Southern Weddings

I love delicate and feminine details. Jenn + Barret’s ceremony, shot by Love Me Do Photography, is just that. Since the two were married in Bartram’s Garden, the couple chose to go with wispy wildflowers to avoid a floral overload. I personally love that Jenn chose lilacs to carry down the aisle. They’re not a flower you see in weddings often and they stand out fabulously next to her lace Monique Lhuillier gown without overpowering. More things I love about this wedding? The unexpected source for the bridesmaids’ dresses. The satiny gray dresses the girls donned (and with attitude!) are from H&M, but they match perfectly with the rest of the wedding’s vintage details. One last thing to note–how cute are the flower girl and ring bearer?

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. Barret and I are a Match.com success story! We were both urged to join by our friends after Barret moved from Atlanta for his new job at the University of Delaware and after I was politely scolded for hanging out with married couples and working too much. We gave in. I totally submitted myself to the process and went out on a limb and sent him a message. We emailed and talked on the phone for about a month and soon enough, we had our first date at a University of Delaware football game! Nine months later we were engaged!
Describe the proposal. Barret proposed to me at the beach in Charleston, South Carolina. I had a feeling something was up that morning as he seemed a bit nervous. When we arrived at the beach, Barret seemed hell-bent on going to the pier. I kept trying to sit down and he kept saying, “Why don’t we go to the pier?” This made me nervous, but I went. I made us sit down on a bench on the pier, which I think complicated his plan for a one-knee proposal. Fortuitously, some dolphins were swimming by and so I said “look, dolphins!” Barret seized the moment to grab a “camera” from his bag, which turned out to be a vintage cocktail ring with diamonds and sapphires, which Barret’s father had used to propose to his mother. When he opened the box, I could see how nervous he was. He had forgotten to take off his sunglasses and looked down at me through them and asked, “Will you marry me?” I was so surprised at the ring (we had picked out a different ring a bit earlier that I liked) that I said something like, “That’s not my ring! But yes! I will marry you!”
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Intimate, merry, warm
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Barret’s favorite detail of the wedding was the bluegrass band. They really set the tone for the evening and made everyone comfortable. My favorite detail of the wedding was the farm tables. I think they made for a very intimate, dinner party-like atmosphere while bringing a lot to the whole aesthetic.
What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? Barret did all of his schooling (BA, MA, PhD) in Atlanta, GA and Greenville, NC, and my mother was raised by a cattle farmer in Kentucky, so we both have an affinity for the South. I think the whole wedding was meant to reflect the charm we both sense from Southern living, thus the blue-grass band, the quilts and lawn-games, the farm-tables and family-style dining. The evening was meant to feel warm and relaxed and intimate, like the dinners I remember having at my grandparent’s house in Kentucky, and the fun Barret had with all his friends during school.

Written with love by Nicole