As I am writing out this blog post, I am trying to figure out how the heck we are already ONE MONTH into our marriage. I guess it’s true when they say time really does fly by when you’re having fun!

But in all seriousness, it feels like our wedding day was just yesterday and I cannot stop thinking about it. Is that normal?! I replay this day over and over again so I figured why not do just that and put together a recap of our winter wedding day - a little something for the future brides out there and a little something for me to relive the best day of my life thus far.

GETTING READY

A huge perk for our venue was that they had an insane bridal suite attached to the main building! I’m telling you this room was every bride’s dream. Velvet couches, tons of outlets for hair tools and chargers, bright light, and an en-suite bathroom. We had the best time in hair and makeup jamming out to 2000’s throwbacks and reminiscing on the bach trip! Matching bridesmaids’ pajamas and mimosas were an obvious MUST for us!

For the guys, they also had a pretty sweet setup when it came to getting ready! Barn South actually has a groom’s airstream nestled on the property where the boys had the chance to hang out in privacy before we wrangled them for photos!

Making sure that your venue is properly equipped for getting ready is super important. It helps cut back on travel time and helps things run a little more on schedule when your getting ready location is the same location or in near proximity to where you will have your ceremony!

THE DETAILS

While we were wrapping up getting ready, our amazing photographer McKenzie was out taking some of the most gorgeous detail photos I think I’ve ever seen!

Invites

I was one of those brides who was in there like swimwear when it came to her wedding. I absolutely LOVED planning it and incorporating our own flair to our day. That being said, I designed a lot of the signage for our wedding day, including our invitation suite. Our entire approach to our day was classic, minimal, black and white with just a hint of gold and I was struggling to find exactly what I wanted as far as invites go, so I decided I’d create them myself!

Pro Tip: Keep your day-of details in one central location for your photographer so that when they arrive they have all the goods! Some things to include would be your invitation suite, both rings, ring boxes, shoes, vow books, and extra florals from your florist!

DRESS + BOOTS

Dress Shop: The White Magnolia Atlanta

Dress Designer: Maggie Sottero

Wedding Boots: Betsy Johnson

TABLESCAPES

Since our theme for our wedding was minimal and chic, we wanted to make sure we carried that over into every aspect of our day. For our table decor, we worked with both our catering team and florist to create my DREAM reception tables. We decided on leaving the oak tables exposed and lining the tables with bud vases featuring our florals, acrylic table numbers, individual table settings, and floating and pillar candles. The way they turned out was beyond my wildest dreams and proves that sometimes, less is more!

FIRST LOOKS

So I personally decided to have 2 first looks on my wedding day and to be quite honest, I wouldn’t trade these moments for anything. The first look with my step-dad and brother was awesome. They were in complete shock to see me as a bride. And don’t even get me started on my first look with Matt. This was hands down my favorite part of the day, outside of saying “I DO” of course! We actually wrote out private vows for one another and read them before our ceremony and it was so beyond special. Plus we got some extra couple’s portraits out of our first look!

First Look with Ken + Bubby

First Look with Matt

our wedding party

The people that make our world go round. We couldn’t love these people more and are so honored that they spent our special day right by our side! We have felt so much love and support from each and every one of these individuals since we first got together in college!

Bridesmaids

For the gals, we went timeless with black chiffon bridesmaid dresses and since we had a winter wedding in North Georgia, we added on black fur shawls for warmth! And man oh man I am so glad that we did since our wedding day was super super windy - funny story coming a little later.

Bridesmaid Dresses: Birdy Grey / The Grace + The Kaia

GROOMSMEN

And for our guys, we went black on black on black! Matt was sure on two things when it came to his tux: it had to be stretchy and it had to be slim fit! When he went to Men’s Wearhouse, he decided on a Vera Wang all-black tux with gold cufflinks for his guys. Day of, they looked super sharp and were giving us James Bond Vibes!

our ceremony

Even though it was the middle of winter, we opted for an outdoor ceremony and I am so happy that we did! I have always dreamed of an outdoor wedding and our day was bright and sunny but boyyyy was it windy! It was important that we kept our ceremony short and sweet so people didn’t totally freeze but we also kept our guests warm and cozy! If you’re thinking of ways to keep your guests warm during your winter wedding, provide them with blankets, hot coffee, and have heaters on the property. In our case, we were lucky that our patio had firepits and heaters provided but we went the extra mile to keep our guests warm with cozy blankets and coffee + cider!

Even though Matt and I did the first look, this moment was so beyond special for us. At this point, our closest friends and family were here to celebrate our union and that was truly a surreal feeling. My emotions were definitely at an all-time high and so were Matt’s cause he still teared up at the altar!

Remember that funny story I mentioned earlier? Well, the wind was SO bad during our ceremony that our arbor actually fell over right in the middle of us saying our vows. It wouldn’t be our wedding without something silly happening. If that was the only thing to go wrong, I consider the day a success. Plus it’s funny to look back on now!

couples portraits

As I mentioned earlier, we got a TON of opportunities for couples photos since we decided to do a first look! We did some before the ceremony before our guests were at the venue. After the ceremony, we were able to quickly knock out our family portraits and a few more couple photos! The temperature started to drop so we made it speedy so that we could enjoy a few hors d'oeuvres and a cocktail before our grand entrance into our reception inside the bridal suite. Our awesome photographer McKenzie had the idea for us to throw the remaining rose petals from the ceremony for a fun shot and it is one of my FAVES from our entire wedding day!

the reception

We decided to have our wedding party enter to Rihanna’s “We Found Love” because Rihanna is my all-time favorite artist! Each of our bridesmaids and groomsmen came up with a fun way to enter which was such a sweet touch. We changed the song to “UGA Anthem” for when we entered the reception and OH MY GOSH it was so much fun. We wanted our entrance to be super high energy and obnoxious, like most Georgia Bulldog fans. Since we met at UGA and since the dawgs won the National Championship this year, coming in with dawg chains only felt right!

The rest of our reception was spent visiting with friends and family, chowing down on mac and cheese and Tuscan chicken, cutting the cake and sipping on our signature cocktails!

the party

Arguably, hanging out on the dancefloor was my second favorite part of the night next to our first look as bride and groom! From the jump, our goal was for our wedding to be a straight PARTY for our guests. Leading up to our wedding day, we talked with our DJ about actually mixing and not just playing songs back to back to back. We wanted the atmosphere to feel like a CLUB and based on the feedback from our friends and family, and well our photos, it looks like everyone had a BLAST and a half. I mean our dancefloor was open for a long time but I feel like we never left and neither did our guests! I felt nothing but pure BLISS during this time of the night!

Pro-Tip: Definitely consult your DJ on what you’d like your dancefloor atmosphere to be like. It should reflect you two as a couple. Me and Matt are huge dancers but that certainly isn’t the case for everyone, so be sure to stick to what’s true to you! Also just because he is awesome - I have to shout out Alex! @alexthe.dj on Instagram!

our exit

Like many brides, I did not want this night to be over! Even after hours on the dancefloor, the night went by so so so quick, and the next thing you knew it was time to exit! We decided to do a private last dance before we did our exit and it was so nice to just take in the moment and soak up the entire night!

For our exit, we wanted to do something a little different but still timeless! We went with white stadium shakers for our exit and I LOVED the way this turned out. We ran down the tunnel of all of our family members and it felt like the biggest rush EVER. We hopped in gold vintage ‘64 mustang and rode off into the night as hubs and wifey!

I’m sure there are so many things that I am forgetting in this post but this is getting lengthy. Overall, I couldn’t have been happier with our entire wedding day. We made it true to ourselves but also had the most amazing time celebrating with our friends and family!