Don’t get me wrong I love color at weddings, but there is something so incredibly romantic and tasteful about an all neutral palette and this wedding is living proof! From gorgeous nude-colored bridesmaid dresses to rich floral designs by Stylish Stems in white and soft blush, the subtle details of the day are pure perfection. With Invision Events behind the planning, this wedding was bound to be beautiful and the images captured by Hillary Lee Photography are unreal!
From Photographer, Hillary Leah… The detail of this wedding was absolutely incredibly. First off, the bridesmaid’s dresses were Show Me Your Mumu– which are to die for. Jacqui’s florals and centerpieces were so much fun to capture. The venue itself is gorgeous, especially in Mid-November. However, the head table is what had all of my attention. The dark stain head table with mercury glass and place settings made such a statement in that reception room. The chargers and gold china made for a photographer’s dream! My favorite thing about Jacqui and Zach was that they were intentional with incorporating pieces to their relationship (they dated since high school!). They handed out Chick-Fil-A sandwiches during the send-off because that’s where they had their first date. Although they had a gorgeous and big wedding, they were both so in the moment and hired incredible vendors that you could just tell they were at ease with thoroughly not worrying about anything! Favorite moment was when Zach saw Jacqui… I mean, just look at the picture!
From the bride and groom… Jacqui and Zach said “I do” on a crisp fall day at Foxhall Resort’s Legacy Lookout, overlooking the beautiful fall foliage in Atlanta, Georgia. Their vision of simple elegance was brought to life with stunning, yet understated details like a semi-naked wedding cake, farm estate tables, soft candlelight and plenty of lush greenery. Jacqui looked beautiful in her tulle ball gown that made it look like she was floating on air as she twirled around the dance floor with her sweet groom. The bridesmaids all wore Show Me Your Mumu and the groom + groomsmen looked sharp in their classic black tuxes. Even Jacqui and Zach’s pup, Turner, dressed the part with an adorable floral and greenery necklace that complimented the maids’ floral crowns. It was a beautiful celebration of love and family, as shown though lots of sweet, candid moments, hugs and pup snuggles.
From the bride… This may sound bad and I can’t believe I’m admitting it, but because Zach and I have been dating for seven years, its hard to remember the beginning of our relationship as it started out when I was only 15 and a sophomore in high school. I first met Zach on February 7th, 2009. I do remember that date because it was the morning of my first ACT, and my friend Brandy had to pick me up beforehand as I still wasn’t old enough to drive. We stopped by Chic-fil-A for a quick breakfast, and that’s when Zach walked in looking less than excited to be awake that early. He sat with us during the short time we had, and then we went our separate ways for the test. Later that evening, Brandy asked if I wanted to go to the movies with her, Zach, and one of their other best friends. I love the movies, so I agreed to go. Zach came straight from a baseball banquet (if that’s not a foreshadowing of our relationship, I don’t know what is), and of course the first words out of his mouth were complaints about having to dress nice (again.. The foreshadowing).
From that day forward, we spent a majority of our days rotating between each other’s tennis matches and baseball games and we became inseparable. We were able to tough it through two years of long distance while Zach was playing baseball for East Tennessee State University, and then by the grace of God, he made his way to the University of Georgia to continue his baseball career. We became even closer than we were before, which I didn’t think was possible, and were able to spend two years together in our favorite city. From homecomings and proms to high school graduations, to college graduations, to our first real world jobs, Zach and I have seen each at our worst but also at our best. I truly feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have such a selfless, supportive, encouraging, and loving best friend.
From the groom (about the proposal)… The first part of this whole process was picking out a ring. As everyone knows, Jacqui is a total perfectionist and is very specific when it comes to what she wants. This made the ring shopping process and planning the proposal intimidating to say the least. Luckily, after only about an hour of shopping, and a little help from my mom, I finally had the perfect ring that I knew Jacqui would fall in love with. Now came the part of asking Jacqui’s dad for her hand in marriage. I decided to do it at one of his favorite places- the golf course. We booked a tee time at Towne Lake Hills, and I had my fingers crossed that he would be having a good round when it came time to ask him. Thankfully he was having fun through the front nine, but I was not so fortunate. My golf game was struggling as all I could think about was what I was going to say. After 9 holes of running the scenario through my head, I finally built up the courage to ask him. Even though I caught him off guard, he gave me his permission to ask Jacqui. It had been a long time coming, and he was excited that it was finally going to happen. On a side note, my golf game drastically improved on the back nine.
Planning the proposal was the next step. My one requirement throughout the whole planning process was that it had to be a complete and total surprise. It is close to impossible to surprise Jacqui, but I was up for the task. With that being said, Jacqui and I have always done adventurous things together such as skydiving (I now hate flying), swimming with sharks, snowboarding, white water rafting, and the list continues. The only activity that we had not done together, which happened to be one of Jacqui’s favorite things to do, was zip lining. I started researching the best location to have this go down, and that’s when I decided on Historic Banning Mills, the world’s longest zip line canopy tour. I then called and got the entire staff on board with my plan for the day. Now the real work began- I had to invite families, grandparents, and siblings, all while keeping this a secret from Jacqui. After numerous secret meetings, we had all of the details worked out.
The big day was finally here, and I picked Jacqui up to go and start our zip line adventure. We arrive at Banning Mills and the life changing adventure is about to begin. We were paired with about 8 other people, and I told Jacqui we needed to let them go first. Jacqui doesn’t like waiting so she was not happy when got stuck in the back. Now we had to pick an order that we would stay in through the whole tour. Obviously I needed to go first, but again, Jacqui did not want to be the last person to go each time. I finally told her that I would be too scared to go if I went last, and she agreed to the last position. The tour was going smoothly, and Jacqui still had no idea what she was in for. Then there we were at the last zip line. Unlike the other zip lines, this last one dropped down below the trees so you couldn’t see the landing. I zipped down and our families were waiting at the landing with everything in place. I get the ring from my dad and take a deep breath. I then gave the guide a thumbs up and he radios in telling Jacqui she was good to go. She comes down the line, and after she came up from under the trees she immediately started tearing up. She stopped on the landing, and I got down on one knee. Luckily, she said yes!
Photography: Hillary Leah Photography | Videographer : Rooted Pine Films | Event Planning: Invision Events | Floral Design: Stylish Stems | Cake: Lush Cakery | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Show Me Your Mumu | Catering: LowCountry Catering & Events | Makeup: Glam By Ruthie | Hair: K. Barone Salon | DJ: Club Rett | Ceremony Music: Andrew Lombardi | Venue: Foxhall Resort And Sporting Club | Farm Tables: The Vintage Rental Company