Marissa, Author at Southern Weddings

Author: Marissa

Old Wide Awake Plantation Wedding by Natalie Franke

by Marissa in Real Southern Weddings on June 6, 2017

Wedding photographer and bride Lauren shares her Old Wide Awake Plantation wedding.

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When you photograph beautiful weddings as your job, I can only imagine that it would become a bit challenging to narrow down all the lovely inspiration you’ve seen as you plan your own wedding day. That’s why I am excited to introduce y’all to our bride for today, Lauren! Not only is she a wedding photographer herself, but she knew exactly what she wanted! She says, “ever since I was little, I knew I wanted to get married on a plantation in Charleston. Once we stumbled upon Old Wide Awake Park and Plantation, we both just knew it was the perfect venue for us.” With friends and family traveling in from their home state of Maryland, she and Eddie knew they wanted to give their guests the full Lowcountry experience. After all, South Carolina is their new home! One other thing she also knew right off the bat: that she would wear that ever-amazing Hayley Paige gown! Two stellar choices I’d say. Keep reading to learn more about her sweet (and sparkly!) celebration.

Thanks to Natalie Franke for capturing Lauren and Eddie’s wedding!

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Our welcome bags included treats that were local to the Charleston area in grit bags that read “Grits and Gratitude.” We wanted our guests to feel welcomed to our new home state the second they arrived! We also served Southern comfort food to our guests so they could have the full Charleston experience while they were in town: shrimp and grits, BBQ, pecan pie tarts… all delicious!

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Since I am a wedding photographer, I had my eyes set on the Hayley Paige “Carrie” gown for quite some time. I had it all over my Pinterest board and even cut out of magazines hanging on my inspiration boards in my office. I knew that was the dress I wanted to get married in! The second I walked out of the dressing room, my mom started tearing up and my dad said, “Yep, that’s the one.”

Describe your wedding flowers. We wanted everything to have a just-picked-from-the-garden feel. Nothing rounded or tight, very organic feeling.

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Eddie and I experienced a lot throughout our wedding planning process. It was filled with so many laughs and wonderful memories, but also some heartbreaking ones. Our wedding was rescheduled due to the hurricane, and we lost my grandfather two weeks before the wedding. Those experiences really tested our marriage before we were even married, and I can honestly say I couldn’t have picked a more understanding and kind man to do life with. This process strengthened us and I know we can get through anything together!

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My first dance with my dad was Zac Brown Band’s “I’ll Be Your Man.” I am 100% a daddy’s girl (my dad even surprised me and took dancing lessons for our dance!), so it was extra sweet to dance with him to such a special song.

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Eddie was so nervous but his vows were so beautiful. A verse from my vows: “Your kind heart, gentle smile, and unconditional love are things I adore endlessly. You always put others before yourself, can always see the positive in any situation, and are the hardest-working person I know. I always wanted to find a husband who had the traits of my father and with you, I know I have. I never knew someone could love me the way you do – without any hesitation and unconditionally.”

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What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? The biggest challenge was having to reschedule our wedding due to Hurricane Matthew. Our wedding date was originally October 7, 2016, but we cancelled everything the Tuesday before. My heart was broken and the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. We had been planning the most incredible day to begin our marriage, and in a matter of hours, it had been completely rescheduled to a month and a half later. Thankfully, we had incredible wedding vendors and one incredible planner (thank you Margaret!). Everything was taken care of and our wedding day was unbelievable!

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Our favorite detail of the wedding was: My favorite detail from the wedding would have to be the cigar boxes that were used at the cigar bar. They were my grandfather’s, who passed away two weeks before the wedding, so it was very special that we could incorporate him and his memory into the wedding.

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What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? Enjoy the process! I always tell that to my brides! It goes SO fast, especially the last four months, so take time to slow down and enjoy each day together! It’ll be wedding day before you know it!

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Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding and why you chose them. I walked down the aisle to “A Thousand Years” being played by live violinists. It’s always been such a classic wedding song, and it always makes me cry at weddings, so I knew I wanted to have that same experience at our own wedding. Our first dance was Dan and Shay’s “From the Ground Up.” The first time we heard this song together, we knew it was perfect for us.

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Describe your wedding cake or dessert. Our wedding cake was a simple one tier cake for Eddie and me to share. It was a vanilla cake with wildberry whipped filling and a blackberry drizzle.

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How did y’all meet? Tell us your love story. Eddie and I met through mutual friends at a local bar called The Greene Turtle in our hometown of Westminster, Maryland. After that night out, we randomly kept running into one another, and finally he had the courage to ask for my number. The rest, as they say, was history!
Tell us all about the proposal! We moved to South Carolina at the end of 2015, when Eddie accepted a job that would let us live five minutes from the beach. In March of 2016, the day before Eddie proposed, he woke me up before the sun was up and said, “We are going to the beach to watch the sunrise.” Since we had never gone to watch the sunrise, I knew something was up and I got so many butterflies. Once we got to the beach, he laid out our towels, had our favorite coffee and bagels ready to share, and I could tell he was acting differently. We sat there for about an hour and watched the most incredible sunrise… Then before I knew it, we were packed up in the car and headed home! He never proposed because he got so nervous! The next morning, he told me to get dressed up for dinner that evening because we would be going down to the Marshwalk for dinner and drinks. After we had a glass of champagne at our favorite place, we decided to walk down to the marsh to watch the sunset. As we were walking down, Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” started playing over the speakers and when we reached the edge of the pier, he got down on one knee and proposed! So even though his plan was to propose at sunrise the day before, it turned out to be absolutely perfect!
When did y’all get married? November 26, 2016
How many friends, family members, and loved ones attended your wedding? 75
Did you decide to do a first look? Why or why not? We decided on doing a first look! As a wedding photographer, I always love capturing first looks so I knew it was something I wanted to incorporate into our wedding. I also knew Eddie would be super nervous for our ceremony, so I thought us seeing each other before the ceremony would help calm some of his nerves – I was right!
What readings, if any, did you have at your ceremony? We did this blessing of the hands: “These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever. These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future. These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other. These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind. These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow, and tears of joy. These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children. These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one. These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it. And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.”
Did you have something borrowed, blue, old, and new? I didn’t! Ah! What was I thinking?!
If you are comfortable responding, what range did your wedding budget fall into? $50,000-$75,000
What was one way you saved money or cut costs at your wedding? We did a buffet-style dinner which definitely helped with the cost of the food!
What is the one detail or vendor that you were so happy to have as a part of your wedding? Oh my gosh… I was incredibly happy with ALL of my vendors. I have to say though, I did fly two of my vendors in from Maryland, and I was so appreciative that they made the haul to Charleston for us. Natalie Franke (our photographer) and Jacob Jensen (our DJ): these two MADE our wedding absolutely everything I dreamed of. My planner, Margaret, truly made sure everything was taken care of and that I didn’t have to worry about a single thing the entire day – such an incredible and sweet lady!!!
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? When I danced with my mom, brother, and aunt to honor my grandfather’s life. It was a beautiful moment that I surprised them with – I know he would have loved it!
What’s next for you as a couple? What memories are you looking forward to making together? We have another fun year of traveling planned, and Eddie will be joining me as an assistant for some of my destination weddings! I’m also looking forward to slowing down at some point and making more memories here in SC. We are definitely not ready for babies yet, but the idea of little Eddies running around does make me happy!

Written with love by Marissa

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Homespun Wedding at The Brick Church by White Rabbit Studios

by Marissa in Real Southern Weddings on May 30, 2017

Bride Anna shares her homespun Alabama wedding at The Brick Church.

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I’m delighted to introduce y’all to our bride for today, Anna! Her Alabama wedding to Ben is filled with so much sweetness and charm that it was almost impossible for her to choose her most memorable moment from their wedding day. She says, “trying to choose just one, though, I think I would pick the weather.” A strange choice, I thought at first, until I read why! You see, the forecast called for rain on their wedding day, but it only drizzled during their ceremony (which was indoors, thank heavens!) and just a bit after, creating a lovely memory! “It was still sprinkling a bit so we ran off and hid in a local coffee shop, where had tea. It soon stopped raining, so Ashley took Ben and me off to the lovely town of Mooresville where we were able to hold a newborn lamb.” Add in tea as husband and wife and snuggles with a newborn lamb, and I totally get why the weather ended up being her most memorable moment! Keep reading for more details on their big day (and a peek at said newborn lamb!).

Big SW hugs to Ashley Vaughn of White Rabbit Studios for sharing their special day with us!

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The third dress ended up being the one. I had a feeling from the moment I saw it on the hanger in the boutique, but knew it from the first time I tried it on. My mom and I went to a handful of other shops and boutiques but I couldn’t stop thinking about the two-piece embroidered gown.

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Did you decide to do a first look? I’ve always wanted to do a first look! Ben and I both found it important to have a bit of a calm before the storm. We weren’t sure how to go about it, and our photographer, Ashley, had the idea for her to capture our first look, and then give us some alone time in the church. We took her up on that!

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A Southern detail that was important to me was a theme of “generations.” Family has always been so important to me, and I took extra care in having my late grandparents and Ben’s late grandmother honored in small ways, such as having their wedding pictures at the wedding reception and by using my grandmother’s earrings and sheet music to walk down the aisle to.

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How many friends, family members, and loved ones attended your wedding? At the Brick Church, there was a fire marshal code that only 120 people could be in the church! The attendance for the reception was around 220.

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What made you choose your ceremony and reception venues? Did they have any special significance to you? Yes! My dad, Joel McWhorter, loves history and is like a walking book of history (especially regarding Alabama). When my brother and I were little, he took us to Mooresville one Saturday and told us the history of the Post Office there, and the little Brick Church (where I ended up getting married)! I remember, even though I couldn’t have been more than seven years old, wanting to get married in that beautiful church. I’ve always loved old churches rich with history and community, and having it be so close to my hometown of Decatur it couldn’t have been more perfect!

What’s next for you as a couple? What memories are you looking forward to making together? Ben and I have worked so hard for five years to get married, we can’t believe it actually happened! We look forward to sharing our love of Christ through our marriage and helping each other to become better people by building one another up and lovin’ on each other. We so look forward to traveling, making new friends, and getting a puppy! Sadly, the puppy is not in the near future, but we so look forward to having a bigger family together!

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What was one way you saved money or cut costs at your wedding? Rather than buying many small items for those perfect details, I ended up making a lot of them myself or using things around my parents’ home! We used cigar boxes and books on the reception tables, and I hand made signs out of my grandmother’s old picture frames and old postcards my mom and I have been collecting over the years! Not only did it help save money, but it was SO much fun! I loved being able to hand make some of the decorations for my wedding! It definitely made the wedding seem so much more like Ben and me!

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What did you serve for your wedding cake or dessert? Why did you choose it? My wedding cake was a three-tier vanilla funfetti cake with light pink buttercream frosting! Ben’s and my first date ever was to The Chocolate Crocodile, and we split an apple pie apple! It seemed only appropriate that we would choose it for the groom’s dessert, so the groom’s “cake” were apple pie apples from The Chocolate Crocodile!

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“The Girl” has always been such a special song for Ben and me throughout our relationship, and we spent no time deciding on that being the song we would dance our first dance to.

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Ben is my God-given gift, my very best friend, my counsel, my protector, and the person who has made me laugh the most. There is no doubt that we had been made a pair since before we were born. I had been praying for so many years that God would send me someone who would unconditionally love me and my family, and put God first. It is an understatement to say I’ve been blessed with Ben. He is the hardest-working, and smartest man I’ve ever met.

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Tell us your love story. I have known Ben since I was in 4th grade, but I didn’t became friends with him until I was in 10th grade. We had a mutual friend set us up on a double date then (when I was in 10th grade and he in 11th), but neither of us were very interested in a romantic relationship at the time. We have a lot of fun looking back on that, especially how neither of us thought we would end up dating, let alone get married! That next year, however, we ended up having a study hall together, where, as Ben puts it, “we didn’t get much studying done.” I asked him to sit by me as soon as he walked into the class and we ended up spending that hour talking about anything and everything (with the occasional homework here and there). We ended up becoming really close friends being able to spend that time together everyday! I still can’t recall a specific date when I realized I liked him more than a friend. Our relationship had always been so natural. After spending every day during 6th period together (and sometimes 7th and after school), Ben finally asked me out on March 20th, 2012!
Tell us all about the proposal! Ben proposed to me on September 30th, 2016 at Falls Mill in Tennessee. This was always a very special date spot we would go to when we had a free day in the week! Lunches we would take there would always taste better by the water mill (even when the bugs were bad in the summers)! He took off work that Friday, picked me up and took me to The Brick in downtown Decatur for lunch and then off to Falls Mill. After he had proposed, he drove us back to our hometown where my mother hosted an engagement party with all of our families there to celebrate! It was a perfect day!
When did y’all get married? March 25, 2017!
What readings, if any, did you have at your ceremony? I had these poems read: “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” by e.e. cummings and “It’s all I have to bring today” by Emily Dickinson. And these scriptures were read: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 and Song of Soloman 2:8-17. The wonderful man that read them is a dear, dear friend of mine named Eugene Banks!
What was your favorite detail from your wedding? There are so, so many details of the wedding that were favorites and so special to me. Having to pick one, I would have to pick the sheet music that my wedding party walked into the church to, and I walked down the aisle to. For a little backstory, my mom’s mother, who I called Nanny, passed away three years ago. She was the most delightful woman: full of laughter, full of fun, and full of Jesus. When I started taking piano lessons around nine years old, she gave me a piece of sheet music with a sticky note on it. I remember taking it home, poking around at the notes on the piano and putting it in the piano bench, completely forgetting about it. Sure enough, a few months before the wedding I was digging through all of my piano music trying to find what I wanted to walk down the aisle to. The sheet music that Nanny gave me was marked in pencil, “Martha Eckard March 25, 1948” (March 25th is my wedding day)! The music was THE WEDDING MARCH! How wonderful is that?! Having her recital music played from when she was a little girl made me feel like she was able to be there at the ceremony. My piano teacher from when I took lessons played it on the pump organ in the Brick Church.
Did you have something borrowed, blue, old, and new? If so, do tell! I did! My something borrowed were the earrings I wore. They belong to my dad’s mother, who I call Grammy, and they were a prized gift my grandfather bought for her. My grandfather died when I was young, so it meant the world to me to be able to wear a gift from him to my grandmother. It made it feel like he was a part of the wedding too! My something blue was a handkerchief that I carried down the aisle that belonged to my Nanny when she was a little girl. My something old was a penny in my shoe (the same one my mother wore in her shoe in her wedding)! My something new was my wedding dress.
How did you plan for your marriage while planning your wedding? Dr. Steve Bateman, the head pastor at First Bible Church in Decatur, ordained Ben and me for our wedding. A prerequisite of his marrying us was that we go through marriage counseling with him. He recommended Timothy Keller’s, The Meaning of Marriage and spoke with us on what it means to be married and how relationships work. My favorite thing we did in the counseling was Ben named five ways in which he feels respected by me, and I named five ways in which I feel loved by him. I will forever cherish these things.
What is the one detail or vendor that you were so happy to have as a part of your wedding? Having the wonderful vendors that we had made the day perfect! From the wedding planner, sweet Lori Bateman, listening to all my ideas and wishes and making them come true, to having a reception coordinator, Emme Long, making sure everything went according to the plan, to having a phenomenal, artistic florist making everything look gorgeous, to the most wonderful photographer to capture every detail! It wouldn’t of gone as perfect as it did if it weren’t for these wonderful ladies working so hard and having so much fun with it!
What advice would you give to someone currently planning a wedding? The best advice I have for anyone planning a wedding is how important it is to surround yourself with people that are organized and level-headed! Planning one of the most exciting, expensive, and beautiful celebrations can become so overwhelming and stressful! Having vendors, friends, and planners that were all organized and calm was so important in making the day and the planning run smoothly. Don’t be afraid to be vocal about what you want your day to look like, and most all people working on your wedding are so happy to make your vision come to life!
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your wedding? I cannot give enough credit to the wonderful wedding planner, Lori, for how hard she worked and how sweet she was in making everything that I wanted happen! She took extra care in having the details I asked for come to life! The day wouldn’t have been nearly as perfect as it was if it wasn’t for her! Love you long time, Lori!

Photographer: Ashley Vaughn of White Rabbit Studios | Planner: Lori Bateman (family friend) | Ceremony Venue: The Brick Church | Reception Venue: Woody + Lyla’s Dance Hall | Florist: Simpson’s Florist | Wedding Cake or Dessert Baker: Molly Moo Cakes | Caterer: Curry’s on Johnston Street | Rentals: Mullins Special Occasions | Band or DJ: Andrew Hodge + Matthew Sasser (childhood friends of the bride) | Special Details: 1951 Chevy Truck provided by Family Friend | Paper Products: Minted in Wanderlust Wreath | Bride’s Gown: Odylyne the Ceremony from Finery | Bride’s Veil: Sara Gabriel from Finery | Bride’s Shoes: Phoenix Suede Booties from Forever Soles | Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Darccy Frill Layered Maxi Dress from ASOS | Groom’s “Cake”: The Chocolate Crocodile

Written with love by Marissa

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The Farmhouse Wedding by Erin Wilson

by Marissa in Real Southern Weddings on May 23, 2017

Bride Kristina shares all the details on her blue and peach wedding at The Farmhouse!

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I’m excited to introduce you to today’s bride, Kristina, and have her share a peek into the planning behind her sweet wedding to Kevin. Kristina met Kevin at a young adult bible study, and though they did not start dating immediately, as soon as they did they knew very quickly they were meant to be. In Kristina’s words, “We were in love and wanted to spend our lives together. After about 4 months of dating he proposed, and six months later we got married!” I, too, knew within a very short time that my husband was the man I would marry, so I love hearing from other couples that simply just know.

Kristina also knew that The Farmhouse was the perfect place for them to start their married life together… even without seeing it finished! “I just knew from the moment that I saw it that this was the place where I wanted to exchange my vows and to spend the evening celebrating with family and friends,” Kristina says. Keep reading to learn more about their darling story and wedding planning journey.

Thank you kindly to Erin Wilson (also the bride’s sister!) for sharing Kristina and Kevin’s wedding with us!

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Did you have something borrowed, blue, old, and new? I borrowed my beautiful pearl earrings from my mom for my wedding! My something blue was the blue stone on my garter that I wore, and my something new were my beautiful Badgley Mischka shoes. I did not have something old.

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Tell us the highlights of finding your wedding dress. I put on the first dress, and I remember thinking in my head that I thought that this one looked really pretty on me, and then she put the belt on with it and this huge smile just came to my face. I walked out to show everyone, and within seconds my mom started crying which made me cry, and everyone else to follow. I knew that this was the dress and that Kevin would love it too!

Our flowers for our wedding were absolutely beautiful. They were an organic take on classic Southern style/Southern elegance. There were lush blooms with big petal counts and an assortment of greenery types to give it that organic feel. Everything was very natural and textured.

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Did you decide to do a first look? Why or why not? Kevin and I wanted to be able to share that very special moment of seeing each other for the first time between the two of us. A first look to me is a moment frozen in time between a soon to be husband and wife that will forever be ingrained in your mind for the rest of your life. The nerves that come right before you get to see each other will always stand out to you, and the smiles and hugs that you exchange within those first few minutes are priceless. A first look allows you to block out the rest of the world for just a few minutes and soak up the fact that you finally get to be with the one whom your soul loves!

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I had so many people comment on how much the loved the venue and how beautiful it was. We couldn’t have picked a better place.

My youth pastor from when I was in high school did our ceremony, and when he got to the vows he did it in such a way that made Kevin jump to saying “I do” before he was supposed to and before my youth pastor even finished saying the vows. The entire room filled with laughter, including Kevin and I. In Kevin’s laughter he whispered to me and asked me if he was red, and I just looked at him and said “This is why I love you!” It really cut any tension that might have been in the room, plus who can say that their husband said “I do” twice! It is my favorite memory and moment from our wedding!

Outside of our premarital counseling Kevin and I spent a lot of time talking about our expectations for marriage whether that was what a normal day might look for us or what our finances would look like, all the way to talking about what we wanted for a family in the future. We set goals together, and dreamed up what we wanted life to look like for us in a year, five years, and down the road.

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What was Southern about your wedding? One of the Southern details included in our wedding was the actual venue itself. It was a beautiful white sophisticated barn that mixed classic style with Southern elegance. We also served sweet tea and lemonade during the cocktail hour, as well as brisket and other southern dishes for dinner. Also a lot of our greenery and flowers added to the Southern details, like beautiful Southern gardens. My favorite Southern thing that we did had to be the ice cream bar! Who from the South doesn’t love ice cream?!

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My sister-in-law is a design major, and she helped with digitally creating our programs, seating chart pages, and name plates. She also did a lot of our chalkboard writing and the handwritten calligraphy on the table numbers and tapestry behind the cake. She helped save a lot of money by not having to hire a calligrapher!

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Our favorite detail of the wedding was the Ice Cream bar! Ice cream was something that Kevin and I ate a lot of while we were dating. So we knew that we wanted to include ice cream in our wedding somehow. We had vanilla ice cream for everyone, and all sorts of toppings. You could choose whatever your heart desired, and we knew you would feel like a little kid again! We wanted to take everyone back to the days when they were kids and there wasn’t a care in the world, and to remind them that “Love is Sweet!”

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Tell us your love story in one sentence. I was invited by some long-time family friends to go to a young adults’ Bible study, and (reluctantly) I ended up going! That first night the young adults played a game called “Fast Friends”. It was basically speed dating, but in a way for you to get to meet both guys and girls in room filled with 75 people in a nonthreatening way. You would meet one person and then have 2 minutes to strike up conversation with them, and Kevin ended up being about the 5th or 6th person that I met that night. Needless to say the two minutes was not enough time for either of us, and it kept us wanting to know more about the other person. I ended up continuing to go every week, and over time conversation with Kevin continued to grow. About two months after the last night of meetings for the semester, Kevin asked me out on date. The first date was enough for both of us to know that this was going to be something really good! The dating process went fast, and the both of us knew within the first couple months that we were in love and wanted to spend our lives together. After about 4 months of dating he proposed, and six months later we got married!
Tell us all about the proposal! It was the day before my birthday, and I knew that the proposal could be happening at any time, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up, so I kept my excitement to myself. We had planned to spend the evening before my birthday celebrating so that we could celebrate with my family on my actual birthday. So Kevin was able to disguise a few things and make me think that it was all because it was my birthday. That Friday morning at work (I’m a teacher), I got a phone call from the front office telling the me that “I had the most beautiful arrangement of flowers that I needed to come pick up.” As I entered the office my mouth dropped to the floor, because it was the most beautiful arrangement that anyone had ever gotten me filled with 2 dozen beautiful red roses. I read the card and it said “Happy Early Birthday. Love, Kevin”. I took it back to my classroom and all my teacher friends kept joking and asking me if there was a ring attached in there somewhere! That evening he picked me up to take me out to a fancy dinner at a restaurant called Peli Peli. On the way to dinner I was kind of on to him, because he kept breathing really deeply, and I kept asking him if he was ok and his response was “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?” It was humorous. During dinner one of the managers stopped to ask if we were celebrating something special and we said it was my birthday but he did it in such a way that it was like he was up to something. So she gave us dessert on the house, and I thought at that point that maybe Kevin was in on the whole thing. Come to find out that was just coincidence, and something to laugh about later. After dinner we came back to my apartment, and Kevin asked me to dance with him in the living room. It is something that we do often and holds very precious memories and moments. I told him yes, and we danced to Pat Green’s song called “Crazy”. After the song we hugged each other tight, and within seconds I could feel Kevin’s heart beating super fast and his body started heating up like a furnace, and I knew at that point that he was about to propose. He looked at me and told me that he had a gift for me but that I had to turn around to get it. Then he told me that I could turn back around, and when I did he was down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I am pretty sure that I probably told him “Yes” about twenty times!
When did y’all get married? March 10, 2017
How many friends, family members, and loved ones attended your wedding? 200
What did you serve for your wedding cake or dessert? Why did you choose it?
Our wedding cake was 4 tiers with each layer being a different flavor. Some of the layers included vanilla cake with a white chocolate raspberry icing, a chocolate layer with dulce de leche icing, and an Italian cream layer with vanilla icing. The outside was decorated with a white stucco type icing covering the entire cake. I then had flowers inserted in a diagonal slope downwards towards the bottom. It was beautiful and everything that I wanted it to be! It looked amazing in front of the greenery and the tapestry that said “I’ve found the one whom my soul loves.” Song of Solomon 3:4.
What was one way you saved money or cut costs at your wedding?
One way that I was able to cut costs was through my amazing sister, Erin. She was also my photographer, and her gift to us was to be our photographer on our wedding day. I know that most people don’t have the luxury of having an amazing photographer as their sister, but that was certainly one way I was able to do everything within my budget.
What is the one detail or vendor that you were so happy to have as a part of your wedding?
This is such a hard question but I have to say my photographer, because she is also my sister. I loved knowing that my sister was getting to capture all of the precious moments from our wedding that I know will last for years and years. I wouldn’t have wanted to share any of those moments with anyone else, and I am so blessed and lucky to have had her capture our special day!
What advice would you give to someone currently planning a wedding? Advice that I would give to anyone planning a wedding is don’t sweat the small stuff. I know that in the moment of planning there are a lot of little things that seem so huge to you, but on your wedding day those things end up being something that you don’t even notice. Also make sure to enjoy the planning, because the wedding day will come in go so quickly. At the end of the wedding day when it is just you and your husband, you will look at each other and say “Where did the day go?” So make sure to enjoy the family time that you have while planning and all the celebrations that go along with it. I would say that planning a wedding is one of the greatest times in your life, and you want to be able to look back on it and smile!
What’s next for you as a couple? What memories are you looking forward to making together?
For us a couple, right now we want to enjoy the next few years where it is just the two of us without any kids. We want to truly take this time to get to know each other and see what life is like for the two of us. Included in that is finding a church for the two of us. Before we were dating Kevin and I both had our own church that we were involved in, and now that we are married we are looking to find the place that is perfect for us to be able to get involved and serve. Also we currently live in a quaint one bedroom apartment, and we are looking to start the search for a house in the next year or so. We love our apartment, but we also want to be able to plant our roots somewhere permanently in the near future. Also something that we have talked about is wanting to go on some sort of vacation together every year. Our honeymoon was amazing, and we loved those memories that we made. We hope to be able to do that every year:)
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your wedding?
Something else I would like to share about our wedding is that as a gift to Kevin on the wedding day, I gave him a journal that contained letters I had been writing him starting from about a month into our dating relationship. Like I said before, I just knew Kevin was going to be the guy that I would spend my life with, and I didn’t want to go one day without documenting our journey together!

Written with love by Marissa

1 Comment

Leigh Ann May 24, 2017 reply

Go T Norris