Marcella and Jimmy’s Edgy Elopement at Chapel in the Hollow

From the bride:

We met in 2016 and were friends for a year or so before we started dating, we met through mutual friends. We started  our actual relationship in June 2017 and quickly grew very close, I think we “jokingly” started taking about marriage just a few months later haha. Then on March 10th while we were just hanging out at our house he looked at me and said, “I don’t think I can go another day without you being my wife”.  Of course I said YES. He didn’t have a ring yet so we found the closest thing, a water bottle cap (which we still have), and twisted it to fit my finger.
 
Our song is Feathered Indians by Tyler Childers so I think the desire to get married in the mountains started from listening to his music. Neither one of us had ever been to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge and I wanted it to be a new adventure for both of us. Neither one of us are “religious” so we didn’t really want a church-like setting.  I looked for months to find a wedding package that provided the ceremony, setting and photography I was looking for (even attempted to organize everything myself from out-of-state, oy). I found Chapel in the Hollow the weekend before we left for TN and knew they were perfect for us! Jimmy was actually the reason for our color scheme! We got engaged in March and I had settled on another dress (and another one before that) which was white with a mermaid skirt. He bought his shirt with navy stripes and the vest the weekend before we left for Tennessee and we did a dress-up test-run to see how we looked. I felt like my white dress just didn’t go with his shirt and vest,  especially trying to envision us in TN scenery.  I ordered my navy dress on Amazon and got it two days before we left Florida! We had our jackets because it was cold-ish for us Floridians, and I had tights and boots because I’m an ultra-Floridian that’s rarely been outside of Florida and I anticipated all of TN being intensely cold outside of our cabin.
 

The only decor item we brought was an engraved wooden heart ornament our rings were tied to. Jimmy’s mother gave us a wedding card with the ornament tied to it two days before we left.  I mentioned to Jimmy that I would love to include the ornament in our pictures so his family felt like a part of our wedding and Jimmy suggested tying our rings to it for our ceremony.  I of course LOVED that and so we did it 🙂 All florals were included by Chapel in the Hollow /Melissa Timm Designs.  I was hoping to find a boutonniere and bouquet for Jimmy and I, but we arrived in Gatlinburg at ~5p on Saturday and all Florists were closed until Monday morning ~9am. Our wedding was at 12p so we decided just to skip it rather than stress! 

 
I loved, loved our intimate just-us ceremony (no offense to friends and family!). But it’s such an impactful  moment. I am so happy it was just us sharing the vows, holding hands, laughing while we took pictures. The most special moment for me was listening to the vows during the ceremony, particularly the vows presented by Ian- So very touching, beautiful and inspiring for a couple starting their marriage. I anticipated crying all over everything during the ceremony (my now husband was forewarned many times so he was also anticipating this), but managed to make it with just a few tears and barely ruined makeup.
If you feel like doing a just us/elopement wedding, even if you’re getting married a year from now, DO IT! Don’t let anything or anyone persuade you to do anything different. It is such a beautiful and (I’m going to use impactful again) impactful moment. I am so glad we decided to do something with just him and I where we could focus on each other, laugh together and have our wedding be about just us! 

lope

 

Chapel florals: Melissa Timm Designs
Hair and Makeup: The Bride
Photography: Star Noir Studio
Venue: Chapel in the Hollow

chapelinthehollow@gmail.com 865-696-5348