Jennifer and Mason joined us at Chapel in the Hollow in the heart of the Smoky Mountains for their sweet elopement accompanied by her parents. They were beautifully sweet and adorably cute together. We loved that Jennifer made her bouquet and the boutonnieres. Mason’s one request was getting to wear a green suit, and we think he did a great job picking it out! They chose one of our forest paths as a ceremony site instead of the chapel, and it was gorgeous with the backdrop of nature.
From the bride:
We met when we were fourteen and sixteen years old. We played on the same soccer team. We soon became extremely good friends both loving to read and write and playing sports. We kept in touch through all the years as one another’s best friends. We always knew that we cared about each other as more than just friends but timing never really worked out. I was always in sports and working and in my adult life moved around a lot. Mason was traveling on tour or in different places making records. We finally both hit a point where we were ready to settle down and take life a little more seriously. We both wanted to go back to school so we made the crazy plan for me to move with him and start taking our lives seriously together. Three years later we’re married. Our proposal was more calculating than romantic. We were driving to target talking about where life was going and we decided that getting married was the next step. Mason is going into the air force and I’m still trudging along on school so instead of living our lives separate from one another yet again, we chose to make the rest of our lives OUR lives together.
Getting married in the Smoky Mountains was very important to us. Prior to moving in together and finally living in the same state as one another, we took a two week long hike along the Appalachian trail through the Smoky Mountains. It was a fantastic trip and really strengthened our relationship. When getting married in the woods, I don’t think there’s a need for decorations. The woods are gorgeous enough on their own and lend their own color palette to the big day. Our bouquet and boutonnieres were just simple baby’s breath that I made. We really thought the simplicity of them would pop in the bright green woods. They looked gorgeous.
Our inspiration for our wedding was just focusing on being in the great outdoors and enjoying our favorite place together. We didn’t focus too much on specific styles or colors but wore what we felt fantastic in. I wore a tea length lace dress studded with pearls. It toed the line of elegance and simplicity. With the wedding being outside, I wanted something that I could move around in and not get dirty. I also have a Smoky Mountains tattoo on my leg that I wanted to show off. My shoes were a deep purple velvet. They matched the look of the dress and were a lovely pop of color with the ivory dress. My husband wore a deep green suit with an ivory shirt and tie. The vest was a brown herringbone that complimented the suit and woods nicely.
I think that we were just excited to be in the woods again. Being among the trees, especially The Smokies, is our happy place. We were so excited to express our love for one another in our favorite place.
When we were planning our wedding, we had all these people that we felt we needed to invite. As the guest list grew, so did the expenses. Not wanting to spend an insane amount of money, we looked again at the list and cut back on the number of people and cut the people that didn’t need to be there. Having a small number of people there made the event that much more special for us because we weren’t worrying about everyone else. We made our day all about us and what we wanted. Your wedding day should be exactly what you want. Don’t spend money you don’t have or don’t want to trying to plan an event for others. Your day is about you and your partner telling one another you want to spend the rest of your lives together: nothing else and no one else.
Located near Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg in the less populate Seymour, Tennessee, Chapel in the Hollow is a mini chapel that caters to elopements and intimate weddings for couples who want to say their vows surrounded by the beauty of nature.