Southern Weddings

Hayden and Logan met when they were just tykes, and the two grew up together, spending their Friday nights the good ol’ Southern way–at high school football games (Emily, our resident Friday Night Lights fan, will love this detail)! H + L knew they were meant for each other, and by the time their wedding came around, their marriage had been a long time coming (eight years to be exact!). The two planned a beautifully touching day at Hayden’s family farm. Of course, the venue was gorgeous, and there were even chandeliers in the tree and cows that overlooked the ceremony(!), but my favorite part of this wedding has to be Logan’s response to his favorite part of the day: “I couldn’t tell you who was in the crowd that day because my eyes were glued to the only thing that mattered. She was beautiful and perfect and about to be my WIFE! It was the best feeling in the world.” I joked with Lisa that she sent me a note about how pretty this wedding was, but didn’t warn me that I’d cry while reading their interview!

Thanks to Tucker Images for sharing such a romantic day with us!

My mom, grandmother, and two sisters flew down to Houston for a day of dress shopping. After going to two places with no luck, we finally headed to my favorite boutique. I was so sure about the style I wanted: trumpet, sweetheart neckline, and no lace. I went to that store to try on a particular dress I just knew was perfect, but when I tried it on, it just wasn’t the one. My heart was crushed that the dress I had been dreaming about wasn’t for me. I then tried on one more that my sister had found, and it was beautiful, but it had lace, so I was a little hesitant. When I came out to look in the mirror, I couldn’t stop smiling, and seeing my family’s reaction, I just knew that was the one. It was even better than what I had envisioned for myself!

Describe your wedding flowers. We went for a soft, garden-like feel with creams, whites, blushes, and peaches. We used ranunculus, Juliet garden roses, peonies, white lilac, eucalyptus leaves, O’Hara garden roses, hydrangeas, and snapdragons.

The Homeplace is my family farm, and it is so dear to our hearts. My family has been spending holidays and summers there since before I was born. Countless memories have been made, from picking out Christmas trees on the hayride with all the cousins, to hunting in the deer stand all afternoon with Logan. Logan has learned to love the farm almost as much as I do–he has been visiting it with me for seven years, after all! The ceremony was held under The Elephant Tree, a century-old oak tree that my great-great-grandmother planted years ago. Growing up, my cousins and I have climbed that tree countless times, spending hours in it. When thinking of venues, we couldn’t imagine our wedding being anywhere other than our favorite place in the world.

These two are so stinkin’ cute!

Our favorite detail of the wedding was: We had cafe lights strung in a zigzag fashion inside the tent and draped over the dance floor outside. Without them, our venue wouldn’t have felt as intimate as we wanted it do. Another one of my favorite details was all of the signs that were staked in the ground. Logan pulled up part of an old fence in our backyard and sawed them into arrows, and my mom and I stayed up late one night at the farm painting them all while listening to the sounds of the outdoors. That one night of peacefulness with her during a hectic week is a wonderful memory.

Describe your wedding cake or dessert. Since we got married in the middle of nowhere, we used this little country bakery, who had actually been on Cupcake Wars! They are so talented! I showed them a picture of what I wanted and they knew exactly how to make it, adding in a little of their own creativity. My cake was three tiers with a taller middle tier. The surface was buttercream frosting with horizontal ridges in it. There were different flavors in each layer: New York strawberry cheesecake, lemon, and (my favorite) orange Dreamscicle. I also surprised Logan with a groom’s cake. Since he is in the Air Force and is training to be a fighter pilot, we had a 3D F-16 plane made out of raspberry chocolate fudge. It was all so delicious!

How did y’all meet? Tell us your love story. I can’t remember the moment we met because we always kind of knew of each other. Even though we played in the same soccer organization and were both in middle school band, we never said much more than hi to each other. Finally, by the end of eighth grade, Logan informed our mutual friend that he thought I was cute. We instant messaged each other for a couple of months before we bumped it up a notch and went to the movies together. He asked me to be his girlfriend while we were waiting for his parents to pick us up! After that, we fell for each other fast, knowing the Lord was already preparing us for marriage at such a young age. High school consisted of watching Logan quarterback for our football team as a cheerleader on the sideline every Friday night. After we graduated from high school, we went to two separate colleges–he went to the University of South Carolina and I went to Texas A&M. We weren’t sure how we were going to handle long distance, but I’d say it worked out pretty well. :)
Tell us all about the proposal! After dating for almost seven years, Logan finally asked me to be his wife at his Air Force graduation. He had gone off to boot camp for two months, so I could only talk to him through letters. I was so diligent about writing him every day. His graduation finally came and the day couldn’t have gotten any better. Both of our families flew down for it, and we planned to take some pictures to commemorate it all with Logan in his Air Force uniform. Logan led me down a path by ourselves to scope out a good spot for us to take pictures, and I could tell something was different. He wasn’t saying much and his hands were clammy. I immediately knew it was happening and my heart started fluttering as he led me to the garden. He proceeded to tell me he had waited long enough to call me his wife and that God had prepared his heart so much after being away from each other for two months. He then got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife, and my family all came out from hiding after they watched it all! Once it was all over, Logan told me that he had no idea he was going to propose at his graduation before he left, so he had exchanged letters with my grandmother during boot camp, asking for one of her loose diamonds to make into a ring. My grandmother and his dad did everything to make sure the ring was perfect by graduation. It couldn’t have been more special.
When did y’all get married? May 3, 2014
How many friends, family members, and loved ones attended your wedding? 220
Did you decide to do a “first look”? Why or why not? We decided not to do a first look. When we discussed it in the beginning, Logan said that he really wanted to see me for the first time walking down the aisle to be his wife, so that’s what we did. I loved building the anticipation and wondering all day what he was going to think of me. We did, however, hold hands around a corner and talk for a little while to alleviate some of the nerves, which we were so thankful we did, because it calmed us down during the hectic-ness of the day.
Did you write your own vows? If so, what was your favorite phrase, verse or line? One of the biggest visions we had for our wedding was to make it feel personal and intimate. We wanted our guests to feel like they were included in our relationship, which every one of them was, and for them to understand our love for each other. With that in mind, we decided to write our own vows. We each wrote our own, which was so special. My favorite vow of his was, “I promise to fight for our marriage and pursue you from this day forth. To protect you from your fears and to guard you heart.” My favorite vow of mine was, “I promise to support you as the leader of our family and follow you wherever God leads you.”
Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding and why you chose them. We had our friends play the violin, viola, and guitar throughout the ceremony. I walked down the aisle to Canon in D. I dreamed of walking down the aisle to this song since I was a little girl and knew it was perfect. During communion, they played “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and helped us center the commitment we were making on God. We played “Gone Gone Gone” by Phillip Phillips for our recessional, which kicked off the party with its upbeat rhythm. Our first dance was “You are Mine” by Spencer Combs. I had never heard of this song before, but stumbled upon it while watching wedding videos. The words were so true and meaningful for us.
Did you have something borrowed, blue, old, and new? If so, do tell! For something borrowed (and old), I wore my great-great-grandmother’s gold wedding band. For my something blue, I wore a blue topaz ring that my grandmother bought each of my sisters and my mom on our 18th birthdays. For my something new, I wore my veil (which I ripped on the day of my bridals, but superglued back together!).
What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? The most Southern detail about our wedding was having it at our family farm in the countryside while the cows overlooked our ceremony. Logan also built corn hole for our guests to play during the reception. And the night wasn’t complete without lots and lots of sweet tea!
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? The biggest challenge for me, besides trying to stay within budget, was planning a wedding while finishing nursing school. I was five hours away from my family and six hours away from where we were getting married. It was so hard to stay focused and be diligent with my studies, while at the same time, needing to make decisions on napkins and meet with vendors. My grandmother really stepped up and helped me by constantly calling me and seeing what needed to be done. She would call me at least three times a week and tell me what she had done, and it just felt like such a relief each time she would say something was marked off. She really was my wedding go-to girl and I’m so thankful for my Nanners! Our wedding wouldn’t have been possible without her.
If you are comfortable responding, what range did your wedding budget fall into? $10,000-$25,000
What was one way you saved money or cut costs at your wedding? We cut costs by having the wedding at our farm. This saved us by avoiding a venue fee and being able to choose our own catering company. We have a family friend who owns a yummy Mexican restaurant, so he helped us out a lot! I also had my high school friend DJ for us, which made it so much more personal and fun.
What is the one detail or vendor that you were so happy to have as a part of your wedding? We were so thankful for our photographers, Britney and Ben Tarno, from Tucker Images. We had met them right after we got engaged and knew that they were so talented, but we had no idea what down-to-earth, Jesus-loving, kind people they were. The wedding day wouldn’t have been the same without them. They kept us comfortable and sane all day and gave us amazing direction when it came time to take pictures. To us, it is most important to spend your money on great photographers, because that’s what you’re going to have to remember your day by. And let me just tell you, we were so impressed by ours. Britney and Ben just completely made our day.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? From Hayden: It is so hard to pick one most memorable moment, but I would have to say it was driving away in our little car after everything was over, and being able to step back and realize that we were finally husband and wife after eight years! It was the first time no one else was around and we could replay all of the wonderful, intimate moments of our day. From Logan: Hands down, it was seeing her come through the curtains and walk down the aisle to me. The anticipation had been built up so much, and after years of imagining what that moment would be like, it was finally here. She looked stunning and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. I couldn’t tell you who was in the crowd that day because my eyes were glued to the only thing that mattered. She was beautiful and perfect and about to be my WIFE! It was the best feeling in the world.
What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? Don’t sweat the small stuff! I would get so bogged down in little details that didn’t matter or that would work themselves out. I was so nervous that no one would know where to put my decorations on the wedding that I actually sticky-noted each and every little thing and told them where to put it. In the end, that stuff didn’t even matter. I would also advise taking the time to really talk to your fiancé, and I don’t mean going on dates and talking about the wedding. Make a pact that you will only talk about wedding details for a certain amount of time each day. This way, you can focus on the commitment you are about to make and get your heart and your mind ready.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you most looking forward to about married life? We are living in Dallas and I just got a job as a nurse at UT Southwestern Hospital. Logan works at SBM Management at Bell Helicopter and is in the South Carolina Air National Guard, training to be an F-16 fighter pilot. We are praying fervently that God will open up a position for him within the year, which could possibly take us anywhere in the US. Coming from big families and long distance, it was hard for us to get any alone time together. After eight years of dating, we finally have a place to call ours where we can make our life together. We love getting into a daily routine and figuring out where to grocery shop, what church we want to join, and all of the little decisions a family makes. We are so excited to see where God takes us!

Photographer: Tucker Images / Venue: Private residence / Florist: La Tee Da / Cake Baker: The Luscious Crumb / Caterer: Carmona’s Tex-Mex and Cantina / Rentals: All American Party and Tent Rentals and Iron Inspired / Bride’s Gown: “Sabrina” by Matthew Christopher / Bride’s Veil: Patsy’s Bridal Boutique / Hair and Makeup: Micaela Soto / Bride’s Shoes and Bridesmaid Dresses: J. Crew / Men’s Attire: Jos. A. Bank

Tucker Images is a delightful member of our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

Written with love by Marissa