Inspired by chinoiserie vases, this summer affair captured by Fete Photography will have you dreaming of a gorgeous garden wedding! We love this chic and classic look and that the bride’s mom hunted down all of the vases for the reception herself!
Even though we’re both from Mississippi, our wedding was in Asheville, NC. Most of my family lives in the area and I think it’s Bentley’s favorite place in the world! We had both our ceremony and reception at the NC Arboretum because it shows off the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We figured if most of our guests were driving at least 8 hours, we needed to show off Western North Carolina. The Arboretum allowed us to choose very different sites for our ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. Our ceremony was a flagstone amphitheater and our reception was a garden setting including a large glass green house. However my favorite was our cocktail hour location- it had an incredible view of the mountains and the centerpiece was a large fountain. We hosted a welcome party for all of our guests and had an intimate wedding so that we were able to spend real time with all of our guests.
We both wanted very classic looks for the wedding. I knew I wanted a classic silhouette and a long train (probably because of my love for Princess Diana). I found my wedding dress on the first shopping trip and even before we had set a date – I never thought it could be that easy! My family and I went to a bridal boutique in New Orleans that has been in business for almost a century. It was a lot of fun making trips to New Orleans for fittings! I knew it was “the dress” when my mom and sister cried and my dad confirmed it was the one. My wedding dress was a Pronovias off the shoulder, silk gown with a dropped waisted and covered buttons.
I’m so glad Bentley and I did a “first look” because I felt so calm before walking down the aisle. I had a long train and had to walk down flagstone steps – I was nervous until I saw Bentley! Our ceremony felt really special to us because our pastor is a close family friend. Bentley and I served communion to our family and friends during the ceremony. It was a really personal and intimate moment we’ll always remember.
The largest decor elements were our dozens of blue and white/chinoiserie vases. I really liked the idea of using navy but wanted the color scheme to still compliment our summer garden location. Our wedding planner did a really great job of incorporating preppy elements like our navy and white, Greek key invitations with classic prints and warm linens. My mom is very creative included quite a few DIY pieces. She found and refinished our vintage lounge furniture and spent almost a year shopping for our blue and white vases! I think this gave made our centerpieces really unique. My dad even helped built the cross for our ceremony and corn hole boards for our reception.
We tried to personalize our wedding with things we thought we would enjoy at a wedding! Even though we had an evening wedding, we wanted the reception to feel really comfortable. We had personalized corn hole boards, intimate lounge seating, and almost all of our beverages were local. Asheville is known as “Beer City USA” because of its large number of both big brand breweries and microbreweries. For this reason, we hosted our welcome at Catawba, a local brewery in Downtown Asheville. We also carefully selected local beers on draught for the reception. In addition to beer, we also served Biltmore wine and craft sodas from Waynesville Soda Jerks which is in my parents’ hometown. We also tried to serve food we wanted to eat including a fun fillings in our wedding cake like pineapple and comfort food like cheesy grits. My favorite personal item had to be the wedding cake server my parents gifted to us. It was made to match my great grandparents’ silverware from their wedding in the 1940’s – they met while both serving in WWII.
Photography | Fete Photography | Venue | NC Arboretum | Planning & Florals | Rachelle Youd Designs | Rentals | Classic Event Rentals | Catering | Saffron Fine Foods | Cake | Karen Donatelli Bakery & Cafe | Bar | Cordial and Craft | Dress | Pronovias | Hair & Makeup | Flawless
