Southern Weddings

Aside from the Kentucky Derby, this weekend also holds another super-fun celebration: Cinco de Mayo! When Bee Photographie sent us this Florida wedding filled to the brim with colorful details, we knew it would be perfect to share with you this week, so grab some chips and guac, sit back, and enjoy the heartfelt fiesta of Gabriella and Jonathan! (Don’t mind if I do!)

How much do we adore these colorful bridesmaid dresses? A lot. A whole lot.

Did you write your own vows? If so, what was your favorite phrase, verse or line? We did, and here is a snippet from Jon’s vows: “I promise to love you for who you are, but more than that, I promise to love you for who God has in mind for you to become and to spend my life challenging you to get there. I promise to cry with you over loss, and dance with you to celebrate life and I promise to try my best to always make you feel as pretty as you look right now. I promise to love you, really and truly love you, for the rest of my life.”

Who else loves Gabriella’s cute short dress? I went shopping with my mom and tried on a bunch of long dresses. The dresses were beautiful, but I would put them on and feel all stiff and awkward. When the woman brought out a cute, ‘50s-style short dress, I put in on and immediately started dancing. My mom knew that it would be the one we’d bring home that day.

One of my best friends growing up, Erin, spent days making a multicolored Day of the Dead cake. She also made about 100 buttercream cupcakes with quirky mustaches and sombreros to continue the Mexican theme.

How did the two of you meet? Jon and I met when we were studying abroad in Madrid, Spain. Though we both went to the same school in Florida, it took both of us traveling all the way over to Spain to meet.
Describe the proposal. I used to collect snow globes. Since my first job out of college involved me traveling all over the country, this collection started to get ridiculous. I ended up with an insane collection of around 75 snow globes of various sizes. When I moved from Boston to NY, the snow globes did not make the cut and were left in a storage unit I had commandeered in the basement of my apartment building. On a work trip to Boston, Jon secretly collected all 75 snow globes and brought them him on a vacation we had been planning to Tree Bones resort in Big Sur California. Like many fiancés to be, Jon did not sleep on the night before, and in the middle of the night he laid out snow globes of all the cities we had lived in or traveled to together. Each snow globe had a note explaining its place in our love story. On Easter morning, Jon woke me up at sunrise telling me the Easter bunny had come. As I found each snow globe and its note, I began to think this might be a little bigger than a normal Easter gift. The final snow globe I found was a cheesy, but amazing, custom-ordered snow globe with the first photo Jon could find of us together on one side and the most recent photo of us on the other. The placard under the photo read “Anywhere” and it was placed on the ridge overlooking California cliffs and the Pacific. Jon came from around the corner, and said something sweet and sentimental that neither of us can remember for one second because our hearts were beating so hard and we were so nervous. I do remember Jon asking if I would marry him. And I definitely remember saying yes.
In what month did you get married? March
How many guests attended your wedding? 160
Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding. Our first dance was to “Breath of Love” by David Mayfield Parade and our last dance was to “Hey Jude” by the Beatles.
Describe your wedding flowers: They were bright, colorful gerbera daisies, carnations, and tissue-paper flowers.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The colors. It felt very vibrant and lively. It felt like us. We also had a wall made of entirely paper flowers that my amazing girlfriends helped make – it was beautiful.
What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? Definitely the barn! It was fun because Jon’s family is from Iowa and my family is Latin so we wanted to create an atmosphere that represented both of us – a Day of the Dead barn wedding.
What range did your wedding budget fall into? $10,000-$25,000
What is the one thing you are most happy you splurged on? Our photographer and photo booth.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Undoubtedly, our last song, “Hey Jude.” We had an enormous dance circle with all of our family and friends lifting us up in the air and dancing around us. It was pretty epic. Also, when I ripped my dress! Eeek! I was getting really deep in the classic “running man” and put my heel right through the back of my dress. My amazing Aunt Maggie was immediately to the rescue, pulling bobby pins from her hair and pinning the back of the dress up.
What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? Just love it. Dance. And when it rains, dance and laugh. And don’t forget to eat something.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We are slowly figuring out what we are supposed to do with the rest of our lives. But we get to do that together – which is really exciting.

Photographer: Bee Photographie // Videographer: Bee Photographie // Venue: Family friend’s barn // Florist: Ashton and Christy Mayer // Wedding Cake or Dessert Baker: Erin Gilbert // Salsa Favors: The Jam Stand // Caterer: Chef Scott // Bride’s Hair Accessories: Ashton Mayer // Bride’s Jewelry: Nordstrom // Hair Stylist: Stacey Wick // Makeup Artist: Kristy Alonzo

Written with love by Emily