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It should come as no surprise that the wedding of For the Makers co-founder Janet was a perfect example of DIY-done-elegant — after all, through her genius business, this talented gal has subtracted the guesswork and multiplied the beauty of craft projects everywhere. (LOVE!) So even though her wedding to Collin was filled with DIY projects, from the dye-dipped napkins and table runners, to the watercolor invitations and custom wine labels, the chalkboard photo booth backdrop, Janet’s jewelry, and ALL the desserts, the end result is clean, sophisticated, and understated. Huge thanks to Julia Wade for capturing everything to perfection so we could share!

What a beautiful sentiment with which to start your wedding day!

Janet’s gorgeous necklace was actually featured as a DIY on For the Makers — find it here!

A lot of the music, both from the ceremony and reception, was really just songs that represent memories that we’ve shared. Many of the songs were later-year hits from the Beatles. I walked down the aisle to “Here, There and Everywhere,” and exited to “All You Need is Love.” We chose Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” as our first dance because we love the song and we were married on the first day of fall (just after a harvest moon).

So many happy faces in a row!

How did y’all meet? Tell us your love story. We met in college. He sat in front of me in Art History. I asked him for pencils. The whole semester, he would turn around to look at a clock behind me, even though we both knew that he couldn’t actually see it from where he was sitting. On the last day of class, I asked him out for coffee. He said yes (and that he had wanted to do the same but was too shy) and we’ve been inseparable since. That was ten years ago.

I saw a Vera Wang dress in a magazine and thought it would absolutely be the one. I booked an appointment at the showroom along with a few other places in NYC, and my mom came up from North Carolina to help me look. The Vera Wang dress turned out to be a complete disaster — I took it off just as fast as I put it on. At the next location, I pulled several dresses from the racks, and the second one I put on made my mom start crying. I loved its simplicity and subtle structure. I slept on it and we went back the next day and bought it. I wasn’t a fan of the flutter sleeve that it originally had, so we had them alter the shoulder for a more streamlined look. After that change, I loved it even more.

Describe your wedding flowers. Natural, loosely arranged in pretty pale tones. Both the ceremony floral arrangements and the table arrangements were stunning. Each one was different and in a different vase/vessel. We included fruit and lots of foliage. We wanted it to feel natural and fit in with the gorgeous venue.

Get ready for your mouths to water, y’all…

Instead of a cake, we opted for cakes. My mother, an excellent baker, crafted more than a dozen cakes, plus cookies, truffles and macarons. The specific cake that we cut was a three-layer white velvet cake with milk chocolate buttercream icing, wrapped with French vanilla buttercream. It was topped off with a poured dark chocolate ganache. And it was the best cake ever.

Tell us all about the proposal! It was my birthday. We spent the day wandering around the city, shopping, eating and drinking. Hours later, we went to my favorite restaurant and ordered my favorite meal. On the way out to catch a cab, he asked me if I felt like the luckiest girl in New York City and I said yes. Then he said “will you make me the luckiest guy in New York City”? I turned around and he had knelt down on the sidewalk looking up at me with a cute box in his hand. I said yes before he could even open it or say anything else. All I remember saying was “oh my God” over and over again. I was shocked. After nine years of dating, you just don’t expect it. He asked me if I liked the ring and I realized I hadn’t even looked at it. It was gorgeous and perfect. We got into a cab and drove off to midtown to catch a Broadway show we had tickets for. After that, we met up with friends for celebratory drinks. It was the perfect day.
When did y’all get married? September 22nd, 2012
How many friends, family members, and loved ones attended your wedding? 170
Did you decide to do a “first look”? Why or why not? No, neither of us wanted to. Collin said the first time he wanted to see me was when I walked down the aisle. I felt the same way.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Our favorite details really sprang from my DIY skills. My mother, my bridesmaids and I worked to create one-of-a-kind pieces that tied in with the overall theme of the wedding. From dye-dipped napkins and table runners to watercolored invitations and custom wine labels, the wedding really reflected the warm, personal feel of an idea that was hand crafted. The ultimate centerpiece was a huge chalkboard that doubled as a photo booth backdrop and giant wedding card.
Did you have something borrowed, blue, old, and new? If so, do tell! On the inside of my dress, we sewed in one of my late Grandmother’s blue silk hair ribbons that I borrowed from my mom. So that covers everything!
What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? We heard it was good luck to bury a bottle of bourbon a month before the wedding so it wouldn’t rain. We did that. It absolutely worked. We had gorgeous weather and not one second after the last song ended, it started to rain. The next day, we dug the bourbon up and drank it, as all good Southerners would do.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? The biggest challenges when planning the wedding centered around our distance from the location. While the caterers, photographer, florists, and most importantly, our family members were busy planning and facilitating, we were hundreds of miles away in NYC. We both had fairly unforgiving schedules at the time, so finding our way down to meet and plan with all of the various folks that really pulled this day off proved to be incredibly challenging.
What is the one detail or vendor that you were so happy to have as a part of your wedding? Hands down, Julia was the best photographer we could have ever asked for. She was so warm and professional that she truly felt like a part of the bridal party by the end of the week. While all of our vendors were amazing to work with and blew away our expectations, Julia still managed to shine.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? We both agree that our favorite moment was the walk down the aisle. Everything was perfect. Neither one of us have ever smiled half as hard as we were in that moment.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you most looking forward to about married life? Just more of the same. Please and thanks.

Julia Wade is a delightful member of our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

emily Written with love by Emily
2 Comments
  1. avatar Sara Velordi reply

    I love this – that dessert table is simply incredible! And I LOVE “For the Makers!

  2. avatar a well-crafted home – Julia Wade Photography reply

    […] who hired me in 2012 to photograph her beautiful wedding (see it featured on Southern Weddings here) and then became a dear friend in the process.  When she reached out to me about this project I […]

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I first discovered fine art wedding photography almost four years ago, when a friend of mine left a Facebook comment on someone’s wedding pictures. Being the wedding picture-stalker I tend to be, I checked out the wedding album and was floored by how gorgeous and cinematic the photography was. Their photographer? None other than Tim Willoughby of Tim Will, who photographed today’s real wedding! Since Tim could be credited with the start of my love for amazing wedding photography, I’m especially honored to be sharing Rachel and Daniel’s beautiful Chattanooga wedding today. Their wedding is overflowing with Southern elegance, and you won’t want to miss their adorable proposal story—I definitely got tears in my eyes when I read it!

Tell us all about the proposal! Daniel and I have an affinity for bluegrass music. I just listen to it, but he plays the mandolin and guitar, and suffers from a banjo addiction. The song that we have always considered “ours” is “Ocean of Diamonds” by Jimmy Martin. One Sunday night last June, I returned to Charleston from out of town. Daniel had cooked dinner since I had been traveling all day. He told me he heard a great new band that I just had to hear. I was exhausted and stuffing my face when he started playing it. It took about five seconds for me to realize that it was him singing and playing guitar, mandolin and banjo. He had recorded it for me on Garage Band. Still not convinced he was proposing, we started dancing in the kitchen, and with our chests together I could feel his heart racing… that’s when I knew what was up! He got down on one knee and I was crying so hard, I can barely remember what he said. I said yes, and he gave me his grandmother’s diamond filigree ring.

The flowers were romantic and ethereal. The pale soft roses and peonies contrasted so well with the sharp blue thistle and dark blue anemone centers. My florist also wrapped some gold wire around my bouquet and the boys’ boutonnieres. It added a fairytale whimsy to the pastels!

Cami, my bridesmaid and best friend, sang “Be Thou My Vision,” a Gaelic hymn, right before I walked down the aisle. It is so hauntingly beautiful and her voice is so angelic, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the building. It meant so much to have her sing at my wedding. She has been in my life since the beginning!

What readings, if any, did you have at your ceremony? We had a few. My favorite was Song of Solomon 8:6-7. It speaks of an unquenchable love. That’s exactly how I feel about my groom.

Tim Willoughby is a photographer I found in Charleston. His ability to capture timeless, breathtaking images sold me immediately. Having him in Chattanooga for the weekend made me so calm. I didn’t have to worry if he was getting all of the right images because I knew he was. He was able to see all of the things I couldn’t. Over time, memories fade, and it gave me peace of mind knowing I would have his photos to look at forever.

Seriously, y’all, I could look at pictures of Rachel’s dreamy Vera Wang gown all day. If it looks familiar to you, it might be because our very own Emily tried it on during one of her dress shopping trips almost two years ago, at the same salon where Rachel bought her dress!

One of the most Southern things about our wedding was my dad’s bluegrass band playing for our cocktail hour. They also played our first dance, which happened to be “Ocean of Diamonds,” the song Daniel proposed to me with! I think the juxtaposition of the bluegrass band in a modern art museum was such a funky twist on what “Southern” can be. Who says Southern has to be at a plantation or in a barn?

Describe your wedding cake or dessert. My cake had a subtle floral pattern inset into the buttercream icing. The roses and blue thistle floral accents really stood out against the simple design. Daniel’s cake was a real work of art. I mentioned his banjo addiction right? Well his cake was a chocolate, to scale model of a Gibson banjo. It was insanely realistic…and delicious.

You know how much we love a gentleman in seersucker! This adorable duo is actually Daniel’s grandmother and her twin brother. Aren’t they the cutest?

What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Gosh, how can I pick one moment? I guess the most memorable would be the dance floor, because I spent the majority of the night there. The dance floor was packed from start to finish. Everyone was dancing like maniacs! I am a super awkward dancer, but being with old and new friends, my family and Daniel’s family all together was kind of mind blowing. I kept looking over and seeing two people from two completely separate parts of my life breaking it down together like fools. It was a once in a lifetime thing.

How did y’all meet? Tell us your love story. Daniel and I met at a football game during our junior year of high school in 2005. We dated all through the rest of high school. When college came, I was going to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and he was headed to join the crew team at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. We thought it was over from the horror stories people told us about long-distance relationships. Over those four LONG years of dating 650 miles away, we realized that no matter how hard a long-distance relationship was, it wouldn’t even be close to the pain that would come from not being in each others’ lives. Luckily we survived, and I was able to move to Charleston, SC after graduation to be with him when he started medical school.
When did y’all get married? May 25, 2013
How many friends, family members, and loved ones attended your wedding? 325, give or take.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress. My mom, two sisters and future mother-in-law came to Charleston one August weekend for a day of dress shopping. We started in the morning at Maddison Row in downtown Charleston. My dress was the third one I tried on, and I just knew. I tried on a few others, but kept going back to the Vera Wang Emmeline. I told them when I first walked in that I loved tulle, and this dress has TONS of tulle. I ended up buying it that morning and canceling my other dress appointments that day. My mom was disappointed that the shopping ended so quickly!
Did you decide to do a “first look”? Why or why not? We did not do a first look. Since I was a little girl, I have been looking forward to having my church doors swing open and my groom seeing me with the rest of my guests.
Did you write your own vows? If so, what was your favorite phrase, verse or line? No way! I can’t write to save my life. Daniel and I wrote each other letters before the wedding. My words are best kept on a private piece of paper.
Did you have something borrowed, blue, old, and new? If so, do tell! Something borrowed was a hair barrette my mother had gotten as a gift from her parents when they vacationed in Mexico. My something blue was a blue stone bracelet of my mother’s. New was a delicate lace handkerchief wrapped around my bouquet that a family friend wove on her loom! For my something old, I had my late grandmother’s costume turtle brooch peeking out of my bouquet.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? The biggest challenge for me was narrowing down my ideas. Between reading wedding magazines and being on Pinterest all day, it is so hard to decide which direction you want to go! There are so many amazing ideas out there. Eventually I had to just close my eyes and imagine my ideal wedding. Things started to fall into place.
What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? Enjoy it. Your engagement is a time to savor. It only lasts a short while! Don’t stress the little things. It’s easy to get wrapped up in planning a “dream wedding” and to forget that you are marrying the man of your dreams.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you most looking forward to about married life? Daniel and I are settling into our new house in Charleston. He is continuing medical school, and I have an awesome interior design job. We just got a sweet new doggy, and we’re enjoying everyday life as a happy little family.

lisa Written with love by Lisa
20 Comments
  1. avatar Laura reply

    Love these beautiful pictures! Chattanooga holds a special place in my heart so I loved that they incorporated some of the city’s best known landmarks into the photos.

  2. avatar Emily reply

    I ADORE her gown! Tulle perfection!!

  3. avatar Wedding 101 Greenville reply

    Everything about this wedding is stunning! Beautiful photography, insanely gorgeous gown, and the texture of the flowers = to die for!!! Love this one!

  4. avatar Kat reply

    Every time I see that gown I die just a little!!!! LOVE it!

  5. avatar Kristin reply

    Transportation via bright yellow school bus AND a dress that is something straight from a fairytale? Yes, please!! Love!!

  6. avatar Lauren reply

    The pictures are gorgeous and those cookies? Amazing!

  7. avatar Occasions In Print reply

    What a beautiful dress and bride! I love the groom’s cake! Just pinned it on our Western Wedding Board.

  8. avatar Christina reply

    Love, love, love this wedding!! Does anyone know who she used for the koozies? Random, I know. But every Southern wedding needs koozies! ;)

    • avatar Rachel reply

      Christina and Jay:
      Hi from the Bride! I used Totally Koozies. My friend Emily illustrated that logo and uploaded the image in their custom section

  9. avatar Carey reply

    As a wedding guest and mother of one of the bridesmaids, I can say that this was the most beautiful and meaningful weddings I have ever attended. I have known Rachel since she was a child and Daniel since they began dating. This wedding was a celebration of two beautiful people that love each other and two special families that bring together many people who love them and who were honored to celebrate, with abandon, this special day with them. It was not only a celebration of the couple, but of their amazing love of family and our love for them and their families! We love you, Rachel & Daniel!

  10. avatar Jay reply

    Lovely wedding!! Where are the zoozies from!?

  11. avatar Friday Fresh Squeeze | Floridian Weddings reply

    […] Totally love that this wedding party was carried around town in a big yellow school bus! […]

  12. avatar Taylor reply

    LOVE this! Where are the personalized drink stirrers from? I am obsessed with those!

  13. avatar Emily reply

    That dress!!!! And all of these pictures are AMAZING. I love the one of them on the dance floor with their heads together, totally perfect.

  14. avatar Sapphire Events Blog » Wedding Inspiration Board: Oh My Darling, Dixie | Sapphire Events New Orleans Wedding Planner reply

    […] Tea Photography and Petal’s Edge Floral Design, banjo groom’s cake by Tim Will via Southern Weddings, Cokes by Kate Triano via Southern Weddings, wellies by Lindsay Madden Photography via Style Me […]

  15. avatar Wedding Inspiration: 2 | Seeking Joy reply

    […] via Southern Weddings  […]

  16. avatar Say Hello to Southern Weddings | Your Hub for Southern Culture reply

    […] also post beautiful weddings every day on our own blog. These photos are from a recent favorite by Tim […]

  17. avatar Best of 2013: Wedding Gowns – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] ballgown | Rachel + Daniel | Tim […]

  18. avatar Southern Expert: Tips for Working With Your Florist – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] Rachel + Daniel‘s wedding by Tim Will, bouquets by Martha Kern […]

  19. avatar All You Need To Know About Grooms Cakes reply

    […] Cake by Cup a Dee Cakes, Photo by Tim Will Photo via Southern Weddings […]

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I’m a big fan of classic Southern style weddings, especially ones with pale pink accents. I attribute this to the romantic in me. But I have to say I fell hard for Brittany + Matt’s turquoise celebration. The classic white florals and soft gold accents combine to make the bright turquoise feel refreshing and joyful! As y’all also may know about me, I believe in love at first sight. That’s why Brittany + Matt’s adorable chance-meeting-turned-real-life-meet cute made my heart sing!

Special thanks to Rebekah Hoyt for not only capturing their gorgeous big day, but one of my favorite first look photos ever! Just wait until you see Matt’s face! I must warn you that it may crack wide open even the hardest of hearts :)

To fulfill the rhyme, I had old satin from my mom’s wedding dress on the ring bearer’s pillow, and new lace wrapped around my bouquet from the same material with which we made my cap sleeves. I had borrowed and blue shoes: I found and fell in love with a pair of funky designer shoes on eBay and snatched them up after I saw they had blue soles with little diamonds that said “I” and “do” under each sole. I consider them borrowed because they were clearly purchased for someone else’s wedding, although they were never actually worn!

Did you decide to do a “first look”? Yes, we did! At first I was unsure about it because I wanted to stick with tradition and not see Matt until I walked down the aisle, but it turned out to be one of the most special parts of the day that we shared alone together before the wedding commenced. It also allowed us time to take photos before the ceremony and then get whisked away to enjoy the reception all the more!

Pure and absolute joy at its very best!

Tell us about finding your wedding dress. 
Finding my dress was a long process. I thought so many looked great, and I chose one of my favorites, a more fitted dress that I was dead set on. After a couple weeks of thought, though, I wasn’t so sure. I felt like I should look again and I tried on a completely different style of dress. It was fuller and more traditional. The funny part was that the store was out of stock of the Isadora Marie, the dress I ended up choosing, so I had to try on the “sister” dress that had a different bottom and fold the entire bottom half up to the waistline to make it look similar and get a feel for how it would look. Wouldn’t you know, the jimmy-rigged “sister” dress had me speechless! The photos are pretty funny to look back on because it didn’t look quite the same, but we had the store, Tiffany’s Bridal, order the real Isadora Marie. When I finally got to try it on, I was sure I had found my gown! The only thing I felt was missing to make it just my own were lace cap sleeves. We had Tiffany’s order some extra lace from the same style as the bottom of the dress and had them fitted and even made detachable, as I was excited to have the option of two looks for the wedding and reception. I kept the sleeves on until midway through the reception and danced the night away without the straps!

I was really tickled that we had the historic and iconic “Richmond Trolley Car” transport the wedding party to the ceremony and reception. The trolley is the epitome of the city’s Southern charm and is most certainly a tradition for Richmond’s summer weddings. The overall aesthetics of the area in which we had the wedding were very quaint and romantic in a special Southern way, with winding roads lined with great big oak trees! Both the church and reception venues also had similar architectural styles that were very Southern in nature, with lined brick archways and big white columns on the exterior and black and white checkered marble flooring and draped curtains in the interior.

Did you write your own vows? 
Yes, we did. In my vows, I made a list of promises to Matt by using scriptural texts and listing our most unique and personal times together. I don’t have a favorite phrase, but there was a really funny moment when I promised to “intentionally give two of Matt’s love languages, quality time and touch.” After I said it, Matt kind of smirked and then the entire congregation erupted in laughter! It was a really cute moment.

What readings, if any, did you have at your ceremony? 
We had Colossians 3:15-19, 1 John 4:9-16 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-8

Describe your wedding cake or dessert. 
Our cake was a four-tier round cake with alternating colors and patterns on each layer. I was torn about the cake topper, so we had a bow made instead. The patterns consisted of latticed pearl polka dots and sweeping swirls and circles for a sort of girly and romantic feeling. The inner layers were “European” style, cream-filled cake with almond, vanilla, and raspberry layers.

We loved the energy and tone that the band set to make the reception one of the most fun weddings our guests have hopefully ever attended! I had heard great reviews about Class Act, but in person I absolutely loved the enthusiasm and talent the band brought forth and especially loved how involved and inclusive they were in bringing us all together! Everything ran so smoothly from their soft playing during the cocktail hour to the announcements and transitions all the way to getting down on the dance floor and starting a dance-off with the guests. At one point in the night, they got my mom to “shake her money maker.” It was such an awesome moment to watch, I smiled for days remembering how fun they were!

And don’t miss their beautiful wedding film by Shaina Koren!

How did y’all meet? Tell us your love story. 
We met on December 17, 2008 in Richmond, Virginia at Have A Nice Day Cafe. I was with my high school friends from Richmond and Matt was with one of his friends from the UVA track team. We met as strangers. I saw him in line and he saw me, but we were both too shy to introduce ourselves and were not sure of one another’s interest! My friend forced me to talk to Matt because I couldn’t stop looking over at him, and Matt obliged. The first exchange was a bit nervous on both ends, but we were both so intrigued to find out more. After maybe only an hour of talking, my friends decided to leave so I had to tell Matt goodbye. I quickly asked for his number for fear of never seeing him again. That night, I could hardly sleep and just felt in my heart I had met someone very special! The next morning I had a Facebook message. He had apparently found me after looking all night online for my name (From the loud music in the café, he actually had thought my name was Whitney instead of Brittany!) and we began communicating until we had our first date a few days later. On our date, we talked about everything from our families and values to beliefs and dreams. We realized this was more than just infatuation and we shared our first kiss after the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve 2008. We knew that God had put us very purposefully in one another’s lives and continued to date from that night until we were engaged in May 2012.

Tell us all about the proposal! 
In May 2012, Matt proposed to me and threw me a surprise party on the one of the private pavilions of the University of Virginia. He was living on the lawn that year and was preparing to graduate and invited me to a “party” for one of his campus organizations. I kind of had a inkling he was up to something as he was sounding nervous in the days leading up to May 12. I arrived on campus and saw one of Matt’s friends with a camera and kind of felt suspicious. Then when I got to Matt’s room, he was already dressed up to take me out to dinner. We went to dinner at one of our favorite spots on in Charlottesville and ate on the tiny terrace upstairs. I asked him what we were doing after dinner, but he was very anxious and kept diverting the questions. Afterward, we took a walk on and he led me to the back entrance of one of the old gardens surrounding the lawn on campus. We walked through the garden and when we got to the top stairs, I noticed music playing, tables set with candles, and a bar. I commented, “Oh, there must be a party here tonight!” Then Matt pulled me to the center of the garden and was sort of shaking and telling me how much he loved me. Our favorite song, “God Gave Me You” by Blake Shelton started playing and then I knew it was happening! He got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. Then he asked, “Where does it go?” Ha! We kissed and afterward, our friends started trickling out of the pavilion house and racing down to hug us. We spent the evening celebrating with friends! It was a magical night and I was amazed at the thoughtful and incredible man who gave me this magical surprise!!! Our proposal has a YouTube video!

When did y’all get married? 
June 8th, 2013

How many friends, family members, and loved ones attended your wedding? 
250

Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding and why you chose them. 
We wanted our musical selections to reflect our appreciation and passion for ALL styles of music! I was a music major in college and it has been a longtime hobby of ours to listen to anything from classical to oldies to pop! I walked down the aisle to the traditional “Bridal Chorus” by Wagner, the wedding processional was “Canon in D,” and we recessed to “Wedding March” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Mendelssohn. We wanted to make use of the beautiful organ and honor the timelessness of traditional selections. To incorporate some of our personal convictions of our more contemporary expression of faith, we had my childhood friend sing, “I’m In Love With You,” a Christian song sung by Kari Jobe, as well as during our Prelude, “Jesus at the Center,” by Israel Houghton and “I Desire Jesus” by Hillsong along with “Postcards from Far Away” by Coldplay. Our first dance was “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley and father-daughter dance was “My Girl,” the song my dad taught me to dance to in our garage growing up. The band played the best of oldies, soul, disco and funk hits from the 60s and 70s!

Describe your wedding flowers. 
My wedding flowers were a mixture of everything I love: white peonies (my absolute favorite!), pale coral roses, and my other close second favorite, succulents! I have been obsessed with them for the last year, and was so excited to incorporate them into the bouquet! I would say overall, I wanted the bouquets to have a very romantic and vintage feel. My overall color palette was creams, pale corals and pinks, and the addition of the pearls and golds in ribbons, added beads and sticks coming out of the bouquets in the reception. For the pews, we used a simple pale pink rose with white hydrangeas and long white tulle with a satin bow. For the reception eating tables, we had hydrangeas and roses and chose to brighten up the colors and heighten the arrangements. We also used smaller arrangements of white roses for the high top tables and greenery around the centerpieces on the outside eating tables.

What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? 
I took bridal portraits with Katelyn James on location at Maymont Park, one of downtown Richmond’s treasures as well as a place where Matt and I had one of our first dates. I really love that special and uniquely Southern tradition of presenting the bride in her gown at the entrance of the reception, yet at the same time it was a pretty far-fetched concept to many of up North! When I told a lot of friends in New York that I was going to have bridal portraits taken, they were like, “What is that? Do you have to do one of those?” Ha! Only in the South!

What range did your wedding budget fall into? 
$50,000-$75,000

What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? 
Hands down the most memorable and emotional moment was when my husband danced with my grandmother at the reception. She has been ill from heart rhythm complications and I was devastated because we weren’t sure if she was going to be able to come to the wedding. My husband pulled her onto the dance floor and the band was playing a really sweet rendition of an oldie. I stood there with my mom, sisters, and close friends and just wept at both the beauty of all the people that I love being together in one place as well as the bittersweet sadness of this potentially being one of the last years we share with her.

What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? 
Don’t sweat the small stuff. With weddings it is so easy to get carried away with all the tiny details. They are beautiful and incredibly meaningful, but make sure to really enjoy the ride in every moment of preparation. For some, it is a yearlong process and for others, maybe just a few months or weeks. But rather than fretting over it, relish the time you have to make your day just right with the people you love!

What’s next for you as a couple? What are you most looking forward to about married life? 
After a month-long trip to our honeymoon in Spain followed by a visit (and our second wedding reception!) to my husband’s parents and family in Uelzen, Germany, we are really excited to just finally cohabitate as one and decorate our first apartment together. We live in a beautiful brownstone right next to Central Park in the Upper West Side in New York City, so we are also quite excited to run together in the park as well as try out the wide array of local restaurants!

Photographer: Rebekah Hoyt Photography | Videographer: Shaina Koren Cinematography | Planner: Beverly Young, Mother of the Bride | Ceremony Venue: River Road United Methodist Church| Reception Venue: The Tuckahoe Woman’s Club | Florist: King William Florist | Wedding Cake: Ukrop’s Bakery | Caterer: Tommy Norwood Catering | Rentals: Party Perfect | Lighting: Blue Steel Lighting Design | Band: “Class Act” | Special Details: Shutterbooth | Bride’s Gown: Tiffany’s Bridal “Isadora Marie” Style | Napkins with Gold “M”: The Knot Wedding Shop | Bride’s Hair Clip/Jewelry: Tiffany’s Bridal and Macy’s | Hair Stylist and Makeup Artist: Faces By Joy | Bride’s Shoes: Pour la Victoire | Bridesmaids’ Dresses: The Dessy Group “After Six” Style | Groom’s and Groomsmen Attire: Men’s Warehouse | Bridal Portraits: Katelyn James Photography | Additional Vendors: Richmond Trolley Car, 1950 Chevrolet Getaway Car from family friend

marissa Written with love by Marissa
7 Comments
  1. avatar Emily reply

    Oh my word, I adore this gown! Anything with sleeves gets my vote :)

  2. avatar Kat reply

    I was a huge fan of this wedding when I saw it on Rebekah’s blog so I loved reading more about it from the Bride’s view! I love her advice to other brides and definitely adore that first look picture!!!

  3. avatar Rayna {Colorado Wedding Photographer} reply

    Wow, I LOVE the way that turquoise pops! So beautiful. :-)

  4. avatar Lauren reply

    I absolutely love those tablecloths with those arrangements. Gorgeous.

  5. avatar Erin reply

    I’m getting married in June and am also having a turquoise wedding! I’m on the hunt for just the right color for the bridesmaids dresses and these bridesmaids dresses are perfect! I see that it says they are After Six by Dessy, but could you tell me what After Six calls this color? I’m having a hard time finding it. Thank you so much!!

  6. avatar Don't forget your napkins! – reply

    […] via Southern Weddings {Link} Photographer: Rebekah Hoyt […]

  7. avatar mariya reply

    Hi. What is the color of the bridesmaid dresses?

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