Katie and Chris live two and a half hours away in North Carolina. Our wedding planning business is located in the same area as Lake Greenwood. So we were able to answer many of their questions about the area and locate competent vendors when needed.
We met with Katie and Chris three times prior to their wedding. On our initial meeting, we visited the lake house that they were renting for the weekend of their wedding. We walked around the property discussing the best layout for their wedding. The next time, Martin Tiller from Event Rentals met us at the lake to answer questions about rental items that would be needed as well as locating the best areas for the tents that Katie and Chris would be using. Katie's mother came with them on their third visit so she could see the wedding site and to give her approval!
Katie and Chris had shared the story of how they met while we were planning the wedding. I thought it was such a sweet story that I wanted Katie to share it again here...
We were introduced through Facebook! My friend's mother is a close friend of his Aunt. Chris' grandfather had passed away and Chris was in Florida for the services. At a luncheon after the funeral, he was talking to his Aunt, and met my friend's mom. After chatting for a few minutes, she mentioned me, and that she thought we would make a good couple! So she gave Chris my name, email address, and suggested he look me up on Facebook. We started communicating online, and realized we have many mutual friends! We are both from Maryland, Chris was living in Baltimore, but I had moved to Connecticut. It was a few months before I was back in Maryland visiting my family, and we finally went on our first "date". We like to think his Grandfather had something to do with it.
~ Katie
Enjoy the gorgeous pictures by Studio 1250 and the details that Katie shared from the day.
Chris and I both love being on or near water , whether it's the ocean, lakes or rivers. We started out looking at venues on the coast, but most were booked for the next 18 months, and we didn't want to wait that long! We started looking on VRBO.com, and after many, many emails, the house on Lake Greenwood worked out.
There are two moments that stand out as my favorite part of the day. The first was just before guests started arriving, while I was getting ready, I took a sneak peek at everything set up and ready to go, and it was perfect. The weather had cleared up, and you had done a beautiful job of putting everything together. It was honestly better than I had pictured it in my head. Seeing all the details and things we had been making decisions about for months finally come together, it was hard to not get emotional.
Chris and I knew we wanted something outdoors, an intimate ceremony with delicious food, drinks and music to keep everyone dancing afterwards. We also wanted our personalities to come through in all the little details.
We knew exactly what type of music we wanted for the wedding ceremony. Chris proposed on a family vacation to Maui, and we had dinner with my parents to celebrate on our last night there. There was a man playing current music on the guitar at the restaurant, and I knew I wanted something like that at our wedding! Chris plays guitar, and we both love music, so it was an important part of our day. I've always wanted to walk down the aisle to "Kissing You" by Des'ree, finding a guitarist to play it was difficult, but Steve Sloan made it happen!
When I asked Chris what his favorite part of the day was, he laughed , and said "When you were coming down the stairs into the ceremony with your Dad, because I knew no one was looking at me for a few minutes". After thinking about it, he said being introduced as "Mr & Mrs" entering our reception, because we were married, the serious part was over, and it was time to let loose and celebrate with everyone.
My second favorite moment of the day was during the prayer at our ceremony. I squeezed Chris' hand, opened my eyes and he looked at me and smiled. We looked around at everyone at our ceremony with their heads down praying. It was an awesome private moment- we had no idea that Philip Casey, our photographer (Studio 1250), had caught it! It's one of my favorite wedding photos.
We needed to make some special accommodations since all of our wedding guests were going to be from out of town. The lake house had enough room to accommodate our immediate families, and we made arrangements with a hotel in Greenwood, about a 15 minute drive away. We hired a coach bus to bring our guests to the wedding, and it made a few trips back to the hotel throughout the evening. My sister Julie put together an amazing video of photos of Chris and I growing up, along with wedding photos of all of our married guests that we had collected to entertain them during the ride!
The dress wasn't at all what I expected I would wear, but once I tried it on, nothing else felt right. My mother Cathye, and maid of honor, Mary were with me, and I could tell from their reactions too that it was "the one". I chose to have my girls wear neutral, champagne dresses and carry white flowers as a nod to the earliest wedding tradition of having the bridesmaids dress like the bride to throw off any evil spirits. While I wasn't concerned with evil spirits ruining our wedding, I found the origins of the wedding traditions so interesting. Also, I didn't have to pick a trendy color I may not love in 20 years looking at the pictures!
At the last minute, Chris and I decided to add the "Wed-Libs" to entertain our guests and ourselves! Chris loved Mad-Libs as a kid, and we always end up doing them to pass the time when traveling together.
I am a planner by nature... So letting go of having control over every last thing since we were hours away from the wedding venue was tough. Luckily, we had Jane and Beck, who, after meeting at the lake that day, made me completely comfortable leaving so much in their hands!
Our DJ, DJ Skid from Epic Entertainment, was so much fun to work with! He called the week before the wedding to go over the details and all three of us were singing at some point during the call- it was hilarious!
After the last bus left to return to the hotel, we kept the bonfire going, I ate leftover s'mores in my wedding dress, put my feet in the lake -and Chris jumped in!
The best part of having a "destination" wedding was being somewhere that Chris and I could enjoy in what little free time we had that weekend! Visiting with family and friends we don't get to see often in such a pretty, relaxing place was nice.
We relied heavily on the internet and reviews. This was where Jane and Beck were a huge help being so much closer than we were!
Vendors:
- Photography - Studio 1250
- Caterer - Holmes Catering
- Rentals - Event Rentals
- Guitarist - Steve Sloan
- DJ - Epic Entertainment
- Cake - Hot Cakes
- Officiant - John Sullivan
- Wedding Planners - It's Your Party!
At our initial meeting with Katie and Chris, we felt and instant connection. When we were saying our goodbyes that day, I was about to give Katie a hug but I paused and at the same moment, Katie said "may I give you a hug". I knew then that we were going to have a great time planning their wedding. An extra bonus has been that we have stayed in touch and hope to see each other again soon.
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Thank you,
Jane
