Karen and Jonathan’s Intimate Smoky Mountain Wedding
Karen and Jonathan were such a joy to have on our property! Their friends were animated and a lot of fun, and it was obvious how excited the two of them were. They added some beautiful personal touches to the chapel area to make it uniquely their own. We LOVED their style–different, a little edgy, beautifully them. We love couples who let their personalities shine through in their wedding day!!
From the Bride:
We met at work. We both worked at a hotel, always worked the same shift, and found natural friends in each other. We had no intention of dating at the beginning, always joking about being “bros,” so much so that he nicknamed me Fred so I’d have a boy name, and it has stuck to this day. We spent more and more time together, sacrificing sleep for another conversation or another movie. We were undeniably drawn to each other. There was no real proposal.. we had talked about getting married and figured we would at some point. We had already planned to take the same week for some kind of vacation, and one day around Christmas he looked at me and said, “hey, let’s pick a day to get married.” So I found us a little place in the mountains like we had talked about, and here we are!
We wanted our wedding day to be like our relationship.. low-key, intimate and comfortable. We let nature be our theme and enjoyed what the location already had to offer. Tradition has not played much part in our relationship, and our wedding reflected that. It was all about doing our own thing.
We did very little decorating, again letting nature do the heavy lifting. We added a few props made by friends and given as wedding gifts, and used these for our reception as well. Our reception consisted of 8 of our closest friends at the cabin we honeymooned in for the rest of the week, a few more DIY projects friends helped with, and the beautiful Smoky Mountains just outside.
The flowers were a very happy accident. I didn’t want a big traditional bouquet, and wanted to stay relatively inexpensive but floral arrangements are not a particular strength of mine. My best friend and I happened on a bunch of flowers at a wholesale florist the day before the wedding, decided they looked like wildflowers and could probably be turned into a bouquet. We found some burlap wrap and made the most of it. They ended up being perfect for the venue! We had some extra for a centerpiece, pinned some to his jacket, and that’s all we used.
We had pretty unique music and personalized props friends had made for us, but we kept everything pretty simple. I loved keeping it small and simple so we could really focus on each other and the meaning of what we were doing.
We have both always loved everything we can get in gray. It’s how we decorate, how we dress, and we thought it would be unique and personal to have that be the color we both wore for our wedding. I had a hard time finding a gray dress but stumbled upon the perfect one on an online-only store. We mixed and matched different pieces for Jonathan until it looked perfect, all in gray.
It’s about the marriage, not the wedding. Keep it about you and your spouse, and remember you have a whole life together to look forward to after the wedding. It doesn’t matter if it’s uncomfortably hot, the music gets messed up, you’re a few minutes late, not everyone you want to be there makes it, or your best friend doesn’t know you gave her the ring to hold during the ceremony (all things that happened at ours). Remember why you’re there, and nothing else matters.
Hair and Makeup by a Bridesmaid
Photography by Star Noir Studio
Chapel Florals by Melissa Timm Designs
Bouquet by the Bride
Venue: Chapel in the Hollow
