Calling all casual chic loving brides! This wedding is totally up your alley and filled to the brim with gorgeous, little touches. Captured by the obviously talented Robert Max Photography, this wedding is all about simple and sweet details. A little lace here, a touch of burlap there and pops of pretty flowers everywhere. See it all right here in the full gallery!
Don’t miss this fabulous film by KACE Video!
Click here for the FULL wedding!
From the Bride… Casey and I met while I was in graduate school and Army ROTC at Florida State University, and he was in Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He came down to FSU for a football game, and by the time he returned to go back to training, I was hooked! We continued talking, and I ended up making the three hour trip to Georgia with a friend for Halloween weekend, when we officially started dating. The year that followed consisted of six-hour round-trip car drives to visit one another on weekends, and stints of not being able to talk due to training (both his and mine). Long-distance relationships are HARD, y’all, and throw in the Army and it seems to be almost impossible! During last summer we had about three months of no communication other than letters, as my hero was off being at rockstar at Ranger School, and I then had to go to my ROTC training in order to commission the following school year. That summer was full of loneliness and letters, yet it was what made us both realize that we never wanted to be apart. Casey, who by then had made the cross country move to Washington state, decided to propose (in dress blues at the airport!) on 11/11/11! Thus began the wedding planning madness…
My groom lived almost 3,000 miles away, my family (and where our wedding was going to be held) was 200 miles away, and I was in my last year of graduate school and ROTC — it was a recipe for disaster! However, thanks to sites like SMP and Pinterest and an obsessive need for organization, I was able to make it all happen without a wedding coordinator or even a groom to help. In fact, my lovely groom wasn’t there or even able to talk to me while I was making decisions thanks to a three-hour time difference and a very busy work schedule! Bless his heart though, on the weekends I cried to him about how I didn’t know how this would all work and how we should just elope, during which he calmly reassured me that I was a rockstar and what a great job I was doing, and how it would be the perfect day I had always dreamed of. And it was, it really was! I knew I wanted a southern, yet chic “theme” for my wedding with lots of DIY touches since our budget was only $10,000. Unfortunately, the Army and grad school got in the way of a lot of my DIY ideas, meaning I turned to the next best thing: Etsy. The week before my wedding, my three bridesmaids all flew in from out of town to help get ready and celebrate my special week (yes, I had a wedding week, full of tanning at the beach, mimosas, brunches, spa time, family dinners, rehearsals and crafting), and we assembled the centerpieces for the outdoor tables, cut the burlap for the table runners, painted wooden letters for photo props and organized/placed photos of Casey and I on twine to be strung up on the inside fireplace mantle.
Our ceremony was perfect — held outside on the patio, with views of the marsh and Amelia River in the background. A pastor and family friend of Casey, who has known him since birth, officiated our ceremony. Following our ceremony, we had a cocktail hour with passed appetizers of crab cakes, bacon wrapped scallops, and chicken satay. Casey and I then were introduced for the first time as a married couple while dancing to Rascal Flatts “Bless the Broken Road.” The reception portion featured our Southern-style buffet. After eating, all the regular wedding activities went down, with the father/daughter and mother/son dances, bouquet and garter tosses, and cake cutting. We actually decided to have cupcakes, as well as a red velvet cake that was made by one of my closest friends from college, Megan McGaughey. Not only did Megan make the most delicious and beautiful cake I had ever seen, she also hand made the topper from wood that she had laser cut and hand-decorated. The end of our wedding came too quickly, as we departed the yacht club to a bubble fanfare and boarded the ferry to go back to the downtown harbor. Our friends and family all said it was the best wedding they had ever been to, and I have to agree! The night was over, but our life together had just begun. I was, and am, truly the luckiest woman in the world to be married to my best friend.
Wedding Photography: Robby Bunk of Robert Max Photography / Wedding Venue + Catering: Oyster Bay Yacht Club in Fernandina Beach, Florida / Venue Coordination: Terrie Sanders of Oyster Bay Yacht Club / Floral Design: Ken Prescott of Dottie “B” Florist / Wedding Cinematography: Austin Barile of KACE Video / Wedding Cake + Topper: DIY by Megan McGaughey, A Friend of the Bride / Cupcakes: Bliss Cupcakery / C & J Decor Letters: Two Pinkies / Mr. & Mrs. Chair Signs: Jennifer Designs / Burlap Just Married sign: The Paisley Moon / Mr. & Mrs. Burlap Pillow with Date: Simply French Market / Mothers’ Personalized Handkerchiefs: Wedding Handkerchiefs / Table Runners: CV Linens / Head Table Chair Sashes: CV Linens / Burlap, Mason Jars + Silk Flowers: Hobby Lobby / Candles: Quick Candles / Floating Pool Flowers: Save on Crafts / Ferry Transportation: Amelia River Cruises / Wedding Dresses: Casablanca Bridal via Park Avenue Bridal + Aidan Mattox via Saks Fifth Avenue / Bride’s Sandals: ALDO / Bride’s Cowboy Boots: Cavender’s / Mrs. Igo Dress Hanger: BurlapBabe / Bride’s Army Camo Garter: American Honey Designs / Bride’s Accessories: Judith Jack via Nordstrom / Hair + Makeup: Jordyn Mooney / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: David’s Bridal