Brandon and I attended the same middle school and shared the same friends. We ended up working together at the Palace Theater in Gallatin and started dating as freshmen in high school and have been together since.
When did you know Brandon was “the one?”
We had a normal high school break up and both of us were dating other people for a short time. The guy I was dating and the girl he was dating made both of us realize how much we missed each other.
I was opening my birthday presents and I wanted to open the large box that I had been looking at already wrapped for a few days. Naturally I wanted to open it first! Brandon told me I had to open my other gift first which I “knew” was a charm for my bracelet that I had picked out and he bought when I was with him. To my surprise, when I opened the charm box, there was my ring! Then he proposed, just me and him. It was so sweet. Then he told me the box I wanted to open was just a light he found upstairs to fool me! But after that beautiful ring it was okay with me!
Pinterest. It is great for wedding planning. I knew I wanted simple shabby chic décor that I could do myself. Plus there are many blogs that have great advice too.
For the ceremony the guys and girls walked down to “Marry Me” by Train. My dad and I walked down to “The Bridal March” by Tom G Marriott. I had a hard time finding a bridal march for an outdoor beach wedding, but when I ran across this one I knew it was it! For our reception I had a long list of music I compiled from searching online wedding music lists. Then we added in a lot of fun songs like “Sweet Caroline” and “Rocky Top” and our DJ threw in a lot of dance music and special requests – it was a party!
The biggest challenge was planning a destination wedding. We made 2 trips down to the area to see the house and find a rehearsal dinner location as well as somewhere for dinner on our wedding night. It wasn’t too much of a challenge since im pretty savvy with Google. Tropical Storm Isaac also made its appearance a couple days before our wedding. That was a challenge – trying to set up with the wind – but the weather couldn’t have been better on our big day.
We DIY everything possible! We made our centerpieces, did all the table décor, bridesmaids bouquets, groomsmen’s boutonnieres, backdrop, bows for chairs, my bouquet, hair and makeup. We hired a DJ, videographer, photographer, caterer, chair rental company, and officiant.
The entire event was memorable but I would say a tie for two: All of our friends and family singing “Sweet Caroline” was great. Also, when we did the wish lanterns on the beach, someone about took out our videographer with one of the burning lanterns! I have to say it made a great shot! (Brian’s note: This really did happen. Check out 2:14 in the video below! haha)
Have a destination wedding! It is so much more personal and you get another vacation too! It was not stressful at all once we got to the beach and got set up.
