This is the best success story for all brides-to-be to keep in mind when weather worries begin! Despite hurricane wind and rain, this wedding went off without a hitch, and with Jacin Fitzgerald Events leading the charge, and help from Tie That Binds and Groove Collection, these two never stopped smiling. Caroline Lima captured the memories in the making, both wet and dry, all in our Vault right this way!
From the Bride… Dean and I met through mutual friends towards the end of our junior year at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After a little over four years of dating we got engaged at our favorite spot in Chapel Hill, Merritt’s Pasture. Not long after that, the wedding planning began! We were at a bit of an advantage since my sister has photographed many weddings and has made a lot of friends in the wedding industry. She told us that we had to get in contact with Jacin Fitzgerald, of Jacin Fitzgerald Events. This was the best decision ever! Jacin helped us make our wedding day exactly what we wanted. Not only did Jacin rock from a professional standpoint, but we feel we have made a life-long friend. My parents agree, and several friends told us after the wedding that they were in love with Jacin. She went out of her way to make sure personal touches were put on every aspect of our day to highlight our personalities. We would definitely recommend Jacin to anyone looking for help with their wedding plans and details.
We both knew that our ideal wedding would be outside with a lot of meaningful touches. We searched around North Carolina for the perfect spot. We finally found Lake Eden Events in Black Mountain. As we drove onto the property we knew we found something special. As we were booking, I remember my dad looking over at me and saying “Are you sure? You know there’s no back-up plan here for a wedding this size.” I looked right back and said “I’m sure. I’ve looked at the Farmer’s Almanac, next October is going to be warm and dry.” Ha! Talk about famous last words. About a week out from our wedding the forecast began to take a scary turn thanks to Hurricane Joaquin. Jacin watched it like a hawk and provided a lot of updates. We moved from Plan A to Plan B to Plan C and then all the way to what seemed like Plan J. This probably sounds pretty stressful, but it really wasn’t. We knew we were in good hands.
The wedding day finally arrived! The ground was saturated from a week’s worth of rain, the hurricane winds were raging, and the rain was coming down. A bride’s worst nightmare, right? Nope! Everything went off without a hitch! Our wonderful photographer, Caroline Lima, took the effort to stop at several stores on her way to Black Mountain to gather as many clear umbrellas as she could find. She arrived with the biggest smile on her face and a “Let’s do this” attitude. Everyone was so great throughout this whole process. The staff at Lake Eden went out of their way to make sure we were all happy and comfortable, Jacin was doing her thing and making everything perfect, Caroline and her second shooter (Katherine Miles Jones) had everyone laughing, and our friends and family were the support and troopers that we knew they would be.
Dean and I had our first look in the rain, and despite it also being cold, we loved every minute of it. The rain let up a little as the ceremony began and our friend and officiant, Hunter Scott, gave us the meaningful ceremony we hoped for. Right after we were announced husband and wife there was a brief break in the sky. This was just in time for family formals. Caroline gathered us all and took the opportunity to get all of the family pictures we asked for. Then it was on to the reception. Our reception was exactly the celebration we had dreamed of for months! The food, which was provided by Black-Eyed Susan Catering, was absolutely delicious! The staff was also great and made sure our guests were happy and that the drinks were flowing all night. We met with Cyn of Black-Eyed Susan Catering several months earlier for a tasting and knew we made the right choice. We had such a hard time choosing our menu because everything was so tasty. The band ROCKED the dance floor all night long! Music was very important to both Dean and I so we made sure to take our time to find the band that was right for us. We were so happy that we found Groove Collection and that they were available for our date. We knew they were going to be great, but they blew our expectations out of the water! The dance floor was crowded all night long like we hoped. So many friends commented that this was the best wedding band they had ever heard and we can’t disagree.
We loved every single aspect of our day, despite the weather’s best efforts to rain on our parade. Our friends and family braved the storm and traveled from near and far to shower us with so much love. We were fortunate to have the best team and to have worked with some of the best vendors out there. Tie That Binds created the most meaningful paper products and other design elements that made our details so special. I really don’t know what Mekala of Tie That Binds can’t do. She created perfect invitations, menus, and beer labels (for the homebrews my talented husband made!), among other things that really brought everything together.
We truly cannot express how lucky we were to work with such amazing people. Everyone that played a role in our wedding went above and beyond in so many ways. We are beyond thankful to have had the wedding of our dreams, which was captured so perfectly by Caroline. We will never actually get to relive that day, but the photos come incredibly close to bringing us right back in the moment.
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Photography: Caroline Lima Photography | Event Planning + Design: Jacin Fitzgerald Events | Floral Design: Jacin Fitzgerald Events | Wedding Dress: Rivini | Invitations: Tie That Binds | Hair + Makeup: Jennifer Eriksen | Band: Groove Collection | Transportation: The Trolley Company | Venue: Lake Eden | Backup Generator: Rental Me This | Catering + Bar: Black Eyed Susan Catering | Day Of Paper Design + Production: Tie That Binds | Linens: BBJ La Tavola | Rentals: Classic Event Rental | Speech Photo Booth: SpeechBooth