Southern Weddings

Hi belles! Our friend Stephanie Scholl has been documenting her wedding process for the last few months here on the blog! She is getting married on Saturday (!!), so this is her final post! Please join us in wishing her well! — Emily

Y’all, our wedding is THIS Saturday!! The next few days will be filled with our family and friends arriving to town, attending to last minute details, soaking up time with loved ones, and kicking off our wedding festivities tomorrow! Rob and I truly couldn’t be happier that we’re going to be husband and wife in a few short days, and we are unbelievably excited to celebrate the start of our marriage with loved ones on Saturday.

It’s been such a joy and honor to share our wedding planning journey and a peek into our engagement with you all, and I’m so grateful you’ve followed along! For my last post as a bride-to-be, I wanted to share what Rob and I are most looking forward to right now.

Ally and Bobby Photography

First off, we both are most excited to become husband and wife! As much as we’re looking forward to and eagerly anticipating our entire wedding day, it’s the bond and covenant that we make to each other, in front of God, our family, and friends, that makes us giddy. We cannot wait to be joined together as one, and we’ve tried to keep this the focus of our relationship and our wedding planning. I know the days, weeks, and years to come are going to be even better than I ever imagined because I’ll have Rob by my side as my husband and best friend.

He is the greatest blessing this side of Heaven, and thinking about the life we want to build together, the big and little moments in the years to come, and having him by my side throughout it all makes me beam with excitement and joy. I cannot wait for the moment when we hold hands and pray together around a door (no first look for us!) before our ceremony begins, and when I picture us meeting eyes for the first time on opposite ends of the aisle, I definitely tear up. We are both so, so excited for that moment.

Photo by Julie Cate via Style Me Pretty

It truly takes a village, don’t you think? Rob and I are surrounded by the most loving, supportive, and encouraging family and friends, and I can’t even fathom the feeling of having all of them together in one place – and celebrating us! A majority of our guests will be traveling into town from all over the country, and it’s humbling to know how many people are coming together to celebrate our marriage.

In addition to our family and friends being the best of the best, I also truly believe we have the world’s best wedding vendors. I call them my dream team! Many of them are close friends of mine, and their palpable excitement and joy for us is unreal. Thinking about the film photos from Ally and Bobby, especially, makes me weak in the knees – if our engagement session was any indication, then we’re going to be blown away by our wedding images!

Ally and Bobby Photography

The ceremony is the most important part of our wedding day, and we’ve tried to really focus on making it meaningful and reflective of our love – and most importantly, on Christ’s love for us and for all. We want to infuse our personalities into the details, as well as keep things reverent and holy. From our vows, to the song choices, to the wedding party prayer, to our pastor’s homily, to serving communion together as our first act as husband and wife… we are so excited for our ceremony and all that it symbolizes.

One of the elements of the day I’m most excited about is our ceremony exit! We’ll still be doing an exit at the end of the night, but we have a surprise or two up our sleeves for our grand exit down the aisle at Mr. and Mrs. Rob and Stephanie Shaul!!

I’m a wedding planner and stylist, so I’ve been envisioning our wedding and reception design since the moment we got engaged and started planning! I think I’m most excited to see my bridal bouquet and the overall reception design. When I think about Alana from Serendipity Designs bringing me my bridal bouquet on our wedding day… well, I cannot even imagine how stunning and perfect it will be!

Photo by Ali Harper via Once Wed

Our entire wedding design is so reflective of Rob and myself, and we tried to incorporate “us” into every single detail, as well as include meaningful and memorable details throughout. I can’t wait to see the Carriage House at The Merrimon-Wynne House transformed into our wedding reception, which will be like seeing all of my longtime wedding dreams come to life! We’re doing a reception room reveal so that I can soak it all in a little before our guests enter. Oh my goodness, the thought of it all makes me so happy!!

We are so, so excited about every moment of the day, really, but these are a few highlights that we’re eagerly anticipating. I have a feeling April 1st will be the best day of our lives so far, and I can’t believe our wedding day is so soon! My big goal this week is to truly relish and soak in every moment, to not worry about the little details, and to be present with Rob, our families, and our friends. Rob and I are so grateful for every bit of all this, and we cannot wait to become husband and wife!

Photo by Nancy Ray via Southern Weddings

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for following along throughout our engagement and for your excitement and kind words as I’ve shared a peek on our wedding planning journey. I’m truly grateful and so very humbled for your support, encouragement, and well wishes for Rob and myself!

P.S. In case you missed a post:
The proposal
Venue and photography
The dress
Bridesmaid style
Engagement photos
The details
Gift ideas

Written with love by Emily