Southern Weddings

I’m willing to bet that Sierra + Derek’s guests remember the couple’s family-style wedding as one of their all-time favorites.  You can’t really go wrong with hotdogs, s’mores and a three-tiered red velvet cake, and the bride’s family farm leant an especially intimate and laidback feel to the Missouri celebration.   My favorite part, though?  The hundreds and hundreds of twinkle lights that make Sierra + Derek’s reception look positively magical. They were one of Sierra’s favorite parts, too — she even included Taft Electric in her vendor list!  (Twinkle lights are the reason I’d consider an outdoor wedding, folks… don’t judge!)  See more of the fun on Alec Vanderboom’s post, appropriately entitled “Married in the Forest.”

Describe your wedding cake: We served a three-tier red velvet cake with cream cheese filling and buttercream cream frosting. Not only delicious, but this was the aesthetic element that everybody said they loved most.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? Figuring out the location was the most stressful part of planning. We wanted a destination wedding but some of our closest family and friends wouldn’t have been able to make it, so we looked for closer destinations.  Deciding to have the wedding at the farm was actually more of a “concession” for us, but it ended up giving us the most beautiful wedding we could have hoped for.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? That feeling of excitement and anticipation right before my dad walked me down the aisle.  Also, the overall feeling of joy and love Derek and I shared for each other and our families throughout the day.  We looked around in awe at everything our families had put together.  The wedding was such a labor of love!
What’s next for you as a couple?  What are you looking forward to in the future? We’re looking forward to staying nestled in our new home for the next few years and then picking up and moving out west for new adventures. 

Congratulations, Sierra + Derek!  Sending you lots of love and warm wishes from the SW team.

I think photographer Alec Vanderboom was surprised by how quickly Emily returned his email asking whether we’d be interested in sharing Derek + Sierra’s wedding, but how could we pass up this shindig?  As someone who’s often thought she’d get married at home, this couple’s wedding, which took place on the bride’s family’s property, is right up Emily’s alley (though Sierra’s dress from Destinations by Mon Cherie is definitely more my pace!).  The mason jar lights everywhere, the funky bouquet (by Cabool Florist) and the delightfully rustic, looks-like-it-grew-up-out-of-the-ground altar arch also caught my eye.  The BEST part, though?  This wedding cost just $6,000.  That’s right, $6,000.  Stay tuned for the reception!

How did the two of you meet?  Tell us your story.  We met in our last years of high school and bonded instantly. We knew way back then that we wanted to be together forever.
Describe the proposal.  Derek proposed on Christmas Eve.  We opened our presents from one another and the last were our stockings.  My little ring box was in the bottom of the stocking and then Derek got down on one knee.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Surreal, rustic and laid back.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: We loved the twinkly lights strung up through the trees. We knew we were going to have lights, but actually didn’t know how many and how beautifully placed they would be.  It was kind of a surprise from my parents!   And while this was not at all in our control, the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.  We had no backup plan if there was rain, but the day was clear and  sunny. Such a blessing!
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I didn’t want to spend a lot of time trying on dresses in different boutiques, especially because I knew I wanted a high halter neck line and those seem hard to come by. I scoured the Internet looking at the websites of designers my local boutiques carried and finally found the dress I ended up loving. I’m glad I looked online because the boutique didn’t actually carry the dress in store, but we were able to order it for me. I would have never found it if I hadn’t checked online first.
Describe your wedding flowers: Silk green hydrangeas, cream white dahlias, mustard yellow button mums and celosia wrapped in a piece of burlap that we trimmed from the runners from the reception tables.