June « 2012 « Southern Weddings Magazine

Austin + Steven’s wedding is unexpected in the most beautiful ways. Elegant and luxurious details like the bride’s stunning bouquet and glittery accessories are paired with vintage elements like upholstered chairs and rustic furniture. Take a look at their cake and you’ll see all the ideas come together. It was, after all, designed by Austin to represent the design of the wedding. We’re sending big hugs to Christina Carroll for sharing this wedding with us!

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Tell us about finding your wedding dress: There were actually two dresses that I really liked. They were both very different, which made the decision even harder. After all the stress in picking the dress, I am soo glad I went with the Lazaro. It is really a one of a kind dress and I think it portrayed my personality better than the other would have.
Did you decide to do a “first look”? Why or why not? No, Steven and I are both pretty traditional and I think it is way more exciting when the first look occurs when the bride is walking down the aisle to her groom.

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Loving the gold glitter wrap on this boutonniere!

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Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The altar. My dad and I made it together and we had so much fun doing it. My dad is an architect and can pretty much build anything you ask him to. Sweet Sunday added flowers, and it looked just like a dream.

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Describe your wedding cake or dessert: I actually designed the cake from a few different pictures that I found on the Internet. I wanted a romantic cake that incorporated our wedding. The top layer was actually supposed to be a light grey instead of black. Steven’s cake was exactly what he wanted. My sister-in-law made it and decorated it. She makes the best red velvet!
What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? All of our food was breakfast-themed. We both really enjoy breakfast, so why not have your favorite foods at your wedding?
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Next to marrying the man I love, the toasts were the most memorable. We are both so blessed to have amazing friends and family.

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How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. Steven and I actually went to the same high school, though we never met. He was a year ahead of me. My senior year (and his freshman year of college), we actually met for the first time. My then-best friend introduced us and we hit it off.
Describe the proposal. We were in Portland, Oregon when he popped the question. Steven was at a chiropractic seminar most of the time, but when he had time off, we would go explore the city. One night, after having an amazing dinner right on the water, we found a grassy spot to watch the boats go by. It was so romantic. Right there, he asked me to marry him. It seemed so surreal, I was shaking for two hours after that!
In what month did you get married? March
How many guests attended your wedding? About 215
Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding. Our first dance song was Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years” and our last dance song was Lady Antebellum’s “Heart of the World.”
Describe your wedding flowers: Whimsical, garden, romantic
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? Everything is just so expensive these days when it comes to weddings! I had to improvise with a lot of ideas, but that’s the fun part!
What range did your wedding budget fall into? $25,000-$50,000
What is the one thing you are most happy you splurged on? Flowers. Steven and I made a list, before we decided on anything, of the top five things that are most important to us. Obviously flowers weren’t on his top five, but they were number one on mine. Sweet Sunday did an amazing job and the flowers came out better than I could ever have dreamed.
What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? Get a “day of” event planner. It makes a world of difference! It helps you to relax and be able to enjoy your day without worrying about anything.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We want to travel. Steven and I have a list of the places we want to see all over the world. After we travel for a few years, we want to start our family!

Photographer: Christina Carroll / Videographer: Zach Lambert, family friend / Wedding Planner/Coordinator: Rachel Church of Sweet Sunday Events / Venue: Villa del Lago / Flowers & Decor: Sweet Sunday Events / Cake Baker: Polkadots Cupcake Factory / Groom's Cake: Sandi Reinlie, sister of the groom / Catering: Pink Avocado / Rental Furniture: Sweet Sunday Events / Linens: Sweet Sunday Events / Lighting: Sweet Sunday Events / Invitations & Stationery: Savvy Ink Design (savvyinkdesign@gmail.com) / Bride’s Dress: "LZ3100" by Lazaro / Bride's Necklace: BHLDN / Bride’s Veil/Hair Accessories: Julian Gold / Bride’s Shoes: Kate Spade / Bridesmaid Dresses: Various

Hello, lovely friends! Today we’ll be chatting about a topic that hasn’t gotten much airtime yet in the Emily Plans a Wedding series, but that is very close to my heart: our wedding ceremony. Despite my radio silence on the subject, it’s the part of our wedding weekend that I’m most looking forward to, and perhaps the part I’m most anxious about. In fact, I’ve got so much to say about the ceremony that I’ll be discussing it in my next post, too!

But let’s start at the beginning! For those of you who weren’t with us back in September, John and I will be saying our vows at the United States Coast Guard Memorial Chapel, on the grounds of the Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT.

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Fingers crossed we get a day just like this!! (Personal photo)

A few reasons why we love the CGA Chapel:

1. The Chapel welcomes visiting clergy, meaning there were very few obstacles to the pastor from our church in North Carolina performing the service.
2. It’s about 15 minutes away from our reception location.
3. My Dad is retired Coast Guard and taught at the Academy for 25+ years, so I have very happy memories associated with the base.
4. It is gorgeous! Love those blue walls and huge windows!

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One downside: that tile aisle is treacherously slippery! I’ve been walking around the house wearing my wedding heels to scuff the soles in preparation :)

I’ve mentioned it a couple times, but one thing that was really important to us was that our pastor from our church in North Carolina could perform our ceremony. (Some churches are very strict about who they will allow to lead a service, which means we were even more grateful to have found the CGA!) We have a tremendous amount of respect for our pastor and know he will help strike the joyful, thoughtful, faith-filled tone we’re hoping our service will have. Plus, we can’t wait to hear his message, AND we can’t wait for our Northern friends and family to enjoy his thick Southern accent :) Asking Carl to officiate was one of the first to-dos we checked off our planning list, and one of the best.

We made another big decision when we decided to serve communion at our ceremony. We were a little hesitant about doing this, because we know not all of our guests share our faith, but happily the United Methodist Church offers communion freely to all those who “want Christ in their life,” regardless of religion or denomination, and doesn’t question those who choose not to partake, for whatever reason.

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Photo on left by Kurt Boomer via 100 Layer Cake, photo on right by Lisa Lefkowitz via Style Me Pretty

John and I will be serving communion to our guests directly following our vows. We’ll use a silver cup from the church where my grandmother was baptized, and I’m hoping I’ll have a volunteer to bake us some bread! We find it very meaningful and appropriate that our first act as a married couple will be to serve others, and we’re also happy that communion will give us a chance to see each of our guests one by one, since we’re not doing a receiving line and won’t have a seated dinner at our reception.

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A favorite classic program design… still trying to figure out what ours will look like! (Photo by J. Cogliandro)

Speaking of vows: We’ll be saying the traditional ones, though perhaps with a few small tweaks. We think making the same vow that our parents and grandparents and their parents did is powerful, especially because we are lucky to have such beautiful examples of marriage in our parents. We’re still discussing exactly what we’ll say, but this is the rough draft:

“I, Emily, take you, John, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, all the days of my life.”

So exciting to think about actually saying those words, no?? I can’t wait!

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Another pretty set of programs, this one by Mr. Boddington’s Studio

We’re still discussing whether we’ll also exchange more personal vows at the ceremony in addition to the traditional ones. I’m all for it, while John is not totally on board (he’s a pretty traditional sort, plus he’s afraid he’s going to start bawling, which, I’ll admit, is a distinct possibility, but not really a problem, in my opinion!). Just in case we do go this route, I’ve been storing away ideas in a Google Doc for the past year – no last-minute vow writing for this girl!

I just keep thinking about my friend Katharine’s wedding – she and Kyle exchanged the most meaningful set of “promises” in addition to traditional vows, and it was definitely a highlight of their wedding. When I think about the other wedding ceremonies that have really stuck with me, it’s usually the ones that included some sort of personal words from the couple.

One thing that’s always confused me, though, is how, exactly, the personal vows are created. From my research, it seems like couples do it in a variety of ways. Some decide on a rough format (like Katharine and Kyle’s promises), word length, or length of time to ensure the vows somewhat resemble each other. Others write the personal vows together (like my sister and her husband), and exchange the same set. My thoughts, as of right now? There’s so much that I have painstakingly planned about this wedding, I think it would be a thrill to have at least one part of the day where I don’t know what’s going to happen – and hopefully, I’ll be delightfully surprised. (If not sobbing!)

I’ll be back soon to share more about our readings and music! In the meantime, tell me: What kind of vows did you recite, or what kind are you planning to recite? Traditional? Personal? Both? Please comment and let me know!

In case you missed a post…
The main characters | Where we’re getting married | I go dress shopping | We choose a photographer | I ponder bridesmaid style | Mini food! | The music | We’re renting a tent! | We discuss bouquets + boutonnieres | We send out our save the dates | I gather hair and makeup inspiration | We talk cake and sweets | I introduce you to our videographer | We create a registry | We buy a tuxedo | We style a reception | I choose accessories | We take engagement photos!