Southern Weddings

This is one wedding story that grabbed my attention from the get go.  Our team received Christine + Travis’ interview a few days before the NCAA 2009 National Championship Men’s Basketball Game.  Our office being located right at the home of the UNC Tar Heels were all pulling for our beloved team and this interview remind us again of the Tar Heels win in 2005!  Congratulations to the Tar Heels and congrats to Christine + Travis!  Maybe it was the luck of their interviews that lead the team to victory? Christine + Travis married in South Carolina at a friends home in {Beresford Hall}.  The couple choice {Lowcountry Boils} to cater this fabulous event.  Christine looked radiant in her {Casa Blanca} gown that she purchased from {A Beautiful Day Bridal}.  Matching it perfectly was the jewelry from {The Beaded Belle}.  This fabulous day was made possible by the wedding coordinator Linda McDowell and capturing all the fun was {Jeff Holt Photography}.  Check out more on Jeff’s photo {Blog}.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. Six degrees of separation is a great way to describe our relationship in the beginning. We both went to Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina and had many of the same friends thanks to our sorority and fraternity. However, we never really hung out except for one time in ’99, our sophomore year. Years passed and in 2005 I went to an engagement party for one of my best friends and sorority sister who was marrying one of Travis’ good friends and fraternity brothers. I was working on the invitations and I saw that Travis was invited and that he lived in Durham. I remember thinking “how neat someone new from ASU lives in Durham. I need to talk with him at the party and see how things are going”. I did just that, but I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. For those of you who may not know this, 2005 was the year that the North Carolina Tar heels won the men’s NCAA basketball championship. {Editor’s Note: They did it again in 2009! Go Heels}. Durham, North Carolina is in the heart of Tobacco Road where people are either Duke fans (which I am) or UNC fans (which Travis is). The night of the engagement party UNC won the Elite Eight game against Michigan State and now was headed to the Final Four. At the beginning of the party, I was thanking everyone for coming when I saw Travis. I asked him how he liked living in Durham. We chit chatted and swapped phone numbers so we could grab a drink and I could show him around Durham. During our conversation, UNC won their game against Michigan State. Needless to say, Travis was very excited and was looking to give a Duke fan (me) grief. “Just say Go Tar Heels and I will leave you alone I promise,” said Travis, but as a true Duke fan I just could not do that. We had a good time at the party with all our friends and I completely forgot that I had swapped phone numbers with Travis. So the following weekend when he called to ask me for that drink, I thought not the Go Tar Heels guy! What was suppose to be two new friends getting together for a drink and a tour of Durham, turned out to be drinks, dinner, hours of talking and now a life time together.
Describe the proposal: It was very romantic. While at ASU, Travis found a beautiful private stone and wooden gazebo overlooking the Blue Ridge Parkway. Since both of us went to ASU and we started our relationship in Boone, Travis knew that was going to be the place where he would propose to me. On our way up to Boone for Homecoming, Travis mentioned there was a place that he wanted to show me. When we got there it was like stepping into a fairy tale. We were on the parkway, up in the clouds and in our own little piece of heaven. I was walking around taking pictures, not paying attention to him because of the beauty. So when he asked me to come to him, I didn’t even think twice. When I did, I was completely shocked to see him down on one knee. At first I laughed, then I cried, and then I said YES!
What attracted me to my husband was: His sensitivity
What attracted me to my wife was: Her personality, from our first date we just clicked.
A date we went on that we’ll always remember: Travis would say the time I surprised him with a picnic dinner, but I would have to say going to see Alison Krauss at a small intimate outdoor amphitheater. That was the night that he told me he loved me.
The weather on our wedding day was: Perfect! A Bright blue Carolina (UNC) Sky and 80 degrees.
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? An Intimate Charleston Garden Wedding.
Favorite design element of your big day: The intimacy of the event.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: A NIGHTMARE! I found the dress that I wanted online, but before I bought it, I wanted to try it on. After 5 months of searching, I finally found the dress that I wanted in Jacksonville, Florida. However, the only shop in North Carolina that would order the dress at the time was in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This was great because that is where Travis’ parents live and my future mother-in-law could be involved in the whole process. We ordered the dress on February 2, and were told they would call me the following week with my shipping date. A week passed and I didn’t get a phone call. By 10 business days, I was getting nervous. So I went online to get their phone number. Both the website and the phone were disconnected. Needless to say, I was freaking out. I called my future mother in law and explained the situation. She became mother of the groomzilla! She went to the shop knocked on their door until someone opened it. She demanded my deposit money back (which she got) and made the store manager apologize to me personally on the phone. I was one of the lucky ones. The shop closed down the next week and a lot of brides lost their dresses. I finally found a shop in Durham that would order my dress. Four weeks later, I received my dress.
Describe your wedding flowers: I loved my flowers. I chose hot pink roses, green calla lilies, white snapdragons and white gladiolas. The flowers were one area I incorporated family into the ceremony. Pink roses are my favorite flower because they remind me of my Grandma Rose Marie, who I lost when I was young. The gladiolas were for my Grandma Grace, because that is what she carried on her wedding day.
Describe your wedding cake: No cake. My husband and I are not big cake fans, so we did a very southern thing, pies! We had two types of pies, Chocolate Chess and Key Lime.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: How family was incorporated into the wedding. Here are just a few ways we incorporated family. My uncle who is a priest and my godfather was one of the ministers in the service. Our wedding day was actually Travis’ parents wedding anniversary. We had a parents pledge instead of the giving away of the bride. My aunt did the scripture reading and Travis’ aunt read a poem she wrote after she became engaged to Travis’ uncle.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? Planning a destination wedding.
Were there any special family traditions you included in the wedding? Other than the ones I already mentioned, I also had both my Grandmothers wedding rings with me on my wedding day. I wore one as a blessing for a long happy marriage and one was incorporated into my bouquet as my something old.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? The vows, our minister (who was Travis’ youth minister) was nervous so when he asked Travis, “Will you take Christine to be your wife?” Travis answered, “I do, I will, absolutely.”
Scariest moment? The wedding dress disaster.
Funniest moment? The vows and the father- daughter dance (it wasn’t your typical father-daughter dance).
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Beautiful, peaceful and romantic.
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding? Don’t listen to anyone else. The day is for you and your husband to be only. DO WHAT YOU WANT!
Best advice or most memorable comment someone made to you during the wedding celebration. To remember the moment and use that memory when things aren’t so blessed.
Who was your most honored guest at the wedding? Because our wedding was a destination wedding everyone who came was an honored guest.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? Remodeling our home.

Congratulations to Christine + Travis.  We wish you many more victories in life!

Written with love by Lara Casey