I love when a couple’s wedding day design stems from a meaningful idea, and blooms into something so lovely, like Beth and Dave’s! Since Beth was marrying into Dave’s Irish family, she mentioned to her wedding planner and paper designer that she was thinking about including a pattern with a Celtic feel to it. Eventi by Dianna Vendito and MLC Designs knocked it out of the park with the print they found, and the way they added fabulous pops of kelly green throughout their designs. Beth and Dave felt the importance of family was a Southern value that must be included in their wedding day–they not only wanted to honor their loved ones with time spent together, but also with sweet mementos of their late grandparents tied into the details. Be sure to read about their maid of honor’s speech–it’s a good one!
We’re delighted Marta Locklear was on hand to capture Beth and Dave’s wedding day!
Tell us about finding your wedding dress. I first went shopping for my wedding dress without having any particular style in mind. With the help of my mother, sister-in-law, and maid of honor, I narrowed it down to three dresses I really liked and assumed that with time, I would be able to pick one. However, I decided to go to one more bridal salon to look, because Dave’s mom had not been able to come on the first shopping trip and I wanted to include her. The salon consultant helped pull some dresses based off of the ones I had liked at the other salon. I was hesitant to try on one that she had pulled because it was a cut that I thought I had eliminated, but once it was on, I knew it was the one.
Our first reading was Tobit 8:4b-8, selected because it focuses on the married couple praying together, which is something Dave and I do every night before going to bed–we read a prayer book that was given to him by his deceased grandmother. Our second reading was Romans 1 5:1b-3a, 5-7, 13, which we chose because of its message of “welcoming one another, as Christ welcomed you,” which we felt reflected how we want our home to always be a welcoming place, especially for out-of-town family and friends. Our Gospel reading was Matthew 5:1-12a, the Beatitudes, because it is a code for us on how to live a full, long life together.
What made you choose your ceremony and reception venues? Did they have any special significance to you? It was important to us that our ceremony and reception venues showcased classic Baltimore, the city we grew up in and fell in love in. The ceremony took place at St. Ignatius Church in a historical area of Baltimore. I had joined that church when I came home from college and some of my extended family also attended that church. The reception was held at The Elkridge Club, which had the traditional, classic, Southern feel we were looking for. It was also located just minutes from where Dave went to high school and where I grew up, so it felt like home.
When our wedding planner, paper designer, and I were brainstorming, I had mentioned I was thinking about including a pattern that had a Celtic feel to it, because I was marrying an Irish family. She found this wonderful kelly green and white interlocking print that we used on the save the dates, napkins, corn hole sets, drum shade, and throw pillows in the lounge.
What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? One Southern tradition we included was burying a bottle of bourbon. We buried the bottle upside down one month before the wedding and my father dug it up the day of the wedding. We enjoyed it with our wedding party after the ceremony on the way to the reception but, despite our best efforts, it still poured rain briefly at the beginning of our reception. In addition, the importance of family is a Southern value to us. We were happy to spend some time that evening with one set of Dave’s grandparents, and we made sure to remember our other grandparents that day with little mementos of them. My necklace was made from Dave’s other grandmother’s engagement ring, and tied to my bouquet was one of my grandmother’s wedding bands and a ring my other grandmother had given to my mother when she was 16 years old.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? The most memorable moment of the wedding day was finishing our first dance, where it felt like it was only the two of us in the room, and realizing that we were lucky enough to be in a room with all our friends and family in one location.
How did y’all meet? Tell us your love story. Dave and I met through a mutual friend in 2009. At the time, my sorority little sister from college and I were attending medical school together. We went out to celebrate spring break and ended up hanging out with some of her friends from high school, one of them being Dave. He and I ended up hanging out a few more times before going on our first official date that spring. He later revealed he knew he wanted to continue to date me because I brought him soup one evening when he was sick–we have been together ever since.
Tell us all about the proposal! For our annual vacation, Dave and I had planned a trip to Aruba in February 2014. We woke up early to go to the airport, but I was still frantically running around trying to pack last minute items. Dave was patiently sitting on the couch waiting for me and asked if I was all done packing, which I finally confirmed. He then said, “Well then, there is just one more thing…” and got down on one knee and proposed. We called our families to tell them, but waited to tell everyone else until we got back from our trip, so we had the whole week to soak it in and celebrate just the two of us.
When did y’all get married? May 16, 2015
How many friends, family members, and loved ones attended your wedding? 220
Did you decide to do a first look? Why or why not? We decided not to do a first look because when we thought about what we envisioned for our wedding day, it was having that special moment of seeing each other for the first time just before saying our vows. One of my favorite things at weddings is seeing the look on the bride and groom’s faces when they finally lock eyes while she’s coming down the aisle, and we are so glad we had that moment for our wedding day.
Did you write your own vows? If so, what was your favorite phrase, verse or line? We had a traditional Catholic ceremony, so we did not write our own vows.
Describe your wedding cake or dessert. Dave and I are not big dessert fans, but did always grow up eating strawberry shortcake for our birthdays, so we had a strawberry shortcake for our wedding cake. We served it with homemade ice cream.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Our favorite detail of the wedding was something we did not even plan. Our maid of honor was inspired by one of our engagement photos for her speech. Dave and I had taken our engagement photos in a park near our home and recreated a photo of my grandparents sitting on a park bench in that same park as an engaged couple, 70 years before us. My maid of honor went to the park leading up to our wedding and interviewed couples who were sitting on park benches, asking them for relationship advice she could read to us on our wedding day. She had friends hold up poster-size images of us, my grandparents, and those couples sitting on the park benches while she relayed the advice for our marriage. It was so incredibly special and unique.
How did you plan for your marriage while planning your wedding? By having a wedding planner, we did not have to spend all of our free time getting lost in planning the details of the day, and instead, we spent time with each other, building our future. We also attended a marriage preparation weekend through our church.
What was one way you saved money or cut costs at your wedding? One large expense we cut to save money was deciding not to hire a videographer. Instead, we made sure to select a photographer that we felt would truly capture all the moments, expressions, and emotions of the day.
What’s next for you as a couple? What memories are you looking forward to making together? We are excited that my work schedule will be improving soon, and we hope to travel more as a couple. We are also looking forward to one day starting a family of our own and creating wonderful memories and traditions with our children.
Photographer: Marta Locklear | Planner and Florist: Eventi by Diana Venditto | Ceremony Venue: St. Ignatius Church | Reception Venue and Caterer: Elkridge Club | Cake: Graul’s Market | Rentals: Party Rental Ltd. | Lighting: Loane Bros., Inc. | Band: Millennium | Special Details: XOXO Vintage | Paper Products: MLC Designs | Bride’s Gown: “Dominque” by Augusta Jones | Bride’s Hair Accessories: Betsy Robinson | Hair and Makeup: Behind the Veil / Bride’s Shoes: Miu Miu | Bridesmaids’ Dresses: “Fielding Flowers” by Shoshanna | Menswear: JoS. A. Bank | Linens: I Do Linens and La Tavola | Candles and Flatware: Vintage Affairs | Drum Shades and Bars: Revolution Event Design | Late Night Snack: Canton Pretzel Store
Dear SW Gals.
I very much like this post, and would love to see more like this on the site. I get married in two weeks and have been looking at the blog and the magazine since 2011! But getting married now, I have started to look for something different from the site, and this is close to some of the things I want.
Thank You Kindly.
Samantha
Hi Samantha! So glad you like it! We share “Southern Newlywed” content every Friday that includes home tours, recipe rounds ups, date night ideas and more–you can see all the past posts here :) https://southernweddings.com /category/southern-newlywed-2/
I loved this post and hope to see more like it in the future! One of my favorite Easter traditions is going to our church’s sunrise service. It’s the only time of year I actually look forward to getting up before the sun :)
Thank you so much for sharing! Always a treat to work with you wonderful ladies!