windows, the chapel looked like it was made to J + P’s vision. Just wait until you scroll down and see what else they dreamed up! Big kudos to Lahra Bryant who photographed this day.

Goodness, y’all, are you fawning over this bouquet and the boutonnieres below? I’m loving the fabric scraps that finish them.

I did a brighter bouquet with a mix of flowers and more non-traditional things like succulents. Since my bridesmaids were all in brightly-colored dresses, we did their bouquets in white. I wanted all of the flowers, both in the bouquets and the décor, to look like freshly picked wildflowers.

We will never tire of seeing these adorable striped straws. J + P had Southern hospitality on their minds when setting up this drink station at the ceremony. What better prop to have during a September wedding in Texas?

How cute is Joanna walking toward her groom? J + P decided not to do a first look because they wanted to save the experience for the walk down the aisle. I support their decision purely based off of this photo.

Isn’t this one of the most fun aisles you’ve ever seen? One of my favorite parts of Joanna + Paul’s ceremony decor is the bunting triangles hung from the tree behind them.

Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding. We had a string quartet for the ceremony playing contemporary songs. Paul and the groomsmen walked in to “All You Need is Love” by The Beatles. The bridesmaids and I walked in to “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service, which was absolutely beautiful. We all walked out to “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey. Our first dance was to “If I Were a Carpenter” by Johnny Cash and June Carter.

What is the one thing you are most happy you splurged on? The décor. We hired Bird Dog Wedding to plan and implement all of the decorations, and every single detail was perfect and exactly what we wanted.

I love that Joanna + Paul’s guestbook was a compilation of well-wishes held together with colorful paper tape. Not only is it a way for them to look back on the wedding day, but it’s also a great visual reminder of how fun their wedding day was!

Instead of a cake, we did different kinds of cookies – chocolate chip, peanut butter, snickerdoodle, oatmeal and Rolls Royce. Paul’s mom, aunts and sister all made the cookies using my mom’s and grandma’s recipes.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. We met through my best friend and matron of honor, Ember, about 5 years ago. I went to dinner and drinks with some of her friends, one of which was Paul. We ended up hanging out with Paul a couple more times that week, but then I didn’t hear from him again until I randomly texted him a few months later. We met up that night and have been inseparable since.
Describe the proposal. Paul sleeps really late on the weekends, and I get up really early to feed our dog. He said the only way he could ensure surprising me was by waking up early. One Saturday morning, I went to feed our dog, and her food was missing, replaced by a note saying it was in our bedroom closet. We’d been having problems with ants, so I thought that’s why he moved the food. I walked back to the bedroom, fuming that he had put ant-infested dog food in our closet. When I got there, he was down on one knee in the closet with a ring. (It was a decoy ring though, because he wanted me to be able to pick out my own.)
In what month did you get married? September
How many guests attended your wedding? 125
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I went into it with an exact idea of the dress I wanted. At the first store, the girl helping us told me that she likes to pull a “wildcard” dress for all of her brides that is totally different from what they are looking for. I definitely would have never tried the dress on if it wasn’t for her. It turned out to be amazing. We went to two more stores, and I even tried on the exact dress I was looking for, but I had to go back to the wildcard dress. I’m really glad she made me try it on!
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Everything was amazing – it’s impossible to pick!
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? Definitely money. It was really hard for me to accept how much everything was going to cost!
What range did your wedding budget fall into? $10,000-$25,000
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? I almost passed out during the ceremony! I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and my dress was really tight. I had been wearing the dress for a couple of hours by the time the ceremony started, sitting in a chair in the bridal room. When I stood up to walk out toward the aisle, I started getting really dizzy and almost blacked out. While we were standing at the altar, I honestly thought I was going to pass out, so I leaned forward to the minister to ask her to skip ahead to the vows. Paul thought I actually was passing out, and reached over to catch me. I made it through unscathed though – and then I ate!
What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? Let people help you – they probably really want to. And remember to eat the day of the wedding!
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We have left the stress of planning a wedding behind for the even more stressful task of buying a house. It makes planning a wedding look like a piece of cake.

Written with love by Nicole