Our Southern September Wedding

I’m finally sitting down to write out the details, the lessons, and the sweet memories of September 20th, 2024.

On a beautiful, slightly humid, late-summer afternoon, I married my best friend. I know everyone relies on that phrase, but Leonard’s truly my favorite guy on this side of Heaven. Our story started when I was a senior at GSU, frantic and excited as I finished up my business degree, while Leo was out making his way in Atlanta.

At one point, I actually accepted a corporate job offer in Dallas, Texas. I remember telling him I was moving, certain of my trajectory, but God clearly had other plans. We dated through the crisp autumn of 2019, and by the fall of 2023, he asked me to be his wife at our favorite restaurant in the city, Grana. If you want the full story on how he pulled that off, you can relive those butterflies with me on my engagement announcement blog post.

The Vision

I always knew I wanted to say my vows somewhere steeped in history, dripping with charm, and surrounded by acres of open land. My sister married on a breathtaking cattle ranch in North Florida, and watching the sunset over those sprawling views left a permanent mark on my heart. I wanted that same magic.

Overall, the energy of our day needed to feel sentimental and generational. I wanted touches of brightness that felt incredibly personal to Leo and me. I set out to design a late-summer color palette, which hilariously ended up looking more like a vibrant spring day, but it worked out beautifully against the greenery. More than anything, we wanted to honor our families, their lasting legacies, and the new foundation we’re building together.

The Nonegotiables

We knew without a doubt that we wanted to get married in Georgia, the place where our love story first took root and blossomed. We also knew we wanted the aesthetic to feel classic, but not timeless.

Hear me out on this: I don’t believe a truly timeless wedding exists, and that’s the beauty of it. Just like we instantly spot a wedding from the eighties, nineties, or early aughts, the world will always know who got married in the 2020s. We embraced our era completely.

We also insisted on a large wedding party. While smaller bridal parties are trending right now, we chose to lean into the abundance of our community. We had so many close friends who carried us through different seasons of life, and we wanted every single one of them standing by our side. It required extra logistics, but having them there was worth every bit of planning chaos.

Finally, our absolute must-haves included an open bar, delicious food, and a custom playlist featuring all our favorite genres, which absolutely included a nod to country music. We also carved out time for a couples dance to celebrate everyone in attendance who’d been married for at least one year. Watching generations of love stories fill the dance floor together was easily one of the sweetest moments of the entire night.

The Venue

Confession? Picking a venue was much harder than I thought. Some were too small, others too big. Some where too restrictive and others were too much of a “blank space”. The one thing we did know was we wanted something with tons of space, and a large live oak.

Live Oaks symbolize legacy, deep roots and heritage to us, so being married near one (and bury the bourbon for good weather). I also really, really wanted a front porch with large columns. Our venue needed to feel like a homecoming, not a performance venue or industrial space. It needed to have history, stories and lots of love throughout it. Honestly, we just about gave up until I found an unassuming review on a little venue named Hollywood Farms in Jeffersonville, Georgia that took my breath away.

On a random weekday afternoon, I called the number, expecting to hear a receptionist or wedding planner. Turns out one of the venue owners, Mr. Chip, listed his PERSONAL cell phone number on Google! He picked up, and sounded like an old family friend. He invited us to come down, be hosted by his sisters and learn more about the property.

We went down to Twiggs County and I immediately fell in love. We called my parents, booked it and never looked back. It was the most beautiful, expansive property and was the best place for us to start our story.

The Food

Now if folks are going to sit through and hour of ceremony plus four hours of speeches, dinner and dancing– they need to be fed well! We did something simple but scrumptious with an elevated buffet serving mac and cheese, chicken, biscuits and salad. Our cocktail hour featured mini cheesecakes and charcuterie cups plus unlimited cocktails and sweet tea. A full wedding is a happy wedding!

The Details

Another confession, and maybe I should’ve said this earlier but, I don’t believe that your wedding has to be the BEST day of your life. It should on of the best days of your life. As Leo and I were planning our day, we wanted to look back on moments that made us smile. We had our grandparents read from the Bible and pray over us. We honored those that went on before us with a dedicated chair so they could watch from Heaven. I wrapped my bouquet in a piece of my grandmother’s wedding dress that was almost 60 years old by the time it was passed down to me.

We welcomed our guests with sweet tea in the Georgia sunshine. They played lawn games during cocktail hour and we tossed a football instead of a garter– and I totally skipped the bouquet toss because that had to be preserved.

The Music

Arguably just as important as the venue and the food was the soundtrack to our night. Our musical taste spans genres and generations. We love the timeless classics like Stevie Wonder and Ella Fitzgerald, but we also wanted the heavy hip-hop beats we grew up on, including Biggie, Kendrick, and Ja Rule. To round it out, we threw in a dash of country music courtesy of Cowboy Carter and Breland, two of my absolute favorites.

We knew we had to get everyone moving right from the start, so we kicked off the reception party with an absolute banger: “Square Biz” by Teena Marie. I can still see the dance floor erupting, everyone throwing their arms in the air and yelling “wooooo” right along with her as the track dropped. Later in the evening, we knew we had to play Frankie Beverly and Maze’s “Before I Let Go,” but our DJ executed a masterful twist by mixing it seamlessly into Beyoncé’s version. The energy in that room was unforgettable.

To listen to our wedding ceremony music from welcoming guests to the ceremony to “you may kiss the bride” check them out below!