Bride Wears Mother’s 1989 Dress to Her Romantic Duke Mansion Wedding

We were inspired by the classic style of the Duke Mansion and its gardens. A colorful, bright, and cheery spring inspired our color pallet. Rather than pinpointing specific inspiration photos or weddings, we placed trust in our vendors to bring to life a day completely unique to us. We believe that the people make the place (or, in this case, the event) and that when the day finally arrives, the perfect theme and style will be one created by the presence of our loved ones and influenced by the energy and joy they bring.

We met at Clemson during our freshmen year orientation—randomly assigned to the same small group for welcome week activities. Although we didn't hit it off right away, thankfully mutual friends later brought our social circles together. We started hanging out in group settings throughout freshman year and it didn't take long for us to become great friends and eventually a couple. After we graduated from Clemson and settled in our home city, Charlotte, Ethan proposed at his family's lake house where we spent a lot of special time growing our relationship during the pandemic when campus was closed. Mary is notoriously hard to surprise, but not only did Ethan pull of the surprise proposal, he made it even sweeter by having all of their friends in on a surprise after party!

Mary's ceremony gown was handmade by her mother for her own wedding in 1989 with alterations and a custom headband done by RCB Fashion here in Charlotte. Mary's Reception dress was a beaded gown by Jane Hill -- she thought it was the perfect juxtaposition from her mother's gown and also that it perfectly matched the aura of the Duke Mansion.

The bridesmaids wore soft green Amsale gowns from Bella Bridesmaids.

Ethan (along with Mary's dad and brother) wore custom Zegna tuxedos sourced by Taylor Richards & Conger (TRC style) here in Charlotte.

Hors d'oeuvres included twists on Southern favorites like fried chicken nuggets in mini waffle cones. For dinner, the first course was a fresh watermelon and arugula salad. Then the second course was a duo of beef tenderloin and Charleston crabcake. We also had a coffee station with coordinating "Let Love Brew" signage.

Amanda at Viri Lovely Designs created beautiful cohesion with the use of her hand-drawn colorful floral print seen throughout the space on the phone booth and bar vinyls, the signage and even the cards on which we wrote each other handwritten letters the morning of our big day. The real flowers were a show stopper: two of our favorites being the oversized bar arrangement for cocktail hour and luscious cascading orchids on the cake.

White five-tier Swiss dot cake covered in cascading white orchids.

We had our wedding mass at the Cathedral of St. Patrick which is our home parish and also the place where Mary's parents were married almost 35 years before!

We had our wedding mass at the Cathedral of St. Patrick which is our home parish and also the place where Mary's parents were married almost 35 years before! Mary attended elementary school and Ethan went through RCIA, the program to convert to Catholicism, at St. Pats. Also, Mary's brother and his fiancé are also getting married there later this year!

Another favorite (and a big hit with our guests) was the two live artists: Eliane Burge and Maggie B. French --both the sweetest, cutest women! Elaine worked throughout the evening and completed a gorgeous, colorful painting of us on the venue staircase that we now have hanging in our home. And Maggie completed sketches of our guests for them to take home and even made an electronic version of each sketch to serve as a guest book for us!

We provided recipe cards, similar in style to ones we already had at home, but with Amanda's special floral pattern to remind us of our wedding, for guests to share their special family recipes with our new family.