There’s something about Southern weddings that pair so well with twirl-worthy dresses, don’t you think? It goes without saying that this Bride steals the show in her lovely layers of Hayley Paige. Paired with a sweet yellow bouquet designed by Gloriosa Design and her Groom looking dapper in navy, this day documented by Simply Sarah is the definition of darling.
From the Bride… We were roommates before we even knew each other. Through a mutual friend, we ended up living in a six-person house in Northwest DC. I had just transferred to finish undergrad at American University up the street, and the five boys were all starting out with new jobs in the area. We moved to Georgia together to attend Emory graduate school: he went to the law school, and I was in the art history program. In Decatur, we built a life a life together. Both of us became deeply involved with wildlife rescue and rehabilitation work while living in the area, and found a beautiful community there (our DJ, Zack Falls, is a dear friend who volunteers at Atlanta Wild Animal Rescue Effort). Volunteering also a strengthened our relationship–nothing brings two people together like rescuing a hawk or raising baby opossums as a team. We fell in love with Georgia as our love was growing into its own, and that may be the reason why, when it came time to choose a wedding venue, there was no question of where it should be.
Carmine proposed to me in Ft. Pierce, Florida, during a quick weekend getaway. At the time, he was living in Westchester, New York, for work — but I was working in DC and living at my old apartment. After almost five happy years spending everyday together in Georgia, this was a tough time for us both. But we made it through, and now we are married and back in the same place!
I’m not sure what my favorite moment of the wedding was but the best candidate may be popping the bottle of champagne during our ceremony. Carmine and I had a great experience touring the champagne caves of Reims, France, in the summer of 2015. So we chose a bottle of Taittinger champagne for a toast during the ceremony, which happened right before our officiant, friend, and former roommate gave Carmine permission to kiss the bride. Before toasting, we went over to open the bottle and pour two glasses for ourselves: this is my alternative to lighting a unity candle. I popped the cork and he poured, the same as we do at home, and it just felt so warm and familiar even with everyone’s eyes on us. That, or any moment spent with the goats.
My best advice to future bride is to try to find a venue where you actually want to be. In a vacuum, does it feel good to be there? Things will go wrong, but if you are somewhere that makes you feel happy, then you’ll feel less stressed even when you aren’t together. I know that once I was with Carmine, I didn’t have a care in the world, but even before I saw him, I had the baby goats and the gorgeous landscape at Serenbe to keep be me calm and that definitely made a difference.
We had quite a week leading up to the wedding. It started with me losing my wallet with everything inside, including my passports, before we left to drive down to Georgia. Having to replace everything delayed us leaving D.C., messed up our rental car reservations, had us scrambling to make up for time, and little things just kept going wrong from there. For example, our trunk opened somehow while we were driving at night and a few gifts flew out and disappeared. Luckily we were able to replace them in time!Our wedding week was such a ridiculous comedy of errors that I felt completely calm on the day of our actual wedding. Somehow, I remained calm when things kept going wrong throughout the day, too. None of it mattered, honestly, except that I got to marry my best friend and start the next chapter of our life together. In the end, everything worked out just fine, and we had the most beautiful, Georgia spring day full of goats, daffodils, and champagne–not to mention all the love and joy we felt from our friends and family.
We loved working with Simply Sarah Photography. There were a few bumps in the road and Sarah definitely helped me to stay happy and have fun throughout the day. The final results arrived so much sooner than we anticipated, and the images are breathtaking. They captured gorgeous details like the ethereal pinstriped organza fabric of my Hayley Paige gown, and the varieties of heirloom daffodils grown specially for the day. We are also so grateful for the beautiful pictures of the two of us. They perfectly represent the dreamlike quality of the whole evening. I would recommend Simply Sarah to anyone getting married, we were so glad to have them with us and so grateful for their beautiful work.
Photography: Elizabeth Lanier Photography | Event Design: Gloriosa Design | Event Planning: Sashay Creative Events | Floral Design: Gloriosa Design | Wedding Dress: Hayley Paige | Cake: Cakes By Carissa | Ceremony Venue: Serenbe | Catering: Gloriosa Design | DJ: Zach Falls | Film Processing and Development: PhotoVision Prints
