And They Lived Happily Ever After…

Good Morning from own personal nest of white sheets. I should be napping right now because I was up at 3:00am this morning flying 180 lovely souls from Tampa to Charlotte – but you know me… I only get tired when I HAVE to be awake. So since I have a moment to rest clearly I am wide awake as a barn owl at midnight. In any case, it seems like the perfect time to sit down and update you all on this little life of mine. I AM A MARRIED WOMAN! Shout it from the rooftops. Hallelujah!

To be quite honest with you all: I never thought it would happen. I told my family MULTIPLE times it would never happen. I believed in my heart that I would be alone for so long that it felt imbedded in my very existence. Then John came along and I never wanted to be alone again. Gosh every time I even think about him I am so overwhelmed by the grace of God ya’ll. I just can’t even begin to know what I did to deserve to be loved by such a wonderful soul. He is literally everything that I ever wanted and more, and our meeting was quite honestly prayed into existence.

Several years ago I was in such a broken place in my life. I was so isolated and lonely, and at that time I didn’t think I would ever find anyone to share my life with. I had just gotten out of a toxic, crippling relationship and my sister asked me to write down all of the things that I wanted in a HUSBAND, not a boyfriend, not a once-in-awhile fling… and give it to her to pray over. I honestly thought it was so silly. I didn’t want to do it, but I was so disillusioned by my dating life that I thought, “what the heck.” I gave her my final list a few days later – and I didn’t leave anything out. I had thought to myself, “If I really am going to do this I am going to shoot for the stars. I will include EVERYTHING that I want.” I even went as far as putting down a height preference, because it was just a list… and I had made up my mind that I was going to be alone anyways.

The years went by and I completely forgot about that list. I didn’t see it again until August 8th, 2021. The day that I was marrying my best friend. While I was getting primped and pampered all of my girls were handing me letters. That was up there in some of my favorite moments of the day. Always remember y’all that your friends are one of THE biggest blessings in life. The good ones will be there for it all. To cry with you in times of sadness, and to love on you and lift you up in times of joy and peace. I opened each letter one by one, each one unique and special in it’s own way. When I opened the letter from my sister, immediately I saw my own hand writing. It took me a few moments to realize what was enclosed, but when I did tears filled my eyes. As I read through the attributes that my younger heart had claimed for my husband I couldn’t help but be filled with emotion. That entire list was John to a T. God had been listening. Even when I thought he hadn’t.

I have always wanted a fairytale wedding. I could always see it unfold in my dreams down to every last luxurious detail… everything except for the man standing at the front of the aisle. When I imagined walking down the aisle with my Dad I could never picture the person who was standing at the front – until I started dating John. It’s so cliché, but it really is true that when you know you just know.

One of the things that I knew for sure from the very beginning of wedding planning was that I wanted to plan my big day myself. I am the definition of a planner and I imagine I always will be, so from the moment that John proposed my mind was going a mile a minute: scrutinizing every detail from the invitation to the sparkler exit. Every part of the planning process was hands on for me, and I decided not to have an event planner until the day of – to orchestrate all of the minute details I had already mapped out in my mind and heart.

I will do my very best to link and list all of my vendors and product links at the bottom of this post, but for now… welcome to our fairytale. It is going to be VERY hard for me to choose my favorite photos for you guys, because Natalie Kathryn Photo literally brought down the roof. She captured the pure MAGIC of our day with grace and style. I have it narrowed down to my 171 favorites at this moment 😛

The invitations were Minted. Minted was an absolute joy to work with. I will post the product link for our all in one invitation at the bottom of this post. I hand sealed every invitation myself using an old fashioned wax seal kit. My shoes were by Jeffrey Campbell: The Lindsay Sandal in Champagne

John had written me the sweetest note and gave me this diamond cross along with a sweatshirt that says “Wifey.”

Our getting ready outfits were pajama sets from Flora Nikrooz and the cutest little pom pom shoes by Hue.

Every bridesmaid got a vintage clutch as part of their gift. It took my Mom and I months to find them all before the wedding. We went to every peddlers mall and big flea in the Louisville/Indiana area.

The bridesmaid dresses were all ordered from Revelry. Each bridesmaid chose their own dress. In fact: all nine chose a different one! They are in French Blue – 937, Love is in the Air – 907, and Light Blue -936

My Dad and I built my wedding arch/backdrop out of old vintage windows. It was a labor of love, and it turned out to be one of my favorite pieces in our decor.

We had a Bible on our guest book table so that guests could highlight their favorite verse.

We had a ton of kids coming to our wedding so I wanted to have a little space for them to play, unwind and socialize. I wouldn’t have changed having kids at our wedding for anything! They were the sweetest life of the party!

We wanted to highlight all of the love that we have in our lives so John and I decided to showcase the wedding photos of the ones that we love the most. We had a small table dedicated to our parents’ and grandparents’ weddings.

Our appetizer hour charcuterie table was done by The People’s Platter. Jordyn Manning, the ultra-cool female business owner is so amazing to work with and literally is so talented!

Since I got engaged, I had this bug in my ear to do my own flowers. I love florals and working with them, and if you have ever priced getting florals done by a florist it is obscene it is so expensive. I ended up doing all of my wedding flowers myself after I convinced my good friend Candler to come help. Together we did over 15 centerpieces, 13 boutonnieres, 12 bridal party bouquets, 1 toss bouquet, and 3 free-standing flower pops for the window installation. It was a lot of work but so rewarding in the end. I ordered all of my flowers wholesale from Flower Moxie and Global Rose.

Unfortunately our original baker got a positive test for Covid 19 the day before the wedding. During the rehearsal dinner we were scrambling to find someone to make a cake and cupcakes for 130 people. My Aunt actually found someone pretty much immediately and we had a cake for the next day AND 120 cupcakes!

I ordered these sweet cake toppers from Etsy from TheLizArtWork. I will post a better photo of them below, but the artist Liz painted them to replicate what we would be wearing on our wedding day. This was one of my very favorite details of the day, and I have already ordered a look-a-like peg doll for our new puppy: Maggie.

One of the things that first attracted me to John is the fact that he prays before every meal.

I threw my toss bouquet into a $20,000 Swarovski crystal chandelier

And we all still danced the night away:)

Well, now that I have bombarded your life with a hundred photos of my favorite day ever… So sorry I really did try and eliminate… believe it or not there are 500 more where these came from! Our wedding day turned out better than I ever could have imagined. My ten year old self could never have dreamed up how beautiful our actual wedding would be, and It was all made possible by everyone that we loved taking the time to come celebrate us even in times of such uncertainty. If you are one of those people… Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You made our day an actual fairytale, and it is one we will ALWAYS remember.

XOXO,

Vendor and Product List

Dress: Sottero and Migdley Watson Gown in Ivory from Blush Bridal Gallery in Ormond Beach, FL

Hair:

Ashton Deleon of Prescription Beauty Medical Aesthetics

Makeup:

Chrissy Maddox with Faces By Chrissy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/facesbychrissy/

Day of Coordinator:

Shelley Thompson with Blue House Events

Instagram: https://instagram.com/bluehouseevents5635?utm_medium=copy_link

Website: https://m.facebook.com/bluehouseevents5635

NOTE: Our day of coordinator was EVERYTHING y’all. Shelley was an absolute gem and she took care of absolutely everything so that I could actually enjoy my day as a bride. If you are looking for an event planner in the Louisville area Shelley is your girl!

Venue:

Hazelnut Farm Events

Website: https://www.hazelnutfarmevents.com/

Dj:

Josh Walker with Nfinite Sounds

Website: https://m.facebook.com/NfiniteSounds/

Florals

Megan Smither and Candler Reynolds

The bulk, wholesale flowers came from Flower Moxie and Global Rose

https://flowermoxie.com/

https://globalrose.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw4eaJBhDMARIsANhrQAATLLkl75O-fi83OvNalS7t54sY6ih1qBHudQKOnDaRob2TjHO9jEIaAlzdEALw_wcB

Caterer: