Southern Weddings

Any reception where a dilapidated farm shed is converted into a rocking dance hall, and where milkshakes replace traditional wedding cakes is one you have to admire.  (And, um, yes, they did have real life soda jerks manning the milkshake station.  Ahh-mazing!)  Stephen DeVries captured all the fun of M + J’s reception, but there’s more to be seen!  Take a peek at Stephen’s blog post here.

Our favorite detail of the wedding was:  The Dance Hall.  My extraordinary parents took it upon themselves to convert a dilapidated, junk-filled shed from the family farm into a raucous party barn now known as The Dance Hall.  It wasn’t so much a conversion as it was a metamorphosis.  Together, they scrubbed and laid over 8,000 bricks to cover the dirt floor.  My father wired and hung ten antique ceiling fans, and washed off an old soda fountain piece he collected long ago.  We built a reinforced stud wall, had our friend paint it with a green and white checkerboard and turned it into a dance floor.  Jacob and I swept a sand and mortar mix in between the bricks my father laid and, a day later, when it threatened rain, Jacob got on his knees and washed off the excess mortar.  I cleaned out two old nail bins that we used as back bars.  We put lemons in limes in old grocery store scales.  Dad and I salvaged the “FEAST” sign out of some old letters he has from a First State Bank.
What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration?  What was Southern about your wedding? When you grow up as a daughter of cotton farmers in a tiny town older than Alabama itself, the Southerness of your wedding isn’t so much a choice as a matter of course.  My mother and sister and I wrapped each and every fork and knife in our own linen napkins and arranged them in my father’s collection of Coca-Cola crates.  Guests at the hotel received a goody box filled with delights that included homemade cheese straws, my mother’s pralines and my grandmother’s divinity. In lieu of a veil, I wore my mother’s blue silk bolero.  At ten o’clock, I traded in my gown for a short dress and green cowboy boots.  Our entire town literally came together to help us throw an amazing party.  Some neighbors brought serving pieces or provided the soda fountain with chocolate sauce.  A neighbor and family friend made our ring pillow out of my grandmother’s silk and Jacob’s grandfather’s handkerchief.  Another gave me a blue tatted heart to sew into my dress.  They sprayed for insects and cleaned out the skillets for the caterers to use. They drove guests around in golf carts and welcomed the wedding party into their homes and onto their porches. 

Most brides opt for all-white accessories, but Memory, in a fitted Pronovias gown, took a bold fashion risk with her jade-colored shrug and blue Franco Sarto heels… and won, big time!  We love the unexpected pop of color in Memory + Jacob’s Alabama wedding (held at the bride’s home!), and think it’s the perfect complement to the bridesmaids’ coordinated mixed, not matched, frocks.  The ladies carried blooms styled by family friend Jan Parker, and the talented Stephen DeVries photographed the couple’s traditional celebration. 

How did the two of you meet?  Tell us your story.  Strangely enough, we lived in the same freshman dormitory at Middlebury College. Our sophomore year, we were actually next door neighbors, but the sparks didn’t start flying until Mud Season (aka, Vermont Spring) of our senior year.  Our last minute college relationship turned into a transcontinental, long-distance odyssey.
Describe the proposal.   Several helpings of my grandmother’s very Southern cornbread dressing, a Thanksgiving staple, helped steel Jacob for his proposal.  He opted for a late evening, low-key proposal in front of the family fireplace, without the family.  It worked.
Three adjectives that describe the day are:  Fun, familiar and festive.