Southern Weddings

We agree with Rosanna: the florals – and especially the arbor under which the bride and groom were married – are spring loveliness personified.  After the pink + purple-accented ceremony, I expected more feminine hues so was (pleasantly) surprised by the pop of fresh green + rustic burlap details at the reception.  We especially love the paper goods, lovingly crafted by Urban Bark.  Now that I’m a bride-to-be myself, I feel like I’m always on the look-out for fun, meaningful ways to personalize a wedding.  Rosanna’s tip?  She topped her four-tiered Cakes by Meg confection with the same dove cake-toppers that adorned her parents’ wedding cake.  (I like that.)  And because I know you’re going to ask, the bride’s embellished lavender heels are from Steve Madden.  (I really like that!)  Hugs and kisses to Mike Colon, Scarlett Lillian and Luke Edmonson, the talented trifecta that captured Rosanna + Jared’s Southern celebration.

Describe your wedding flowers: Gosh the flowers were amazing. Pat, the resident florist at Kimball Hall, was fantastic! I really wanted the flowers to be in season for the outside ceremony and the tables and wanted the arrangements to feel earthy.  Everything was covered in cherry blossoms, wisteria, branches and moss. Our tables were made to look as if they had cherry trees growing out of the middle.  The bouquets were filled with peonies because I grew up loving my great-grandmother’s peony bush in the backyard. It just brought a piece of childhood into my wedding day.
Describe your wedding cake: Expanding on the outdoor theme, I wanted the flowers to be the main focus of the cake. Since I love dogwood trees and was getting married exactly when they were blooming, I couldn’t help but have them on my cake. Cakes By Meg did such a fabulous job making the delicate little flowers. My favorite part about the cake was that they were able to include the two doves from my parents’ wedding cake within the cake table arrangement. Their marriage was the best gift my parents ever gave me, and it seemed like the perfect way to symbolize it.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding?  Planning an Atlanta wedding all the way from California was difficult. In all honesty, though, Julie from Kimball Hall took so much off my plate that I felt pretty confident as the day approached. She made me feel as if mine was the only wedding she was planning. The other challenge for me was trying to include my father in the wedding even though he passed away several years ago. It was really tough because I wanted to feel as though I was honoring him but I didn’t want to sob the entire day.  I decided to have reminders of him throughout the day. My favorite and hardest reminder was having his and my mom’s wedding rings tied to my bouquet. I walked down the isle with his ring on my ring finger. It made me feel as though God let him walk me down the isle.
What’s next for you as a couple?  What are you looking forward to in the future? We just moved cross-country to Atlanta and bought a house, so we are looking forward to settling down and not making too many more changes for awhile!

Congratulations, Rosanna + Jared!  Enjoy your new home and life together as husband and wife!