Southern Weddings

Today, I’m in pink Southern heaven thanks to the lovely Stephanie Fay! Shaley + Javier’s Dallas, Texas wedding (planned and designed by Sharon Coston) was pretty, polished and pink, pink, pink!  (Perfect timing, considering October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and pink is the signature color.)  While I love the traditional and sweetly Southern chapel where the couple exchanged their vows on the SMU campus and the ultra-elegant details of the newlyweds’ white-tie reception at the Hotel Crescent Court, my very favorite thing about this Texas affair is the darling shot of the bride in her bejeweled Kenneth Pool gown and her cotton-candied attendants in yummy blue and bubblegum pink Jim Hjelm dresses.  (We’re huge fans of brides who alternate the style and color of their maids’ dresses to honor special family members, like little sisters!)  Of course, we can’t not mention the Carrie Bradshaw-worthy pink Kate Spade’s the bride snuck underneath her princess gown.  See what I mean?  Pink. Heaven.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story.  Javier and I met on my first day of sophomore year at Saint Mary’s Hall high school.  We were in the same Western Civilization class and we soon became friends. Towards the end of sophomore year, Javier and I hung out at a friend’s pool. After jumping in the pool, we fought for a spot in the hammock. This was the first time we were alone together all year long and we instantly connected! At the start of junior year, I started finding single roses in my locker. A few weeks later we had our friends over for my 17th birthday party.  Javier stole the show with his karaoke skills! Afterwards, Javier took me to our swing in the backyard so he could give me a birthday present.  After I opened my present (bracelets!), he said that wasn’t my entire gift and then he asked me out!  We were officially dating!
Describe the proposal:  Though Javier had wanted a more extravagant proposal in La Patagonia, Argentina, Javier’s health problems prevented the trip from happening. Instead, we headed off to sunny Miami, Florida. The trip started off in style, complete with a limousine that gave us the perfect view of downtown Miami as we crossed the bridge into Key Biscayne where our hotel was located. That night, after a candlelit, ocean-side dinner, Javier and I walked out to the hotel’s hammock. Since hammocks hold a special place in our relationship , this was the perfect place to start a new stage in our lives. After gazing at the stars together for a few minutes, Javier got out of the hammock, hit on one knee and asked me to be his wife. It was perfect!
What was the design inspiration for your wedding?  Summer hues (including my favorite color, turquoise) and light fabrics to help beat the heat.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress:  I had narrowed it down to two dresses and then my mom emailed me a photo of a gown by one of my favorite designers and I knew I had to try it!  My dress was my favorite design element of the day, plus I loved how it was named “Grace.”
The weather on our wedding day was: Sunny and hot, hot, hot!
Were there any special family traditions you included in the wedding? One of the biggest challenges we had was including elements from both of our cultures. Javier walked his mom down the isle and his dad walked my mom down the isle, as is done in Mexico.  Javier’s sister also sang an amazing rendition of Ave Maria and we had a mariachi band playing during the cocktail hour.
Three adjectives that describe the day are:  Perfect. That’s it! 

Check back soon for Part II of Shaley + Javier’s whimsical wedding!

Thinking about planning a Southern wedding of your own?  For a sweetly authentic Southern affair like this one in Mobile, Alabama, follow Christi + Chris’ lead and grab yourself a croquet set.  Really, there are few things more Southern than a rousing game of backyard croquet on the sprawling lawn of a real-life plantation.  Add vintage Coca-Cola bottles (glass, of course), an outdoor chandelier and mason jars filled with blooming hydrangeas à la Beth Humphrey of Elizabeth Events and you are in business, my friend!  A three-layered pistachio-covered cake from Buttercream Dreams (complete with a birds nest cake topper!) is just icing on the metaphorical cake. Kudos to you, Studio A Photography, for capturing the very best of this deep-South wedding.

[publisher’s note:  I don’t usually interject here, but I just had to say how much I adore this wedding and every single detail!  Congrats y’all! – Lara]

Describe your wedding flowers: We used hydrangeas everywhere. They are so effortlessly sophisticated. My bouquet was really simple with mostly hydrangeas and a few other fillers. One of my favorite details was the little white bird we hid among the blooms. I also loved the creative wrap we did for the bouquet. It had burlap and navy satin ribbon and my “something borrowed” pinned in the middle – a little mother of pearl ‘E’ initial brooch that belonged to my great grandmother.  My bridesmaids’ bouquets were smaller versions of mine, and for the guys’ bouts we did green hypericum berries and twig bunches with a little feather, my mother’s idea and design.
Describe your wedding cake: DELICIOUS. As a testament, the guests literally ate every last bite; there wasn’t even anything left to save for the anniversary cake. We were thrilled that it was such a huge hit. It was a traditional three-tier round, but we went a little untraditional and used pistachio filling between the layers and pistachios covering the outside of the cake. Instead of a grooms cake, we had red velvet cupcakes and German chocolate cupcakes. To tie in our tree theme, we sat the cake on a huge lacquered cypress stump instead of a traditional sterling-plated cake pedestal.
Were there any wedding traditions or new ideas you included in the wedding? Instead of hiring a string quartet or having the reception band play something, we decided it would be so much more meaningful to have our talented friends play the ceremony music. I walked down the aisle to Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring played on the electric guitar and we recessed to a 3-piece rendition of Here Comes the Sun.  We also were untraditional and decided to see each other before the wedding. Fearing that the day would get hotter, we decided to take advantage of the early morning light and milder temperatures and met in downtown Mobile at 7 a.m. for an intimate photo session together.  Afterward, we put our casual clothes back on and headed over to a friends’ house to have breakfast together with many of our out of town guests.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? It’s such a typical answer, but definitely walking down the aisle and reciting our vows. We really soaked in every minute of it.
What’s next for you as a couple?  What are you looking forward to in the future?  Working, maybe going back to school (for both of us) and traveling the world as we enjoy life together. 

Congratulations, Christi + Chris!  Best of luck with work, school and your new life together!

Thank you Studio A Photography for sharing this ultra-sleek and uber-sophisticated Alabama wedding!  College sweethearts Christi + Chris (how cute is that?) exchanged their vows in an intimate outdoor ceremony at the historic and distinctly Southern Magnolia Manor.  The bride’s ruffle-neck Vera Wang looks like it belongs on the runway and her chic birdcage veil courtesy of Brenda’s Bridal Veils (another fabulous Etsy vendor) adds just the right sass and flair to this stunning gown.  After pining over the bridesmaids’ sweet BCBG frocks and the groom’s checkered tie from J.Crew, I have to say I’ve never seen ivory and navy done quite so well.  Brava, Beth Humphrey, planner extraordinaire from Elizabeth Events!  Since a Southern wedding is really complete without the requisite lapel shot, check out Chris’ twine-wrapped boutonnière. 

How did the two of you meet?  Tell us your story. We met in calculus class at Auburn University. Neither of us went to class very often but, when we did, we always managed to sit near each other and commiserate over our dislike for the professor and our slipping grades. I came out of that semester with the only C I’ve ever made and a new boyfriend – in hindsight, definitely worth the GPA sacrifice!

What was the design inspiration for your wedding invitation? We wanted our invitations to reflect the amazing venue we had chosen and really didn’t have time to commission an intricate letterpress design. One night while agonizing over what to do about invitations, my mother suggested we make our own. I sketched an oak from a photo we took at the site and had a graphic designer (and close friend) lay out the invitation format and pick the typeface. The hand-drawn oak tree (with a little bird on one of the branches) became the inspiration for the rest of the wedding. We incorporated little branches and birds and feathers on everything from my feather fascinator and birdcage veil to the birdcages hanging from the front porch.
What was your favorite design element of your big day?  The altar area was my favorite thing. After living up north for a while, we were feeling deprived of all the things we love about coastal southern summers.  We decided that nothing was more perfect for us than a wedding under an oak tree with romantic Spanish moss. The antique chandelier that hung above us really anchored our ceremony and I was thrilled with the way the bamboo chairs and the shepherd hooks and hydrangea-filled vases looked. I also really loved the mason jars with tea lights accenting the dance floor.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: So many things, I don’t know where to start. The groom’s tie, which we bought from JCrew, was one of my favorite design choices. It helped lighten up the navy suit and really played up the casually elegant Southern summer theme.  We were also really excited about the food. We worked as much of the south into our menu as possible, taking the chance to indulge in all of the great cuisine you just can’t get in New York, like crawfish etouffee with gouda grits, white jambalaya, biscuits, crab cakes, boiled shrimp, chicken salad croissants and, of course, sweet tea and lemonade.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I noticed that Daily Candy was advertising a Vera Wang sale the week my mother was going to be visiting me in NYC for the first time so we decided it might be our only chance to have this mother-daughter experience. I tried on every dress she brought me (30 in all), and decided I liked the last one best. It was a 2007 runway dress with frayed silk ruffles and it fit like it was made just for me. After some encouragement from the salesgirls and all of the complete strangers in the room who had stopped their own dress shopping to ‘ooo’ and ‘ahhh’ over the perfectness of the dress, we decided it was the one. The whole trip (subway ride included) took about 3 hours. With no tears or bridal consultations or champagne or fanfare, we wrote a check for the dress, stuffed it in a huge brown paper bag and carried it right home with us on the subway. 

Don’t worry – there’s more!  Come back soon for the reception photos!