Southern Weddings

Jennifer + JR held their ceremony and reception at {Sweet Home Plantation}.  This was definitely a family affair.   JR’s mom made over forty pies, including Georgia peach pie for dessert!   Thanks again to Jesse and Whitney from {Our Labor of Love}.  Check out Our Labor of Love’s {Blog} for more.  Happy Friday ya’ll!

The weather on our wedding day was: It surprising turned out just right. We were scared that it would be blistering hot (Georgia in September) but there was a nice overcast cloud system that shielded us from the heat.
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? When I told JR about the Old Plantation home and large formal garden he was so excited. We went to visit the property and were sold. We both loved the genuine Old Southern feel to the place. So we just amplified that with our decorations and centerpieces.
Favorite design element of your big day: To be honest it was the grounds. There is no replicating it. The huge magnolia and pecan trees. The outbuildings that are dated to the early 1800’s. The house and all its antiques. That was the best.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: Funny story. All I knew was I didn’t want a strapless gown. I was supposed to meet my mom and aunt and 2 cousins in Atlanta for a day of dress hunting. It just so happened to snow that day. Because of all our busy schedules there weren’t many other days to meet up, so we decided to go anyway. My mom and aunt were coming from Columbus and got stuck behind a 7 car pile up in downtown Atlanta. My two cousins were driving super slow and careful from Chattanooga. Somehow I made it to Atlanta first and headed to Lenox mall. In route I saw this little shop on Peachtree -Miz Scarlets. they had all kinds of crazy cocktail dresses in the window and I decided to just waste some time. Of course a salesperson approached me and I explained the story and she then ushered me downstairs where hundreds of dresses hung just waiting for me. She pulled two dresses off the rack after I gave her a brief description of my likes and dislikes and price range. The second one I tried on I bought. I called JR and told him I found it… and no one saw me in it for almost seven months after I bought it.
Describe your wedding cake: Neither JR nor myself like cake. So sticking with Southern Tradition – we had pies! Jr’s mom baked almost forty pies. There was peach (obviously), pecan (of course), triple berry, chocolate silk, and apple.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: JR’s favorite detail was by far his chocolate brown suit and suspenders and the monogram cuff links, a detail the groomsmen also got to share. I loved my purple ballet flats.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? Remembering that JR really did want to help and had opinions about the big day.
Were there any special family traditions you included in the wedding? No not really, but I think we might have started a few.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Walking out onto the back porch and there across the lawn in her beautiful dress was the girl I could have never dreamed up, the perfect one for me.
Scariest moment? For me, I was standing at the end of the aisle, waiting my turn to make an entrance and I felt something on my legs. I look over my shoulder and the back of my dress looks like it has had pepper dashed all over it. Ants!! Lots of ants! Jesse, our photographer, was with me and helped shake the majority of them off. Ten seconds later I started down the aisle.
The most unexpected event on our wedding day was: The only thing we didn’t plan was the getaway car. Somehow the groomsmen snuck away and covered it with balloons and streamers. On the visor there were there were two doves. We didn’t quite get the meaning until our friend Wayne explained…”They mate for life”.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Relaxed, fun, happy.
Did you write your own vows? If so, what was your favorite phrase/verse/or line? We actually forgot our vows at the house and our prepared pastor just happened to have some beautiful ones with him.
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding? Obviously we are no experts – just remember what the day is all about each other and just relax.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? Since we have been back from our 15 days in Peru we have been getting back in the swing of things. We are in the progress of merging all of our stuff into one house. We are looking forward to all the trips, adventures, and memoirs we will make together as husband and wife.

Congratulations to Jennifer + JR! We wish you a lifetime of breezy days with delicious Georgia peach pie!

This weeks Southern Wedding of the Week comes to us from Georgia.  Our friends Whitney and Jesse from {Our Labor of Love} captured this fun wedding.  This couple is adorable!  We love how JR proposed.  He surprised her on Christmas day!  Christmas Morning at 6 am, JR arrived at Jennifer’s home in a Santa hat, firefighter pants and with a special gift.  I love this ring shot with the whole pecans in the Mason jar… just perfect!

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story… After church a large group of friends were heading downtown for lunch. As we all headed out to the cars people started separating in groups to carpool. I ended up hopping in the back seat of my friend Wayne’s truck and you know who was in the front seat. I asked Wayne, “Who’s this guy?” and he said “This is my friend JR”. We started chatting about jobs and realized we both worked in emergency medicine and started exchanging horror stories. Then the hobbies, we found that we both loved the outdoors – backpacking, kayaking, mountain biking, the basics. From that point on we struck up a friendship with texting! After two months, all his friends were telling me “he is so into you” and all it took was one day of white water rafting and I was in love (hook, line and sinker).
Describe the proposal: I was on a travel nursing assignment back home in Columbus, Georgia. It was over the holidays and JR was supposed to be visiting his parents and sister in Nashville. It was 6:30 a.m. on Christmas morning and I heard the bell for the door (we have to buzz visitors into the back). I hit the unlock and started toward the door to direct what I thought was a visitor and instead found my sweetheart in his bunker pants(that’s what firefighters wear) and Santa hat with a wrapped PRESENT in his hand. I was so stunned! At 7:00 a.m. we walked out to the car and as we walked JR was telling me all kinds of sweet things. I remember thinking “It is sweet enough you made the trip down here, you don’t have to go on like this.” Then standing in the cold crisp dark early morning he got down on bended knee and asked if I would be his wife.
What attracted me to my husband was: His never ending sense of adventure and love for experiencing life. No matter if it sounds fun or dangerous or just plain gross, JR will try it-just to experience it. For example, on our honeymoon in Peru, Rr ate “cuy al horno”… that is guinea pig. What some call pet, others call dinner.
Why do you love your husband? I love JR because he is his own. Growing up with three older sisters, JR is very good at most things men are usually bad at… like communication. JR loves to communicate. He is concerned with my happiness and well-being, genuinely he cares and wants me to talk to him about all of my worries and problems. He is there to share my successes and encourage me through the failures. Also, he makes me laugh and that is something that will always get us through a hard time.
What attracted me to my wife was: Her sense of adventure and how she’s almost always laid back. On our first trip together, we were backpacking up a mountain and by the time we got to the top it was dark, snowing and about 30 degrees. (How many girls would do that and go again?) She also has a passion to learn, which I think is essential in life.
A date we went on that we’ll always remember: It was last October and about midnight. I was wide awake and bored. I called JR and we decided to carve pumpkins. He got up out of bed, came over and we headed to Wal-Mart. We picked out our pumpkins and spent the next couple hours on the front porch drawling and carving and building a stronger friendship.

Check back later for more from Jennifer + JR.