Southern Weddings

What a pleasure it is to share this wedding. The photographer, Travis Hoehne of {Travis Hoehne Photography} is amazing! The stunning bride, Kate, emailed our team during the week of finishing a cake feature for the print issue with a photo of tiramisu cupcake from her wedding. Not only were we intrigued and impressed but immediately knew we had to showcase her wedding on the SW blog!  Kate’s gorgeous wedding dress was made by {Carole Kenney Designs}. She had Carole re-create an Oscar de la Renta dress to fit perfectly and make her big day complete. Kate’s jewelry was designed by one of her good friends, Lisa, from {Sunflower Designs}. “Yet another one of my wonderful friends, Lisa, made all of our jewelry and said prayers throughout the process to bless us on our wedding day. They turned out beautiful, and I imagine may have played a part in the impossibly beautiful weather we ended up having.” Read on to hear more about how the two met and created their dream wedding on a budget…

Isn’t Kate breathtaking!?

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story… Ken and I met on a popular online social networking website. He accidentally searched for one of our favorite bands in the wrong search field and up popped my profile – I happened to have a song from said band playing on my page. After browsing my profile, he became engrossed in reading my blog entries. Soon after, he discovered that some entries were secured for friend’s viewing only. He decided to email me to beg for access to my blog and to add him as my friend by stating, “I’ll make all your Narnia dreams come true.” This is beginning of our quirky love story – and best describes our offbeat sense of humor – he had me at Narnia.
Describe the proposal: The first proposal or the second? The first proposal was spoiled by a friend’s girlfriend who thought the secret was worth spoiling in order to make sure I could control my dream proposal. Honestly, my dream proposal included only one tiny detail: a surprise. It took a while to recover from that debacle, but over a year later Ken finally had a ring burning a hole in his pocket. His dream of proposing in a hot air balloon basket high above Napa Valley would bring too much wait time, so he crafted yet another awesome scenario: the California State Fair. After almost being taken in by security near the front gates (he picked a hefty ring shank) and a near panic attack on the rides by yours truly, he popped the question while at the tip top of the Ferris wheel right before the fireworks began. He had timed it perfectly.
What attracted me to my husband was: His intellect, sense of humor, charm, and of course, his awesome taste in music. At first I thought he was a bit too goofy for me, but now I know that I was just in denial about my own goofiness.
Why do you love your husband? He’s amazingly intelligent, always taking on new projects, and studying new subjects. It’s fascinating to be a part of his life as I’m constantly being exposed to new things. He’s forgiving, patient and just an all around good person.
What attracted me to my wife was: Her intelligent sense of humor, great taste in music, her impeccable fashion sense, her delicious cooking and her overall craftiness.
A date we went on that we’ll always remember: Our first date comes to mind – the first time we met in person Ken greeted me and my 10 accompanying friends at a bar to play pool. He handled them all very well, even the most outgoing of them all, my best friend. The highlight of said date had to be when Kenneth presented me with a pineapple (instead of flowers), as a gift to symbolize our friendship. I was teased mercilessly by my friends over that!
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: Well, I didn’t exactly find my wedding dress – but I definitely fell in love with a design. It was an Oscar de la Renta original that I still couldn’t afford if I were to purchase it on deep discount on eBay. Thankfully, I was able to find Carole who was having a 25th Anniversary sale. I was able to have my dream dress made for 75% what it would cost to make it (which was already a huge discount off of the designer original) and it would be fit to my body (no additional alterations). It was a really fun process, almost like taking part of your very own Project Runway.
Did you write your own vows? Yes, we wrote our own vows. Ken surprised me with a poem that described how much he loved me. I don’t think I could pick a line out that I loved the most, as it stands on its own in its entirety. Ken’s favorite part of my vows included the lines where I promised to rub his back and cook his favorite comfort food.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Walking out into the crowd of friends and family while we were being announced was incredible! Who knew we knew so many people!? The applause was so loud and they all cheered for us – it was definitely one of the most memorable moments of the night.

Check back later for more from Kate + Kenneth!