Southern Weddings

From the cake to the favors–even down to the ice sculpture–the couple’s signature monogram was used to tie the decor together.  To see more images from Kari Beth + Josh’s wedding, view the slide show on photographer, Laura Negril ‘s  {Blog}. Reception {Atlanta Athletic Club}, floral decor by {Foxgloves & Ivy}, music by {The Answer Band},  wedding cake by (Abby Ryland) and all printed Items by {DecoMarj}. All wedding coordination comes from the fabulous Lindsay Pitt of {Toast}. From Lindsay: “Josh and Kari Beth were a dream! Aside from being madly in love they are spirited, youthful and laid back which translated to the style of the wedding perfectly. Kari Beth and her mom relayed their vision and left the details and decisions to me, which truly allowed them to enjoy the day and the entire planning process. Kari Beth was the epitome of a stunning bride, the attendees had such a fantastic time and were so gracious, and the details fell into place to create such a memorable Hotlanta summer wedding!”

The weather on our wedding day was: Luckily, most of the day was sunny and only a bit cloudy, which allowed us to take some outside pictures. It rained right when we pulled up to the Atlanta Athletic Club for the reception, but only for a second and then it went back to being partly cloudy for a beautiful rest of the evening!
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? We wanted to keep the wedding simple yet elegant. I absolutely LOVE monograms, so Lindsay Pitt, our wedding coordinator, helped us design a central monogram that was used on the favors, welcome bags, water bottles, napkins, ice sculpture, and elsewhere throughout the wedding décor.
Favorite design element of your big day: I really loved the monogram that we designed as well as all of the pink and green décor.
Describe your wedding cake: The wedding cake was a seven layer white cake with cream and alternating raspberry and lemon filling, with several layers of pink roses in between. The shapes alternated between square and circle, with mostly white icing on the outside. Each layer also included a pink and green ribbon at the bottom with small white pearls on the ribbon. In the middle of the cake was a pink monogram that was central throughout our entire wedding theme. The cake was topped with an assortment of pink roses.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Kari Beth: I loved the signature drink that we created to honor our new home in Niceville, Florida. It was a pink passion fruit martini with green sugar on the rim, and we named it the Niceville Sunset. I also loved the monogram that we used throughout the wedding décor. Josh: I really enjoyed the band that we hired, The Answer Band. They really got the crowd going and guests of all ages enjoyed the music!
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? The fact that Josh was six hours away from the city in which I lived and where the wedding was to take place, was the biggest challenge. It was hard to make decisions when he couldn’t see or be there to make them with me, which is why I am so glad that he is so easy going because he was happy with any and everything that my mom, Lindsay, and I planned.
Funniest moment? Josh: Seeing all of Kari Beth’s former students dancing with her dad during the reception. Kari Beth: Before my bridesmaid’s and I walked down the aisle, we were lined up in a hallway. My dad came down the hallway yelling “Game Time” and giving all the girls high 5’s to get them pumped up to go down. He is such a coach! 
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding? Enjoy every minute of it! This is the only day that you get to plan out every detail that you would like to have! Also, don’t get too carried away in the little details. In the end, you aren’t going to remember those details, but you will remember how much fun you had dancing and celebrating with your family and friends.
Best advice or most memorable comment someone made to you during the wedding celebration. Eat, dance, and enjoy yourself. This day goes by so fast, so enjoy every single second of it!
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We just bought a golden retriever puppy named Chevy (for Josh’s truck), and we are living in Niceville, Florida. We plan on having children in a year or two from now.
Other details you want us to know about your wedding: Lindsay Pitt, our wedding coordinator, helped us plan the most perfect day! She did everything from contacting the band to organizing the linens for the table! We could not have had the wedding we did without her help! Laura Negri was our wonderful photographer. She took some GREAT pictures! She was so good that I didn’t even realize that she was there, but the pictures turned out wonderful. Thank you to the Atlanta Athletic Club for hosting a fabulous reception! Everything was great, coach!

Congratulations, Kari Beth and Josh!  Happy Friday ya’ll!

Written with love by Lara Casey

This gorgeous wedding ceremony was held at the breathtaking {Peachtree Road United Methodist Church} in Atlanta.  Kari Beth’s bridesmaids wore her favorite color, pink, and carried bouquets of various pink flowers from {Foxgloves & Ivy}.  Enjoy these beautiful images from photographer {Laura Negri}. Wedding
Coordination by the fabulous Lindsay Pitt of {Toast Events}. Wedding dress designer: {Anne Barge}.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story… We met at Taylor Road Middle School in Alpharetta, Georgia, but became very close friends in high school. Josh took me to our Senior Homecoming Dance in the fall of 2001, with a group of friends. We lost touch in college when I went to Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, and Josh went to rival college, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. We met up again after I had graduated from Auburn, when a bunch of our high school friends were getting together at my house. We talked for hours and I found out that he was currently in the United States Coast Guard and was going to be stationed in Destin, Florida. We dated long distance for two years as I was in Suwanee, Georgia working as a First Grade teacher at Riverside Elementary School. He proposed on November 8th, 2005 by surprising me with lunch in my classroom while I was teaching. He read to my kids and answered their questions about the Coast Guard. When we dropped the kids off at the cafeteria, we went back to my classroom to eat our lunch. That is when he asked me if I would spend the rest of my life with him. Of course I said yes, and my students were absolutely thrilled to be the first ones to know!
What attracted me to my husband was: I love how laid back and fun-loving Josh is. He is rarely in a bad mood, and when he is, you would never be able to tell. He is also not too bad looking if you ask me!
Why do you love your husband? He is so thoughtful and is ALWAYS putting other’s feelings before his own. He is very family oriented and spends a lot of time with his family, as well as mine. Josh is the sweetest man that I have ever met!
What attracted me to my wife was: She is so goofy, just like me! She doesn’t care what other people think of her, and she has a certain confidence that lights up a room. Kari Beth is a very beautiful, smart, kind and loving person.
A date we went on that we’ll always remember: My parents own a condo in Destin, Florida where Josh was stationed in the Coast Guard, and whenever I would come to visit, we would borrow the condo to feel like we were on vacation. Next door to the condo is the best seafood restaurant, right on the beach. The first time we went to this restaurant, we hadn’t seen each other in a while, so we wanted to make it really special. We sat outside right on the beach, ordered a nice bottle of wine, and didn’t hold back. We ordered almost everything on the menu and had the best time catching up with each other. We walked on the beach back to the condo, and I will never forget the crisp, beautiful moonlit scene. So romantic!
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: Believe it or not, it was the very first wedding dress that I ever tried on! My mom and I went to Anne Barge one Saturday in November thinking that we would try on several there and then compare at another boutique. I looked around and found several that I wanted to try on, but one really stuck out to me, so I tried that on first. Anne Barge was in the store that day and when I put the dress on she said to me, “That is the prettiest dress that I have ever seen on a bride!” I fell in love with the dress, but tried the rest on just to compare. Of course every dress after that that I tried on was still beautiful, but I knew that I had found my dress with that first one!
Describe your wedding flowers: I love pink; therefore, there were a lot of different pink flowers (roses, hydrangeas, mini calla lilies, etc.). The bridesmaid’s dresses were pink, so I chose forthem to carry white bouquets, and I carried a bouquet of mostly pink. The maid of honor had a slightly different bouquet, in that hers was mostly pink, but richer pinks than those that were in my bouquet. The flowers at the reception were absolutely gorgeous! There was a mixture of tall vases with big arrangements of pink roses, hydrangeas, calla lilies, etc. There were also short cube vases filled with pink roses to add some variety. There were several arrangements on the bars, credenzas, and any other nook and cranny we could find to place them. Foxgloves and Ivy in Atlanta, Georgia did a fabulous job!
Were there any special family traditions you included in the wedding? The Gentry’s started a family tradition of eating dinner together as a family on the Wednesday before the wedding during his sister’s wedding in early November 2007. We carried that tradition over into our wedding where the Gentry and Freeman family had a combined family dinner on the Wednesday before our big day to bring the families together in a more intimate setting before the wedding so that our families could get to know each other even better.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Kari Beth: Getting to celebrate our marriage with all of our friends and family, and bringing everyone together again! Josh: Seeing Kari Beth come down the aisle at the church. She looked so beautiful!
Scariest moment? Both: Having to say our vows in front of 500 people!
The most unexpected event on our wedding day was: The father of one of the ushers was hit by a car while walking across the street to the church. Josh and I didn’t find out until after the ceremony, and we were so worried. However, he is doing well and is recovering just fine.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: beautiful, romantic, fun
Did you write your own vows? We chose to repeat the traditional vows to each other, which is still very nerve-wracking to do in front of so many people!

Be sure to check back shortly for Part II of Kari Beth + Josh!

Written with love by Lara Casey