A glamorous Jenny Packham wedding dress and a pair of high-top Converse — only a super stylish Bride, like blogger Lady Flashback, could pull it off. And she does. But that’s not the only cool factor of this Georgia wedding. From the vintage horse-drawn plow turned ceremony arbor to mini wedding cakes in a variety of yummy flavors, this day from Ben And Colleen is full of rustic wedding inspiration. See it all in The Vault!
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From Ben And Colleen…Jess (lifestyle blogger Lady Flashback and Dustin (mechanical engineer) met at the Shaky Knees music festival in Atlanta Georgia. It was pouring rain and they spent the day huddled under a broken umbrella (which they kept and later walked down the aisle with just after the kiss!)
Jess planned every bit of her wedding herself, down to the last detail.
From The Bride…Hair and makeup by A Glamour Affair who did a fantastic job on me and all my ladies! Everyone came with a photo for the stylists and it was replicated perfectly. We were all impressed with their work!
I don’t know what I would have done without my girls there helping, calming, hanging and making me laugh. Meanwhile the guys were out in the pasture shooting skeet like true Southern gentlemen! Even if you’re not into guns, this is pretty sexy!
This activity was such a nice touch to the day and all the guys really enjoyed the bonding! At the end of the day my dad gifted the above gun to Dustin. It’s special because it was the gun his dad (my Papa Joe who passed away many years ago) shot his first deer with and it’s a Winchester (which is my new last name) model 12. Meant a lot to both of us. The grooms suite was so fitting! It had a taxidermy deer head and a gun safe, the ultimate man cave!! Dustin made tie clips for his groomsmen and himself and I think you’d agree-they turned out great! Couple’a Google searches and a stamping kit and he was off! Love his DIY spirit!
Before we walked down the isle we got in our group shots between all the Fall goodness happening in the front yard. How great did everyone’s dresses look together??!! Not only did it make things so easy but I love the outcome of giving the ladies the freedom to choose their style and fit! And for the guys, we rented the suits and gave the ties as a gift along with the DIY’d clips.
Evan Leggoe handled the floral design for the wedding. We met up and chatted about what I liked and from there she came up with a game plan and shopping list that I bought at a wholesale place in town. Day before the wedding Dustin and I picked up the flowers and had them waiting for her at the venue. On the day of she did everything onsite and KILLED IT. Just wait till you see the arbor! She made my arbor dreams come true! Bet you’re wondering what the actual structure is, I didn’t have a clue until it was explained to me that it’s an old horse-drawn plow. We thought it was so unique and loved the idea of going a different route but still giving me the arbor I wanted.
The invitations were home-made using a cyanotype process invite that Mom and I put in lots of sweat (no blood or tears included but we came close) into, then Dustin worked long and hard to stamp. We love how they turned out!
When it came to the reception decor I knew exactly what I wanted. Not joking when I say I illustrated out in Photoshop what I envisioned the tables looking like. Obviously couldn’t do it myself so it was left up to those organizing the florals and props and they (ahem, Evan) nailed it in every way! When we were doing our portrait session I got a glimpse of the crew working on the tables and was over joyed because I realized it was all coming together flawlessly. Chargers, flatware and linens rented through Sun in my Belly and the sugar molds and decor rented through venue.
Because we picked the pasture as our ceremony location we had to have something to drive myself and my dad to the alter otherwise it would have been a long walk or golf cart ride. Sweet Meadows had posted a wedding on their blog a while ago that used this old taxi cab a local resident had restored. I fell in love and asked if we could track down the guy. He agreed and was really sweet. So glad it worked out because it was truly perfect for the transportation and photos!
Having Dad in the ride to the ceremony made for some special memories. He’s a big time goofball and was doing all these ridiculous things making me laugh which helped the nerves! I was sad that neither Dustin nor I had grandparents at the wedding but so grateful to have all our parents by our side.
There were aspects of our wedding that were non-traditional because well, we are millennials and that’s how we roll! For example, our friend Kyle got certified and married us. He added humor and kept the mood fun and relaxing-perfect man for the job!
I’ll be honest, I was FREEZING! It really affected being able to remember the vows, haha! But we laughed our way through it and had a good time.
Speaking of vows, we did the whole hear and repeat deal. We knew we’d both be full of so many emotions (I’m a wedding cryer) so we opted for the more chill route which was perfect!
Lastly, the best part, THE PARTY!
After the ceremony we moved the guests up to the barn for happy hour and apps while Dustin and I finished up photos with our family. Then we made our grand entrance with a first dance as husband and wife. We chose our favorite song, “Closer” by St Lucia. It was unrehearsed and fun! We know all the lyrics and sang them to one another between laughs.
“I’ve got a feeling we will never get closer than this
I can’t imagine there’s a way to get closer than this”
-Seemed very appropriate!
Following our dance and mingling for a 15-20 minutes Dustin and I each grabbed a signature cocktail and went off and had that private meal. Our caterer was the wildly popular and local Sun in My Belly. They did a fantastic job with not only the food but also the set up and handling of the flow. I know that people want to make you feel good about your wedding but we had sooooo many attendees tell us the food was the best they’ve ever had at a wedding and then tell us they weren’t just saying that! Seriously, they crushed the menu! Our favorite app was the fried green tomato topped with pimento cheese and favorite entree was the shrimp and grits-can you tell we are both Southerners??!!
Since our venue was over an hour outside of the city it made finding a wedding cake that didn’t require a $100-$150 travel fee difficult. After lots and lots of email let downs I decided to go with an easier idea – multiple smaller cakes that could be easily transported. So glad we went with this route! We used Metro Bakery and asked friends to pick up for us. They were delicious and gave our guests plenty of options! I only tried two, the lemon zinger (lemon cake, raspberry filling, lemon cream cheese frosting) and cuatro leches (yellow cake soaked in four milks, kahlua buttercream frosting)-both moist and packed with flavor!
We had the traditional list of speeches before the real party went down. Since it had started sprinkling and everyone was inside we all just stood around the barn making it more casual which I really liked! Dustin and I love to dance and so do our friends! At one point they formed a circle around us and would jump in to have a dance with him, me or BOTH! So many special moments to cherish.
Photography: Ben and Colleen: Wedding Photographers | Floral Design: Thicket Floral Design | Wedding Dress: Jenny Packham | Catering: Sun In My Belly | Hair + Makeup: A Glamour Affair | Groom's Attire: Calvin Klein | Venue: Sweet Meadow | Hair Accessories: Anna Marguerite | Tie: The Tie Bar
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