Southern Weddings

Hello, gorgeous dress!  The bride fell in love with her regal one-shoulder gown from Luly Yang the moment she saw it, and I can totally see what.  (I may be biased since I’ll be wearing a one-shoulder gown in a little over a week, but you have to admit her dress is pretty fabulous.)  Michelle + Ken swapped “I dos” at the Semiahmoo Resort, with Michèle Waite on-hand to document the big day.  Steven Moore Designs planned M + K’swedding and styled the intricate blooms.  Come back soon for Part II, ‘mkay?

How did the two of you meet?  Tell us your story.  We met at a “guy’s baby shower.”  I was living in Portland, OR at the time and was out on the town with a girlfriend and my brother.  Ken was in town from Washington State celebrating his friend’s “weekend get-away” baby shower.  As Ken puts it, why should women get to have a party and the men don’t?  We met, exchanged numbers, and the rest is history!
Describe the proposal. It was our 3-year anniversary and Ken secretly arranged with my clients to come after a lunchtime Pilates class that I was teaching.  One of my clients had asked me to wait after class to meet a friend of hers who was interested in Pilates.  The “friend” turned out to be Ken.  I thought the surprise and enormous bouquet of flowers that he was carrying was for our anniversary, but I couldn’t figure out why all of my clients were taking photos.  Then, he got down on his knee and asked me:  “Will you spend the rest of your life with me?”  I was completely stunned and said, “Of course I will!”
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Romantic, fun, perfect.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was:   My grandfather who was very special to me and who had passed away raised sold peonies.  It was really important to my family to have some peonies incorporated into the décor, despite how difficult they were to get during July.  My bouquet, my mom’s bouquet and my grandmother’s all had peonies.  Our head table also featured single pink peonies.  There were moments during the wedding when I could smell their fragrance and I felt completely embraced by my grandfather.  We also had my grandmother’s oil paintings of my grandfather’s peonies displayed during the reception.
What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration?  What was Southern about your wedding? My aunt gave us a beautiful 100 Blessings quilt on our wedding day that she had made.  The quilt is incredible and was by far our favorite gift.  We were really excited to incorporate it into some of our photos, too.  We also served pork sliders and sweet potato fries as a late night snack during the reception.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress:  My brother, my Man of Honor, saw my dress in the window of Luly Yang, a boutique across from his office in downtown Seattle.  He called me and told me that he thought he had found my dress.  And he did.  It was exactly what I was looking for and I was the first person (and last) to try it on!