Southern Weddings

Welcome back to part two of Kalen + Parks’ fab Real Wedding from V5! Kalen described their pink + gold reception at the Old Edwards Inn as a “gigantic party with a big dancing crowd and lots of cheerful faces.” Now that sounds like the kind of wedding I’d love to attend!

Together with their designer Calder Clark, K + P mixed elegant community tables with small plates stations of yummy Southern food to create a laid-back atmosphere where guests felt at home. Along with the gorgeous blooms, I can’t help but adore their uber-Southern dance floor that Calder created using old white oak fumed gray and stencils. And you know we SW gals can’t help but love their background of gold paillettes!

Special thanks to Jeremy at Harwell Photography for making us feel like we were there celebrating right along with Kalen + Parks!

The reception was a traditional Southern station-style dinner, so there wasn’t a formal cocktail hour. After the ceremony, guests entered the pavilion through floral-lined fabric drapes and perched at the barn wood topped community table or lounged on our furniture vignettes while they listened to the cocktail pianist, enjoyed cocktails and passed hors d’oeuvres and hung gold glitter tags filled with their well-wishes on our antler sign-in wall. When we entered the pavilion after post-ceremony pictures, guests gathered around to watch our first dance, then enjoyed some traditional (with a twist) Southern food, and danced the night away…until it was time to go to the after party!

What is the one thing that made your wedding different from anyone else’s wedding? What wasn’t different?! The Robinson and Keys families both like to be different. I am so glad I went with a place that was rustic and charming. Anyone can do a ballroom wedding. Calder Clark Designs turned a rustic location into a romantic plethora of enchantment. Everything from the food, to the atmosphere, to the setting and the timeline was different — which is exactly what we wanted.
Did you include any Southern traditions in your wedding? We had a groom’s cake at the rehearsal dinner that was a replica of the Nikes Parks gave our wedding party. I did a cake pull at my bridesmaids’ luncheon. Parks’ dad was his best man.

What was your reception like? A gigantic party with a big dancing crowd and lots of cheerful faces. It was a mash-up of elegant community tables with small plates stations of exquisite food, then tons of silly touches like neon Kanye sunglasses to help everyone let their hair down (this crowd didn’t need that much help!).
Describe some of the decorations or décor elements you used: Our designer, Calder Clark dreamed up incredible raw gray barn wood bars with crusty old Victorian corbels. She had an artist hand-paint these raw linen slipcovers for our furniture vignettes and had our florist build oversized gray wood pergolas dripping with Southern blooms hanging over folks’ heads in little lounges in the corners of the room. Calder designed a dance floor that was old white oak fumed gray and appliqued with this Anthropologie-esque stencil — it was totally cool and very “us.” We even had a band backdrop made of giant gold paillettes.

What advice would you give to someone planning his or her wedding? Am I allowed to say “Hire Calder Clark Designs?” I think I was super level-headed about the reason we were there. It was about Parks and me committing ourselves to each other for the rest of our lives. Who cares about a flower or a menu or lighting? At the end of the day, the people around us were the most important part — even though our flowers, menu and lighting were all exquisite!! The memories are the most important part because nine times out of ten, you look back on even the stressful moments and just laugh. Also, when you are making decisions, make the decision and move forward. Don’t go back and change things. You can keep making decisions for months, but the bottom line is no one is going to notice if the centerpiece was perfect or not. They will remember how in love you were with your hubby on your first night of being married. Stay rational!

Our cake was a five -tiered confection with an interior of pink butter cake and mocha mousse filling. The base layer of the cake was covered in gold buttercream and the other four tiers were iced with buttercream in ombre shades of pink. The cake was garnished with a few delicate sugar flowers and simple gold bands between each of the tiers.

I found the song “Home” when the infamous father-daughter duo put it on YouTube. I loved the lyrics, so I Google searched the song. Whenever I get down, Parks will just look at me with a smile and say “Holy moly me oh my” and it never ceases to make me smile. It soon turned into that, when I was down, we ended up dancing around the house to the song. It’s a fun song but means a lot so we chose it as our first dance. We wanted to have fun with our dance and we did. During the most stressful moments of planning, it felt good to go to dance lessons and just let it go.

What were some of the highlights? Watching people have the best time ever. I kept trying so hard to soak it all in. We would be dancing and I would just look around. I remember every single moment so vividly.
Were there any family traditions you included in the reception? Parks and I used the same sterling toasting goblets that his parents used for their wedding.
Did you try anything new or untraditional? We kept it simple and had fun. I didn’t want anyone to ever feel that they were supposed to be somewhere or wonder if they were allowed to go get a drink. I wanted them to feel at home. Go get a bite to eat, go get a drink, go dance the night away. Just have fun!
Tell us about your grand exit. Guests lined up outside of the pavilion and showered us with metallic mylar pom-poms as we ran toward the vintage Rolls Royce positioned outside.
Did you include any Southern traditions in your wedding? We had a groom’s cake at the rehearsal dinner that was a replica of the Nikes Parks gave our wedding party. I did a cake pull at my bridesmaids’ luncheon. Parks’ dad was his best man.
What was Southern about your wedding? Our guests had welcome bags full of trucker hats, bourbon balls, Garden & Gun, Barker’s Mill grits, Fat Buddies BBQ sauce, and more!
Best advice or most memorable comment someone made to you during the wedding celebration. A good ol’ cowboy friend of my dad’s came up to us and said “Hey y’all! Some say marriage is hard. It ain’t hard if you don’t let it be. Just enjoy it and be happy with each other.” That advice has really stuck in my head. Don’t make it hard. Learn to communicate, give, take and just be happy. Parks’ dad also reminded us to never go to bed angry.
Who was your favorite vendor and why? Calder Clark Designs. Calder and Caitlin became so much more than a vendor. They became friends and mentors. They are family now. I remember Calder saying that to me the first day I talked to her on the phone, “My brides become my friends.” I thought it was just a selling point or something she says to all her brides. Not true. To me, they became way more than friends. I knew that through the wedding planning and on the wedding weekend, I had NOTHING to worry about because I knew that Calder and Caitlin would make it perfect. They made me a very calm and happy bride that could just focus on me and my husband and our guests all weekend. I would really like my sister or brother to get engaged so that I can spend another year with them!

Harwell Photography is a fabulous member of our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

Written with love by Marissa