What happens when a Jersey girl meets a Southern gent on Tinder? You get a wedding with the best of both worlds at an historic New Jersey inn with special Southern touches throughout. With gorgeous makeup by Make Me Up Eva and beautiful photos by Idalia Photography, this wedding has a little Jersey (hello, gorgeous glittered Jimmy Choos!), a little Alabama (that seersucker ring bearer outfit!) and a whole lot of love. Check out their love story below and jump into the full gallery here.
From the bride:
Taylor and I met through Tinder and had our first date at a divey commuter bar in Penn Station. It may not have been the most glamorous start (and it was only 20 minutes long because I had to catch a train), but I knew right away that he was special.
Taylor is incredibly thoughtful, and he planned the most amazing proposal. We were just sitting around at home on a Friday night when Taylor casually suggested we go out to dinner in our neighborhood. When we arrived at the end of the subway platform, he got down on one knee and proposed. Moments later, the next subway car rolled up and I was shocked to see that it was filled with our friends and family! Taylor’s friend filmed the whole thing, and there was even a small camera in the ring box itself.
Being a planner, I wanted to visit wedding venues soon after the engagement. We selected the historic Molly Pitcher Inn as our venue because I had always thought of it as a beautiful, elegant place to celebrate a special occasion. Plus, it had a gorgeous promenade right on the river for our ceremony and cocktail hour (despite terrible weather forecasts leading up the wedding, the rain held off and we were able to be outside).
I always knew I wanted gray as one of our colors and Taylor suggested green as our other main wedding color; the gray and green really popped when we added touches of peach and metallic as accents. It also lent itself to lush, natural greenery for our florals. We knew that right away that we wanted round garlands as our table centerpieces, and decided to expand that idea into a large floral wreath that provided a gorgeous background for our ceremony.
Our main inspiration was sharing our love story – we wanted the day to feel personal, and for our guests to come away from the wedding knowing more about us. Some of our favorite personal touches included having close friends announce the reception entrances and special dances, walking down the aisle to a song composed and recorded by Taylor, our locally-sourced olive oil favors, and writing our own vows, which we heard for the first time during the ceremony.
I love to craft, so I made escort cards using white tiles, and created most of the paper elements and signage, including the menus, ceremony programs, table numbers, and more. We also brought some items straight from our home for the decor, such as our light up LA & T initials and the lightboard message sign.
One of the first things anyone learns when they meet Taylor is that he is proud to hail from Alabama; since the wedding was taking place in my hometown, we wanted to honor his Alabama roots by incorporating some Southern elements into the festivities. We kicked things off the night before the wedding with yummy BBQ food at our rehearsal dinner.
My adorable godson Logan was our ring bearer, and he looked like a little Southern gent in his saddle shoes and custom green seersucker suit. Speaking of seersucker, our bourbon-based signature cocktail was called “The Seersucker” and featured green and white striped straws with handcrafted metallic flags. Taylor’s mom baked cheese crisps (one of his favorite Alabama snacks) that each guest received in the welcome box, along with favorite candies from the bride and groom.
While I couldn’t wait to try our funfetti wedding cake, the treat that Taylor was most excited about leading up to the wedding was his groom’s cake, which was a huge chocolate chip cookie cake in the shape of Alabama! The cake featured different landmarks and towns that are meaningful to Taylor.
We kept the Southern theme going right through the end of the night, with “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Livin on a Prayer” (which I like to think of as the unofficial anthem of New Jersey!) closing down the dance floor.
Photographer: Idalia Photography | Wedding Coordinator: Kate Krug | Florals: Darryn Murphy Designs | Wedding Dress: JLM Couture | Invitations: Art Paper Scissors | Bridesmaid Dresses: Azazie | Makeup: Make Me Up Eva | Hair Stylist: Hale Koa phineas Estate | DJ: Aria Melody DJ | Groom's Suit: My Suit | Groomsmen's Attire: Menguin | Bridal Shop: St. Pucchi | Cake & Groom's Cookie Cake: Sugarush Bakery | Ceremony & Reception Venue: Molly Pitcher Inn | Fragrances: Atelier Cologne | Olive Oil Favors: Carter & Cavero | Ring Bearer's Seersucker Suit: Brenda Rathbone | Ring Pillow: Alexandra Ferguson | Seamstress: Zatsarina Fashion | Vow Notebooks: The Printable Gal