 |
| Michelle Brooks Photography |
The ceremony took place at the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Anderson, South Carolina with a traditional Catholic observance. But Olivia and Josh were able to add their own personal and modern touches throughout the service. The reception was held outside at the beautiful home of the bride's aunt and uncle. The area by their pool was not only beautiful but an ideal place for entertaining guests.Olivia and Josh also managed to add so many extra special touches to their wedding day...including a '66 Mustang and a vintage handkerchief for Olivia's "something blue". With all the casual and elegant touches, you will agree that Olivia and Josh couldn't have chosen a more perfect setting to begin their life together.
The bride's description and Michelle Brooks Photography's images for their wedding highlight how important family and tradition are to them.
By Jane White, wedding coordinator at It's Your Party! Events & Weddings
Our Wedding -
Since we are Catholic, an outdoor wedding wasn't really an option -- (unless someone knows about an outdoor Catholic church that I don't know about!). We knew that an outdoor element was something we could incorporate for the celebration afterward. Josh loves the outdoors and there's something about the whole style of twinkling lights in trees and casual elegance that I love.
Our faith is extremely important, so keeping a traditional Catholic wedding was important, but we also wanted to be able to incorporate some more personal and modern aspects to really make the ceremony and reception special for us. For example, although all of the music was played on the organ or piano, we used the Beyonce cover of 'Ave Maria' for the bridal party to walk down the aisle, 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' by Simon and Garfunkel for one of the prelude songs, etc. Although a Catholic wedding is structured, you are allowed to pick your own readings. Josh and I picked some of our favorites that we read over the course of our pre-martial classes. We picked readings that had the same theme...what it means to become one, respecting each other and what it takes for a lasting marriage. We're both luck to come from families whose parents are still together and are a true testament to what it means to have a long and loving marriage.
Josh's wedding band actually belonged to his grandfather. His Nana gave it to us and we had it resized. His grandparent's married in September, too, back in 1956. They had their wedding date and names engraved inside the band. Josh's grandmother told us we could remove the engraving but we didn't want to because it made the ring that much more special. For my "Something Blue", I had an extremely old handkerchief that belonged to my Great Aunt. It is about 90 years old. She also had owned a Catholic bookstore so as a wedding gift I also received her Bible that came from her store.
It's hard to pick only one favorite part of the wedding day! I think I loved the feeling I got right after the ceremony was over when we walked through the doors. The feeling that you've been waiting and planning for so long finally coming to fruition. Finally being married and seeing all the faces of the people we love the most there for us on such an important day really meant a lot. What was Josh's favorite part of the wedding day? In his words, "The First Dance".
I work at an advertising agency, so I am really lucky to have some helpful friends who are great graphic designers who helped me design our Save The Dates, our programs and even design a logo for our favors (little bags of coffee). Our guestbook was a printed skyline of Columbia, SC which is where we met.
The wedding day was a big day for Josh because he has a '66 blue mustang that he has had since he was sixteen years old that he and his dad have been restoring. He told me on one of our first dates that he was going to drive it away at his wedding. After multiple visits to his house and seeing it sitting on blocks for him to actually be able to drive away on our wedding day was huge. I was so happy that he got to see something he worked so hard on come to life.
My aunt and uncle were kind enough to let us use the perfect venue for our reception, which happens to be their home! Their outdoor area by the pool is not only beautiful but lends itself to entertaining guests. You are able to see everything from most locations around the whole yard. With the help of my aunt, some friends and It's Your Party, it turned out being perfect and so beautiful...from the beginning of the evening until the end!
I
was thankful we enlisted the help of some close family friends for things like
the flowers (Sandra Bagwell) and our table runners (Arleen Bobinski),
both mothers of the groomsmen. They did a wonderful job!
For the reception, we definitely knew we wanted a DJ who would get everyone on
the dance floor to have a good time. We love to have fun, so it was important
that everyone have a good time at the reception, especially after a structured
ceremony.
What
aspect of the wedding are you glad you splurged on?
Definitely
photography. Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely love photos, so the hunt
for a photographer was a big decision. I love Michelle Brooks' work, and she
did not disappoint. She was also willing to work with me when we moved our
wedding date--so i actually shot my bridals a year before the actual ceremony.
There are actually a lot of photographers out there who take nice pictures, but
for me, I can tell when I look at someone's work and they just have
"IT". There's a difference between capturing photos and capturing the
feelings that go along with the entire day. Not everyone can do that and I
think we achieved it. I'm thankful that I will have so many pretty photos to
look back on and remember the day perfectly (plus my bridesmaids looked
beautiful!).
You
can't have a real wedding without a real love story! Olivia and Josh's story adds a
personal touch to their beautiful wedding photos.
Our
story sounds a little unbelievable but i'll tell it anyway! Josh and I met when
we were both attending the University of South Carolina. In Columbia, there's a
few areas along the river that have paved paths you can walk along. One day in
March of 2010, I was walking my puppy and Josh was coming back from fishing
with his dog (with an armful of food and a drink in his hand). As we passed by
each other, our dogs instantly started circling each other, which resulted in
our leashes getting tangled, and ultimately with me accidentally bear-hugging
this boy from behind, as he dropped and spilled everything in his hands. I
would like to say the rest is history, but at that time we did not exchange
numbers or even names..however we did both come home to our roommates (my
matron of honor and his groomsman) and explain the random incident, never
thinking we'd see each other again, of course.
Flash forward one month later,
and we wound up at a mutual friend's birthday party. I didn't recognize
Josh but he approached me and asked if I had a dog. "You're the guy from
the river.." My best friend and roommate who knew about the incident was also at the
birthday party.."So this is the guy you ran into at the river that
day?" Which of course pleased Josh --"OH you've been talking about
me, huh?" ...enter Josh's roommate, "So this is that girl you told me
about from the river?" ---"OH you've been talking about me, huh?!
Ironically enough, I had just moved a couple streets
over from where Josh was currently living in Columbia. As we talked that night,
we learned that we were from the same hometown (what are the odds?). Surprisingly
enough, we STILL did not exchange numbers or contact info. Eventually, Josh
found me online and we became 'friends'. Finally, on Cinco de Mayo in May of
2010 (two months later), he asked me to go eat Mexican food and that was our
first date, and four years later...NOW...the rest is history.
When did you know you'd found "the one"?
It sounds silly but I think I knew that I'd found the one when situations would come up that Josh handled differently than some of my past boyfriends. Josh was so laid back and took everything in stride. Instead of getting upset with me about something, he would just try to help the situation instead. That was new and I was almost waiting for him to do something wrong to make me like him less...or to mess up in some way...and it never happened. I only liked him more and more. That's when you know you can't let them go!
Was there a special proposal? What made it meaningful?
Josh is such a romantic which is one major thing that attracted me to him. His proposal was no exception. He led me to believe we were just going down for dinner in Charleston after a University of South Carolina football game. He timed everything perfectly. Though he didn't know his way around Charleston, his goal was to get us on the beach at Sullivan's Island at sunset. When we finally made it to the beach, we walked a little ways and I saw a stool and a guitar on the beach. He had one of my bridesmaids who lives in Charleston set it up for him. He played the song "Marry Me" by Train. He NEVER sings in front of anyone, so it was really sweet. He got down on one knee and said sweet words and asked me to marry him. On top of all of that he had hired a photographer!
What challenges have you had to overcome as a couple?
We were long distance for about two years while I was finishing school and Josh was working. That was challenging at times so we were really thankful when we could finally live in the same city again. However, throughout the distance we made it work. Josh put in a lot of driving miles traveling from Atlanta and Greenville to see me.
When did you know you'd found "the one"?
It sounds silly but I think I knew that I'd found the one when situations would come up that Josh handled differently than some of my past boyfriends. Josh was so laid back and took everything in stride. Instead of getting upset with me about something, he would just try to help the situation instead. That was new and I was almost waiting for him to do something wrong to make me like him less...or to mess up in some way...and it never happened. I only liked him more and more. That's when you know you can't let them go!
Was there a special proposal? What made it meaningful?
Josh is such a romantic which is one major thing that attracted me to him. His proposal was no exception. He led me to believe we were just going down for dinner in Charleston after a University of South Carolina football game. He timed everything perfectly. Though he didn't know his way around Charleston, his goal was to get us on the beach at Sullivan's Island at sunset. When we finally made it to the beach, we walked a little ways and I saw a stool and a guitar on the beach. He had one of my bridesmaids who lives in Charleston set it up for him. He played the song "Marry Me" by Train. He NEVER sings in front of anyone, so it was really sweet. He got down on one knee and said sweet words and asked me to marry him. On top of all of that he had hired a photographer!
What challenges have you had to overcome as a couple?
We were long distance for about two years while I was finishing school and Josh was working. That was challenging at times so we were really thankful when we could finally live in the same city again. However, throughout the distance we made it work. Josh put in a lot of driving miles traveling from Atlanta and Greenville to see me.
Vendors:
Photographer - Michelle Brooks Photography
Caterer - Kathy & Company
Cake - Gretchen's ABS Cakes
Wedding Coordinators - It's Your Party! Events & Weddings
Rental Company - Professional Party Rentals
Makeup - Cotton Rouge
