Bride Lindsey shares her spring wedding at the St. Regis in Buckhead!
I’ve read a whole lot of brides’ responses to our questions about their wedding days, but this is the very first time I’ve seen another bride have the same “most memorable moment” of her wedding day as I did! Lindsey said, “I think for the both of us it would be when we were in the getaway car after the reception. We both just could not stop smiling and talking about the whole day. It was just a quiet moment for us to look and each other and basically say, “did that just happen?!” It was such a flawless day, and I don’t think we expected our reality to completely exceed our high hopes and expectations.”
Our most important mission at Southern Weddings is to help brides create marriages more beautiful than their weddings, and that first post-party conversation as husband and wife is the sweet start to the really good part: living life together as an inseparable pair! And while Lindsey and Kevin’s wedding was absolutely stunning, I have a feeling their longstanding relationship is a whole lot better! That being said, you need to see their floral arch…
What was Southern about your wedding? Our welcome gifts included southern Georgia staples: GA pecans, peach jam, etc. It might be more common now, but we had a groom’s cake that was a yeti cooler with stickers of everything we love, including our high school and college logos. We also had a large bridal party (22 total!).
Tell us the highlights of finding your wedding dress. I ended up being drawn to a wedding dress style that I always loved but didn’t think I would end up actually getting. I was deciding between two separate dresses that were somewhat similar, and I was extremely torn. The consultant who was helping me took me away from my family in the dress that she thought I was leaning towards and had me walk down a long hallway towards a mirror and told me to picture Kevin watching me walk down the aisle. It only took about a few steps for me to know. I then screamed, “This is my dress!” and my family on the other side of the wall all gasped and started cheering. It was definitely a moment I will never forget.
When did y’all get married? April 22, 2017.
How many friends, family members, and loved ones attended your wedding? 250.
We are both Catholic and wanted to get married in a church, and Cathedral of Christ the King was not only out current church, but in my opinion, it is also the most beautiful cathedral in Atlanta. I had dreamed of having my wedding in the St. Regis for a long time, and it was the only venue I toured. My family always stayed in the St. Regis, and every time I went, I just thought it was so beautiful. They have so much to offer besides beyond just the gorgeous venue. The hospitality there is truly incredible. They went above and beyond to make every little detail of the night perfect.
What were some of the most meaningful or special parts of your ceremony? The priest that married us has been Kevin’s priest since he was in middle school, so we were very close to him. The sermon he gave was very special to us and we both remember it very well. For me, the most meaningful part would be hearing Kevin say his vows. It’s a very surreal moment. And obviously walking down the aisle is something I will truly never forget!
Our love story is very simple because of how easy it has always been for us. We were high school sweethearts and each other’s first love, and we truly just get stronger as the time goes on.
What was your favorite detail from your wedding? This is SO hard for me to answer, because the whole day was a dream for me. It took a lot of thought, but I think if I HAD to pick one thing it would be the tree we had in our cocktail hour that served as our guest book. We both went to Auburn and a tradition at Auburn is to roll the Tree downtown after an Auburn win. So we put a tree in our venue with streamers hanging down, and guests would sign a card and hang it on the tree. We felt our marriage was a win, so it only felt fitting to include a rolled tree as part of our day.
Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding and why you chose them. Our first dance song was “You are the Best Thing” by Ray Lamontagne. We chose this because we wanted a happy and fun dance. I have truly never experienced such a feeling of pure joy as I did on our wedding day, so that song was perfect to keep that feeling going not only on that day but also to bring that feeling back every time we hear it.
We served a cake layered with red velvet and vanilla cake with champagne frosting. For me, it came down to the frosting. I love cream cheese frosting so the red velvet was an easy decision, but anyone who knows me knows that champagne is one of my obsessions. So when they said they had a vanilla cake with champagne frosting I was sold!
Tell us all about the proposal! After Kevin graduated, we had always talked about the holidays being the time we would get engaged. My sister, Lauren, had just gotten engaged at the beginning of July, so in my mind there was no way we would be getting engaged anytime soon. My birthday is July 29th, and Kevin’s is August 7th, so we are only 9 days apart. We would often do something with our families to celebrate both of our birthdays together. On Sunday, July 26th, our families had planned a brunch to celebrate our birthdays. That morning Kevin mentioned that he would take my dog, Paisley, out to go to the bathroom while I was getting ready. When I finally went downstairs about 20 minutes after Kevin took the dog out, I asked my mom where Kevin was and she said he was still outside with Paisley. I looked at the back door to see what was taking so long, and that is where I saw the start of the rose petals. When I went outside I immediately started crying in disbelief and Paisley came running to me in a collar that said “Will you marry me?” and a dress that said, “Say Yes Mommy.” There was a path of rose petals leading to where Kevin was. When Kevin asked me to marry him, the first thing I could think to do while he was on one knee, after saying yes, of course, was to tell him to stay there so I could take a picture. I said “I have been waiting so long for this moment, I don’t want to forget it!” After the proposal, Kevin’s family came out and revealed that they were hiding in the bathroom the whole time with my family. We celebrated with gifts and champagne and then surprised me with brunch at the St. Regis, which was my dream wedding venue and where their reception for our wedding would be.
Did you decide to do a first look? I did not do a first look because I always dreamed of the moment that my future husband would see me walk down the aisle and I wanted that to be the first time Kevin saw me as a bride to be that moment. We both agreed that would be more special for the both of us.
What was your favorite thing about wedding planning? All of it! I honestly couldn’t pick just one thing. I love planning, and we had two years to plan our wedding which was by choice so we didn’t stress about anything. We had so much time to plan that it made it a completely stress-free process. The reception design I think was my favorite, I loved being able to design the entire room from scratch.
What was the hardest part about planning your wedding? Because of how much time we had, it was really not a hard process at all. I think the only thing I can think of that made it hard was that a lot of the vendors we went to kept telling us we were too early and to come back closer to the wedding!
What was one way you saved money or cut costs at your wedding? If you were to ask my dad, he would say we didn’t! It did feel like staying on budget was an almost impossible task. But some ways that we saved money were by saving on things leading up to the wedding like the showers. We ended up doing those events at our house and tried to use all our budget on the actual wedding rather than the events surrounding it.
What advice would you give to someone currently planning a wedding? I honestly would say to have a long engagement. I had dreamt about planning a wedding for a long time, so I wanted to enjoy every step of the process. I can truly say that I did because of how much time we had. We never had to rush with anything. We had time to research, think about it, change our minds, and most importantly, enjoy and celebrate just being engaged!
Photographer: Amy Arrington Photography | Videographer: AWC Films | Planner: Eva Clark Events | Ceremony Venue: Cathedral of Christ the King | Reception Venue and Caterer: St. Regis Atlanta | Florist and Rentals: Edge Design Group | Wedding Cake: St. Regis (bride’s cake), Baker’s Man (groom’s cake) | Band: A Town A List | Invitations: Folio Press | Remaining Paper Products: Kara Anne Paper | Bride’s Gown: “4563” by Paloma Blanca | Hair Stylist and Makeup Artist: Scoobie West and Company | Bride’s Shoes: Christian Louboutin | Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Style Numbers 1655, 1601, 1624, 1617, and 1652 in Champagne by Bari Jay | Menswear: Guffey’s Of Atlanta
Love that the bride and the MOB had a similar dress style. So special and they both look great.
Yes! They are both beautiful!
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I am so very impressed with the colors, flowers and tree. Eva Clark Events is good enough for her noble cousins in England!! Love, Deva