When you marry a classic Southern couple with Bamber Photography and a city like Nashville, wedding sparks fly. Dressed in bow-tied gentlemen, a Bride donning Vera Wang, white splashes and scenes like this, this soiree is the epitome of traditional beauty. Jayne Bubis Events and Branches Event Florist certainly graced the day with their sweet touch and you can see it all here in The Vault!
From Bamber Photography…What a beautiful southern celebration! Kyle and Claire live in New York City, but since they both have grown up in the south, they wanted to get married in Nashville. They chose Cheekwood Botanical Garden as their venue because they loved the gardens!
From the Bride… Kyle and I met in high school through two of our friends. We ended up as senior year Homecoming dates, and we haven’t stopped dating since. Kyle knew that I would want to be around my family when he proposed, so when I was in Nashville over spring break my last year in law school, Kyle secretly flew down to Nashville as well. He had made a big to-do about how he was so excited about celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in New York that Saturday with his friends and even texted me details of their supposed celebration that morning, but then my maid of honor called me, told me I should go down to my guest house for a special surprise, and he was waiting there. He proposed, and the rest was history!
I had seen my dress in a few wedding blog posts and fell in love with the pictures. I tried on a lot of other dresses on, but none compared to what I thought this one would be in person. I couldn’t find it in any local wedding shops, but I happened to find it when I went with my parents on a business trip in New York, and I made up my mind within minutes of trying it on.
The ceremony venue is the church where I’ve gone with my family my whole life. It was very special to be married in the place where I’ve sat nearly every Sunday. The reception venue was a botanical garden and art museum that I’ve always loved visiting. I think it’s one of the most beautiful spots in Nashville, and I loved that guests could wander around the museum if they didn’t want to be out with the band.
The bride’s cake was made by Leland Riggin of Dessert Designs and was her classic tiered cake with hydrangeas between the layers. Her cakes are so delicious—it was hard to pick a flavor because they were all amazing! The groom’s cake was from Momofuku Milk Bar, one of our favorite bakeries in New York and a nod to our current home.
It entire day was memorable! A few things stood out for me. The minister gave a homily during the ceremony about marriage that was heartfelt, funny, and very personalized to the two of us. Then before the father-daughter dance and the first dance, both my dad and Kyle gave toasts, and both were excellent (and total tearjerkers). And then during the first dance, Kyle actually was microphoned and sang the song and did a great job. Kyle loves hearing the sound of his own voice, so I think both his toast and his song were very satisfying to him as well.
My something old was the garter my mom wore at her wedding. My something blue (and borrowed) was the Chi Omega pledge pin that belonged to Kyle’s grandmother. My something new was my dress!
How did you plan for your marriage while planning your wedding? It was fairly hectic because in the first part of the wedding planning, I was studying for the bar exam; then I moved to New York and started a new job; then right before the wedding we had to prepare to move into an apartment. With all of that going on, we learned a lot about how to share the workload.
Our advice for couples? While we’re both huge proponents of planning every detail, don’t get too worked up about the little stuff on the day of the wedding. There will almost certainly be mistakes, but the guests will never notice and you won’t have any worse of a time for them. Also, if your groom wants to be part of the planning process, let him! His ideas may be some of the best.
Photography: Bamber Photography | Event Planning: Jayne Bubis Events | Floral Design: Branches- Mike Whitler | Wedding Dress: Vera Wang | Cake: Dessert Designs | Invitations: Ink Nashville | Catering: Kristen Winston Catering | Band: Atlanta All Stars | Venue: Cheekwood Botanical Gardens