Q: Tell us about your wedding! What was the inspiration behind your day? Did you have a specific theme, style or color palette? Did you incorporate any cultural or religious traditions in any part of your day?
A: I would say the theme had a very low-country feel due to the venue having large trees with Spanish moss surrounding a pond. The venue itself had a very Charleston feel from the trees to the building itself. Our overall theme was rustic with wooden signs, white linens, and all the greenery. Our color palette was navy and dusty sage for the wedding apparel complemented by the floral arrangements. Our priest incorporated our oldest son in the ceremony by including him in the vows, and he also said the blessing before dinner. He finished by saying “let’s eat cake!”
Q: Let’s talk wedding decor. How did you decorate your space for the ceremony and the reception? Was any part of the decor DIY?
A: We used a lot of florals to decorate tables, arches, and even the chandeliers. We decorated the large fireplaces at the venue by covering with mantles with a lot of greenery and a few candles, and we filled the fireplaces with lots of vases, candles, and arrangements. We had several wooden signs made for the sign in table, a photo station, and gifts.
Q: What were the florals like in your wedding? Did you use flowers in any of your design elements like the bridal bouquets, centerpieces or ceremony backdrop? Did they play an important part in the overall style of your wedding?
A: We used a lot of greenery (think eucalyptus and olive leaves) and white flowers (baby’s breath and miniature white roses). We had a little pop of color with some lilac thistle. Haley had a bouquet that was mostly greenery with a little of the lilac thistle. The tables had white linens with varying sizes of bud vases, small tea candles, and the vases had the same florals just in smaller versions. Ceremony back drop was a rustic arbor with greenery and small white flowers accompanied by white hydrangeas.
Q: Did you personalize the day in any way (food trucks, guest entertainment etc.)? What were some of your favorite parts of your wedding?
A: We had Emerald Empire band perform both the ceremony and the reception. The band was amazing!We also had Prosecco Pops for the cocktail hour in a variety of flavors which were a really big hit. We even had virgin versions for our tiniest guests. For our guestbook, we had a wooden guestbook engraved and polaroid cameras available for pictures to put in the guestbook and sign.
Q: Let’s talk fashion. How did you both choose your wedding day look? Describe the looks in detail.
A: I (Caitlin) knew I didn’t want to wear a dress from the get go. I’m not huge into dressing up (I mostly wear scrubs for a living). We spent a lot of time looking at pictures from LGBTQ+ weddings to get an idea for my outfit. Ultimately, we decided on a navy suit. It was tailored to fit and was so comfortable, but still very nice looking. I went back and forth about the shirt to wear until literally the wedding day. I knew I wasn’t going to wear a tie or bow tie, but couldn’t decide if I wanted to wear a button up or blouse. I chose a white blouse with a V-neck cut. I had a floral pocket square and wore Oxford shoes with crimson elephant socks (Roll Tide!)Haley wore a simple full length A-line dress with a lace bodice and slit up one leg of the skirt. It had a deep v-cut back and a small silver beading around the waistline. She wore a headband to complement the beaded waistline, along with earrings and a simple bracelet. This was not at all the dress she had planned on buying when she went to try on the first time. In fact, she was planning on something a little more modest (our kids were there after all). But, as soon as she walked in the dress shop she saw the dress on a mannequin and thought it was beautiful. She wasn’t going to try it on, but her friends insisted she do it just for fun – then it was THE dress! She did wear heels for the ceremony, also not planned, but with the slit in the dress she had to pick amazing shoes, but she did switch to white converse for the reception so she could dance.
Q: How did you meet? Tell us about the proposal.
A: We were actually best friends in high school, but weren’t out to each other. We didn’t start dating until our senior year of undergrad. I (Caitlin) proposed to Haley first. We had a trip planned to Provincetown, MA, and I proposed to her on the beach on Cape Cod. Little did I know, it was doing to SUPER windy and really cold (at least to 2 southern girls). I had hired a photographer to capture the moment on the beach and most of the it just hair blowing every which way haha. Haley proposed about a year later. We are huge One Tree Hill fans, so we had a weekend trip planned to Wilmington, NC to tour the locations of where One Tree Hill was filmed. If you’ve never seen the show, there’s an iconic table where 2 of the characters share a special moment. Haley found that bench and proposed to me at that table. Cracker Jack box, bracelet, and all (the Cracker Jack box is significant in the show, and the bracelet had the coordinates of that exact spot on it).
Q: What was the most anticipated or special moment of your wedding day?
A: For me (Caitlin), the most anticipated part was the first look with Haley. I had NO IDEA what her dress was going to look like. She wouldn’t tell me anything about it, so I was really excited to see her in her dress. For Haley, it was definitely the first look. She was so excited to see my face when I finally saw her in her dress. And our first look with our boys- seeing their faces when they finally got to see us after getting ready.
Q: Do you have any wedding planning or marriage advice that you’d like to share with other couples planning their day?
A: Remember, this day is all about you! So make the decisions that make you happy, make the day what you want it to be! And it’s easy to say once it’s over, but don’t stress the day of. Hire a great coordinator and a great team of people (photographer, caterer, venue staff) and trust that they have it handled. Only you and the coordinator know every detail of how things are suppose to go, your guests won’t even notice if that one vase is not in the right place. Schedule some time after the ceremony to have a quick bite to eat with your new spouse! It makes a world of difference in your night and you get a chance to truly enjoy all the food. And, if dancing is your thing, GO DANCE! Give everyone a hug and hit the dance floor, it’s your night!
