Write up via Bride, Jamie: The beach theme came very naturally for us. Dion and I met in Florida and spent much of our two years there running around to different beaches and state parks, so, it only seemed natural to go with a theme we both loved so much. Picking up seashells is something we do every time we go and it was what we were doing on Clearwater Beach when Dion proposed. He asked me “what about this shell Jamie” and I turned around and he had the ring in his hand. Incorporating the seashells and the beach were such precious details for us (our first kiss was on a beach, proposal on a beach, first vacation was at the beach, we “discovered” new beaches around Florida with each other and we looked for seashells at all places!).
The table names reflected some of our favorite places. Many of them are places we visited together often, like Universal Studios and Disneyworld, and some were the state parks we “discovered” together, like Paynes Prairie State Park, Fort DeSoto State Park, Sanibel Island, and Silver Springs State Park. “Honeymoon Island” is a natural state park in Dunedin, Florida. It was the head table and was where Dion and I had our first kiss and the first beach we visited together. And then we of course both love our universities, so University of Kentucky, Indiana University, and Florida State University all had to be in there too! The “Hippodrome State Theater” is the theater in Gainesville, Florida me and Dion actually met at. The “Cinebarre” table, where you were siting is a movie theater in Charleston, South Carolina that serves food and beer to you while you are watching a movie. We spent many Saturday nights at the Cinebarre watching a blockbuster movie, eating pickle spears, and drinking a bucket of beer:) So every table name has its own story and is special to us in its own way. We have moved around a bit in the past 5 years and have a mixture of friends and family from different places that are very dear to us. I wanted to make sure the tables represented what we love and places we love because of some of our guests.
Programs – I was really proud of the programs. I wanted them to be personalized just for me and Dion incorporating the seashells and the colors (its really hard to find beach things that go with our colors!) and I couldn’t go through my wedding not using some of my graphic design skills, so I decided to take on the design aspect of the programs. My Aunt Jackie introduced me to the art of embossing after explaining what I wanted our programs to look like. So with that, a design, some taffeta, and lot of help from my bridesmaids, mom, and Aunt Sandy we made the programs happen.
The colors were apple red and champagne/gold. My favorite color is red and Dion’s is blue. Initially I tried to incorporate red, white, and blue, but didn’t want our wedding to look like the Fourth of July. And I love red roses and really wanted to walk down the aisle with red, as part of the color scheme. So, basically I kind of won on that one:) But as you saw, I certainly got some UK blue incorporated in there somehow;)
The centerpieces - The centerpieces were simple, yet elegant. I got a ton of seashells, both big and small, and placed them at the bottom of the vases. There were about 5 different kinds of vases. I collected them from T.J. Max, goodwill, and the Flower Factory in Greenwood. Some of the shells and starfish were bought at T.J. Max and Michael’s while some, my mom found some at garage sales. Its amazing what you can find at yard sales!
To add a more romantic look to it, we filled the vases with water and placed floating candles on top, as well as votives on each side of the vases. Seashells and candles were going to be part of them no matter what, but it took a few trials to really figure out what I wanted.
The boat with the place cards – the boat turned out to be this very cool accidental project. My mom, yard sale queen, picked up the boat at a yard sale because she thought it was cool and asked me if I could use it for the wedding. It was in a bit more shabby shape then, but my dad cleaned it up and painted it and turned out great. I thought it would be a neat place to put the place cards,but wasn’t sure about filling the entire boat with sand to do that. My dad cut a piece of foam to fit inside it, put place sand and some metallic gold sand on top, and voila it worked:)
Table Map – I designed this so our guests would have an easier time finding their tables. I figured it would be a little harder to find our table when they weren’t numbered so I came up with this idea. Plus, I thought it was cute and it turned out to be fun too and a great resource for the vendors.
Favorite moment - walking down the aisle (me)/ Seeing me for the first time (Dion). I kept telling Dion my dress was very fluffy and I was hoping I didn’t trip in my 5 inch heels.
Favorite Detail of the Day – My dad playing guitar and singing during the ceremony. It was incredibly special that he played and sang for us, particularly in such of a big crowd and with a tough song he learned just for us. The song is called “Marry Me” by Amanda Marshall, but my dad reworked to make it fit him and us better.
The wedding arch – we found the arch at a flea market in Washington, Indiana. My dad redesigned it, painted it, and made it wider so that my dress could fit in it as well:) Dion’s sisters and mom decorated the arch with lights, rose petals, and tulle the night before.
Incorporating Cooper: Honestly, Cooper was a part of the wedding from the beginning and I don’t think we ever thought of not including him. We got Cooper two years ago in South Carolina and he’s been our baby ever since. He’s part of our family and we wanted him with us on such an important day.
Candy Bar – my mom worked extremely hard on the candy bar and put it all together herself. She gathered all the candy and candy jars from various places and had a friend at work make little cupcakes for the 3 tier cupcake stand. The ice cream bar from Brusters came after we had sweltering hot days and decided we needed something cold for our guests.
Funniest moment - probably when Dion’s brother Ray decided to tell everyone how I busted his daughter’s toy all over myself the first night I met his family. Embarrassing, but funny.
Second favorite moment – Dion and I dancing went we got announced. We barely worked on it, but I was so proud of Dion for doing it and getting all the moves right. And it was a blast!
First Dance Song – “Lucky” by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat
DIY Details:
I loved that my mom and dad’s favorite activities were mixed into the wedding. My mom loves garage sales and my dad loves to build and rework stuff, so it was neat that some of the projects used their skills. And it made doing so much by ourselves a lot more fun.
Vendor Information:
My dress and bridesmaid dresses – David’s Bridal
Tuxes – Men’s Warehouse
Flower Girl Dresses – Burlington Coat Factory
Ceremony Music – IU Jacobs School of Music
Flowers – White Orchid Distinctive Floral Design Studio
Catering, Cake, and Bartenders – Sugar Daddy’s Cakes and Catering
Rentals – Perfect Parties Tents and Events
Venue – Deer Park Manor
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+ - 8 comments
Jenny - Love it all!!
Kim Mallory - I love that you captured all the details and the moments of this wedding. Beautiful Images.
Cathy Empey - What beautiful images! I love all of the beautiful details. I also love the image where the wind kicked up the bride’s veil.
Connie Hall - Great pictures, the wedding was wonderful and you both look wonderful. It was a great evening
Leah Aubrey - gorgeous wedding and those shoes! I LOVE!!! great work as usual
Kim Hill - WOW – wow, wow, wow. What an amazing day this must’ve been. I love the colors and your attention to capturing the details that helped make their day extra special. Congrats to the newlyweds!!!
Brian Knoch - The pictures are great !!!
Stacie Frazier - Your weddings never disappoint. You always get the best clients! These are definitely no exception. They have great taste and look like they know how to have a great time! Gorgeous images, as always!