Savannah + Henry met at a conference in Arizona, and through he lived in Boston and she lived in Atlanta, they started dating after their business relationship took a romantic turn. Long-distance dating may be hard, but S + H made it work! They flew to see each other every single week. “If we missed each other on a weekend, Henry would fly down mid-week to have dinner and fly out on the 7AM flight the next morning,” said Savannah. Now that’s love and dedication! We’re happy that Savannah, who was tired of the travel, made the move to Boston to be with Henry because as these images from Sean Money and Elizabeth Fay show us, they are a beautiful couple!

Tell us about finding your wedding dress: My mom and two close girlfriends came down to Charleston with me. Our wedding planner’s roommate worked at a small wedding dress boutique on Daniel Island and she was able to see us after hours. We drank wine and I only tried on 7-8 dresses and was torn between two very different dresses. I slept on it and woke up the next morning knowing which was the best fit. We went back later that day to put down the deposit.

I love peonies but they were out of season, so we went with a combination of peony-like flowers that were cream-colored with a hint of blush. We wanted a lot of greenery so we also used magnolia leaves in the chandeliers at the ceremony.

Did you decide to do a “first look”? We did not do a first look. Henry didn’t know anything about my dress and we wanted the moment we first saw each other to be when I walked down the aisle. It was a very special moment.

What readings, if any, did you have at your ceremony? Henry’s cousin Johnny read Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 that was probably most favorite piece from the ceremony. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, they are warm; but how can one be warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him.”
Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding. I walked down the aisle to “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” Other ceremony songs we included were both Beatles songs, “Here Comes the Sun” and “All you need is Love.”

What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? My husband, Henry, is from New York and it was very important for us to show his family why we love the South. I’d say the food was the biggest Southern influence which included fried chicken, duck buns with coleslaw, shrimp and grits and more.

Y’all, I seriously love these magnolia leaf chandeliers! What a great way to add some Southern greenery to the room.

Our cake was amazing. Once again, we wanted something simple. It was a round, three-tiered vanilla cream cake with buttercream icing. The middle tier was red velvet. The cake was covered with beige polka dots.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. We originally met at an industry conference in Scottsdale, AZ. What started as a business relationship turned to friendship and eventually dating. We dated long distance for 9-10 months and saw each other literally every single week from Atlanta to Boston. If we missed each other on a weekend, Henry would fly down mid-week to have dinner and fly out on the 7AM flight the next morning. Eventually, we got tired of the travel so I moved to Boston.
Describe the proposal. On the one year anniversary of me moving to Boston, we decided to head out of work early on a Monday night and head down to our house on Nantucket. We opened a good bottle of wine and packed up some snacks, music and our dog, Roscoe, to head down to the beach to watch the sunset. As the sun set over the horizon, Henry suggested we stand up to get a better view and he took a knee and asked me to marry him.
In what month did you get married? September
How many guests attended your wedding? 200
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: My favorite detail was the café lighting by the water. The lights looked amazing and carried a romantic atmosphere out from the tent to the sitting area by the water.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? We honestly had it pretty easy. Our wedding planner, Lindsey, was amazing and I think she handled any foreseen issues before they got to us. I’m sure every bride and groom deal with the struggle of trying to please everyone but eventually we just decided we were going to do everything like we wanted it done.
What is the one thing you are most happy you splurged on? The band! Our vision of our wedding was a beautiful ceremony by the water and a HUGE party. Our band was truly amazing and we danced all night!!
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? It’s hard to pick just one. I think finalizing our vows and being announced as husband and wife was a pretty fantastic moment. I think dancing with my dad was a pretty memorable moment. He kept my jitters at bay by making me laugh most of the way down the aisle.
What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? Relax. It’s such a fun day and you should really enjoy the process of planning if you don’t stress and just trust that it’ll all work out.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? My wedding gift from Henry was a second puppy, so we now have two long haired dachshunds. The puppy is a girl and we named her Mal’e after visiting the Maldives for our honeymoon (the capital is Mal’e). We’re not ready for kids yet, so I think our immediate focus is spending time together and with the pups. We’re looking forward to continuing life together and seeing where that takes us.

Can y’all believe Whitney + Clarke’s wedding day boasted temperatures over 100 degrees?? Their French-meets-Southern countryside wedding looks as cool as a cucumber, though, thanks to some extra fans and the quick thinking of the Easton Events ladies, who handed out lavender-scented chilled cloths as the dance floor heated up. Whitney + Clarke spent the majority of their evening there, celebrating with loved ones, until it was time for their emotional getaway. W + C managed to steal a few moments to themselves just after Whitney changed into her getaway dress, and it ranks as one of her favorite moments. Just imagining the newlyweds standing upstairs overlooking their reception before they left gives me chills. “We finally got a chance to breath, to just be together in the moment, and to watch all those we love dancing, laughing, and enjoying the celebration,” said Whitney.

What was Southern about your wedding? For me, it was Southern because it was rooted in the traditional. The Southern fare, the station-style dinner, the Blue Ridge Mountain setting, the big band, the Motown and beach music, the warm hospitality, the pink gingham bow ties, the white dinner jackets, the stifling heat, the fireflies, and the sweet late-evening Virginia breeze.

What advice would you give to someone planning his or her wedding? I don’t even know where to begin. Don’t sweat the small stuff. It goes so quickly, take a moment to soak it all in. Don’t forget to eat. A wedding planner/coordinator is a must have, especially on the day-of. Hire a videographer. Enjoy every minute. All of my initial advices seems so cliché, and at the same time each is so true. And yet, it takes walking in bridal shoes to really appreciate most of this advice. Not stressing beforehand, and enjoying the day is easier said in hindsight than done at the time. Although this is not novel advice, I think the following words of wisdom are most helpful: hire vendors you trust, and trust them do their job; you can never show enough pictures – even ones of things you don’t like, are helpful – because something in your head that you describe could be very different in someone else’s head; lighting is invaluable; you spend all of this time thinking about, fretting over, planning and preparing for one day, and it does go by more quickly than you can ever imagine. You cannot re-live it, so live it the first time; at the end of the day, all that remains are the marriage, the memories, and the photographs – so hire a good photographer!

For the reception, we envisioned a European Provincial cocktail hour with French countryside elements such as wooden Bistro chairs around low tables dressed in Duck Egg blue linens, and centerpiece bowls filled with fresh blackberries and cherries; Russian sage-filled urns on the linen square bar and topiaries flanked the tent entrance. In the Tasting Room, long tables were dressed in white linens with bistro chairs and blue and white Chinoiserie bud vases filled with Sahara roses. The main event space was more formal, and meant to feel like a Parisian pied-å-terre with white-washed Chiavari chairs around dinner tables dressed in grey and white damask linens, and several seating groups of lounge furniture around the dance floor. Floating gardenias in small bowls were placed on the side tables and in the ladies room.

What kind of food did you serve during the cocktail hour, dinner and dessert? The locally inspired cuisine included traditional Southern favorites, with a European-style vineyard twist. We had canapés such as fried goat cheese balls with honey, sweet potato biscuits with Virginia ham and piquillo pepper spread, fried Chesapeake Bay oysters, local strawberries with robiolo cheese and a balsamic drizzle, lobster Salad on a Yucca chip, and deviled quail eggs with caviar. Guests dined at dinner stations with various themes such as a Vineyard inspired station featuring a wide selection of local and imported cheeses, charcuterie, fresh breads and homemade condiments; a Farmer’s Market station filled with fresh heirloom tomatoes, watermelon and feta salad, and local strawberry and arugula salad; a French fare station complete with beef tenderloin, lavender-glazed lamb chops, haricot verts, and roasted potatoes; and the popular Southern Comfort station with jumbo lump crab cakes (a nod to Clarke’s VA Beach hometown), truffle mac n’cheese, skillet cornbread, and pulled pork sliders.

Tell us a bit about your first dance. We were both nervous about the first dance, Clarke especially, so we took one lesson a few weeks before the wedding – that probably made us more nervous! But it went really well, and once we got out there, it was easy to forget about everyone watching and nice to just talk and laugh with one another. Clarke picked the song, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s classic “You’re All I Need to Get By”, which he said reminded him of me… and it has enough of a beat for him to keep pace!

Our cake was five round tiers of alternating layers – vanilla with blackberry filling, and poppy-seed almond – with pale pink, buttercream icing and scattered fresh blackberries. Kathy’s cakes are wonderfully moist and taste deliciously homemade (which they are!), yet better, and still are beautiful. I wanted a traditional-style cake, yet the rough, swirled buttercream exterior in barely blush pink was a contemporary twist. It was impressionistic, and the pink hue was dead on – I wanted people to say, is that pink? Or are my eyes playing tricks? The wedding cake was complemented by silver-tiered servers filled with homemade macarons – in lavender and raspberry flavors.

What was your reception like? We had an outdoor sunset cocktail hour with a stationed dinner event and band reception following.  The guests ate, drank, mingled, and danced until our midnight departure.
Describe your centerpieces:  Low mercury bowls of lush overflowing arrangements composed of pale blush and grey – antique hydrangea, Sahara rose, Café au Lait Dahlias, Patience Garden roses, Champagne Lisianthus, Dusty Miller, and vines
Did you have a cocktail hour?  If so, what was it like?  After the ceremony, guests were transported out to Pippin Hill Farm where they cocktailed underneath a Sperry tent on the lawn, and attempted to stay cool underneath the draped Veranda and inside the Tasting Room.  The Peter Richardson Jazz Trio played light tunes in the tent, where guests picked up flip-flops, dined on hors d’oeuvres, grabbed drinks from the big square bar, and enjoyed the panoramic views.
What were some of the highlights?  The whole night was a highlight.  We wanted a beautiful event, full of thoughtful details, yet we also wanted a good party and for everyone to have the best time.  The band was phenomenal and guests danced all night.   We were on the dance floor the entire time, which is exactly where we wanted to be.  For me, the father-daughter dance was particularly special.  We danced to “My Girl”, and as one of three daughters, it has been a song we have all danced to with my dad over the years.  Another standout, is the few minutes we took to ourselves, after I changed dresses, as we stood upstairs overlooking the main event space below.  We finally got a chance to breath, to just be together in the moment, and to watch all those we love dancing, laughing, and enjoying the celebration.
Tell us about your grand exit.  Our grand exit was to a sea of sparklers leading up the candle-lit pathway to our antique car, with a Bon Voyage sign on the back.  Unexpectedly, it was one of the more emotional moments for me, as we hugged our parents and laughed and cried as all our friends cheered us on.  Many guests continued the party back at the hotels, and we shared a nightcap with friends and snacked on Pippin Hill’s famous croque monsieurs.
What is the one thing that made your wedding different from anyone else’s wedding?  Our wedding was different than any other, for it was the perfect confluence of personal circumstance – for this fleeting, yet amazing, moment in time, everyone and everything comes together to create magic.  That day will forever be a part of us, and a part of our story.
Did you include any Southern traditions in your wedding?  We had a groom’s cake the night before, in the shape of UVA’s Rotunda; the groom’s father was the best man; my sisters gave me a bible with my new name embossed on the front as a gift on our wedding day; guests tossed lavender as we exited the church.
What was the biggest challenge you faced when planning your wedding?  Combating the heat that week!
Did you take a honeymoon? We honeymooned at the fabulous Curtain Bluff in Antigua – and loved it!  We relaxed, read, eat, drank, and soaked in the sun for ten days.  We didn’t want to come home!
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future?  Immediately after the honeymoon, we packed up and moved to Houston.  We have settled in and are adjusting back to reality.
Best advice or most memorable comment someone made to you during the wedding celebration.  “We’re only doing this once, so enjoy it!”  And that we did.

While Lara and I were completing layout on V5, we basically died every time we scrolled through Whitney + Clarke’s wedding. Not only are they a gorgeous couple, but their Charlottesville wedding is among one of the most elegant outdoor soirees we’ve seen. Though Whitney drew design inspiration from Degas’ ballerina paintings, the Pippin Hill setting gave their French-infused nuptials Southern roots. And although it was a destination for all the guests, Whitney + Clarke knew their wedding had to be in Charlottesville. It was, after all, where they met and fell in love.

We are so very grateful for Patricia Lyons who captured this day and shared it with us!

Bride’s favorite detail of the wedding: My printed materials – from the letterpressed save the date to the stunning calligraphy and wax seals on the invitations to the Arturo blush paper we used for the welcome note! The custom suite set the tone for the rest of the design, and included really fun calligraphy details such as cocktail napkins with French phrases, the flip-flop “Check your ‘Choos” sign, dinner station signs, etc. The Napoleanic bee and garland motif was carried throughout the wedding and really branding the weekend as ours.

My Something Blue: My mom used antique lace she found in Italy on a recent trip, and had my monogram in blue sewn into a patch, that was then sewn into the back of my dress.
My Something New: On the day of the wedding, Clarke surprised me with a gift from our family jeweler – a pair of pale pink pearl and diamond earrings, which I wore that day, and matching pearl necklace. It was so special, and made me smile, since pearls have a particular significance to us.

My bouquet was composed of ivory patience garden roses, white peonies, white hydrangea, and Sahara roses tied with lace and satin ribbon. My grandmother’s handkerchief, edged in lace, was tucked inside. The bridemaids’ bouquets featured café au lait dahlias, antique green hydrangea, and Sahara roses tied with satin ribbon.

My literal inspiration was Degas’ ballerina paintings, the romantic quality, their balance of soft hues and saturated color. I wanted the wedding to reflect a similar elegance, grace, timelessness, and Parisian sophistication. Pippin Hill’s natural design has European countryside influences, and so it was a blend of Southern landscape and French Provincial aesthetic.

How did you spend the morning or afternoon before your big day? Friends of my parents hosted a lovely brunch at King Family Vineyards on the day of the wedding, which Clarke and all the guests attended. I slept in a bit and spent the day getting ready and sipping champagne with my sisters and friends.

My dress was everything I dreamed it would be – elegant and timeless, yet fashionable, unique, subtly dramatic and unforgettable. I simply loved it. It set the tone for the traditional and classic route we took. I had been scoping out dresses for years before we even got engaged and I always imagined myself as a fall or winter bride. I knew I did not want a strapless dress – I loved the look of long sleeves and a high neck, with skin showing on the back. After all, that is what everyone sees during the ceremony! After our summer engagement, I began scouring designer sites and fell in love with Monique Lhuillier’s couture “Catherine” gown from her spring/summer 2012 collection. I flew home and shopped with my mom and two sisters, and tried on tons of different styles, but knew I would not be satisfied until I could try that gown. A few weeks later, the sample came available and it was as I imagined: the layers of lace detailing are exquisite. We cut the sleeves to three-quarter length, since it was summertime, however wanted to keep the traditional dress lines with a bateau neckline and deep-V back. I felt like Grace Kelly in it!

What was the most memorable or touching moment about your wedding day? There are so many, it’s hard to decide on just one memorable moment – I wish I could go back and re-live the whole day over again, and again! Most vividly, I will never forget waiting in the tiny anteroom of the church with my Dad. Right before we walked down the aisle, he simply said, “Ready?” and smiled. Then the look on Clarke’s face once we processed, was amazing. I just thank my lucky stars that Patricia so beautifully captured those moments in photographs.

Tell me a bit about the wedding ceremony. We had a traditional Episcopalian ceremony. Music included an organist, a trumpeter and soloist. It was important to Clarke for one of our readings to be the Traditional Irish Blessing, as his mother’s family is Irish. After the readings, the soloist sang Amazing Grace a cappella, which is my favorite hymn.
Did you write your own vows? We used the traditional vows from the book of prayer. I think there is something romantic about using the same words that hundreds of thousands of people throughout history have said to one another on their wedding day. It made us feel connected to all those who came before us, and to our guests.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story.  We met at the University of Virginia during my third, his fourth, year of college, and knew of each other through friends.  However, we officially met at a party in the basement of Clarke’s fraternity house – he donned a David Beckham costume and we ended up dancing all night.  Over Christmas break a few weeks later, we talked every day — and then every day for the next 6 years.
Describe the proposal: Clarke was working in D.C. for the summer, and I had planned to visit him that weekend.  On Friday, he called me and asked me to pick up an important package that had been delivered to his place, before I drove to D.C.  When I got to his room, nothing was there, so I called him to let him know I was getting on the road. I was still on the phone when he appeared around the corner.  I was in total shock and still confused as he led me to a garden near the Rotunda and proposed.  We spent the rest of the weekend at one of our favorite Charlottesville places, Keswick Hall.
Tell us about your beautiful engagement ring and how/why your husband (or the two of you!) chose it:  My engagement ring is a family heirloom – it was actually designed by Clarke’s father about 30 years ago, when his parents got engaged!  The ring features three oval diamonds in a classic setting, and we chose a round brilliant diamond eternity band to complement it.
Tell me all the basics of your wedding!  We were married on the evening of July 7, 2012 in Charlottesville, Virginia at St. Paul’s Memorial Church. Dinner and dancing immediately followed at Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards.  As it was the backdrop to how we met, where we fell in love, what brought us back together after years of long distance dating, we naturally decided Charlottesville would be the best place to start our new life together.  We also wanted to share this special place with family and friends.  As a destination for everyone other than us, it was important that the celebration be about more than just that day – we wanted it to be a getaway for guests, and for them to have to chance to explore the city we know and love so much.  The weekend following July 4 seemed fitting for travelers.  We kicked off the celebration with a hosted party on Thursday night, and the party did not stop until Sunday.  As for the reception venue, I had a close personal connection to Pippin Hill: as the first employee, I had the privilege of being a part of its construction, development, growth and everything in between.  It was truly a labor of love, my home away from home, a house that I helped build, and we couldn’t have chosen a more meaningful place to bring our loved ones together, to start our new chapter, and say goodbye to Charlottesville.  It was an epic last hurrah!
What was the weather like on your big day? HOT!  Unfortunately, a heat wave hit Charlottesville that week and uncharacteristic temperatures ran over 100 degrees on our actual wedding day.  Luckily, our ceremony and reception sites had A/C and we brought in additional fans for the tent. Easton Events had the great idea of offering lavender-scented chilled cloths to guests later in the evening.  They were a huge hit as the dance floor literally heated up!
How many guests attended your wedding? 275
Were there any family traditions you included in the ceremony?  Instead of a traditional wedding band, we engraved a signet ring Clarke’s grandfather had given him, embossed with their family crest.  So he now wears that ring on his left hand, just like his father and grandfather.

Y’all!!! And, yes, those exclamation points were completely necessary! I knew I was going to like this wedding as soon as I saw the title; I hadn’t even clicked in yet and I was excited! (Obviously: Monograms + Alabama = MAK heaven!) Emily is such a doll for letting me introduce Morgan + Matthew’s to-die-for wedding from Amy Arrington. I’ll even let the fact that M + M are attending school at Auburn slide for the sake of this gorgeousness!

I feel like Morgan is my long lost sister! Oh, where to start? How about the things I love about this wedding: the monogrammed necklace, her gown, the location, the ceremony backdrop, the gold glitter the flower girls threw… but, let me be completely honest, as much as I die over these gorgeous details, Morgan + Matthew’s contagious joy takes the cake as my very favorite detail. And that, my friends, is what it’s really about.

How fun is Morgan’s something borrowed? It’s her sorority sisters’ membership pins!

I didn’t even have to scroll down to know that Morgan’s gown was the “Dahlia” by Amsale because it’s one of my absolute favorite gowns. Ever! And add in the fact that she got it for 55% off — work it, girl!

Tell us about finding your wedding dress: I fell in love with a dress that I saw on Pinterest, but upon doing further research, I found out that it was way out of my budget. I was so bummed, but I thought maybe if I just did a Google search of the style, I could find a salon carrying it for less. I stumbled upon PreOwnedWeddingDresses, which quickly became my best friend! I found the exact dress I was looking for being sold by a sweet, sweet lady in New Orleans. I ended up getting my dress for 55% off of the original price AND made a new friend!

We originally planned on not doing a first look, but upon seeing the wonderful first look photos of other couples that our photographer had done, we decided it could be pretty neat. On the day of the, among the hustle and bustle, we lost track of time. Before we knew it, we had run out of time for a first look. So, we waited until the ceremony and it ended up being perfect. I think subconsciously it was what we wanted all along. It was a beautiful moment.

What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? There was this small moment that I will forever remember. I surprised Matthew with a leather chair and ottoman as a wedding present. I placed it in the room where the men got ready, but he had no clue that it was for him. It just blended in with the rest of the furniture. After the ceremony, we signed our marriage license in that room and I told him the chair belonged to him. His face at that moment was priceless. It was a small detail in a busy day that meant the world to me.

How adorable are these buttons? I need that Alabama one for sure!

Describe your wedding flowers: We went all white with our flowers. My bouquet was a mixture of white hydrangeas, white roses and baby’s breath. The bridesmaid’s bouquets were all white hydrangeas and on the reception tables, we used white hydrangeas and baby’s breath.

What Southern details or traditions did you include in your celebration? What was Southern about your wedding? Our wedding was held at an old plantation home: big and white, with a wide front porch. There were many monograms. I wore a monogram necklace with my new initials at the reception, we had a monogram cake topper, and I had my monogram stitched into the inside of my dress. My husband threw the garter attached to a football (you can’t leave football out of anything here in the South). We also had monogrammed corn hole boards at the reception and they were a big hit!
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? We are still in school at Auburn University, so planning a wedding in six months and attending school at the same time was a challenge, but we are proud to say now that we have overcome and done wonderfully!

Describe your wedding cake or dessert: A family friend made our cakes. We went with a simple white cakes with white butter cream icing. We originally had three cakes, a small three-tier cake and two small two-tier cakes. The morning of the wedding, there was a little mishap with the larger cake, so we smiled and moved on and enjoyed our two smaller ones. They sat on milk glass cake stands and the cake we cut was topped with a beautiful acrylic monogram.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. Matthew and I met while doing mission work on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation in southern Arizona. He was 17 and I was 15. I had worked on the reservation for many years but it was his first time. I led his group during the week they were in Arizona and we quickly became great friends. As teenagers do, we continued to text each other once we had returned home and our relationship quickly grew while we were separated by two states. In November of 2008, he made the special phone call and asked me to be his girlfriend. He told me that he knew a long distance relationship could be challenging but he was willing to work hard at it if I was. We were in a long distance relationship until I joined him at Auburn University in 2011.
Describe the proposal. During the summer of 2012, Matthew planned a cross-country road trip for us. It was a dream come true. We spent two weeks journeying from Kentucky to California and back home to Alabama. Along the way, Matthew planned a stop on the reservation in southern Arizona where we met and spent so much time serving together. He proposed at sunset in the very village we served in and once again, just as he did when he asked me to be his girlfriend, he told me he knew marriage could be challenging, but he was willing to give it his all if I was.
In what month did you get married? December
How many guests attended your wedding? 75
Did you write your own vows? We wrote our own vows, but kept them simple and very similar to traditional vows. Our favorite part was how they began: “I Morgan, take you Matthew, to be my husband, loving you now and as you grow into all that God intends.”
Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding. All of our songs were hand picked by my husband. He did an amazing job! I walked down the aisle to an instrumental version of “A Thousand Years” by The Piano Guys, and let me tell you, it’s a tear-jerker. We walked back up the aisle to “I Do” by Colbie Caillat and our first dance was to “Come Away with Me” by Norah Jones.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: There wasn’t one particular thing, but the fact that it was very personal. We made almost every decoration by hand and put so much thought and hard work into the details.
What range did your wedding budget fall into? $10,000-$25,000
What is the one thing you are most happy you splurged on? Photography!
What advice do you have for folks currently planning a wedding? Don’t get caught up in the minute details. You will feel like everything, I mean EVERYTHING has to be perfect, but I can tell you now that it doesn’t. If things go wrong the day of, or even the week before, smile and move on. You will enjoy the special time so much more.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We are looking forward to everything God has in store for us! We are finishing up school here in Auburn and are ready for the big, big plans He has for us after that. We are adventurous and ready to follow His lead.

Amy Arrington is a delightful member of our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!

Every time I sit down to write a Real Wedding post, the first thing I do is read the interview. Somehow, the details of each wedding feel so much more meaningful when I know why the couple in the images chose each one. When reading Jessica + Troy’s interview, I was so taken by how Jessica used each detail to show who she and Troy are as a couple, and to honor their family traditions. As just one example, she said, “We loved how all the details came together to tell our story. The bouquet I carried had a single green button on the back because the night Troy and I met, he caught one of his buttons on his chair and it ripped a hole in his shirt. He held his shirt closed the rest of the night, hoping I wouldn’t notice.” I love how a single button can represent a moment in their relationship! There’s much more where that came from, so read on!

Big thanks to our friends at Bamber Photography for capturing J + T’s big day!

Neither my mom nor my sister lived in Atlanta, so for my birthday they both came to visit and took me dress shopping. I planned a whirlwind weekend, getting appointments at every store I had heard of in effort to find the dress while they were with me. But by the end of the weekend, I was so exhausted that I couldn’t keep the dresses straight in my mind. I waited about a month and by that time there were only two dresses from the same store that I just couldn’t forget. When I went back with my bridesmaids, we couldn’t decide between the stunning lace of one dress and the flattering shape of the other so I combined the two.

Y’all, this may be one of my favorite details I’ve seen recently. I wish I’d done this for my sweet groom!

Tell us about some of the songs you used throughout your wedding. Troy’s brother is a musician so it meant a lot to have him play the music during our ceremony. I walked down the aisle to “In Christ Alone.” It is my favorite hymn and really says everything I wanted about entering into marriage. We also had him play “I Won’t Give Up” by Jason Mraz as we took communion. As corny as it may sound, the lyrics are really poignant about the sacrifice and commitment of marriage. We did our first dance to “Moon River.” It’s such a romantic song and reminds me of the ones I used to listen to on the radio at my grandmother’s house when I was little.
Describe your wedding flowers: A mix of ivory garden roses and ranunculus with olive branches.

I attended the wedding of my Godbrother last weekend, and they chose to do a moment of prayer around the bride and groom at the rehearsal dinner. It proved to be an incredibly emotional and powerful moment, and I love that Jessica + Troy chose to do something similar at their ceremony.

Stunning portraits from Bamber Photography! Oh my!

I think the fact that we wanted to emphasize family most reflected Southern tradition in our wedding. We chose to get married in Rome because Troy’s family has lived there for more than a century, and his grandfather owned a farm there for nearly 30 years. Our pastor was Troy’s cousin who is a good friend of ours and who spoke amazingly personal words to us in our ceremony. We had a small group of family and close friends so we invited all of our guests to stand around us and pray over us at the end of the ceremony. My mom found wedding pictures of our family from six generations back which we used to decorate the reception. We also had our dinner served family style so that our guests could share good food and conversation with each other and take the evening at its own pace.

Mini grilled cheese – yum! I know Emily would love that!

What a magical setting for the reception!

These little “did you know” cards popped up throughout the celebration, cluing guests in to why Jessica and Troy chose to include certain meaningful details. I love this idea so much!

Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Our first priority for planning our wedding was making it about us. We really wanted the day celebrating our union to emphasize who we were. We loved how all the details came together to tell our story. For our first Christmas, among other things, he bought me a jar of buttons in my favorite color so that I could replace it and we would both remember that night. Even our decorations were meaningful. We used railroad lanterns among the vintage furniture because my grandfather was a train conductor on the Seaboard railroad.

Describe your wedding cake or dessert: I don’t like cake so we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a traditional wedding cake. Every year on my birthday, my grandmother used to make me a pound cake and it’s still the only cake I’ll eat. It’s unbelievable. My grandmother isn’t with us to make the cake anymore so my dad, whom I’m very close to, spent the day before the wedding making her recipe for us. Troy’s groom’s cake was a big chocolate cake from a bakery in his home town. Troy loves chocolate, so every year on his birthday I make him a cake like my grandmother did for me, but this year his birthday was the week before the wedding. We also had all of our favorite pies. There’s just something about pie that reminds me of fall and being close to family.

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. We met at a birthday party. Troy and I were both invited by a mutual friend. Our friend picked me up first so all Troy could see when he got in the car was my hair. He says it was love at first sight. When we got to the party, Troy tried to sit next to me but kept getting stuck between a couple of guys with tattoos and facial piercings. We still managed to talk across the table all night but he never asked for my number because he thought I was dating our friend. He moved in with that friend a few weeks later and after not seeing me come to the house, he asked if we were dating. He called me about five minutes after finding out we weren’t.
Describe the proposal. Troy’s family spent one Thanksgiving at Cumberland Island and it has become one of his favorite memories with them. Knowing that I would love everything about it, he had been telling me about the island almost as long as we’d been dating. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday so we spent it with my family in Jacksonville and took the short trip up to Cumberland Island while we were there. We got to the island early in the morning and spent the whole day hiking and watching the wild horses. At the end of the day we got to the ruins of the old Carnegie plantation. I’m an engineer, so Troy knew I would love how the shell of brick walls tell the story of the beautiful house that once stood there. The house overlooks a marsh and onto the ocean so we laid out a blanket to rest and watch the sun go down after our long day. I had only just gotten comfortable when he made me get back up for a picture. After a lot of resistance, I stood with my back to him overlooking the water while he got the camera ready. When I turned around he was on one knee and the automatic timer on the camera went off just as I started to cry.
In what month did you get married? November
How many guests attended your wedding? 100
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? About six weeks before the wedding, Troy was offered a promotion in another state and had to move quickly. Just being without him for that long at that time was difficult, but I also had to finish planning the wedding, transfer my job, and pack up all of our belongings mostly by myself.
What range did your wedding budget fall into? $25,000-$50,000
What is the one thing you are most happy you splurged on? Photography, it’s the only thing you will have left when the day is over.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Coming over the hill and seeing Troy waiting for me at the end of the aisle.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? Settling down! We had to stay in a hotel for a few weeks after we moved, waiting for our apartment to be ready. So more than a month after our wedding, we are just now getting to unpack and set up our home.

Bamber Photography is a fabulous member of our Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!