Southern Weddings

Our friends Dan + Anne of {Almasy Photo} submitted this fabulous outdoor wedding to us and we instantly knew we had to feature it! We love the Georgia farm setting and the emotion that Anne + Dan captured in these amazing images.  Happy Friday and enjoy!

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story… To be honest, we don’t remember the exact first time we met. We just remember hanging out in the same group of friends at a singles environment at our church called Fusion. Although we connected there, it wasn’t until a night of bowling that Justin caught my eye as more than a friend and asked for my number. Just a few weeks and text messages later, we were on their first date at MF sushi, my favorite Atlanta restaurant!
Describe the proposal: On the two-year anniversary of our first date, I returned to work from lunch and was given an envelope by a coworker. In the envelope, Justin had prepared an itinerary for the remainder of the day that said my day was over and a driver would pick me up from work at 1:45 p.m. Just few minutes later, I got in the car and found two red roses, a journal and a card that encouraged me to use the journal to write my thoughts about the day and us. I was taken to my first destination – a half-day session at Jolie Day Spa (I’d never had so much pampering all at once)! Following a wonderful spa treatment, I got back in the car where Justin had left instructions on his iPod. He had assembled pictures of us over the last two years set to two songs we’d often listened to (needless to say, I was pretty emotional at this point). I was then taken home where I had about an hour to get ready for dinner. Justin arrived around 7:30 p.m., and I’ll never forget how handsome he looked. We went to Bacchanalia, an awesome restaurant here in Atlanta, and had a wonderful dinner. After dinner, we went back to my place, which looked completely normal when we left. However, when we returned, there were rose petals and candles throughout my living room*. We walked in (me in shock, of course), Justin put his arms around me and talked to me about our relationship, the past couple of years and what he had wanted the day to mean to me. Following that, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. We hung out for a few minutes, looked at the ring, took pictures and then quickly called our parents as it was already 11:00 p.m. It wasn’t until afterwards that I realized how much went into planning that special day. Without a doubt, it’s a day I’ll never forget!
What attracted me to my husband was: His sense of humor, intellect and amazingly strong character are just a few things that attracted me to Justin. I just loved what a fun, well-rounded and motivated guy he is — he loves a good movie, a good joke, time with friends, his Clemson Tigers, snow skiing, water sports and the best steak money can buy. He’s such a guy’s guy yet also incredibly romantic.
What attracted me to my wife was: One thing that drew me to her was how much she loves to learn and to better herself. She loves learning about her work, her faith, people, ideas, and everything she comes into contact with. But what has impressed me the most is her uncompromising passion. It was this passion that led her away from corporate America to Buckhead Church. Her constant drive to better herself has inspired me countless times to make myself better — to finish the marathon we ran together, to become a better leader at work and become a better man and now husband.
A date we went on that we’ll always remember: Our third date at Kyma, a Greek seafood restaurant in Atlanta, where I (Angie) spilled my entire cocktail in my entree just as the entree arrived. I was so embarrassed but Justin handled it so well. And yes, I ate the martini-infused mahi-mahi.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: My dress was one of the most exciting and enjoyable experiences of planning our wedding. I was at a boutique where I had already visited once and found a couple dresses that I liked. It was such slow part of the day for them that I had the entire upstairs dressing area to myself. As I tried on the second dress I distinctly remember feeling that I didn’t want to take it off. The girl helping me went downstairs for a just moment and I was left alone in the entire dress area. I started to get emotional about the whole wedding and how much I liked the dress I had on. The decision was made! I most loved the gathered bodice and all-lace skirt that, I felt, complimented the simple, elegant, country wedding we were planning.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? The ceremony. It was incredibly personal and not only highlighted the best times in our relationship but the challenging times that grew us as individuals and as a couple. The pastor that married us gave us a list of questions to answer independently several weeks before the wedding. While I thought he would take excerpts of our answers, he actually read our responses verbatim. The honesty of our answers created so many funny and tearful moments during the ceremony that we will always treasure.

More to come from Angie + Justin!

John’s parents backyard worked out perfectly for Katy + John’s wedding.  What a beautiful location!  I love the lanterns hung from the trees and the table decor.  This day was planned by Heidi Mayne of {red25events}.  Catering by {Westwood Catering}.  Katy + John chose to do food stations for their guests.  At the stations, the food was cooked to order and was perfect!  On the subject of food, take a look at the wedding cake.  Katy + John sampled cakes from all the bakeries in town but decided they liked their local grocery store cake the best.  So what did they do?  Ordered plain white tier round cakes and took them to their florist, {Arrangement Floral & Party Designs}, to have them decorated.  Great idea!  Big thanks to Michael Norwood for sharing this wedding with us.  Check out Michael’s {Blog} for more. 

The weather on our wedding day was: The weather on our wedding day was absolutely beautiful. We had the wedding in Palm Springs during the month of October. I knew it could be warm during the ceremony, which it was. To keep our guests comfortable before and during the ceremony we did a couple of things. Upon arrival, guests were offered cold water with lemon or cucumbers and also given a program that was printed on a fan. After the ceremony, the sun had set and it was dusk for a few hours. I’ll never forget looking up at the hanging lanterns during dinner. They were gently swaying in the warm breeze.
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? Our design was pretty much what I would call, “simple elegance”. We were married at the home of my husband’s Mother and Step-father in Palm Springs. The estate is so beautiful that coming up with the look we wanted was very easy. Since everything was held outdoors, we had to make sure that the flowers and lighting became an important part of the planning. Our colors were simple – sage green and white, colors that would not clash with the home. I found the best way to pick your colors is to go through bridal magazines and clip out photos that grab your attention. I found most of my clippings included colors with white and green tones, with a simple, but elegant look.
Tell us about the flow of the wedding: Our ceremony began in the front courtyard with a “ceremony in the round”. Afterwards we moved through the home to the backyard for cocktails. The backyard has a lovely pool and veranda, where our guests could sit and relax. After the cocktail hour we opened the entrance to the side yard where the reception was held. This part of the yard is usually very dark at night, so we added 90 white Chinese lanterns that were strung above the whole area. Every place setting had a square glass votive with a submerged white orchid and a white floating candle. The lighting made the yard look purely magical. We used white hemstitch linens because we knew that white would not pull any light from the area but actually add to it. We wanted to guests to feel free to move around, so instead of having a sit down plated dinner, we had three different stations. One was a beef station, one was chicken, and the other was a Mediterranean station. This enabled our guests to get up and move around the whole evening instead of being in their chairs most of the time. Our guests commented all evening about how magical and spiritual the whole evening was. Everyone kept saying they felt like they were in a movie.
Favorite design element of your big day: Besides the candlelight at each place setting I think one of the favorite design elements was our party favors/escort cards. My mother had painted four pictures. One painting was of the front courtyard with the wishing well where the ceremony was held, a painting of the wedding cake, a painting of a wedding bouquet and a painting of a champagne bottle with two glasses. She then made prints of them, pasted them onto greeting cards and put them into a packet of four for each guest. Each packet had a tag attached with the guest name and table number on them. The guests loved them! No one left their favor behind, not even the single men.
Describe your wedding flowers: Our wedding flowers turned out even better than I expected. The guests commented all evening about the flowers. The table centerpieces were also used during the ceremony and placed at the end of each aisle on a rust tone urn with a Sheppard’s hooks next to the chairs. It was nice that we were able to use them twice. Each centerpiece was a European style cluster of all white and green flowers. They consisted of lime green hydrangeas, green limona roses, and green cymbidium orchids with a white center, Casablanca lilies, white tulips, white dahlias and a touch of rosette succulents. A touch of white cascading phileanopsis orchids cascaded from the centerpieces. The floral centerpiece sat on an 8x8x4 square glass vase. Inside each vase was a succulent or a green orchid. Since the location was in the desert, I found the use of succulents very creative. Green rose petals were sprinkled on the tabletop to add more color and contrast to the white linen. We also used these same flowers plus a touch of green amaranths at the top of the wishing well, which was located behind us when we were married.
Describe your wedding cake: We went to a few different wedding cake places and ended up liking the wedding cake we tried at a local bakery and grocery store called Jensen’s. Jensen’s was unable to do a design that I wanted on the cake but since we liked their cake so much better than the others we decided to order a plain white cake from them. I then had our florist put real flowers on the cake. She used fuzzy William leaves and freesias to decorate the cake. The wedding cake was three tiers, each with a different cake inside, including chocolate, lemon and carrot. I was very happy with how the cake turned out and it was delicious too!
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? I would say the biggest challenge of our wedding was hiring the wrong wedding planner. She would not return phone calls or emails. She would not listen to anything we said. She had no concept of anything we wanted. We started getting really worried about how the event would turn out or even if it would. Having it in a private home and in a location where your vendors have never worked there before can be quite tricky. We finally decided to terminate our contract with the wedding planner 6 weeks before the wedding and hire someone else. We hired Heidi Mayne from red25events. What a difference! It was worth the extra expense of this change. We had a lovely, calm, organized day because of Heidi. We couldn’t have done it without her.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Beautiful, magical, and memorable.
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding? I have two pieces of advice:
1. Hire a good photographer. Everyone says the day feels like a blur and it definitely did. Having good photos allows you to live the day over again and actually see some of the things you may have missed that day. Also, we decided to hire a videographer. I have not seen the video yet, but I am so happy we decided to get a video. That way, I’ll be able to see the toasts and all the special moments again.
2. Make sure to take a moment in the evening to stop and look around. I did this when everyone sat down to eat. I looked up at the bright blue sky, watched the Chinese lanterns swaying in the warm breeze, appreciated the flowers on the table, and looked around at all the people. The beauty in the moment was overwhelming.
Other details you want us to know about your wedding: Since we were married in front of a wishing well, I wanted to incorporate the location symbolically. I printed up blank cards with an Irish blessing on one side and a blank space on the other. The guests were able to write their wishes, blessings, or prayers on the cards and throw them in the wishing well. A basket was placed in the well to catch the cards. We received many beautiful blessings and will be able to read the cards for many years to come.
Another detail I’d like to share is the table numbers. We placed them in glass frames. Behind each number, the glass frame had a photo of us. It included photos from vacations, Halloween parties, football games, weddings, etc. Many guests were encouraged to go from table to table to see all the photos.

Congratulations to Katy + John. We wish you a lifetime of happiness!