This gorgeous wedding captured by Sarah DeShaw is teaching us one very important lesson: St. Simons Island weddings are awesome. In particular, St. Simons Island wedding held in the middle of winter with amazing color schemes, fabulous details and bridesmaids in cardigans. Because when those three details combine, it’s pure and total magic. See just what I mean in the full gallery.
From the Bride… My mother was the major creative force behind our wedding, so we have her to thank for making everything so beautiful and so “us”. Probably like most mothers of the bride, my mother wanted to make sure I dotted all of the “I’s” and crossed all of the “T’s”, but most importantly, she wanted our wedding to reflect our own spirituality, the tranquility and beauty of our surroundings, the joy of friends and family, and the love Ryan and I were promising to each other. In a modern world obsessed with perfection, most of us get caught up in fantasizing about the little details and lose sight of just the pure enjoyment of celebrating life’s important moments. So amidst our own personal fascinations with what color, what style, how many, and where to put it, my mother, my sister, and I often had to pause and remind ourselves WHY. And because we reminded each other of the WHY,
preparing for this wedding and celebration was especially meaningful for all of us.
Since Ryan and I love great food and enjoy live music, we wanted these to be highlights of the wedding celebration and were excited to focus on that part of the wedding plans. The musicians we asked to play at the ceremony are a local husband and wife duo and when we first started dating in St. Simons, we went to see them play whenever we got the chance. Since moving back from Maui to Athens, Georgia, we have loved living in a town full of great musicians and bands, so we were able to get one of our favorite bands to come play at the reception. A mix of blues, country, and rock, the band was our idea of a great time!
And as for the food…. we chose to have a casual display of some our favorite tastings, and we loved it all! And as we are mushroom fanatics and mushroom foraging is a hobby of ours, my mother asked the chef at the Boathouse to create a playful and delicious mushroom presentation including both wild and cultivated mushrooms that were pickled, marinated and even a mushroom pate. It was
incredible!
Ryan and I are firm believers of living locally and supporting independent small businesses, so we tried to incorporate this philosophy into our wedding planning whenever possible. The chef and the event coordinator at the Boathouse knew this was important to us and made it a priority in our menu. Our guests enjoyed Wild Georgia Shrimp, local crab, regional cheeses from Sweet Grass Dairy of Thomasville, Georgia and Belle Chevre from Elkmont Alabama, locally sourced produce from Sapelo Farms in Brunswick, Georgia. Locally raised chicken and regional bison was also incorporated into the menu with fried chicken and bison sliders. Can’t have a Southern wedding without a little fried chicken.
The flowers were the perfect combination of rustic and romantic epitomizing our own personal styles. Ryan being the outdoorsman that he is, would not be too comfortable with a lot of “fluff” at a
wedding; however, he has always been amused by the fact that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE fashion, flowers, and everything French, so it was easy to meet somewhere in between. I conveyed to my mother several of mine and Ryan’s botanical favorites that I wanted to include (ranunculus, dahlias, dusty miller, fiddlehead fern) and she took it from there. I wanted still to express certain time honored wedding traditions while managing to confirm that I am a contemporary woman.
Why did you decide to get married at the location you chose? We both enjoy being in the outdoors, so we knew we wanted something very natural for the location. The site at Frederica Township was perfect, because we could utilize the outdoor space and the beautiful interior of the boathouse. The interior of that space has such a gorgeous warmth from all the wood and natural light. I also loved the idea of having a setting that beautifully combined both masculine and feminine throughout. Rustic iron chandeliers and wall sconces, boards and beams of heart pine, oak, and cypress, stone fireplaces flanked with lush greenery and candlelight, farm tables decorated with bark, pots full of cut greenery of pine, cedar, wax myrtle, garden roses and ranunculus,and leather wing chairs mixed around the guest tables with bentwood dining chairs offering guests a chance to “linger longer”,
’cause that’s how we do it down here!
Photography: Sarah DeShaw Photography | Videographer: Lighthouse Trolleys | Wedding Coordinator: Kelly Mattox | Florist: Mary Pat Reynolds | Florist: The Vine Garden Market | Wedding Dress: Bleu Belle Bridal | Cake: I Do Cakes | Invitations: H20 Creative Group | Brides Shoes: Sam Edelman | Bridesmaids Dresses: Tibi New York | Transportation: Lighthouse Trolleys | Bridesmaids Cardigans: Anthropologie | Ceremony/Reception Site: Frederica Boathouse | Chair Rentals: Beachview Tent Rentals | Grooms Wedding Band: Aurum | Music: The Oreally's | Music: Betsey Franck And The Bareknuckle Band | Necktie: Brooks Brothers | Reception Dress: Free People | Reception Shoes: Anthropologie | Stationer: Austin Press | Tux Trousers: Ralph Lauren | Wedding Band: Levy's Fine Jewelry | Wedding Ceremony Programs: Paces Paper