When you love Christmas like this couple, there is only one thing to do: have a Christmas wedding. Then add in the surprise of snow in Georgia, and you have one adorable wintery celebration! We love all the festive and sentimental details this couple incorporated in their big day, including the bride’s late father’s ashes in an ornament tied to her bouquet so he could walk her down the aisle. (We know, we are tearing up too!) You will want to scroll to see all the images captured by Aline Marin and not miss the matching PJ send off!
We are OBSESSED with Christmas. Drew and I are the couple that start listening to Christmas music way before it is socially acceptable, decorate the house and do all the fun winter activities. Right away we knew we wanted a Christmas winter themed wedding. We love vintage furniture, art work, etc and wanted our wedding to feel as cozy, comfortable and welcoming as possible. The location we chose was an old grocery store that had been converted into an event space and had beautiful exposed brick, beams, high ceilings and SO much more. We fell in love with it the first time we saw it and knew we wanted to get married there. Not to mention Drew is a firefighter and the venue is in the same city as his fire station so that was pretty special as well!
I chose a dress on a sample sale to save money. Drew came with me to preview dresses, which may sound crazy but was really important to me. I wanted to share that time with him and see what styles he liked. I ended up finding a dress I really liked and thought it was the one only to go back the next day and find one very similar that I fell in love with. The style was simple and classic, which is exactly what I wanted. I did not want to look at pictures 10 years later and hate my dress haha! The bridesmaids wore long sleeved burgundy red velvet dresses with low backs. I wanted something that they could possibly wear again and not break the bank. The color was stunning and fit the style we were going for perfectly!
Both my mom and drew’s mom gave me their wedding dresses. I thought it would be really sweet to have a table of memories from both our familie’s weddings along with the two dresses on display for everyone to see. It turned out so cute and was very special! I also had one of Drew’s Grandmother’s fur stoles to wear for pictures and to keep warm. It was cold! It was important to us that Peeps be included in the day and was walked down the isle by Drew’s nephew. The other nephew carried the rings and had bought me a ring from his school store to practice with before the wedding. He gave it to me the day before and I wore it for the wedding. They were SO CUTE and sweet! My sister and I both had a little ornament on our bouquets that held my dad’s ashes so he could be with us and me when I walked down the aisle.
Our favorite part was waking up the Friday morning before the wedding to a winter wonderland. It snowed SO much…in Georgia! My father suddenly got sick 4 years ago in March. Within a few days of him becoming sick my sister and I had to fly to VA to say goodbye and take him off life support. When we were driving home from the airport in GA it started snowing, we as well as our parents were born in MA. Our father loved the snow and decorating for Christmas. Seeing snow after he passed felt like he was saying he made it through the pearly gates and was at peace. When we woke up to snow on our wedding weekend the first thing I thought of was him and how his presence was going to be with us though the weekend. It was beautiful and such a surprise. At the same it caused A LOT of behind the scenes issues but everything worked out for the best and we had an absolutely amazing day.
We wanted to be super budget friendly so essentially DIYed our entire wedding. The Corner District is a great venue because you can do as much or as little as you want for your wedding. They have great options for vendors but also give you the freedom to do exactly what you want how you want. I made the save the dates, seating chart, welcome sign and table numbers on my own. We ordered the invitations from an Etsy shop that looked like a vintage postcard but printed it double sided to save money. Our decorations were all items we have collected over the years plus some from both of our families. Drew’s Mother had a Christmas tour of her house and had a ton of extra garland and decor, which we took full advantage of. Everything else was a hodge podge of vintage, new and little things we have gathered through our relationship. Both our mom’s helped the venue coordinators decorate the entire venue up until the very last minute, we can’t thank them enough for their help!!!
At the very end when we were planning to leave we surprised everyone by changing into our Christmas onesies and danced down the sparkler lit isle. It was so fun and a huge highlight for us especially after seeing the pics!
Photography | Aline Marin | Venue | The Corner District | Planning | Ivy Marie Weddings | Cake | Krispy Kreme | Catering | Dickies BBQ | Hair & Makeup | Francesca de Martins Castro | Makeup | Jenna Scearce | Officiant | Bill “Blue” Magyar | Reception Musicians | David McPherson Music | Dress | Encore Formals and Bridal | Groom’s Attire | Jos. A. Bank | Bride’s Shoes | Sam Edelman | Bridesmaid Dresses | DesirVale | Wedding Ring | NashvilleMint | Submitted via Matchology
