Southern Weddings

There are few things more Southern than a real-life Savannah wedding and this week’s Southern Wedding of the Week from DVB Photographers proves no exception to the rule.  We are such fans of Donna’s work!  The perfect blend of classic romance and Southern chic, Briana + Todd’s wedding makes us alternately sigh with pleasure and smile with delight at the many unique details.  We just can’t get over how the cheery yellows, citrus greens and bright oranges expertly offset the modern elegance of this wedding.  The lemons and limes swimming at the bottom of the dramatic floral arrangements by Garden on the Square and the cute (and undoubtedly delicious) candy bar really seem to complement the couple’s playful personality.  (How funny was Todd’s proposal to Briana?)  And speaking of the bride: Briana was the epitome of summer chic in her couture Romona Keveza gown while her bridesmaids’ shone in their sunny yellow Priscilla of Boston dresses.  Naturally, here at SW, we simply adore the authentic Southern touches Briana + Todd wove into their big day.  A welcome reception at Paula Dean’s, a post-ceremony trolley ride through historic Savannah and parting favors of saltwater taffy helped give a genuine down-home feel to these Georgia nuptials.  And, really, what true Southern wedding is complete without a red velvet cake like the one Briana + Todd chose from Bakers Pride?

How did the two of you meet? We met through my best friend and maid of honor at her bachelorette party.  My best friend’s husband decided to crash the party with his friends.  At the time, I didn’t pay him much attention because I thought it was rather silly that they showed up.  My best friend and husband would always try and set me up with friends of theirs and it never worked out, but I always told them they made a mistake in not setting me up with that Todd fellow. Over the next 7 years, I moved around from San Francisco, New York and Atlanta and I would always run into him in different cities.  I always reported my many “Todd Sightings” to my best friend and to her how attractive I thought he was.  We were both in other relationships at the time, so nothing ever came of my crush until a run-in years later we both happened to be in Baltimore for business and decided to meet for dinner.  This was the beginning of a long distance relationship.  At this, time I lived in New York and he in Atlanta, but after a year of long distance we knew we had to be together and I relocated to Atlanta.

Describe the proposal: He proposed at home on Thanksgiving.  I had been waiting for a few months for him to pop the question and had just figured it would probably happen around Christmas.  After returning from his sister’s house, he called me into the living room to point out a mess our puppy had made on the floor.  He then pointed to the corner where I found a much better surprise!  Quite the jokster!  He said he had to ask me to marry him on Thanksgiving so he could express how thankful he was to have me in his life.  

What attracted me to my husband was: He is tall, dark and very handsome and has a very manly and sexy demeanor.  I thought he had such telling eyes, almost like you can look into them and see right into his soul. 

Why do you love your husband? He is so positive.  In this day and age when there is so much turmoil in the world, he always has a way of looking at things in a different light.  He keeps me calm and grounded.  He is also extremely caring and always puts others first.

What attracted me to my wife was: Her beauty, brains and caring nature.

A date we went on that we’ll always remember: I surprised him one year with a trip to Stowe, Vermont.  He had never been skiing and I signed us up for snowboarding lessons.  This was my first time snowboarding and his first time on the slopes.  We ended up with bruises all over our body and had to spend the rest of the time with ice packs and heating pads on our body.

The weather on our wedding day was: The weekend started off with thunderstorms and a downpour of rain so we had to move the ceremony to the tented hotel courtyard.  Though the weather actually cleared up the day of the ceremony, we stayed with the courtyard which ended up being picture perfect and turned out to be more than I could have ever imagined.

What was the design inspiration for your wedding? The inspiration was romance mixed with southern chic.

Favorite design element of your big day: The color palette consisted of fun and flirty summer colors of yellow, green, orange, and red.

Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I started my search months prior to getting engaged. I would borrow my friend’s wedding ring when I went to visit the salons so that the salespeople would take me seriously.  I went to a sample sale and purchased a dress but later decided it was more of a great deal rather than THE dress.  I sold the dress online and continued my search, visiting every bridal salon in Atlanta until I ran into my Romona Keveza.  I was looking for something that was modern, romantic and chic with a touch of couture and found it all in this dress.

Describe your wedding flowers: I wanted everything to be bright and cheery.  For my ceremony flowers, the bridesmaids carried rose and orchid bouquets in greens, red and organges that perfectly contrasted their yellow dresses.  I carried an all-white bouquet of roses, orchids, calla lillies and ranunculus with my father’s cross tied around the stem.  The aisle was lined with yellow and orange petals and lime roses served as the pew markers.  Petals drowned in water with submerged orchids were placed in cylinders at the front of the aisle while multi-colored arrangements with curly willow were at the end of the aisle on moss columns.  For the reception, my bridesmaids stayed up late the night before making the centerpieces of drowned yellow and green cymbidium orchids tied to wire and curly willow branches placed in tall cylinders topped with floating candles.  We woke up early the day of the ceremony to decorate.  The venue also provided arrangements that were muti-colored with lemons and limes at the bottom.

Describe your wedding cake: My wedding cake was a white three-tier square cake with yellow and green cymbidium orchids.  The cake was Red Velvet, of course!  It is the South, afterall! 

Our favorite detail of the wedding was: I really loved the beautiful setting Savannah, Georgia provided.  Many of our friends are from the North and out West and have never visited Savannah so it was like a mini-vacation for them.  We welcomed them with gift bags filled Southern treats like old-school coke bottles, salt water taffy and Savannah visitor books.  We had a welcome reception at Paula Deens’ the evening before and everyone is still talking about the food.  The venue where we had our ceremony was amazing.  The ceremony was held at a restored mansion that served as a hotel and took place in a tented courtyard under a beautiful crystal chandelier.  To give our guests the real Low Country Experience, we rented a trolley to transport them to the reception held at a venue overlooking the river.  Since we wanted to make sure many of the details were personalized and had meaning, we invited our friends and family to assist in the planning and decorating.  My friend created the romantic invitations that were tucked inside the silk envelopes my mother made.  My friend also created the programs to match the invitations and each one had a different color of vellum to match my four wedding colors.  Lastly she created the menu and placecards.  I really loved the detailed elements of our ceremony.  A program and bamboo fan were placed on each chair while cones filled wiht tossing petals sat alongside at each aisle.  Our friend, a gifted writer, wrote the ceremony and got ordained so she could perform the ceremony.  In the ceremony, she mentioned some of history’s most famous couples, including our parents.  Todd and I exchanged roses as our first gift to one another and then gave roses to our mothers.  Another friend sang a Nora Jones song as the processional and the friend who performed the ceremony also serenaded me down the aisle to a Jennifer Hudson song.  My sister and brother-in-law recited an excerpt from the Velveteen Rabbit.  We even hired a gospel choir to sing “Oh Happy Day” for the recessional.  We also had a candy buffet filled with all of our favorite treats from childhood.  To top it off, we had a photo booth created by our photographers that included props for the guest to use as they struck funny poses.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? I had such a hard time making decisions.  I came to a personal realization during the planning process that I am somewhat of a perfectionist.  As a marketer/event planner, I am also very particular and kept second-guessing myself.  After a while, I didn’t have any choice but to make a decision because I was running out of time.  It was really a challenge trying not to worry too much about all the little details the night before the wedding and staying calm enough to set up the morning of the ceremony and then make it back in time to the hotel to rest and get ready.

Were there any special family traditions you included in the wedding? My father loved cigars so my mother had given Todd my fathers’ humidor as a gift.  Todd brought along the humidor and stocked it with plenty of cigars for everyone to enjoy.

What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? When Todd made a speech to me.  He is such a manly man and usually does not like the spotlight on him so it was truly moving to hear him say such sweet and sensitive things and express his love for me.

Scariest moment? When my mother and I left the house to make our way down to Savannah.  Just five minutes after pulling out of our driveway, the back to our truck came open and everything went flying all over the highway.  We pulled over and both started running down the highway waiving cars to move to the other side while screaming, “The dress, the dress, get the dress!”  Luckily, we managed to save everything!.

Funniest moment? Someone decided to start a soul train line and my friend, Maya, decided this was her moment to shine.  At the end of her stroll down the middle of the aisle, she decided to finish it off with a split.  Her stunt had the entire wedding bent over in laughter.

Hardest decision you made in planning? Determining the size of the guest list was very difficult. We really wanted something small and intimate, but that meant we would be excluding a few people.  In the end, we had to stay true to our hearts and keep the guest list reserved for close friends and family.

The most unexpected event on our wedding day was: My husband’s father cried as I walked down the aisle.  It was so touching. My father had passed away a few years ago so my mother walked me down the aisle.  Having my father-in-law respond to me in that way was such a moving moment.

Three adjectives that describe the day are: intimate, romantic and festive.

What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding? You can plan your little heart out but something will always go differently than you expect.  Plans are made to be broken.  Just prepare yourself and be flexible .  Don’t get all bent out of shape when something turns out a little different than you originally expected.  Remember what is most important about your wedding: you are marrying your one true love and have dreamed of this day since you were a little girl.  Enjoy this time with your family and friends because there will not be very many other opportunities when everyone you love will be together in one place to celebrate you.  And  be sure to invest the most in a good photographer!

Who was your most honored guest at the wedding? It would have to be our parents.  My father is no longer with us so having my mother and Todd’s parents there to share in our wedding was very special to me.  Life is short and you can’t take anything for granted.  Every moment we have is a blessing and every chance we get to spend with our loved ones is a gift.  Also I can’t forget to mention our four pound Maltese, Pacey.  He didn’t make an appearance at the actual ceremony, but he was outfitted in his tux and was on-hand during pictures.

What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We are looking forward to purchasing a new home and doing a little bit of traveling and starting a family in the near future.  Todd also has a restaurant that we will be focusing on for the remainder of the year.

Any DIY items? We made the cones decorated with yellow Japanese handmade paper that contained the yellow rose petals guests tossed at the bride and groom as we made our exit.  My bridesmaids and I made the centerpieces at the reception and even designed the tables.  We used long banquet-style tables to give the reception an intimate feel.  We also dressed the recpetion area for the cocktail hour with linens, flowers, sashes, throw pillows and candles. My friend created the placecards that hung from the manzanita tree branch display I made.  Each guest’s name was printed on the outside of the placards we used to direct them them to their tables and we put a Spanish love saying (a tribute to my mother’s heritage) on the inside contained a Spanish love phrase (a tribute to my mother’s heritage) that directed each guest to their table. My mother made my veil and both my friend and my mother made our invitations.