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I love lace!  Love it!  And Tara’s fabulous Monique Lhuillier gown completely makes this wedding, photographed by Sean and Mel McLellan of McLellan Style.  While I’m still more than a little distracted by the bride’s dress, Emily’s already oohing and ahhing over the rustic, farm-inspired details of Claxton Farm in Weaverville, North Carolina.  The bridesmaids’ J.Crew frocks are the perfect shade of brown for such an organic wedding and, like Tara, we really like that the bouquets and flower arrangements from Kaylynne’s Briar Patch look freshly-picked and oh-so natural.  We have some amazing shots of the authentic barn reception we can’t wait to share with you, so be sure to check back soon for more of Tara + Andrew’s North Carolina shindig. 

Describe the proposal: Andrew actually brought up the subject of marriage pretty early on in our relationship, but it wasn’t until nearly a year later that he finally popped the question.  We had planned a trip to Sedona, AZ, so I had a feeling that he might use the opportunity to his advantage.  I was right!  The second day we were there, we got up early to hike to the base of one of the red rock formations called Cathedral Rock.  It is beautiful out there, very different from the green forests here on the East coast.  Just before we came to the river, he knelt down under a tree and pulled out the ring from his camera case.  I was thrilled, and, obviously, I said yes!   We have some amazing pictures from that trip!
A date we went on that we’ll always remember:
  Our first date is definitely the most memorable.  We jokingly call it the middle school date, even though we were both in our mid-twenties at the time.  We had spoken on the phone before, but had never met in person.  So, when we finally saw each other for the first time, it was exciting and awkward all at the same time.  He had just finished his third semester of graduate school and was visiting his parents for the holidays, near where I was living at the time.  We ended up playing a round of putt-putt, then going to his parents’ house to make a pizza and play wii.  I ended up meeting his mom, and she showed me a bunch of pictures of him when he was a kid.  It’s sort of embarrassing to admit, but it’s our story.
The weather on our wedding day was:
  Unusually hot for the mountains
What was the design inspiration for your wedding?
  We honestly didn’t have to design much, as the venue itself is inspiring.  The rustic barn opened out onto a grassy field and was surrounded by the beautiful Appalachian Mountains; it was such a picturesque backdrop.  We kept things simple, letting the beauty of the place shine through.  We did add some elements that we felt would make it a true Southern wedding though, like the mason drinking jars, jam favors and pies.
Favorite design element of your big day:
  The barn was really the best design element.  It’s a 100-year-old tobacco barn, so it’s very weathered, worn and imperfect, which is what I loved about it!  It really made us feel like we were on an actual, working farm and not just at an event space made to look like one.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress:
  I actually ended up changing my dress just two months before the wedding, and I’m so glad I did!  I had an idea of what I wanted when I was dress shopping (lace, slim silhouette, and not strapless) but couldn’t seem to find it in any of the bridal salons.  My mom and I ended up buying a dress at a sample sale that was close to what I thought I wanted, but after I took it home something just didn’t feel quite right about it.  So, silly me kept looking, and it didn’t take me long to figure out that there was one designer I kept coming back to.  The only problem was there was no way I could afford one of her gowns new.  Then, just a couple months before the wedding, I found a girl in my area who was selling her gorgeous pre-owned gown from this designer –in my size!  I wanted to try it on, but I still felt a little guilty about having already purchased a dress with my mom.  I actually remember telling Andrew that I was going to try on this gown, that it wouldn’t look good on me, and that I would finally be able to forget about all the dress insanity.  Well, he must know me better than I know myself because when I came back he said “It looked great, didn’t it?”  It did.  So, I bought it.  I was worried that my mom would be upset that I changed my mind, but it turned out that she never really liked the first dress either and was only pretending to like it for my sake.  She said the second dress was so much more me, and I had to agree.  It was perfect!
Describe your wedding flowers:
  I knew I wanted peonies in my bouquet, but I honestly didn’t know what types of flowers I wanted to use elsewhere.  All I knew was that I wanted everything to have a fresh and organic feel, as if they had just been picked from the garden.  I pretty much fed that exact line to my florist and told her to run with it.  I think they turned out just lovely.

lara Written with love by Lara Casey
2 Comments
  1. avatar Victoria Joanne reply

    what a pretty dress. Nice to see something that’s on the shoulders. getting pretty sick of all the strapless dresses… those designs are mega played out.

  2. avatar ohana photographers reply

    we love mel and sean!!!

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How fabulous are these flowers and delightful details!? Be sure to visit photographer Tine Hofmann’s {BLOG} for more of Melissa + Ryan’s gorgeous {Claxton Farm} wedding. Cake by {Cakes by Jane} . Have a wonderful weekend everyone!



 

Favorite design element of your big day: The table decor. Our florist used all kinds of old vintage glass bottles for single cut flowers, sheet moss, and small potted trees. She sprinkled dried peas around the tables. Every table was different and there was so much to look at. At the end of the night, our guests got to take home the potted trees. We also put together a candy bar with candy apples, rock candy, marzipan, maple candy, lollipops, etc. I used vintage pink glassware my grandmother had given me. It was such a pleasing sight and the guests devoured it all.
Describe your wedding cake: Our cake blew me away. It was far above my highest expectation. It was southern cream cheese pound cake. We had two different flavors: raspberry cake with chocolate filling and almond cake with strawberry filling. It was so thick and chewy. Definitely the best cake I’ve every tasted. The icing was butter cream and the dogwood flowers were hand-painted sugar gum paste, which we saved and are beautiful in our china cabinet. We used green ribbon on the cake, same as on the tables and candy bar.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? The week before the wedding I wasn’t comfortable with our contingency plan if it rained. We added the tent and then I had to find six brown couches to put under it after the ceremony, so it wouldn’t be an empty tent once the chairs were moved into the barn for dinner and then it could be used during the cocktail hour, etc. I made about 20 phone calls and found a wonderful company that rents furniture for events all over the East coast, American Furniture Company.
Funniest moment? I have seven young nieces and nephews, and the boys were break-dancing the whole night. They were so funny, flipping over one another and getting dirty.
What were your something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue items? My something old was my mother’s add-a-pearl necklace she had as a little girl, my new was a conflict-free diamond eternity band Ryan gave me as a gift the night before, my mother’s pearl earrings were my something borrowed, and my blue was on my garter that my mother handmade from Sicilian lace and blue ribbon. My mother had saved some old sixpence for both Ryan and I to put in our shoes. I also carried a handmade handkerchief of Belgian lace with my new initials.
What attracted me to my husband was: No matter what, he always makes me laugh and he always listens to me and helps me. He has incredible blue-green-yellow eyes too! He’s my best friend.
What attracted me to my wife was: She cares about my individuality. She lets me do what I need to do to feel good with myself. She’s freethinking, passionate, strong-minded, and absolutely beautiful.
Why do you love your husband? Because he understands me and I him, and we do all we can to continue to deepen this understanding.
How was your wedding different than the way you’d always imagined it would be? The rain. I always imagined it would be sunny.
Three adjectives that describe the day are:
Sincere, refreshing, fun.
Did you write your own vows? Yes. We had always planned to do it, but we didn’t actually sit down to write them until 2 days before the wedding. They ended up conveying exactly what we wanted them to.
Any do-it-yourself items that you created for your big day? Yes! I did as much as I could to personalize our wedding. I made all the table name cards (we named the tables after trees), the leaf escort cards on the bird’s nests, little signs for the escort card table and candy bar, the menu card, the CD favors. I also made a guest “book” that was a painting for our guests to sign so we can frame and hang it in our home. I cut fabric squares for guests to write their advice on with permanent marker that a friend of ours is going to make into a quilt. I also made welcome bags for all of our guests that were placed in their hotel rooms full of flower seeds, cookies, maps, a schedule, bubble bath and salts, and more. Practically every detail was personalized.
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding?
A bride has to accept now that it might rain on her wedding day and it doesn’t have to mean that it will ruin the day. I would say to plan on it raining. I wish I would have known it would have been just as perfect in the rain while I was planning. Let everyone else know you are perfectly fine with it raining, so no one will be upset beforehand, including you.


Congratulations, Melissa + Ryan! We wish you a lifetime of love and pure joy!

Written with love by Southern Weddings
8 Comments
  1. avatar Tara reply

    I don’t know what to say…Thank you, thank you! I give Melissa and Ryan all the credit for such a phenomenal wedding!!

  2. avatar holly hatam reply

    This is one of the most beautiful weddings I have seen, it is exactly how I envision my own wedding :)

  3. avatar Rick Bucich reply

    Not sure what my favorite part of the piece is. The photography is outstanding, the journalism is moving…that cake is a work of art

  4. avatar Vanessa *markessaxo* reply

    What lovely details! This wedding looks like it was a BLAST :)

  5. avatar maria @ {ritzy bee} reply

    GORGEOUS!!!

  6. avatar Becky reply

    Wow, the photography is beautiful. I love the cake!

  7. avatar laura kay photography reply

    i love this wedding! it is so fun! i love the southern feel and warmth. amazing!

  8. avatar Cindy Wagner reply

    Tine is a truly amazing photographer! Definitely a world class talent.Melissa & Ryan were lucky to have her for their beautiful wedding.

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I was honored to be asked to guest blog on one of my absolute favorite blogs on Friday, {What Junebug Loves}.  What an joy!  Christy at Junebug put together a beautiful post for us–she is so talented, a pleasure to know and an expert on weddings.  {Junebug} is a fabulous resource for wedding inspiration and all things fashionable.  Thank you, Christy, for the very kind words about SWS and for highlighting our beautiful southern location favorites.  Happy Monday!

From {Junebug}… 

Following in the footsteps of our last post about new Seattle area wedding venues, today brings us fabulous wedding location finds in Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina from guest blogger Lara Casey. Lara is the Publisher of Southern Weddings Magazine, a long time event planner with Bliss Event Group and a recent bride herself, which makes her a true expert in all things wedding! We are thrilled to have her valuable insight into wedding possibilities in her area of the country and we just love reading what she has to say…

The most popular southern wedding locations tend to be rich with history and tradition. Many of the “new” southern locations are actually historic landmarks that have been transformed into event venues or old mansions that have been remodeled for lucky brides to use on their big day. A few of our recent favorites:

Blackberry Farm, in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. One of our favorite photographers, A Bryan Photography, recently shot a fabulous wedding we are about to feature there. They do very few weddings at Blackberry Farm each year (typically 1 or 2…sometimes 3) so although it has been around for awhile as a resort and hotel, they just finished their new reception hall and this wedding was the first to be hosted there.

 

 

Sea Island, Georgia, another location we love. They just finished an enormous renovation of the main hotel, The Cloister, which has created an incredible venue and setting. A Bryan Photography shot this wedding there in the fall. 

 

 

My favorite, Claxton Farm in Weaverville, North Carolina. Converted into an event space in the last decade, this is one of my favorite wedding locations! The 100-year-old tobacco barn is so versatile. I’ve seen several weddings here lately that show the versatility of the space. This wedding, shot by Woodward and Rick Photographers, used every element of the farm in a richly colorful modern way. Gorgeous! See our original Southern Weddings blog post here.

Thanks you so much, Christy!  We love {Junebug Weddings}

Written with love by Southern Weddings
1 Comment
  1. avatar Christy reply

    Oh my goodness, THANK YOU! It’s been so fun working with you and your team, and those wedding locations are unbelievably beautiful. What a treat to learn all about them! SWS is the best!

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