Southern Weddings

There’s nothing I love more than a gorgeous wedding with an incredibly inspiring love story behind it.  Janie + Tony take the cake with this beautiful celebration designed by {Kristin Newman Design} and photographed by my favorite Southern gentlemen at {A Bryan Photo}.  Catering, {Cru Catering}; Florist, Heather Barrie of {Gathering Events}; Videographer, Ben Hough of {Artistic Eye Productions}. Thank you, Bryan, for bringing this lovely couple to SW.  This is the kind of wedding that completely makes my week! 

From Bryan… “One of my favorite coordinators in the world to work with is Kristin Newman, out of Charleston, SC. Kristin called me last year to tell me about Janie and Tony’s story and their upcoming wedding. Immediately I hoped that they would book us, based on their touching story.  Janie and Tony both lost their first spouses to cancer. They connected in their sorrow and formed a love that remembers the past yet brings hope for their future. On June 21st, at Daniel Island Club, they were joined in marriage as their friends and grown children looked on with joy.”

The weather on our wedding day was: There were torrential thunderstorms thirty minutes before the ceremony. But it stopped and was followed by a rainbow.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story… It’s a great story. We both lost our spouses of many years to cancer in 2003. Both were long happy marriages. A good friend of mine, Sam Levin, and my late husband, Neil, began doing a lot of work with Tony in 2004. About a year and half after Neil died, Sam said he was awakened at 3:00 am by a dream in which Neil (my late husband) appeared. He could not go back to sleep for the rest of the night. The next day, he called each of us and convinced us that we needed to meet. The three of us had lunch together a little over three and a half years ago, and the rest is history!
Describe the proposal: It was a birthday dinner for me prepared by Tony’s daughter, Kristen. All of our children, my parents, Tony’s parents, Tony’s mother-in-law, brother and sister-in-law were all present. After I opened my gifts, Tony said he had one more thing. In front of all of them, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was beyond wonderful!
What attracted me to my husband was: Everything. He is extremely handsome, intelligent, warm, kind, generous, spiritual, successful, and funny. But the thing that attracted me the most when we first met and talked was his deep love for his late wife and his children. We had many similar experiences and we shared the same values about what is most important in this life.
Why do you love your husband? All of the above are some of the many reasons I love my husband. I would add that he has great integrity and character. He is also a good man who gives a great deal to others and to his community.
What attracted me to my wife was: Her beauty, personality, and her good heart.
A date we went on that we’ll always remember:  After two or three months of dating, we had dinner at the Boat House restaurant. Tony asked me how I met my late husband. I went on to tell how unlikely that meeting was and how all the circumstances came together perfectly for that “chance meeting” to occur. I told him that I even knew the date, which I commemorated in a Shadow Box that I made for him. It was November 5, 1977. At the time, Tony was still wearing his wedding ring. He took it off, and showed me the date engraved on the inside. The day and year that I met my late husband was the same day and year that Tony and his late wife were married. There turned out to be many more “coincidences” like this one, but I believe it was God’s way of letting us know that He understood the pain we went through, but that He was present in our relationship and that He brought us together.

Check back later for Part II of Janie + Tony…