Lace never gets old in my book. This pretty Southern wedding has all the lace that I love and more. In addition to lace, this Southern bride loves horses, and all things simple and Southern. This gorgeous couple share personal vows with their small guest count surrounded by lovely trees in a quaint setting. Then you have a photographer like Brandy Angel Photography who is there to capture all the lovely details. This wedding is just beautiful in every detail. I can go and on about this Southern wedding, but I think the stunning images speak for themselves. Enjoy!!
A few words from the bride…
The Love story: We met through a mutual acquaintance in 2009. I was in a relationship at the time so we were just friends for a year before we started dating. We would bump into each other everywhere throughout that year and Matt would tell his buddies that, “one day that girls gonna be my girlfriend.” So after numerous attempts of him asking me out and getting turned down he deleted my number from his phone. At the end of that year, when I became single again, I thought about Matt and decided to reach out to him. His response was,”who is this again?” Haha I knew I probably deserved that for all the neglect I had given him. Our first date was that night, I asked him out to a new fine dining restaurant called Three Forks. I quickly realized how much we had in common and that he had spent four summers on the lake I grew up on in Alabama which is rare to find when you are living 7 hours away from home. He asked me to go out of town with him that weekend to his families place in Crystal River and that’s where we both fell completely in love! He made me swim with manatees which was a real treat for a small town Alabama girl like me. That weekend is when we decided we were Lobsters, and would be soulmates for life. We even ironically found a wooden sign that says “Lobsters” that is still to this day hanging in our kitchen. I knew he would be my husband one day.
The Proposal: He proposed on November 8, 2013. I was about to renew another years lease on my apartment even though I spent most of my time at his house. I came straight to his house from work that day with a hope that was crushed. I desperately wanted him to propose but I had accepted that it wasn’t going to happen. He asked me to come sit on the back porch with him and watch the sunset which we did often. It’s one of our favorite spots overlooking dutton island. I told him about my day and rambled on as usual. He was pacing around, couldn’t sit still which was also usual so I didn’t think anything of it. Then he said,” I have a surprise for you little Susie.” (It’s a nickname) long story. I responded,” Oh please tell me it’s a garage door opener!” Haha the garage door had been broken for quite some time. He found that amusing and went along with it. He said I was right and he was gonna go get the opener to show me. When he came back he told me to close my eyes and he got down on one knee. He told me to open my eyes and simply asked,”I want to watch sunsets with you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
The Wedding: We wanted to be engaged for a while. We knew we weren’t going to do a big wedding and even talked about eloping. About four days shy of one year later we decided on a private family wedding. Very small and quant, 17 people including the bride and groom. It was perfect timing.
Vendors:
Photography: Brandy Angel Photography
Venue: Five Star Lodge And Stables
Catering: Catering by Cindy
Wedding Cake: Melissa’s Custom cakes and goodies
Flowers: The Flower Garden
Once we finished with the barn area, the real adventure started. Nancy took us on a tour of the rugged back hill terrain of the mountains in a Cadillac Escalade no less. Surprising the Escalade handled extremely well as we crossed small rivers, drove on the edge of vertical cliffs, and over steep rocks. It really felt like an African safari, at least to us city slickers. We were only missing the wild animals.