Happy Monday, SMPers! We couldn’t think of any better way to start the week than this Louisiana love-fest and its true country spirit. Set on the very same grounds where the bride’s parents wed 33 years prior, it’s a wedding with a whole lotta heart and a focus on sustainability woven throughout. Simply Stunning Events and Brocade Designs designed a day to pay homage to the couple’s history and heritage, and Austin Gros snapped up all the stunning moments we so luckily have to swoon. For even more of this beautiful day click right here. (Pssst: Last week’s giveaway winners are announced below!)
From Simply Stunning Events…Whitney and Jacob chose the bride’s family home– Loggy Bayou Plantation– as their wedding destination. The spot held special significance: not only were the bride’s parents married at Wedding Point 33 years prior, the Loggy Bayou homestead has a vast archaeological history, with evidence of settling from families going back some 7 millennia. The farm is situated in the alluvial river valley about 45 minutes outside of Shreveport, a beautiful, natural protected woodlands where sustainability and nature are at the forefront, and these concepts were reiterated in so much of Whitney and Jacob’s wedding day.
Wedding Point– a broad expanse of land spanning nearly 2 football fields– started as a grassy knoll overlooking a sleepy lake. In the months leading to the wedding, event designer Hillary Yeager worked from a distance to assist in transforming the space to accommodate the nearly 400 guests: the point was regraded and re-sodded to meet the needs of the tent and dance floor, a bridge was built to offer accommodations to the guests from the landing, a beautiful wooded path composed of freshly gut gum trees, and a custom built pergola were only aspects of the design plan. Early in the planning process, Brocade worked with the bride and groom to come up with a signature monogram: a hand drawn oak leaf with a “D” in a heart– as the motif of the day. That image appeared in several iterations– beginning with the Save the Dates and invitations, to the branding along the Bridge, koozies, the program, the favors– and so much more. The bride and groom focused on sustainability with locavore eating, and the Dickson family and friends caught all the meats consumed at the reception, as well as providing many of the locally grown veggies.
With the many unique touches through the day, one of the most unique was perhaps the ceremony entrance. While the bride was rowed by her father across the lake, centered in the middle of the homestead, the groom and his best man rode on horseback around the lake to meet at the ceremony plot. All in all, this couple reflected that a down home country wedding for 400 can be one that plays homage to history and heritage while maintaining a sense of local responsibility and love of the land- culminating in one of the most beautiful and touching nights of a lifetime.
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Wedding Photography: Austin Gros | Venue: Loggy Bayou Plantation (Bride’s family home) | Wedding Planning: Kristin Kaplan with Simply Stunning Events | Floral + Desgin: Hillary Yeager of Brocade Designs | Cinematography: Trussell Media | Catering + Bar: Wine Country Bistro & Bottle Service | Invitation + Paper Products: Hillary Yeager with Brocade Designs | Calligraphy: Hardink Calligraphy | Lighting: Nashville Audio Visual | Tent + Rentals: Pelican Tents & Events | Linens: Graceful Tables | Lounge Furniture: AFR Furniture | Vintage China: Southern Events Party Rental | Bluegrass Band: Blue Moon Rising | String Quartet: Bellamusica with Lydia Davis | Cake Baker: Alyson Foreman | Transportation: Red River Coaches | Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier
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And now we have some very special winners to announce! Drumroll please…
Katie is the lucky winner of five free hours of wedding consultation from Mathes and Co. Yay, Katie!
Lindsey and Cathal have a sparkly new Carlyss Ring from Trumpet & Horn’s Pin it & Win it contest headed their way!
A big congrats goes to Lauren who will receive an engagement session, complete with disk and one 16×20 print, from Mad Love Weddings!
And last but certainly not least, Lauren Hensley is the winner of a Tier 2 wedding package (with venue included!) for a 2013 wedding from Ceremony Design Company! Woohoo, Lauren!