Earlier today we got a good look at the colorful engagement shoot for these two jet setters and now it’s time to soak up their elegant Southern ceremony, one beautiful bloom and travel-inspired detail at a time. Amy Arrington captured it from start to finish and our gallery is jam packed with all the goodies, rounding out our day in the most delightful of ways. And don’t miss Imagine Video Productions film as well; can this get any better or more beautiful!?
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From the Bride… We chose to have our wedding at The Cloister on Sea Island. It’s such a special part of the country and we wanted our friends and family to share and experience true Southern hospitality.
I loved planning the wedding, it was such a fun thing to do. Though it can get a bit overwhelming at times, a friend of mine said that this is the one time you have to do it, so enjoy all the steps in planning it! When doing so, we wanted to personalize a few items of the day. Charles and I love to travel, it’s no secret that we bonded over airplanes and places we wanted to go. Our friends know we are the go-to people for airline advice, as well as travel tips! We brought the travel theme into the wedding by having our seating chart be a departure board, with the different airports and places we had visited and loved together. We had the obvious ones (JFK, ATL, LAX) but then had some of our unique trips TOS (Tromso, Norway) and LIM (Lima, Peru – both of our first trips on the other side of the equator). We also incorporated some smaller details, we made paper planes to serve as place cards at each seat.
The most special moment from the wedding day to me, was seeing our families come together for this union. Charles’ dad, Edward Ralston, had been in the hospital just two days before our wedding and we weren’t sure if he was going to be able to make it to the ceremony. To see him and his wife walking into the chapel with Charles, and being involved in the day, was such a blessing and a moment we will cherish forever.
Another moment that I remember is reading the letter Charles wrote me and seeing him at our first look. We wrote each other letters that would be presented to one another on the morning of our ceremony but we didn’t talk about what was in them, or how long they were going to be. It’s funny because when I started reading his, we ended up saying very similar things to each other in our own ways. We spoke about our dreams of our wedding as kids and how they both involved finding the right person to marry and knowing that it would be a very happy marriage. It was so special to see that he and I spoke of the same things to each other. I also remember seeing him as I walked up behind him for our first look. I was so excited that I wanted to run towards him. I didn’t know if I was going to cry or not but ended up just having the biggest smile on my face. I think from that moment on during the day and into the evening, I didn’t stop smiling or wanting to hug and kiss him.
A fun moment during the process was finding my wedding shoes! I knew I wanted to get a really fun, great pair of shoes and knew just what to do. I worked for an airline at the time, and my great friend from work and I would go on weekend trips to Europe (a great perk!). We decided that for the wedding shoes we would have to go to the best place we could think of – Paris! We hopped on a plane, went to Paris for a long weekend, and shoe shopped all day long. I tried on a few pairs at Le Printemps and then went into Dior. I saw my shoes and fell in love with them. They are completely unlike me, I wear typically plain pumps, but these were so special and screamed wedding to me. They had a delicate abstract satin rose on the front in a light pink. I knew after trying them on that I had found the pair – kind of like how you know with your wedding dress! They are so special and whenever I wear them I think of the crazy, fun trip I took to go find them! We even had the same flight attendants on the way back who knew of the story and couldn’t stop saying how great the shoes were as well as the story!
If I could offer one piece of wisdom to couples currently planning a wedding, I’d say take time each weekend to sit down and talk about things with your significant other. We set aside a few hours each Sunday afternoon to get a lot of the planning items done, so that we could focus on being together during the week and not having the entire wedding consume our whole life. Also, I’d suggest reading the Love Languages book. Our pastor had us read it individually and then we sat and talked about our different love languages. It was really eye opening to both of us and helps us understand the other person’s love language and let’s us figure out new ways to show them “I love you.” It was definitely a great way to start our marriage.
Charles and I decided to put our roots down in Atlanta, his hometown. It’s been amazing so far, we love our new house, our new golden retriever, Stella, and are happy being in the same time zone finally!
Photography: Amy Arrington Photography | Videography: Imagine Video Productions (Ryan Lindsey) | Event Planning: Sea Island | Wedding Dress: Pronovias | Bride's Shoes: Christian Dior | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Jenny Yoo | Wedding Venue: Sea Island | Bridesmaids' Robes: Plum Pretty Sugar | Pastor: Bill Barrow | Rehearsal Dinner Venue: Ocean Forest Golf Club (Ann Heins)