Southern Weddings

Y’ALL. Before we even get into how much I love this wedding, can we just talk about how adorable these little sheep are??

I had to get that out of my system. As soon as I saw the images in this post, I emailed Marissa and squealed about the furry farm animals to her! Though it’s a huge plus, it’s not the only thing we love about Casey + Craig’s wedding. Casey actually said she had trouble figuring out exactly how she wanted the wedding to look within their five-month engagement. “I had always wanted to get married, but for some reason I always skipped the wedding and dreamed about the marriage itself. Which is good, but not so much for wedding planning!!” Thankfully, Casey’s friends gave her a lot of advice. However, to me, it feels like the couple made each decision based on what they like, not what matched their inspiration board — and I kind of love it. The result feels elegant and easy. Big hugs to Landon Jacob Photography for sharing this one with us!

These invitations kill me. The bold black calligraphy is so fun! After searching fruitlessly for invitations that she loved, Casey actually drew out the invitations herself and then took them to a local printer. I also love Casey’s pick for her bridesmaid dresses. They’re romantic and flow beautifully, but her bridesmaids will probably rock them for multiple other occasions!

Tell us about finding your wedding dress. 
I found my dress at Evelyn’s Bridal in Lugoff. It was the second place I visited, and I’m so glad that I did. They were extremely patient with me as I tried on dress after dress after dress. I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for, which made starting difficult, but they were so helpful! The dress I ended up loving was unlike anything I’d seen, but still so simple and classic. The bow was definitely a selling point for me because it was different from all the lace that’s in style right now. The buttons also went all the way down the back, which I found so romantic and sweet.

Describe your wedding flowers. 
I love flowers, but I really wanted to keep things simple and classic, so I wanted a lot of greenery and just a few white flowers for contrast. There were white tulips and hydrangeas and magnolia leaves everywhere. Honestly, my favorite of all the flowers was my bouquet. I wanted something less structured but still very pretty, and Jordan really delivered — I loved it!

I die!!! Too cute.

We did decide to do a “first look” and it was honestly my favorite part of the day. I stayed with the bridesmaids at Old McCaskill’s Farm in Rembert, about a 15 minute drive from the ceremony site, so everyone popped over for pictures beforehand and it made the transition from ceremony to reception seamless and easy (the ceremony was done on one side of TenEleven Galleria and the reception on the other). After all of those were finished, Craig stuck around for five or ten minutes and we got to just be still together and enjoy a few minutes of calm before things got crazy. It was such a sweet moment for us to get to enjoy each other’s company while engaged for one last time. It definitely helped to ease both of our nerves before the ceremony. I was originally concerned that it would take something away from how special my walk down the aisle would be, but I think it actually added some excitement and comfort and reminded me of how completely ready I was to be this man’s wife. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who’s considering it!

What was Southern about your wedding? 
One of the biggest Southern things about our wedding was the food at our reception. In the South, we’re big on comfort and hospitality, and as a couple, we wanted everyone to feel welcome and warm and comfortable. So we had a coffee and hot chocolate bar, a mashed potato bar (with regular AND sweet mashed potatoes — seriously my favorite ever), and parmesan-encrusted chicken with macaroni and cheese bites, which were perfectly warm and cheesy and AMAZING.

Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding. 
As people were arriving, we had Travis and Ashley sing “Forget Me Not” by The Civil Wars, one of my favorites. Mothers and grandmothers walked to “Where the West Wind Blows” by Green River Ordinance, which was very light and sweet, two things I really wanted the music to convey about our relationship. We have so much fun and are definitely goofier than subdued, but there have been such sweet undertones to our relationship from the beginning. I really felt like the music we chose for the ceremony reflected that well. I walked down the aisle to “I Am Yours” by Bethany Dillon, which was meant to be a reminder that even though from the ceremony on, I’ll be Craig’s, I belong to God first. We walked back up the aisle to “Gone, Gone, Gone” by Phillip Phillips. For the reception, we had the bridal party introduced to “Sexy Back” and we walked out to “Ignition (Remix),” which was some of the most fun I had! Our first dance was to Frank Sinatra’s “You Make Me Feel So Young” — it’s always been a song we love, but it grew a lot in sweetness as we realized how applicable it will (hopefully!) be in 40 or 50 years. I loved our first dance. It was appropriately sweet but still upbeat and so much fun!

I LOVED my wedding cake! I had such difficulty discerning how I wanted my wedding to look. I really struggled with wanting to make sure it wasn’t too “pinterest-y,” but I also wanted it to be sweet and cute and very much inspired by who we are as individuals and as a couple. That said, choosing my cake was an absolute breeze. I had seen a picture of a petal cake that I loved, so we basically replicated it with different flavors for each tier. The bottom was vanilla with cream cheese filling, then marble with chocolate filling, the third tier was lemon with lemon filling, and the top was vanilla and cream cheese. I LOVE all things lemon, so that third tier was really all for me, but I also loved giving our guests some options to choose from. I was so pleased with how it turned out. The stand was a big thing for me, as well – I didn’t want anything too big or shiny because I thought the cake itself would be much more beautiful on its own. We found a round pre-cut piece of wood from Lowe’s and stained it dark brown — it was absolutely perfect.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. 
We met at the beginning of summer 2011, when we had the same group of friends from church and hung around each other all summer. We never had much of an individual friendship until the smoke detector went off in my house with super high ceilings — while I was in the shower! I couldn’t get it to stop and couldn’t reach the detector without jumping from a chair, and he was the only one to answer my phone call and come to the rescue. He’s super tall and fixed it with ease, cleaned my blood off the ceiling (because I had somehow cut myself trying to turn it off) and then sat down and began asking me about myself. That was really when I decided that I thought he was pretty cool. We were friends for a few more months, and then one night my roommates and I had everyone over to watch a movie. One by one, everyone left except Craig, and he and I ended up on opposite sides of the couch talking about everything from our families to broken bones to the things we wanted to do in life. Before I knew it, it was 6:00 in the morning. So he promptly left and I got a few minutes of sleep before my exam that morning at 8:00. We both just found each other so interesting, and he began texting me throughout the day and calling me pretty much every night and we’d talk for hours and hours. One of those nights, he called and said he wanted to pray about pursuing me as his girlfriend. We started officially dating a little while later, and exactly a year to the day after he told me he wanted to pursue me, he asked me to be his wife!!
Describe the proposal. 
I was SO convinced it wasn’t happening that I didn’t catch on, though I should have guessed what was happening. Earlier that day, I had lunch with a friend and I specifically said that I knew it wasn’t happening because we had “plans” with his sister after our date, and that just didn’t seem very indicative of a proposal to me. However, that night I met him at his apartment where we ate dinner that he had prepared. Afterward, he told me there was a “part two” to our date, so we went to his car and he blindfolded me while I sat in the front seat (howwww did I not know?!) We drove for what seemed like FOREVER, and then finally parked. He carried me on his back for a few minutes. When he finally put me down and took off the blindfold, we were in the middle of Williams-Brice Stadium, our alma mater’s football stadium, which seats more than 80,000 people. It was empty but the lights were on, so it was one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life. His speech was short but sweet. We had saved saying “I love you” for engagement, so getting to finally hear those words was the absolute best. I had always said I would never cry, but I bawled like a baby. Then he blindfolded me again and took me to my best friend’s house, where all of our closest friends and family were gathered to celebrate with us. It was the BEST. I loved getting to share one of the best moments of my life with those people I care about most.
In what month did you get married? 
February
How many guests attended your wedding? 
175
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: 
I asked Craig what his favorite detail of the wedding was (just out of curiosity) and his reply was, “You! Your dress, seeing you — you were my favorite thing.” (The perfect answer, right?!) But when all is said and done, I agree with him. There were so many special and fun details that I loved. The mink I wore was my great-grandmother’s and the chandelier in the ceremony space — oh that chandelier, I fought SO hard for that thing! All I wanted was a crystal chandelier for that window, and we couldn’t find one for what we thought was a reasonable price. We found a working chandelier and spray-painted it an antique bronze. My sweet dad drilled holes and we strung thin pieces of wire through them to connect the crystals, most of which had been a part of my great-grandmother’s crystal chandelier. The venue was another favorite. As soon as we walked in, we both said, “Yup! We’re getting married here!” It just had such a warm and relaxed feel, which was something we really wanted. But however much I am in love with all of those things, on the day of the wedding the only person who was there to me was Craig. Seeing him and being with him, that was my favorite part. Because once the wedding is over, your marriage is what’s important and I just felt (and still feel!) so blessed to even know him, much less get to spend my life with him.
What range did your wedding budget fall into? 
$10,000-$25,000
What is the one thing you are most happy you splurged on? 
Staying with my bridesmaids at Old McCaskill’s Farm! It was such a pleasant and relaxing experience. And the LAMBS!! They had the sweetest lambs that we got to take pictures with; getting to play with them was one of my favorite parts of my wedding day.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? 
When I think about my wedding day, I automatically picture myself on the porch steps with Craig after our first look was done, hugging and giggling and repeating over and over, “We’re getting married today!!” It was definitely my favorite moment of the whole day.
What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? 
Don’t get too caught up in the details. I think weddings now are great because they’re less traditional and give the bride a chance to make things more personal, but I also think that lends itself towards putting a lot of pressure on her to have a very detail-oriented day; I know I definitely felt that. But in reality, the day is SUCH a whirlwind that those things you thought were important just aren’t anymore. No matter what things look like, you’re getting married!! And that’s the whole point.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? 
Right now, we’re living in Columbia and learning how to be married, which has been so much easier than we thought, and the most fun I’ve ever had! We’re still praying about where the Lord wants us to be and looking forward to growing together in Him as a couple and individually. I just know I’ve already learned so much about God’s grace and patience through the way Craig loves me and patiently cares for me, and it’s so great! Marriage has been the BEST.

Landon Jacob is a delightful member of our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

Written with love by Nicole