Southern Weddings

Alright, here we go with more from this Georgia country fabulousness from Jen + Richard.  With Richard being an “overgrown boy scout” with a love for the outdoors and Jen a “sassy, pretty, smart and talented” women with chic style, {The Inn at Serenbe} worked out to be the perfect venue for their wedding.  Jen hired the crew at {Gloriosa} to create the food, cup cakes, cake and the flowers. Didn’t they do a marvelous job on the floral treatment? All favors and paper goods were created by Jen.  Make sure to check out her website, {Miss Pickles Press}.  For entertainment, Jen + Richard looked to {DejaBlue Grass Band}, which was a huge hit for the guests.  Capturing this amazing celebration was Martha Manning of {Missy McLamb Photographers} and {Ashley Blencoe Photographers}.  Happy Friday, y’all!

The weather on our wedding day was: Beautiful! Early October in Georgia can still feel like the summer, and our wedding was outside, so I was praying for cool breezy fall weather. Turns out it was a bit warmer than expected, but not a raindrop in sight and blue skies with clouds out of a storybook. The late afternoon/evening reception weather was perfect.
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? Being a designer, I am guilty of getting almost too inspired! I just love color and go crazy for the details. The wedding and reception site really helped me focus and set a design tone. We were married on a rural farm property about 45 minutes south of Atlanta, {The Inn at Serenbe}, so it felt appropriate to design things that felt true to the environment. Antique mason jars, brown and white gingham tablecloths, kraft paper goods…these things all felt like a natural tie-in to the surroundings.
Favorite design element of your big day: Impossible to narrow this down. Standouts for me were the “S’mores, Y’all” packets that each guest received. We had an outdoor stone fireplace going and also a open bonfire and also the cutlery envelopes for the BBQ buffet. The envelopes featured graphic sayings like “Good Grub”, “Chow Down” and “Deee-lish”.
Describe your wedding flowers: We were on a budget and had to prioritize what was most important. I love flowers as much as the next girl, but I loved my bluegrass band more. For the reception floral, I got crafty and went into DIY mode. I placed an order at Costco for dozens of orange, rich pink and ivory roses. We also got lime green Kermit Mums and ivory Spider Mums to break up the roses and mixed and matched in Antique mason jars. It was perfectly lovely, and we saved a ton of money. My bridal bouquet (and all ceremony floral) was designed by Gloriosa and was a gorgeous mix of dahlia and ranunculus in oranges, pinks and golds.
Describe your wedding cake: There was never any question – we wanted cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake. But we still wanted something to cut into for a cake cutting. We opted for a mini ivory swiss dot carrot cake with taupe-colored cream cheese icing. I designed and made the cake topper out of a small, lightweight bronzed picture frame with a personal sentiment out of “Alice In Wonderland”. Fresh flowers flanked the frame. It was simple, meaningful and delicious!
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Again, just too many to really pick just one. I am all about the details, and there were tons of them!
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? The wedding industry can sometimes be an inflexible thing, and I became frustrated with how challenging it could be to just do things the way we wanted them done and not get sucked into the crazy potential expense of it all. Being a designer, many of the details that would ordinarily be handled by a vendor were things I wanted to do or supply, and most vendors are used to handling most of the details and aren’t used to DIY brides that want to design everything. We are a pretty laid back couple and didn’t want a fussy, overdone wedding, just something that felt authentic to who we are. So I had to compromise with my event vendor, and they with me. I think we eventually reached an understanding and it turned out to be quite perfect.
Scariest moment? No scary moments! It truly was pretty relaxed, considering it was a wedding!
The most unexpected event on our wedding day was: I didn’t expect to feel so overwhelmed by all of the love from our family and friends. Of course, we knew they were coming, but actually seeing all of the people from different parts of your life, all in one place at the same time and just for YOU, well, it was humbling and awesome.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Heartfelt, Authentic, Joyous.
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding? Perspective, perspective, perspective! Yes, it’s your wedding, and yes, it is one of the most important days of your lives together, but don’t get carried away with the event and lose sight of the reason behind it. Also, spend your budget wisely and prioritize what’s most important – there are so many things you can do DIY that look like a million bucks with just a little creativity and time to get them done!
Best advice or most memorable comment someone made to you during the wedding celebration: We had a few folks mention to us that our wedding was the best/most fun wedding they had ever been to. That was a huge compliment, and we were so happy that everyone was having as much fun as we were.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We are moving back to Atlanta (my hometown; we are currently in Richmond, VA) in mid-February, where I will continue to grow {Miss Pickles Press} by leaps and bounds. We also just purchased a new Airstream (think silver bullet travel trailer from the 50s), and our plan is to travel the country as much as we can. Our love of travel is evenly and well-matched, and we’re always up for new adventures together.

Congratulations to Jen + Richard.  We wish you the best and hope you enjoy all the adventures life has to offer!