I love a classic Southern bride! Lauren (who happens to be one of our Southern Bride Bloggers, y’all!) and her beau, Aaron arranged photos in the Raleigh Rose Garden before marrying inside a church. The photos the resulted from Vesic Photography are simply stunning and their moody blue and green surroundings remind me of our V4 cover, but with a life of its own. Lauren actually took inspiration from Southern Weddings to come up with the readings with Aaron, collecting quotes from other couples to craft the perfect ceremony. I love the idea of incorporating the words that strike your heart in addition to the traditional vows and think Lauren’s tactic of slowing curating her favorite words often works best.

For forever, I dreamed of wearing a lace mermaid wedding dress. I had a modest budget so I found myself going to many stores to find the perfect dress. I tried on about 30 dresses in total. I finally found the dress while shopping with my mom and aunt at Bridalmart in Burlington. Bridalmart is this huge store and they have hundreds of dresses at many price points, but you have to pull them yourself. It can be overwhelming if you don’t know what you want! My aunt pulled and showed me the dress, but I was hesitant because I wanted a strapless dress and the fit was more trumpet than mermaid. I tried it on anyways and it was so beautiful. I was still skeptical, but my mom snapped many pictures. Looking at the pictures the days after our visit, I knew this was my dress!

Describe your wedding flowers. 
I wanted a color palette of cream, pink and peach. We used four types of garden roses, hydrangeas, ranunculus, spray roses, limonium and seeded eucalyptus. I think the funniest part was visiting my parent’s house the day after the wedding and seeing it packed with flowers.

Did you decide to do a “first look”? 
We did! I am so happy we did. Our photographer had us stand back to back and we exchanged a few words before turning around. We hugged and kissed and I was so happy. Like many people say, it was our only time alone that day. Also, it was our only opportunity for outdoor photos. We shot ours at the Raleigh Rose Garden, which was minutes away from the church. I have a large family and after the ceremony, we spent time taking the traditional family photos inside the church.

What readings, if any, did you have at your ceremony? 
I actually used Southern Weddings for readings inspiration. I would copy and save readings onto my computer that I liked! We ended up choosing Philippians 2:1-5. “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus”

We had very traditional songs during our ceremony because as a little girl I had always dreamed of getting married to these songs. Pachelbel’s Canon in D was the bridal processional, the recessional was Mendelssohn’s Wedding March. During the ceremony, we had two songstresses. Emily, who introduced us, sang Schubert’s “Ave Maria” and the Lord’s Prayer. Andrea, my good college friend, sang “Center of My Joy” by Richard Smallwood. We loved having our friends take part in our wedding ceremony. At the reception, Aaron and I danced to “I Was Made to Love You” by Gerald Levert. We were nervous about the turns in our dance so we whispered to each other before every turn to make sure we were on the same page! My dad picked “I’ll Write A Song for You” by Earth Wind & Fire for our daddy-daughter dance. If you read the lyrics, you’ll want to cry because it’s so sweet. Lastly, Aaron and his mother danced to “Stand by Me” by Ben King.

My grandmother loved collecting glassware, so I used her LE Smith Moon & Stars glasses and her milk glasses for centerpieces. I used her doilies and lace handkerchiefs for decor as well. Our hors d’ouervres were macaroni and cheese and “redneck martinis,” which are pulled pork in a martini glass with a hush puppy on top. However, I think the most Southern thing about my wedding was how much my family helped. My aunt was the coordinator, my godmother handwrote all of my place cards and my mother was responsible for everything else I needed! My dad also let Aaron drive his classic ‘55 Chevy for our transportation to the reception and as the getaway car.

Describe your wedding cake or dessert. 
We did mini cupcakes for our wedding cake! It was fun because you could try multiple flavors. We had pumpkin, lemon, chocolate and vanilla. We had a mini-cake on top to cut that was pumpkin as well. After the cake was cut, we passed chocolate shot glasses filled with Kahlua and Bailey’s Irish Cream.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: 
All of the dancing. I wanted the wedding to turn into a huge party at the end and it did! We played Motown music during dinner and afterward transitioned to more current music. The dance floor was packed. Everyone was showing off their best dance moves, including some break dancing, a split and Aaron did the worm.

How did y’all meet? Tell us your love story. 
In 2009, I returned home to Raleigh after graduating from college at Hampton University. I complained to one of my close friends, Emily, that I was bored and would like to meet someone. Emily told me that she worked with a guy who may be a good fit for me. She arranged a double date between herself, her boyfriend, Aaron and myself. Emily and her boyfriend ended up arriving over an hour late to the date so the first hour was just the two of us, complete strangers! We hit it off and the night ended with Aaron buying me Krispy Kreme donuts. The rest is history and Emily sang at our wedding!

Tell us all about the proposal! 
I love Zumba and my dad and I often go together at the YMCA. I would always encourage Aaron to come too, but he’d always decline. Finally on December 30, 2011 he agreed to come to a class with us. Usually it’s hard to find one man in a Zumba class so I had a lot of fun bringing two! After class, Aaron said he would like to continue working out with my dad. I headed home. (I lived with my parents at the time.) Later, Aaron surprised me by showing up at my door. Little did I know, but he had actually stayed at the gym to ask my dad for my hand in marriage! He asked in the locker room, which still think is funny. At my house, Aaron suggested we go for a walk and I agreed. I was so confused, and he was acting slightly different and had brought me huge bouquet of flowers. We sat down in my mother’s garden. Then Aaron got down on one knee and proposed. I was surprised and happy, I said yes! It was a few days after Christmas so my entire family was at home to share the good news with.

When did y’all get married? 
April 13, 2013

How many friends, family, and loved ones attended your wedding? 
270

Did you write your own vows? 
We didn’t! I knew I could never eloquently put my feelings into words so we said the traditional words.

Did you have something borrowed, something blue, and something new? I borrowed my mother’s pearl bracelet (and I still have it, oops). My undergarments were blue and said “Bride” in rhinestones! And my dress was new!

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? Our budget and the guest list, which go hand in hand. We ended up having a huge guest list and going over budget, but it was definitely worth it. Even with 270 people, I felt like I was surrounded by my closest friends and family.

What is the one detail or vendor that you were so happy to have as a part of your wedding? 
I love flowers, so I loved picking out the flowers with Dawn McCreary and collecting the centerpieces. The bouquets turned our beautifully and while I felt silly at first asking for a flower crown for the flower girl, it was gorgeous!

What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? 
We have so many memories. My favorite is standing back-to-back with Aaron in the Rose Garden, followed by being surrounded by all of our family and friends on the dance floor.

What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? 
If you can afford a day-of coordinator, consider it. My aunt and mom were wonderful and did all the work, but it would have been nice to have hired someone so they could relax and enjoy the day a little more. Besides that, don’t be afraid to ask friends and family for help. As I said earlier, my godmother wrote my place cards. I had a party to assemble the invitations. A friend from church addressed all of my invitations as a gift. Now that I know how much work goes into a wedding, I will definitely be ready to help my friends when it’s their turn.

What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? 
We just moved in together, so I’ve been working on blending our possessions and decorating the house. We’re both focused on our relationship and our careers right now. I’ll be starting work as a resident physician in psychiatry at a local hospital in a few weeks and Aaron’s busy as an IT manager at software company.

I don’t know about y’all, but the weather in North Carolina this week has been gray and dreary. Since there’s no hope of getting outside, the next best option is to do something sweet and crafty indoors, which is where this project comes in!

Handmade anything adds such a personal touch to celebrations big and small, which makes me love this easy DIY from Gray Harper even more.

So sweet, and so simple! Andrea and co fashioned these as guest favors filled with grits, but they could also be darling as embellished drink holders for bridal party members at the reception. They could also be fun for a bridal shower, bridesmaids’ brunch, or girls’ weekend!

Your Instructions:

1. Cut an 8 x 8 inch piece of fabric and fold it as shown, first in half, and then in half again. Sew along the unfinished edge.
2. Rotate the seam to the middle. Fold the fabric in half lengthwise and sew again along the short unfinished edge. Move the seam to the middle again.
3. Cut a small piece of fabric (mine was 2 x 4). This will become the middle of your bow tie. Fold it in half lengthwise and sew along the open edge, then move that seam to the middle as well.
4. Wrap your “middle” around the middle of the tie to see how tight you think it needs to be. Slip it off and sew it closed in that spot, making a small loop.
5. After sewing the middle piece closed, squeeze it back into place in the middle of the tie. It should be fairly tight. You now have your bow tie!
6. Adhere the burlap ribbon and bow tie to the Mason jar using your glue gun, and enjoy!

All photos by the lovely Jade + Matthew Take Pictures!

Gray Harper is a delightful Southern Weddings advertiser!

Happy Friday, my fellow weekend-lovers! I’m quite pleased that my Saturday and Sunday will consist of eating chocolate chip pancakes, reorganizing my apartment (y’all know how much I love to organize), and helping a friend with her wedding invitations (fun!!). What will you be up to?

Since it’s the month of love, we thought we’d start off our monthly #SouthernDoin challenges with something sweet!

Bow Tie maker, Mo was among one of our favorite Southern Gent features in V5. We love his take on men’s fashion and what it means to be a Southern Gent! Get to know him here.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, we decided to take to the blog with one of our favorite things: love letters. This week, Emily writes to the house she and John are under contract to buy.

Real Weddings take the cake!

Andrea + Josh’s Earth Day wedding incorporated many handmade items and sweet Southern details. See it here.

Britney + Chris’s soft garden-inspired wedding had us swooning over the details and the great advice B had to give. See it here.

Caroline + Chaz’s V5 wedding never gets old to us! Their sweet love story and fun picnic reception cannot be forgotten. See it here and here.

Paige + Brian’s pink and white wedding was joyful and sweet. We can’t get enough of the adorable moments captured on camera! See it here.

Before you head out for the weekend, be sure to check out the sweet as pie engagement session on our Facebook Friday from Jennifer Blair!

Happy weekend, friends!

Andrea + Josh were actually married on Earth Day, and so decided to incorporate this nature-friendly theme into their big day. Subtle details like their “plant love” sign and tree saplings as favors were just a few ways they seamlessly (and stylishly) incorporated this theme. Even Andrea’s gown — a gorgeous floor sample! — could qualify as an eco choice! I also love how their planner Carolynn helped to use their peach + sea foam color palette to sweetly complemented the organic details of their reception venue, The Trolley Barn.

Big hugs to our very talented friend Ms. Melissa Schollaert for sharing this darling day with us!

P.S. Andrea is the sister of Farren, whose wedding we featured here + here! Love keeping it all in the family!

Such a great bridesmaid’s gift idea! These custom hangers are sweet + useful!

And oh my, I love this garter – it even has a bitty pocket!

Our wedding colors were peach and seafoam green. We incorporated flowers with a similar color palette including peach Juliet cabbage roses, peonies, garden roses, ranunculus, and dusty miller for the wedding party. For our wedding ceremony, we decorated the aisle with tree bark-covered boxes filled with hydrangea and roses. We repurposed the aisle decor during our reception for centerpieces on the tables.

I bought my dress and veil at Priscilla of Boston, when they were going out of business. Originally I thought there was no way I could purchase a “sample” dress off the rack — when my mom, sister, and I first visited the store, I thought we were only browsing. It was my first weekend shopping for a wedding dress. I really liked one gown, but I was uneasy making such a big purchase immediately. Unfortunately, there was added pressure since there was only one dress left and it was 40% off. My mom, sister, and I power-shopped the entire weekend and visited every bridal store in Atlanta to displace any fear in my mind there might be a better dress out there somewhere. Although I tried on many beautiful dresses, none compared to the one at Priscilla of Boston. I remember having nightmares about it over the weekend, worrying it might sell. I excitedly returned to Priscilla of Boston the following Monday after work with my mom and sister. Luckily, the dress had not been sold and had been further reduced down to 50% off! When I bought the dress, it was a couple of sizes too large for me, but with some great alterations, it fit perfectly on the day of the wedding.

What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? We were actually married on Earth Day 2012 and decided to incorporate Earth Day into our design details. We gave tree saplings to all of our guests to remember our big day. Each tree sapling was wrapped in burlap, and had a name card tied with an ivory bow. My dad built five wooden crates to display the tree saplings for our guests during the cocktail hour.

What readings, if any, did you have at your ceremony? We did not have any readings in order to keep the length of our ceremony relatively short. Since we had an outdoor wedding, we opted for a unity sand ceremony. In addition, Josh and I shared communion during our ceremony.

Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding. Josh entered the ceremony to his favorite hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Josh’s brother Jonathan sang “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” by Stuart Townsend during our wedding ceremony as Josh and I took communion. We chose this song because we want our relationship and the love that we have for each other to be a reflection of the perfect, unconditional love that God gives to all of us. Our first dance was to “I Will Not Take My Love Away” by Matt Wertz.

Josh’s dad and grandfather built and painted wooden signs to direct guests to our wedding and to the reception, and my mom and sister hand sewed ivory fabric table runners with ruffle ends for each reception table and seafoam-striped fabric napkins for each place setting. The fabric napkins included a custom printed wedding menu tied with a rosemary twig. Our menus mirrored our invitation design in peach. To give our guests some alternatives to dancing, we included a photo booth at the wedding. My dad built the wooden frame for our booth, while my mom, sister, and I created the backdrop from ivory fabric and ribbons incorporating our wedding colors.

Our favorite detail of the wedding was: One of our favorite wedding details was our grand exit with our guests waving us farewell with fabric flags. Our wedding venue is a historical site and in order to preserve the site, there were a number of regulations that restricted our grand exit options. No sparklers were allowed and our guests would not be allowed to “throw” anything. I wanted to do something visually interesting. My mom, sister, and I hand-sewed flags for our guests to wave us farewell as we left the wedding en route to our honeymoon in French Polynesia! The fabric flags featured small prints with the wedding colors. In addition, I hand sewed pom poms from the same fabric that were strung together and attached with a “Just Married” sign to the back of Josh’s car.

Our reception featured a Southern menu including a biscuit bar with all of the fixin’s, fried turkey and macaroni and cheese. Food was an important part of our wedding that we wanted our guests to enjoy and remember. We had custom cornhole boards painted with our logo, which featured design elements from our invitation suite. The cornhole boards were available for guests to enjoy during the cocktail hour and reception.

Our wedding cake was a four-tiered vanilla pound cake, my favorite! The wedding cake design detail was inspired by the top of my wedding dress. Josh does not care for cake, so for his groom’s cake, we ordered a chocolate cheesecake in the shape of the state of Georgia. The cake included design elements from different cities that have played a big part in his life! For example, Athens, where he went to UGA, was represented by a bulldog. Atlanta included a wedding cake for the place we met and are living now!

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. Josh and I met at a singles group at Buckhead Church in Atlanta, GA. The singles group would meet every other week on Sunday nights. I knew there was something different about Josh almost immediately upon meeting him. Josh asked me out on our first date after an ice hockey game group social. I was so excited when he asked for my number. He took me out on our first date the following weekend. The rest is history.
Describe the proposal: While Josh and I were dating, we used to frequently visit Piedmont Park on Sunday nights after church. The park often has free concerts, free movies, or different events that we attended during the summer. On what seemed like a typically Sunday night, Josh suggested we visit the park to meet some friends. At first I was hesitant as it looked like it would start raining at any moment. Regardless, I agreed to go. Josh had rented Magnolia Hall (an event space inside of the park) just for the two of us. He decorated the hall with candles, flowers, printed canvas pictures, and had a bulletin board of letters we had written back and forth to one another. I was so surprised I honestly don’t remember what he said when we entered the hall. I do remember him getting down on one knee and asking me to marry him. I, of course, said “YES.” Afterwards, we took a few pictures in the park before heading to Pricci to celebrate, from where we called our family to share the news.
In what month did you get married? April
How many guests attended your wedding? 125
Did you decide to do a “first look”? Josh and I decided to keep with tradition and see each other when my dad walked me down the aisle.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? With a seven-month engagement, time was definitely a big challenge. My family handmade many of the items for our wedding. Almost every weekend and many late weekday nights were dedicated to making our wedding vision come to life. I will always cherish the bonding time with my mom and sister as we transformed my parents’ dining room into a wedding craft station with three humming sewing machines. With some blood, sweat and tears, everything was finished on time and turned out even better than I originally imagined. I am so thankful for a talented and selfless family.
What range did your wedding budget fall into? $25,000-$50,000
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? There are so many memorable moments from our wedding day, it is difficult to choose one. We cherish the fact we were able to share the day with the people that are most important in our lives.
What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? Before you start the planning process, take some time to enjoy your engagement. Planning a wedding can be stressful and the time flies by. The joyful period can quickly be eroded by expenses, expectations of others, time constraints, etc. At the end of the day after all of the planning is complete, there are just some things you can’t plan for. Trying to keep perspective can sometimes be challenging when you are chasing down vendors and managing your guest count, but prioritize building a marriage over planning a wedding. Find a strong pre-marital counseling program, read marriage books, etc.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? Josh and I have been married for eight months now. Marriage is the greatest gift. God willing, we look forward to expanding our family a few years from now. In the short term, Josh and I enjoy spending time with each other traveling the world.

Melissa Schollaert is a delightful member of our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

We survived the icy weekend that turned North Carolina into a winter wonderland (well, it looked that way if you were snuggled on the couch with hot chocolate like I was) and have been enjoying the crazy warm temperatures that followed! If you were at the Carolina Inn Bridal Showcase this weekend, you might have felt like it was spring! Gorgeous blooms and amazing vendors filled the rooms at the Inn and we were lucky enough to have a table there where we could meet some excited brides-to-be! Giant hugs and thanks to Heidi at the Inn who squeezed us into the lineup. Make sure you flip through a couple of photos that we uploaded from the event on Facebook.

Southern winter wedding inspiration with pops of red was just what we needed with Valentine’s Day right around the corner!

The finalists in our V5 Photo Contest sure are adorable! So adorable, in fact, that we need your help choosing a winner! Hop on over to this post and cast your vote by the end of the day.

We’re happy to welcome back our Southern Etiquette column! This month, Emily answers the question of the “church shower.”

Epic love stories never get old, which is why we’re smitten with this The Notebook-inspired engagement session.

Real weddings make us happier than a pig in mud!

Laura + Chad’s plantation wedding was beautiful night cradled in a weekend of Southern fun. See it here.

Morgan + Matthew’s wedding day was full of monogrammed goodness and sweet joy. See it here.

Lauren + Rob’s coral wedding from V5 was a Southern fete inspired by elements from L + R’s home together. See it here and here.

Andrea + Tom’s backyard pizza party wedding was a mixture of casual fun and meaningful family pieces. See it here.

Happy Weekend!

If you’re still looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for friends and family, take a look at the newest Valentine’s Day print in the Southern Weddings shop!

Before you head out, make sure you stop by our Facebook Friday to see an adorable engagement session from Danny K Photography!

Enjoy what’s ahead, y’all!