What’s better than one beautiful bride you ask? Well, two of course! Floating around in flowy sweetheart dresses, happily committing their forevers to each other and stealing kisses in front of Fearrington Village‘s glowing barn. Graham Terhune has built a charming gallery for us in THE VAULT and we’re betting you’ll feel the love radiating from it too.
From the Brides…We chose Chapel Hill, North Carolina for our big day. Xan grew up in the area and could not think of a more special place to get married than Fearrington. It was the perfect venue for us and matched our style completely, from the rustic feel of the barn to the beautiful Gardens that were the backdrop to our Ceremony, and the modern touches we were able to add with decor. We live in Austin, so we were able to meet with Gilda McDaniel in person in December for three hours and plan most of the wedding. Being out-of-state, it was such a relief to know that the Food, Drink, Cake, and Flowers were all in-house and that we could trust Fearrington’s reputation of exceptional food, great service and elegant but comfortable style.
And they did an amazing job. We wanted everything to feel simple but beautiful. We didn’t particularly have “colors” to work with for two reasons. One, because we each asked our older brothers to be our Best Men instead of traditional bridesmaids. Two, because we had no idea what each others dresses looked like or what colors were involved. We depended on our moms and few friends to tell us if our choices went well together. And on the wedding day, it was amazing to see how perfect our dress colors went with each other and the rest of the day! We decided the boys should wear a light grey suit with brown shoes. And the rest of our colors should be light, neutral colors like white, grey, light pink, and light yellow. A last minute decision was to incorporate some succulents into our floral arrangements, which we think gave our North Carolina wedding a “Texas” touch. Plus it was fun to have pops of color from the succulents! Since the barn is this unbelievably elegant yet rustic space, we decided to keep all our details a little more modern. Most of our escort cards, place cards, and table numbers were off white or light grey. We also thought it would be fun to add a small floral element to each place setting and Mary from Fearrington did such a great job tying that in! One of the most fun parts about planning the wedding was coming up with the table names. We decided to go with restaurant names of some of our favorite places throughout the country including the restaurant we first met at and local favorites from our college towns (Charlottesville, Nashville, and Chapel Hill). Our guests seemed to have fun seeing where they were placed, most of the them having been to that spot.
The wedding day was spectacular, we each had a quick brunch with a few girlfriends before we got ready in separate rooms. About half way through makeup, we experienced a massive thunderstorm and down pour of rain! Luckily, the radar said it was moving through fast and before we knew it blue skies were back and the rain had cooled off what would have been a typical 90 degree summer day in Chapel Hill. We changed our ceremony site the day before when we saw our parents scheming in the corner while we rehearsed our vows in the blazing sun with no shade in site. Gilda, the Fearrington wedding planner, took us over to possibly the most gorgeous site that had plenty of shade, beautiful crab trees, and the most amazing backdrop you could ask for. The garden behind us was breathtaking and I can’t believe we didn’t consider this spot sooner. Our ceremony was short but sweet and afterwards we gathered in the Garden House to greet family and friends and take a few formal photos. The cocktail hour was highlighted by our signature drink, the Texas Mule. A Texas mule is a typical Moscow mule instead featuring Tito’s vodka, handmade in Texas. We think the drink turned out to be a real hit as we ran out of mix before the end of the night :) The cocktail hour was followed by dinner and dancing in the Barn. We snuck out with our photographers during dinner to have a moment together and catch the sunset light. It was fun and really special to have that time together to reflect on everything that was happening and share our experience so far together. We were joined by the iconic Beltie Fearrington cows in the background. After dancing, we refueled our guests with sliders and fries before our sparkler exit. The sparkler exit beautifully lit up the outdoor space in front of the Barn and ended the night perfectly.
All in all, we couldn’t be happier with how the day went and the look and feel of the wedding. Believe it or not, a ton of planning was not done on our side. But the staff at Fearrington captured exactly what we envisioned and we feel it matched our personalities to a tee. The spaces at Fearrington are so beautiful, you really just need to add a few personal touches to make it our own, like the modern decor, the rustic farm tables, scattered succulents throughout the floral arrangements, and of course, the delicious Texas Mules.
Photography: Anagram Photo | Floral Design: The Fearrington House | Cake: The Fearrington House | Catering: The Fearrington House | Makeup: Tiffany Mentrack | Makeup: The Makeup Culture | Band: Sol Fusion | Venue: The Fearrington House
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