We’ve fallen for this classic Southern wedding from David Abel Weddings! With lovely traditions, like sharing a taste of scotch from a handmade pewter bowl, this wedding is too sweet! The dusty blue and green color palette is perfect for summer, with floral print linens making a whimsical pop.
Our goal for our wedding was to have a classic, traditional southern wedding, complete with southern food, good bourbon and monograms! I knew from the beginning that I wanted dusty/french blue to be my main wedding color. Throughout the planning process the color scheme evolved to multiple shades of blue!
We both also knew we wanted to get married in Brooking’s hometown of Richmond, VA. My mother really wanted a church wedding, but I didn’t want to worry about the logistics and cost of transporting guests from the ceremony to the reception location. Brooking’s mother is a member of the Tuckahoe Woman’s Club in Richmond and suggested that I look at the club to host our reception. Conveniently enough, there was a beautiful church across the street from the club! On top of that, the vibe and decor of the Woman’s club screamed southern! After touring the space I knew I had found the perfect location to make my southern wedding dreams come to life!
The center diamond on my engagement ring is a Chenault family heirloom that dates back to the late 1800s. Brookings great great grandfather was a privateer and traveled to Peru in search of diamonds in the late 1800s. The center diamond on my engagement ring is the diamond he returned with from his Peru trip! My best friend from college sang Ave Maria during our ceremony as the bridesmaids walked down the aisle. This is the same song that was played during Brooking’s parents wedding ceremony.
Brooking is half Scottish so we decided to do a hand fasting during our wedding ceremony. We also shared a taste of scotch after the ceremony out of a beautiful pewter his aunt gave us as an early wedding gift. Both of these are Scottish wedding traditions and were fun to incorporate and have captured.
It wouldn’t be a southern wedding without a good old fashioned monogram! We decided to incorporate our wedding monogram in subtle ways throughout the day. We monogrammed our wedding programs, unity candle, guest towels for the bathrooms, matchboxes for the bourbon bar and drink sticks for cocktails at the bar. We have a 1 year old yellow lab Leia who was a bit too young and wild to have in our wedding ceremony. We hired Emily from Emily Baird Designs to sketch a picture of Leia and print her face on our cocktail napkins with the caption “Cheers! Love Leia”. It was a fun, easy way to incorporate our pup that made all of our guests smile!
We opted to skip out on a large wedding cake and went for a small dessert bar, cutting cake and a groom’s cake. It was enough dessert where guests were able to get their sweet tooth fix and have plenty of options, but it cost about a third of what it would have if we had a large wedding cake created. We also decided not to do favors for our guests. We decided that our guests would better remember a great experience versus a custom cookie or koozie. So in addition to hiring a great band, we created a self serve bourbon and cigar bar that guests enjoyed after dinner.
Photography | David Abel Weddings | Ceremony Venue | Grace Baptist Church | Reception Venue | Tuckahoe Women’s Club | Planning | Just a Little Ditty | Florals | Floral Images | Catering | Cater 2 Events | Groom’s Cake | Pearl’s Bakery | Linens | Festive Fare | Calligraphy | Miller Calligraphy | Band | Sam Hill Entertainment | Hair and Makeup | Honeysuckle and the Opal | Dress | Celebration Bridal | Veil | The Gilded Thimble | Shoes | Something Bleu Shoes | Bridesmaid Dresses | Azazie | Groom’s Attire | Jos A Bank | Submitted via Matchology
