Southern Weddings

Meredith + John created a beautiful outdoor wedding that compliments the backdrop of their family farm wonderfully. Details like their table assignments (in window panes brilliant!) were interwoven with the elements surrounding the reception. I love how the couple chose to pair the clean lines of their banquet tables with the lush flowers and greenery in their centerpieces. The guests partied under string lights and were delighted with a surprise fireworks show from John’s parents at the end of the night.

See all the photos from Meredith + John’s wedding in their Real Wedding Gallery!

Describe your wedding flowers: Knowing that our wedding would take place outside on the farm and that most of the natural beauty would be provided by the surrounding landscape, I wanted to keep the flowers relatively simple and ethereal. For the tent and altar flowers, we stuck to a grape vine and baby’s breath garland for a lovely pairing of hard and soft. For the bouquets and table arrangements, we ended up using an assortment of flowers including peonies, David Austen roses, delphinium and lilac, ranging in color from pale blush to deep mauve. We added some interesting foliage such as seeded eucalyptus for a whimsical touch.
Describe your wedding cake: Neither John nor I has a big sweet tooth, so we chose to pass out Baby Bites on platters at the end of the meal, as opposed to doing a big wedding cake. We did have a tiny cake topper for us to cut together, though.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? Well, the fact that the wedding took place outdoors, basically in the middle of nowhere! The caterers had to set up a traveling kitchen and we had to bring in fresh water to serve and for them to cook with. A generator was brought in to power the lighting in the tent and portable bathrooms were brought in for people to use.
What is the one thing you are most happy you splurged on? The food! From the get-go, John and I knew we wanted to have a nice, local, organic, farm-to-table-type seated dinner. Robby Melvin and his staff provided just that and it was much better than we could have ever imagined.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Saying my vows to John with the sun beaming down and the warm breeze blowing on the hillside. It was truly lovely.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We look forward to living happily and healthily ever after and traveling the world.

Photographer: Stephen DeVries // Venue: family farm in Livingston, Alabama // Florist: Kathy Miller Flowers // Wedding Cake Baker: Pastry Art // Caterer: Salt Fine Catering // Paper Products: bride // Bride’s Dress: Vera Wang // Bride’s Hair Accessories/Veil: J.Crew // Bride’s Shoes: Seychelles // Bridesmaids’ Dresses: various // Accessories: earrings by Etc., groomsmen’s ties by Otis James

Written with love by Nicole

Tory + Doug’s reception at the Virginia Gold Cup at the Great Meadow Foundation was fun and festive! The couple chose to celebrate during the horse races, giving guests the chance to dress their finest in bows, big hats, and seersucker. The flags on the reception tent give T + D’s wedding a festive air, while mint juleps, Southern food, and a clean green and white color palette refreshed the guests who danced and watched the races. Thanks again to Kristen Gardner for sharing!

See all the photos from Tory + Doug’s wedding in their Real Wedding Gallery!

Describe your wedding flowers: They were absolutely beautiful. My mom was president of the garden club at the time of the wedding and my aunt is an event planner, so I had the most amazing help and a great selection of flowers flown to our house. They included peonies, hydrangeas, tulips, lily of the valley, ranunculus, orchids, calla lilies and more. All were white or white with green accents.
Describe your wedding cake: We had a four-tier carrot cake. Each tier had four layers and every other layer of cream cheese frosting was cinnamon cream cheese. It was simply decorated with ribbon on the bottom of each tier that matched the color of the icing and green orchids.
What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? We had our reception at the Virginia Gold Cup, so people wore seersucker, bow ties and big hats, ate crab cakes, fried chicken, and pulled pork BBQ, and our flower vases were silver mint julep cups.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? My father was extremely sick and in hospitals and rehab from the end of January to middle of April. That, and living in Texas while planning a wedding in Virginia.
What is the one thing you are most happy you splurged on? No question, the buses. Since everyone was from out of town, no one had a clue where they were going. The buses allowed them to focus on us and enjoy the festivities. Overall, they created a sense of community with all the guests that came from eight states and four countries!!
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? Getting back to work and making it through another Texas summer with months of 100+ temperatures! We are blessed to have so many friends and family and we plan on enjoying life as a married couple for a little bit before starting our own family, which, one day, will include three or four kids and at least one dog and one cat.

Photographer: Kristen Gardner // Planner: Lauren McWilliams // Ceremony venue: Grace Episcopal Church // Reception venue: Virginia Gold Cup at Great Meadows // Florist: Robin Pegler & Vicki Hanley // Wedding Cake Baker: Market Salomander // Caterer: Marriot Ranch // Paper Products: Marriot Ranch // Bride’s Dress: Alexia Gavela // Bride’s Hair Accessories/Veil: Unbridaled // Bride’s Shoes: Lilly Pullitzer // Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Lula Kate // Accessories: Blue Nile

Written with love by Nicole

Tory + Doug’s church ceremony was sweet in more than one way. While we love the green hydrangeas and white tulips that hung from the pews and lined the aisles and the kiss that the couple shared after their vows, we were even more moved that Tory’s walk down the aisle didn’t leave a dry eye in the place! Tory got to walk down the aisle with her father, who had been sick and in and out of hospitals leading up to the wedding. We love how it reminds us about this simple but meaningful tradition. Another tradition we love? How the groom doesn’t get to see the bride before the ceremony! Doug’s blindfold even matches Tory’s bridesmaids’ Lula Kate dresses. Big thanks to Kristen Gardner who shared this wedding with us!

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. We were both at a Lance Armstrong fundraiser in Austin, Texas. Doug was friends with the person I was with and he asked me to dance (which we did) and we started talking. A few weeks later we had our first, second and third date.
Describe the proposal. Doug hired a driver just after midnight (making it June 6, our 2 year anniversary) to take us around DC to see the sights. We asked the driver to pull over and take our picture. He took one and said, “Let’s try from another angle.” When I turned back around, Doug was down on his knee.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Unique, perfect, amazing.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The horse races it provided the perfect atmosphere. Everyone dressed as if we were at the Kentucky Derby, drank mint juleps, smoked cigars, wore Derby hats and enjoyed the outdoor venue. A majority of our guests were not from the area so we wanted the reception to have a party feel, thanking them for all making the trip out to horse country Virginia for our big day!
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? My dad telling me how gorgeous I looked right before we walked into the church. Since he had been sick, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place when he walked me down the aisle. It was amazing!
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I had tried on around 40 dresses that were all very similar in style, but I was waiting for my Mom to come into town before making the final decision, so I took her to the shop almost as soon as she landed. As I went to grab the dress, I saw the one beside it and thought that it looked perfect for an outdoor setting. I had to try it on. The next thing I knew, I was calling one of my bridesmaids to meet me the next day so she could see the new dress. She said it was obvious that it was the one because of how excited I was.

Photographer: Kristen Gardner // Planner: Lauren McWilliams // Ceremony venue: Grace Episcopal Church // Reception venue: Virginia Gold Cup at Great Meadows // Florist: Robin Pegler & Vicki Hanley // Wedding Cake Baker: Market Salomander // Caterer: Marriot Ranch // Paper Products: Marriot Ranch // Bride’s Dress: Alexia Gavela // Bride’s Hair Accessories/Veil: Unbridaled // Bride’s Shoes: Lilly Pullitzer // Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Lula Kate // Accessories: Blue Nile

Written with love by Nicole