Southern Weddings

Not only are these images infectiously happy and fun, but the story behind all the beautiful details is SO heart warming.  We had such a great time looking through all of {Susan Stripling}‘s amazing images from Brooke and John’s southern soiree!  Brooke’s smile speaks a thousand words.  Enjoy this glimpse into their fabulous fête!

The weather was:  Beautiful! It rained right before the ceremony.  Nanette, our wedding planner, and lots of wonderful helpers picked up the blankets and had to wipe down the chairs, but it cleared up 10 minutes before it was to start.  I didn’t even notice! I was upstairs getting ready.
Occupations:  John is a wine maker/owner of {Sanctuary Vineyards} and I am a wedding /portrait/ doggie friend photographer. [Brooke’s Photography {Accolades}]
Did you have a theme for your wedding?  Super fun and happy!  We wanted everyone to have wine during the ceremony and make it like a picnic.  We had blankets for the younger guests to sit on and they received wine glasses and a bottle of wine for the ceremony picnic.
What inspired the theme?   John being the best wine maker in the world. :)  We served all of his wines at the wedding.
What colors did you choose for your wedding?  Super bright blue and orange.
Describe your wedding flowers:  Wondersum!  We had huge flower balls hanging from the large oak tree we got married under.  We didn’t give our florist and direction… we told them our colors and they came up with everything else!  The parasols, table decorations, flower balls, bouquets… it was amazing!!!  I had no idea what it would look like until I came back to the island from breakfast!
Describe your wedding cake:  Chocolatey yumminess! I wanted apple pies, John wanted chocolate, so we had chocolate. : )
How did the two of you meet?  We met at my father’s beach house in Carova Beach, NC when we were 16.  We have been dating on and off ever since.  I still have my journals from back then where I wrote that one day I was going to marry him and all the reasons I listed why.
Describe your engagement:  We moved a house 15 miles up the beach (they were going to tear it down, so if we got it off their property and on to ours, we could have it).  We had just finished our renovations and were sitting on the roof drinking a beer and watching the sunset on Valentine’s Day.  John pulled the ring out of a bag of potato chips. ; )
What attracted me to my husband was:  Opposites attract. He’s all the things that I’m not and visa versa. He loves me more than anyone in the world.  I could tell that the first night we met. 
What attracted me to my wife was:   He says I’m sassy.  :)
A date we went on that we’ll always remember:  Having dinner after he proposed at Meridian 42 on the Outer Banks, NC.  We drank a bottle of wine from the year we met.  Chateau Montelena 1966.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Riding on the boat from taking our photos to our reception.  We always kayak back there and never get to boat ride.  It was like being welcomed into the family being able to ride on their super old boat for the first time.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding?  We got married on an island, so getting everything and everyone over was the biggest challenge.  We couldn’t use the barge we had planned on because it was too low of a tide, so we made it work with golf carts and a boat : ).
Where there any special family traditions you included in the wedding?  All the men in John’s family have gotten married on Dew’s Island behind our house and farm, so that’s where John had always pictured himself getting married… in the backyard under this favorite old oak tree.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day?  John dipping me for our first kiss and them walking down the aisle as man and wife and the super proud look on my daddy’s face.
Scariest moment?  We were riding on the tractor to take our photos and my dress got caught in the wheel and started pulling me off.  I thought for a second I was going to get run over!
Funniest moment?  My daddy pants cutting in on our first dance and John not letting him in : ).  My Aunt (Dad’s sister) put him up to that.                   
The most unexpected event on our wedding day was:  When John came to visit me before the ceremony for snuggles. 
How was your wedding different than the way you’d always imagined it would be?  We weren’t nervous at all, we were totally at ease.  John said he didn’t get cold feet or even cold toes!
Three adjectives that describe the day are:  Colorful, Intimate, and Pet Friendly (All dogs were invited on the invitations for a puppy party) Super fun!
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding?  I hired vendors I trusted and let them use their own creative ideas to make our wedding the best possible!  I hired them because I love what they do and because it was the middle of wedding season for me, I didn’t have the time to handle all the details.  But even if I had, I wouldn’t have given too much direction : ).  Second piece of advice, have a wedding planner!  Mine was amazing!!
Special Details: My dad and brother walked me down the aisle. I am super great friends with Candyland (Candy), John’s mom.  My mom passed away the year before and she has been amazing!!!  Instead of a unity candle, we mixed two wines we made over that year in our kitchen and each drank from the same glass.

For the latest on Susan Stripling’s work, visit her {BLOG}.  Also, check out Brooke’s fabulous {BLOG}.  Congratualtions, Brooke + John and thank you for sharing all of these special details with us!