You always hear stories about brides who try on one gown – and know it’s the one. But almost all of them go on to savor the experience and try on a few more… just to be sure. Not this bride. This bride knew the moment she put her gown on that this was it. She simply knew. Just like she knew when she got engaged, there was no need for a long engagement. He was the one – it was time, and two short months later, they would marry. From the dreamy photography by Watson-Studios and the delightful bouquets from Mulberries, this Tennessee wedding is charming beyond belief. See the full gallery here.
From the Bride… Sam and I had been dating for over 4 years. When we decided to get married, we knew we didn’t want to have a long engagement. We were engaged in June and set our wedding for August 25! We were so excited to lock in Natalie and Dan Watson as our photographers shortly after. It all happened very fast! We both love the outdoors and knew we wanted to have our wedding outdoors, somewhere with a woodsy feeling. After seeing the RT Lodge, we knew that was the place. I did have a few things on my wish list, though, for my wedding…
1) my dream husband 2) my dream dress 3) great photography 4) our family at the wedding 5) as little stress as possible!
We decided to have a small, intimate wedding with family only. Most of our immediate family were able to come, and our total attendance ended up being 22 (24 including the photographers)! Having such few guests at the wedding allowed us to really slow down and enjoy the experience. We didn’t have to rush around and say hello to everyone… we were able to have entire conversations with everyone and even enjoy the food made by the RT Lodge. It was incredible!
As far as planning a wedding goes, I was a novice. The RT Lodge pretty much covered every detail… all I had to do was send a few preferences about food, location of ceremony, etc and boom… it was done! I enjoyed meeting with Samantha from Mulberries to pick out flowers and met with a local woman from Maryville who made our cake! I ordered a few things from Etsy and Ellis (the RT Lodge wedding planner) took care of absolutely everything else!
Thanks to the small size of our wedding, our families were able to participate in the wedding. We served communion to our guests after Sam and I took communion and then my dad and Sam’s dad prayed over us with our families surrounding us. It was an amazing experience! I can honestly say I had my dream wedding. Every single moment was a blessing. Our day was full of joy and fun and time with family, and there really was no stress. Honest! I feel very blessed to have had such a wonderful experience and am grateful to all those who supported us and celebrated with us and helped the day be such a delight!
From Samantha of Mulberries… Sarah wanted a soft palette of light blue, green, and cream. She loved textural elements such as gray-green succulents, scabiosa pods, and touches of sword fern. We agreed on tweedia, which is the small light blue star-shaped flower, to bring in a hint of blue. Green Dutch hydrangea, ivory garden roses, and pieris japonica completed the bouquet. Sam’s boutonnière was one of my favorites – a combination of a small succulent, scabiosa pod, pieris japonica, touch of tweedia, and sword fern wrapped in burlap ribbon.
Sarah had such a great relaxed attitude and was a joy to work with. She wanted simple elegance in a classy rustic setting, and the end result was a stress-free beautiful day, celebrated with only their closest friends and family.
Wedding Photography: Watson-Studios / Wedding Venue + Catering + Planning: RT Lodge / Floral Design: Mulberries / Wedding Dress: David’s Bridal