Southern Weddings

Now that I am officially a North Carolinian, I get so excited when I see a Tar Heel wedding! The {Bliss} girls just posted a really fun Tar Heel inspiration board this week… Be sure to check it out! For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Tar Heels, click here. I found this really fun vintage Tar Heel postcard that reads:

Here’s to the land of the long leaf pine,

The summer land where the sun doth shine,

Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great,

Here’s to “Down Home,” the Old North State!

Here’s to the land of the cotton bloom white,

Where the scuppernong perfumes the breeze at night,

Where the soft southern moss and jessamine mate,

‘Neath the murmuring pines of the Old North State!

-Written by Leonora Martin and Mary Burke Kerr

If you don’t know what scuppernongs are, please make a trip to the South so you can experience them. I will have you over for scuppernong wine, pecan pie and boiled peanuts. OK, back to the wedding…

Shot by talented North Carolina-based photographer {Kellie Kano}, this wedding is pure southern simplicity and goodness. {Wild Bloom Flowers} played up the Tar Heel color scheme with fresh bouquets of peonies, roses and blue hydrangeas. We love the coordinating blue and brown polka dot ties on the groom and groomsmen. From Leslie… ” We had the ties custom made in NY at Seigo Neckwear. Here is a link to a New York Magazine Profile of the store: NY MAG.” Event planning by Samantha from {Emma Grace Designs}. For more of CJ + Leslie’s beautiful day check out Kellie’s {BLOG}. Happy Friday! Enjoy~

The weather was: Perfect at 79 degrees and mostly sunny.

What was the design inspiration for your wedding? We were going for North Carolina/Southern wedding. We wanted a traditional service and a fun reception. We are both from North Carolina and are now living in New York. We love, and are very proud of our southern roots and wanted to share that with our friends and family from all over the country.
What colors did you choose for your wedding? Carolina Blue and Chocolate Brown.
Describe your wedding flowers: The flowers were simple and elegant.
Describe your wedding cake : Delicious! It was Carolina blue icing with chocolate brown ribbons. The top and bottom layers were cakes and the three middle layers were cupcakes. Our flavors were lemon with strawberry filling, chocolate with peanut butter filling and red velvet with cream cheese filling.
How did the two of you meet? We lived in the same dorm at UNC.
Describe your engagement: We were on the beach in St. Croix, USVI. I was more surprised than I’ve ever been in my life. Everyone finds this surprising because we had been dating for 7 years. It was absolutely perfect, what I had always imagined!
What attracted me to my husband was: Initially, his legs and his smile! He has a caring personality and is always loyal to those important to him. We were friends for a while before we started dating and he always looked out for me and was always there for me when I needed him. He is so much fun and loves exploring, which always proves to be a fun experience.
What attracted me to my wife was: Her eyes, her smile and her altruistic personality.
A date we went on that we’ll always remember: C. J. is a great date planner which makes it hard to pick a favorite! One that I will definitely always remember was a romantic picnic in Duke Gardens.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: It is so hard to pick just one detail. Everything was so amazing and came together better than I ever could have imagined. If I had to pick I would say the food. It was a southern menu that included fried chicken, pork chops, green beans cooked with pork, cornbread, and banana puddin’.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? The biggest challenge was the distance. I was planning my Chapel Hill, North Carolina wedding from Brooklyn, New York.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? It was our reception that turned into a dance party.
Funniest moment? The funniest moment was when one of our good friends did his rendition of “Strokin’” by Clarence Carter. It was especially funny because we have seen it before but many of our friends and family had not. I was laughing very hard at everyone else’s reaction.

Why do you love your husband? I love my husband for a million reasons but one I’ll mention here is that he always brightens my day!
The most unexpected event on our wedding day was: Getting to dance to “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston. Whitney Houston was one of my favorite artists growing up and this was one of my favorite songs. My brother secretly requested it and Kellie Kano, our photographer, got some great shots of us singing and dancing to that song!

How was your wedding different than the way you’d always imagined it would be? It was exactly what I had always imagined!
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Classic, Carolina Blue, and Fun.
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding? Make it a reflection of yourselves and have a blast. Definitely don’t sweat the small stuff, especially on your wedding day!

Congratulations, Leslie and CJ! We wish you a lifetime of love and joy!