A Florist's Southern Wedding Bringing Her Texas Roots to Kentucky At A Private Residence!
When you work in the wedding industry and it's your time to tie the knot, the pressure is on! But, for this floral designer of Lovely Leaves, her southern wedding came together, easy as pie with a little help from her (vendor) friends! Her MOH event planner, Taylor Bible Weddings, and friend Zach Brady Designs assisted in planning and coordinating the day from floral installations to backdrops, and hair and makeup were done by her friends at Southern Belles Beauty, all based out of Texas! The stunning floral wedding cake was even transported from the Lonestar state created by Lily's Cakes and Dani Cowan Photography captured it all. Check it out below and read on to see how the day all came together!
From the Bride...Of all the wedding days I have ever been a part of, I love my own the most. Marrying into the event industry is not for the faint of heart, so my husband Aleks gets all of the gold stars. My husband is a saint. In reality, he is a surgeon, but he doesn't bat an eye when he walks into a house filled with flowers and never fails to be by my side every wedding-filled weekend, even working up until our own wedding week. I am basically the luckiest girl in the world.
We knew that we would be married in the Catholic Church, and it was important to Aleks' parents that we be married at their church, the church that he grew up in, the Cathedral of Christ the King in Lexington. I am originally from Texas, but moved to Kentucky with Aleks when he finished residency; the priest who married us, Father Martin, was from our Elizabethtown parish, Saint James Catholic Church. While we had set the date aside years in advance, we were rather late in choosing a reception venue. Late October is prime wedding season in Kentucky, so we were thrilled when his sister and her husband, Alicia and DB Kazee, offered to host the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception at their historic home in downtown Lexington. The boxwood gardens designed by Jon Carloftis were perfect for portraits and the house itself seems to have fallen out of the pages of an interior design magazine. We opted for a clear tent on the front lawn, so as not to take away from the scenic locale.
As a florist and event planner, it was so important to me that my wedding stood out from all of the others that we've designed over the years. That year alone, we had had over fifty other weddings. Selecting a color palette was probably the most difficult part of the planning process for me. Classic black tuxes and floor-length black bridesmaid gowns allowed for endless possibilities. Choosing linens, flatware, glassware, has never been more fun, nor more last minute. I chose velvet linens as velvet really popped that year and mauve as a neutral base—mauve goes with all other colors. I love seeing new decor as it comes in, so committing to rentals didn't happen until the month prior when the white and gold flatware arrived at Bryant's Rent All. Florals two weeks before when I placed the order with my wholesalers. My favorite flowers are peonies, anthuriums, dahlias, and orchids. Southern smilax is a staple at Lovely Leaves; you'll find it sprawled throughout photo galleries of weddings I have designed, so it was only natural that my own wedding would be overflowing with the dreamy green vines.
I could not be more grateful for the contributions of some of my closest friends. Teresa from Studio W Designs and I have been working together since 2012, and she designed the most perfect stationery suite. My BBF and Maid of Honor Taylor Bible (event planner Taylor Bible Weddings) in addition to throwing me the most amazing mid-week Austin, Texas, bachelorette party, flew into the Bluegrass State early in the week to prep for the wedding. I hired my friend Zach Brady to coordinate; best decision ever. A floral genius in his own right, Zach didn't even know what I ordered until two days before the wedding. The tent entrance was a bit of last-minute magic; Zach built exactly what I imagined though while Taylor and I built photo booth backdrops and set place settings.
We had the most professional DIY wedding ever. The wedding cake shown came all the way from Texas from my dear friend Lilian Halabi of Lily's Cakes. We did serve local Kentucky cake as well from Batter & Buttercream. Hair and makeup came all the way from Texas as well: Years ago I planned both bridesmaid Victoria Taylor's and her sister Allison Cooke's weddings before they launched Southern Belles Beauty. Even my dress came from a hometown bridal salon, Georgio's Bridal, in the Lonestar State. Our wedding was truly a mesh of Texas and Kentucky melded together, not just us, but our closest friends and family plus vendors from across the South.
