Southern Weddings

I couldn’t be more excited about today’s Southern Newlywed post, because the home we’re taking a tour of belongs to none other than one of the most beloved SW couples we’ve ever featured, as well as dear friends of mine! Callie and Jamie’s gorgeous RiverOaks Charleston wedding graced the pages of V7 almost two years ago, and since then, these two have been settling into newlywed life in a little yellow house that they’ve lovingly renovated and made their own. As was apparent through the way they planned their wedding, being intentional and thoughtful is a high priority for Callie and Jamie, and I’m sure you’ll see that clearly throughout their house as well!

Thanks so much to our beloved Blue Ribbon Vendor Nancy Ray Photography for these beautiful photos!

The couple: Callie (25) and Jamie (25) Davis
Years married: Two years as of May 3rd
Where they live: Raleigh, North Carolina
Tell us a little bit about yourselves. Jamie and I both grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina and went to the same high school (‘sko caps!) and college (go Wolfpack!). Callie is a film wedding photographer with Nancy Ray Photography and writes a personal blog at Call Me Callie. Jamie works in commercial real estate specializing in land acquisition. Together, we believe in deeply rooted relationships, that a joyful heart begins with thanksgiving, and that without Jesus, we are nothing. We love the meaning of marriage, the ocean, spontaneous dance parties, our local farmer’s market and travel.
Tell us your love story in one sentence. High school acquaintances who connected through mutual friends in college, dated for almost five years, and tied the knot under the oaks in Charleston, South Carolina. (I love our love story. Truth be told, when we started dating, never in a million years did I think that one day we would be married, but the Lord had a different plan and I am so grateful.)


Do you rent or own? What are your hopes and plans for the future in this area? Tell us a little bit about where you live. We own our little yellow house, as it was a gift to us from Jamie’s uncle. It is the most generous gift we have ever received and has forever changed the way that we view giving generously, living everyday with a thankful and humble heart, and why we feel so strongly about hospitality and allowing our home to be a place to serve others and The Lord. (You can read the full story here.) It was built in 1952 and we quickly realized it was a real fixer upper. Soon after we got engaged, we began dreaming, drawing, and planning some possible renovations for our little house. Two months after getting married, we moved into our newly renovated home. This house is so special to us after all the work that we put into it and I never want to leave, but I knew that when I married a man working in real estate that that wouldn’t be the case for us. Our future plans include buying another fixer upper or building a house from scratch and investing in rental properties.

What most makes your house feel like home? I think we could live anywhere as long as we were together. I know this to be true because when we first moved into our house, it looked far from this. We barely owned any furniture or decor, and it took two years to make our house look like the way it does in these pictures. I had frames that were hanging on our walls without pictures in them because I was too indecisive, and for awhile, we had a mismatch of seating in our family room, but that didn’t change the way that our house felt. Coming home to each other and maintaining a posture of open hands with our home is what matters most. 

Where do you splurge and where do you save when decorating? What are some of your favorite sources for home things? We decided to splurge on bigger pieces like our L-shaped couch and our bed frame, knowing that we will hopefully keep these pieces for years. Just like my grandmother has always taught me: you know you’re meant to have something if you leave it in the store and continue to think about it. I remember going into the store countless times and looking at pictures of these pieces online before making the purchases. I wanted to be 100 percent sure that I would love them for a long time if we were going to be spending more money on them! So far, they have been my favorite purchases! I love Home Goods, Target, West Elm, Ikea, and PotteryBarn.

Which items from your wedding registry do you use the most often? We love our everyday china from Crate and Barrel. I remember standing in the store contemplating whether or not to add the weird pasta low bowls to our registry. “We’ll never use those,” I remember saying to Jamie, but he thought otherwise, so we added them, and I’m so glad that we did! No matter what we are eating, we grab the pasta low bowls out of our cabinet over a plate or bowl almost every time! If you haven’t already, you should totally add these to your registry because they will change your dining experience :)

What is your favorite memory from your wedding? Goodness, it’s hard to pick just one! The private moments throughout the day–praying around a door moments before our ceremony, our dockside dinner, and the boat ride after leaving our reception.
How do you remember your wedding in your home? (Pictures, mementos, etc.) As a wedding photographer, I believe you can never have enough wedding pictures displayed in your home! In the everyday hustle and bustle of life, it’s easy to forget that joyful day, and we recently decided that we want a daily reminder of the commitment that we made to each other as we walk through the rooms of our home. We also have things throughout our home from our wedding day–hemstitch cocktail napkins on our bar cart, the x-back chairs that our guests sat in in our dining room, lanterns that lined the dock by our fireplace, our cake server and knife in our china cabinet, and our guest book Bible that floats throughout our home as we read it in different rooms.

Who cooks dinner? We love to cook together! Jamie usually handles the meat and anything on the grill, while I usually handle the sides.
What is your go-to weeknight meal? Weekend meal? Our go-to weeknight meal is tacos. We almost always have ingredients on hand that can be transformed into tacos. Whether it’s planned ahead and we do shredded chicken in the crockpot or blackened shrimp, we love tacos in all shapes and forms! Our go-to weekend meal is probably something on the grill–burgers or chicken. We love to entertain and have people over to our house, so it’s an easy thing to fix, and it can be paired with any potluck sides that people bring!

What’s your favorite place to find recipes? This year, Jamie and I acknowledged that we’re not the best when it comes to following recipes. To be honest, I’m somewhat of a picky eater and we always end up modifying the recipes that we try. We do better when we try to recreate something we’ve eaten in a restaurant or just pull things together based on what we’ve got in our fridge. However, this month, we tried a week of Hello Fresh and it was really fun!

Tell us about the process of moving in together. Do you have any tips for blending your two styles? Moving in together after we got married was really fun. When we got married, we were in the middle of renovating our little house. Believe it or not, when we got back from our honeymoon, my parents picked us up from the airport and we moved right in with them! It wasn’t ideal, but it was a major blessing. Our house still had two months until it was going to be complete, and with both of our parents living in Raleigh, it felt silly to try and find a place to rent for only two months. When we finally moved into our renovated house, it immediately felt like home. After two years of decorating, finalizing projects, and making it ours, it still feels like home. What we have learned most through this project is that stuff doesn’t make a house a home. Blending our two styles was really fun and easy because knowing what we know, we didn’t take it so seriously. After planning a wedding together, we had a good understanding of each other’s style and what we wanted our house to look and feel like. We wanted to fill our home with things that we love, or that remind us of what we love. We both love the ocean, which is why our home is filled with images and a color palette that reminds of us it–neutrals mixed with bold textures and cool colors. We also both love to be outside, which is why we tried to bring outside in as much as we could–yes, I’ve become an indoor plant lady and I love it! I believe that there are no rules when it comes to designing or decorating your home. Fill it with what both of you love! Mix patterns and textures and play around with a color palette until you make it work! The effort is worth it for both of you to come home to place that feels like a place of rest and comfort.

What is your favorite part of being married? Our friendship. We love to spend time together, whether it’s on vacation exploring somewhere new or cuddling up on the couch to watch Netflix. Jamie makes me laugh harder than anyone else–think dance parties while brushing his teeth, talking to me in funny accents, making up lyrics to songs, and neverending selfie videos of him singing. He makes our life so light and fun. I love that we get to a be a team, cheering each other on through the ups and downs, and working together toward a common goal. I love that we are becoming sanctified by being together.
What has been the most surprising thing about marriage? Before we were married, I knew that our life together would be a big adventure, but what I didn’t realize is just how much we would enjoy the simple things–coming home to each other after a long day of work, cooking dinner together, walking our sweet pup, tending to our garden, and doing yard work. 


What’s your best tip for balancing your relationship and other life priorities (work, personal time, extended family, etc.)? Invite each other in. Whether it’s your work, your hobbies, or your goals, invite your spouse into those things and do them together. Jamie and I have discovered this year what this means for us and our marriage. We made time in our busy schedules to train for and run a half marathon together and spent tons of time in our backyard building a chicken coop from scratch. We’re not perfect, but we constantly strive to prioritize each other.
What is one small way you love or serve your spouse? Jamie: Asking Callie, “How can I serve you today?” Callie: Texting Jamie during the day to tell him that I love him and ask how his day is going.

Is there anything else about your home or family life that you think our readers would be interested in? If you know me, you know that one of my dreams is to live on a farm or a large piece of land. Although we can’t make that dream happen right now, we decided to bring a little bit of farm life to our urban backyard by building a chicken coop! Jamie and I built our backyard chicken coop from scratch in August (it was quite the adventure!) and added five hens to our family! In a couple months, we should be getting fresh eggs every day and we are so excited!

Thank you so much for sharing your hearts and home with us, Callie and Jamie! Follow along with them here:
Callie’s blog | Callie’s photography | Callie’s Instagram | Jamie’s Instagram

A little reminder: we’d love to hear from you! Our hope is to feature REAL couples in the South – not just folks who write blogs (though we love them, too!), but also your inspiring friend, super talented cousin, or neighbor with the cutest house – the kind of person everyone would love to “e-meet.” If that sounds like you or someone you know, take a peek at our Southern Newlywed submission page and shoot us an email!

Written with love by Lisa