Southern Weddings

It’s official: I’m in love! While I can’t get enough of Jennie + Alec’s picture perfect Georgia wedding, I really can’t get over how the couple transformed ordinary bales of hay into perfectly vintage seating for their guests by adding coverings of different silks and satins. And for a truly family affair like Jennie and Alec’s, it’s only appropriate that the bride’s sister’s catering company, Colorful Palate, catered the entire event. Missed Parts I and II of this week’sover-the-top Southern Wedding of the Week? Make sure to see all of the breathtaking pictures from W. Scott Chester on our earlier posts.

Were there any special family traditions you included in the wedding? Alec’s mother gave us her mother’s wedding band, which meant so much to us and looks perfect with my engagement ring! We also used the same Nuerenberg wedding cup that my parents used at their own wedding. It was a double-ended cup so the bride and groom can drink a toast together simultaneously. Everyone thought it was pretty entertaining watching us try to figure out how it worked!

The most unexpected event on our wedding day was: I never noticed, but apparently we ran out of beer within minutes of the reception. Luckily, some folks volunteered to make a beer run and disaster was averted

What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? Getting our home in order and finding places for our wedding gifts. We both love to travel so we hope to continue checking off places on our “to visit” list before having some babies. And we’re also going to be celebrating some more…we each have a sister getting married in the next few months!

Congratulations, Jennie + Alec! Enjoy your travels and new home as newly-weds!

Were we right? Did you love the first series of pictures from Jennie + Alec’s classic Southern wedding as much as Lara, Whitney, Emily and I all did? We just had to share a few more shots of this darling couple’s front-porch nuptials and picket fencebridal shots! It looks almost too good to be a real-life Georgia wedding, right? Photography by W. Scott Chester.

Describe your wedding flowers: I wanted rustic-looking flowers, so we put peonies on my bridal bouquet. There were white hydrangeas everywhere, which were so beautiful! We covered the feasting tables with a bed of moss and a large wreath which hung on the front door of the church where we got married.

Describe your wedding cake: I love wedding cake and wanted it to taste as good as it looked. For our cake, we choose one with a messy casual look. The bottom layer was sour cream pound cake with amaretto custard and the second layer was key lime cake with key lime filling. The whole thing was covered with wonderful buttercream icing. I can’t wait for our one year anniversary so we can dig into the top layer which is chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling!

Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The food. We hadn’t given much thought to the food since my sister’s company was catering. When I eventually got a chance to eat, I realized I had never been to an event Colorful Palate had covered. The dishes didn’t just taste better than any other wedding food I had ever had, the entire spread also had loads of character. We had plenty of popular favorites, but instead of just throwing in some expensive shellfish for a fine dining effect (which they did!), there were also tons of traditional Southern dishes, including trout, black eyed peas, candied bacon, vidalia onions and okra.

More to come in part III….

It’s rare our editor-in-chief, Lara Casey, steps in to make an image board, but this down-home affair captured by the talented W. Scott Chester and designed by M&W Events blew all of us away!  Jennie + Alec were married in true Southern style at the bride’s family home, Magnolia Cottage, in Georgia.  After seeing the sweet vintage lapel pins and fresh wildflower bouquets from Flora Events}, I’m certain there’s never been so perfect a union of rustic and elegant. 

For these high school sweethearts, it seems especially fitting that the bride wore a modified version of her debutante gown from Marisa Bridals when she exchanged vows with her one true love.  We especially like how the bridesmaids’ teal Jenny Yoo} dresses highlight Jennie’s matching sash. Because we know how truly amazing this wedding is (and how you are going to fall in LOVE with it as much as we did!), we have not one but two more image boards for your to enjoy!  Happy Friday from Southern Weddings!

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. We’ve actually known each other since junior high when we met in youth group. We remained friends throughout high school and even kept in touch some during college, catching up over the holidays when we were both home. It wasn’t until our senior year in college when things changed. My roommate had friends that went to college at Hampden-Sydney, where Alec attended, and I would tag along with her on visits. One particular visit, Alec and I ran into one another and ended up hanging out for the evening having a great time. When I got back to UGA, we started talking on the phone on a regular basis for hours on end. After a few visits back and forth, we started officially dating and have been together ever since! 

Describe the proposal: I was hoping that Alec would propose before too long, and every time we’d be at a nice dinner or walking on the beach I was kind of holding my breath! He managed to totally catch me off guard! We were home for Thanksgiving and I had been out shopping for the day with my mom and sister. We returned home just in time to quickly get ready for Alec’s sister’s 30^th birthday party. As we were rushing around changing and trying on shoes, the doorbell rang. My mother basically pushed me down the hall to the door. When I reached the door, my father had already opened it and I saw Alec standing behind him. It was then that I started thinking something fishy was going on! When I asked why he was at my parents’ house when we were supposed to be leaving for his house, he pulled out a ring, hit his knee and asked if I would like to wear it and marry him! I pulled him to his feet and accepted his proposal with a huge hug. We ran inside to tell my family and then for an impromptu engagement celebration at his sister’s party, which she happily shared with us! 

What was the design inspiration for your wedding? I wanted the wedding to be rustic and casual but also to have some fancy elements to it. For instance, we covered hay bales with beautiful fabrics and turned the most casual seating arrangement into something more formal by adding silks and satins!

Tell us about finding your wedding dress: My wedding dress was actually the same dress I wore for my debutante party about five years ago. When I first bought the dress, I told my parents that I would wear the dress at my wedding but wasn’t so sure I really would when the big day actually came. After Alec and I got engaged, I pulled the dress out of the attic and tried it on. It still fit beautifully and had a classic look that still spoke to me. We thought adding some detailing to the bust of the dress would really transform it and give a new feel for the wedding, so we took it to a wonderful seamstress who patiently worked with me to add lace to the top of the dress! She also added a beautiful sash that was the same color as my sister’s bridesmaid dress.

Check back shortly for part II…