The phrase “Star Wars wedding” doesn’t exactly evoke an elegant affair, but this beautiful Bride and Groom’s rustic North Carolina wedding is as elegant as they come, even with a Stormtrooper and Boba Fett appearance at cocktail hour. From the Star Wars touches to the heartwarming first look, the Force was clearly with this sweet couple, thanks to Asheville Event Co. See all the special moments captured by Almond Leaf Studios in The Vault!
[iframe http://player.vimeo.com/video/143276328 600 338]
From The Bride…Mike and I started dating in Florida. He was an assistant swim coach for the University of Florida and I had gotten a position as an intern at the School of Veterinary Medicine. For our first date he took me to the butterfly gardens at the UF Natural History museum, then rock climbing and THEN to a fantastic dinner with some live music. I remember texting my mom from the butterfly garden and basically saying “he’s it.” We spent the next six months traveling all over Florida, having all kinds of adventure. We ended up living in Washington, D.C. and are literally in the middle of planning a cross-country road trip as we move our little family of three to San Francisco in May. Writing this now I have to laugh because I knew adventure would be one of the central themes in our marriage. Mike proposed in New York over Christmas in 2014 and from the beginning of planning I knew our big day needed to be somewhere that reflected us as a couple…fun, unpredictable, and definitely outdoors.
We loved Laurel Ridge Country Club for it’s charm and rustic elegance (okay, I loved it for that reason, Mike’s specifications were that the place have four walls and a roof). We wanted a wedding that was beautiful and relaxed with a lot of our personality thrown in the mix! Asheville Event Co. did such a fantastic job of suggesting vendors who were the absolute best. I learned pretty early that I really wanted to just give Missie an idea and have her execute it and handle the details. Which she did. Flawlessly. The team incorporated Star Wars characters for cocktail hour (seriously), created the most stunning ceremony space, and ran back to our family cabin when I realized AT THE RECEPTION we had forgotten the garter. I got to peek at the ceremony space before our first look and I remember thinking “this is it. This is exactly what I saw in my head.” We planned the big day in nine months and seven months later our friends and family still talk about how beautiful and fun our wedding was, which is just incredible. My favorite detail from the whole day had to be my bridesmaids earrings. I am a total history nerd and so I knew I needed to incorporate that into the wedding in some way. I found antique pearl earrings in a vintage shop in Paris, they had been found hidden away after WWII, and I knew right then that was my gift to my girls!
My favorite moment had to be our first look. Initially I was very against a first look thinking it would take something away from the ceremony, but one day during planning I thought “I want a moment that is just ours…that we get to keep forever, just the two of us.” And everything else just fell into place. I loved everything about my dress and could not wait to see his face that day. On the way to where we were meeting, there were a lot of leaves, making it difficult to walk in heels, so, I took them off and walked up to him barefoot in this dream lace dress in the middle of the mountains…and the moment was perfect. Then we met up with our bridal party, who were accompanied by some extra guests (Boba Fett and a Storm Trooper) and Mike’s face when he realized my surprise made every second of extra planning worth it. We had a beautiful, short ceremony and a long awesome reception where we basically didn’t leave the dance floor. A tunnel of sparklers guided us to the antique Rolls Royce that was our getaway car and our driver sped away to the Inn at Biltmore where we stayed for two nights before leaving for a two week honeymoon in Florida and the Caribbean.
Photography: Almond Leaf Studios | Cinematography: Almond Leaf Studios | Event Planning: Asheville Event Co. | Floral Design: flora | Wedding Dress: Essense of Australia | Cake: Ruth And Ranshaw | Invitations: Old City Press | Bride's Shoes: Manolo Blahnik | Makeup: Blush By Wendy | Hair: Ananda Hair Studio | Calligraphy: Mason Dixon Design | DJ: Split Second Sound | String Quartet: Cafe String Quartet | Venue: Laurel Ridge Country Club | Photo Booth: Hot Dog | Rentals: Classic Event Rental
