Wedding

Lastly, the best part, THE PARTY!

After the ceremony we moved the guests up to the barn for happy hour and apps while Dustin and I finished up photos with our family. Then we made our grand entrance with a first dance as husband and wife. We chose our favorite song, “Closer” by St Lucia. It was unrehearsed and fun! We know all the lyrics and sang them to one another between laughs.

“I’ve got a feeling we will never get closer than this
I can’t imagine there’s a way to get closer than this”

-Seemed very appropriate!

Following our dance and mingling for a 15-20 minutes Dustin and I each grabbed a signature cocktail and went off and had that private meal I talked about in this post.

Our caterer was the wildly popular and local Sun in My Belly. They did a fantastic job with not only the food but also the set up and handling of the flow.  I know that people want to make you feel good about your wedding but we had sooooo many attendees tell us the food was the best they’ve ever had at a wedding and then tell us they weren’t just saying that! Seriously, they crushed the menu!

*All photos by Ben and Colleen except the above which was taken with my Iphone*

We didn’t get the photographers all the pieces to our suite in time but I wanted to share the calligraphy Sarah did for our menu and envelope!  Also shows our full menu. Our favorite app was the fried green tomato topped with pimento cheese and favorite entree was the shrimp and grits-can you tell we are both Southerners??!!

Since our venue was over an hour outside of the city it made finding a wedding cake that didn’t require a $100-$150 travel fee difficult.  After lots and lots of email let downs I decided to go with an easier idea – multiple smaller cakes that could be easily transported. So glad we went with this route! We used Metro Bakery and asked friends to pick up for us. They were delicious and gave our guests plenty of options! I only tried two, the lemon zinger (lemon cake, raspberry filling, lemon cream cheese frosting) and cuatro leches (yellow cake soaked in four milks, kahlua buttercream frosting)-both moist and packed with flavor!

We had the traditional list of speeches before the real party went down. Since it had started sprinkling and everyone was inside we all just stood around the barn making it more casual which I really liked!

Dustin and I love to dance and so do our friends! At one point they formed a circle around us and would jump in to have a dance with him, me or BOTH! So many special moments to cherish.

Not that we played much into it but we did get married on Halloween so I brought along some masks and hats from my workplace’s prop closet (I work at a studio!) mostly for the photobooth but they made their way onto the dance floor just as I had hoped!

Ben and Colleen had smoke bombs that we set off and though it was raining it turned out pretty cool!

My blonde bookends-brothers Brad and Buck!

Our photobooth was a makeshift creation. I made the background from leftover dud wedding invites and rented some lighting. We had difficulty getting the light to fire with the remote system so one of our photographers helped run it (yall rule!) Scrolling through all these photos was a riot!

That concludes the Smith – Winchester wedding! Sad to see it’s all done but the memories and photos will live on FORRREEVVVERRRRR!

Now for the ceremony!

Before we walked down the isle we got in our group shots between all the Fall goodness happening in the front yard.  How great did everyone’s dresses look together??!!  Not only did it make things so easy but I love the outcome of giving the ladies the freedom to choose their style and fit!

And the men, not too shabby ay??!! We rented the suits and gave the ties as a gift along with the DIY’d clips.

We had a fun bunch! Katherine suggested a soap scene, think we nailed it!

The scenery surrounding the ceremony site was too good to pass up, even with the threat of rain. To the left is a pond that the wedding party walked around up to the arbor (different angle in above photo)  Fell for all the unique touches when we were venue hunting!

Evan of Thicket Floral Designs, made my arbor dreams come true! Bet you’re wondering what the actual structure is, I didn’t have a clue until it was explained to me that it’s an old horse-drawn plow. We thought it was so unique and loved the idea of going a different route but still giving me the arbor I wanted.

Having Dad in the ride to the ceremony made for some special memories. He’s a big time goofball and was doing all these ridiculous things making me laugh which helped the nerves! I was sad that neither Dustin nor I had grandparents at the wedding but so grateful to have all our parents by our side.

There were aspects of our wedding that were non-traditional because well, we are millennials and that’s how we roll!  For example, our friend Kyle got certified and married us.  He added humor and kept the mood fun and relaxing-perfect man for the job!

I’ll be honest, I was FREEZING! It really affected being able to remember the vows, haha! But we laughed our way through it and had a good time.

Speaking of vows, we did the whole hear and repeat deal.  We knew we’d both be full of so many emotions (I’m a wedding cryer) so we opted for the more chill route which was perfect!

FIRST KISS AS WINCHESTERS!

Why does he have a slightly broken pink umbrella you ask…

It has to do with how we met, which was under that very umbrella at Shaky Knees Music Festival! Read all about it here.

♥My family♥

❣My new family❣

Prettiest mother-of-the-bride I ever did see! └໒( ♥ ◡ ♥ )७┘

Our ceremony was everything we wished it to be, and more!

Special thanks to Sydney Eloise and Damon Moon for providing the ceremony with beautiful acoustic tunes!

Next up: the last of the SMITH-WINCHESTER recap >>> THE PARTY!

Ben and Colleen took time to shoot the details that made up our wedding day.  I’m so thankful they did because many of the moments captured have backstory and hard work put into them.  First off, the above cyanotype invite that Mom and I put in lots of sweat (no blood or tears included but we came close) into, then Dustin worked long and hard to stamp. We love how they turned out! Blog post of how we did it, here.

Overjoyed with these up-close photos of our rings! Read all about how Dustin designed and proposed, here.

Dustin’s boutonnière made by the talented Evan Leggoe who is a local florist I commissioned to help with the floral work.

My earrings mom and I picked out from Belk that matched my bracelet making these my “something blue.”

The dress, the dress!

Headpiece I linked in the previous post, just perfect.

They made my shoes look so fancy! I went for comfort here folks, but really, I am happy with how they looked with the dress eeeeeven though I switched into my Chucks for the reception!

Like I mentioned above, Evan did our wedding as a freelance job. We met up and chatted about what I liked and from there she came up with a game plan and shopping list that I bought at a wholesale place in town.  Day before the wedding Dustin and I picked up the flowers and had them waiting for her at the venue. On the day of she did everything onsite and KILLED IT. Just wait till you see the arbor!

Dad and I pausing our goofing off for a pic in the cab before I walked down the isle. All these images give me so many feelings especially seeing this one and thinking about the feeling in my stomach during this very moment…

Dustin made tie clips for his groomsmen and himself and I think you’d agree-they turned out great! Couple’a Google searches and a stamping kit and he was off! Love his DIY spirit!

As you can see, we were racing some rain clouds but it all turned out just fine, no, perfect! It held off long enough for us to have a nearly full outdoor itinerary until having to move folks inside for the speeches. The reception followed so it wasn’t a big deal because everyone was already where they were supposed to be.

When it came to the reception decor I knew exactly what I wanted. Not joking when I say I illustrated out in Photoshop what I envisioned the tables looking like. Obviously couldn’t do it myself so it was left up to those organizing the florals and props and they (ahem, Evan) nailed it in every way!

When we were doing our portrait session I got a glimpse of the crew working on the tables and was over joyed because I realized it was all coming together flawlessly.

The above photo is the wedding party table. We upgraded everything to give it a little more pizazz and though Dustin and I never got a chance to sit down*, it turned out exactly as my vision!

*Don’t feel sorry for us, we went off and had dinner quietly alone and enjoyed every single bite! D requested 15 minutes alone over dinner to enjoy the menu we picked out. Highly recommend brides to be!

Chargers, flatware and linens rented through Sun in my Belly and the sugar molds and decor rented through venue.

The day after, we went back to the venue to grab some of our stuff giving me a chance to collect eucalyptus and other floral I wanted to dry out and keep. I mean, isn’t this plant just the best?!

Courtney said it best “the reception looked straight out of a Kinfolk magazine”

Mission accomplished ᕙ[  ͒ ﹏ ͒  ]ᕗ

Photos by Ben and Colleen

Next up: wedding party photos and THE CEREMONY!

Hi! Happy Friday! I apologize for the absence and delay of continuing to post our wedding photos.  The blog was compromised and it took many emails and calls (and near hair pulling out) to get the issues fixed but thanks to Natasha of Nicely Built, we’re up and running properly again!

In the order of how the day went, here is our first look. We chose to do this to take off a little pressure and to allot time for portraits. So so glad we did a first look, highly recommend!

We shared many tears of joy. I get choked up when I see this photo because I’ll never forget him turning around and seeing his eyes well up with tears of happiness. What a moment!

The venue’s home, where we all got ready and hung out, has a green house so of course we took advantage and got some shots in there. This was a definite favorite.

Because we picked the pasture as our ceremony location we had to have something to drive myself and my dad to the alter otherwise it would have been a long walk or golf cart ride.  Sweet Meadows had posted a wedding on their blog a while ago that used this old taxi cab a local resident had restored. I fell in love and asked if we could track down the guy.  He agreed and was really sweet. So glad it worked out because it was truly perfect for the transportation and photos!

He’s taken (º◡º)っSuit by Calvin Klein, tie from Tie Bar, collar shirt via Charles Tyrwhitt

Dreamiest dress by Jenny Packham and hair vine from Anna Marguerite’s Etsy shop, fur was borrowed from friend (thanks KJO!) and is vintage

Of all the photos we put on Facebook the above pic got the most likes. I’d agree, it’s a goodie! Getting scratched and ripping my dress on several briar plants was worth it!

SO many we love that it’s going to make picking a few to print difficult. May just have to have entire gallery wall of us! (I kid I kid)

All photos by Ben and Colleen

Have a good weekend folks!

Next up: the ceremony!

Took some time to step back, take in all the wedding photos and look at them, over and over and ovvver. Didn’t want to put a ton of pressure on myself to post before I was ready but now, I’m ready to share!

There were 1,195 but don’t worry, I narrowed them down to my favorites.  This first run is both wedding parties getting ready.  We had private suites on the property making our experience intimate and comfortable!

Eliz and KK admiring the contouring the makeup artist was doing on me. I was a little nervous it’d be too much but I was so happy with the outcome after I got used to the “new me”! It seriously felt like I got facial injections with the way it highlighted and ‘lifted’ areas of my face. Contouring is no joke!

Hair and makeup by A Glamour Affair who did a fantastic job on me and all my ladies! Everyone came with a photo for the stylists and it was replicated perfectly. We were all impressed with their work!

I don’t know what I would have done without my girls there helping, calming, hanging and making me laugh. I love each of you, especially you Momma!

Meanwhile the guys were out in the pasture shooting skeet like true Southern gentlemen!

Even if you’re not into guns, this is pretty sexy!

This activity was such a nice touch to the day and all the guys really enjoyed the bonding! At the end of the day my dad gifted the above gun to Dustin. It’s special because it was the gun his dad (my Papa Joe who passed away many years ago) shot his first deer with and it’s a Winchester (which is my new last name) model 12. Meant a lot to both of us.

According to my dad, Dustin was “the man” with target hitting, making me proud!

The grooms suite was so fitting! It had a taxidermy deer head and a gun safe, the ultimate man cave!

Cheers!

We got ready from 10:00-2:00 with our first look at 3:00 which is the next post + our portrait session!

All photos by our photographers: Ben and Colleen