Dreamy Outdoor Wedding with a Wedding Dress with Pockets

Welcome to the beautiful wedding of Isabella and Matt who were wed at Ridge Rose in Chickamauga, Georgia on the 7th September 2019. Their day was ever so personal and meaningful, with a narrative of love and unity running through the whole of their day.

There really isn’t much not to love about a wedding that features Coral Charm Peonies, a wedding dress with pockets and festoon lights now is there?! Yes, that’s right, Isabella and Matt’s wedding was very stylish indeed. Complete with an outdoor ceremony personalised to them, a marquee reception and sparklers to end the day. Such a special wedding.

Taylor English Photography, I can’t thank you enough for sharing these marvellous images with us today.

Chickamauga Wedding

The Proposal

In January of 2018, Matt and I met because our best friends sat next to each other on a plane. Crushing on my friend, his friend asked her if she would want to come to dinner. They could bring their friends (us) along. After initially saying no, she agreed to dinner. So, as she and I sat waiting in Wasatch Brewery in Park City, Utah, I remember noticing Matt and briefly making eye contact as he entered the restaurant. I immediately felt intrigued and hopeful that he would be the other friend. As it turns out, the feeling was mutual. The four of us had a great dinner, and Matt and I realized that we both lived in Georgia. Later on, my friend told me that I had turned to her in our Uber and said, “One of us has to marry that guy.”

After going out every weekend since our serendipitous meeting halfway across the country, one of us did end up marrying him. And, I’ve never been happier. When Matt proposed, he started by giving me an antique leather scrapbook that I gave him on his birthday. I had filled it with pictures from our dates, letters, and a song. Having just finished brunch in Atlanta with my mom, I thought it was weird that he was giving me a gift. And then, it hit me-he’s proposing. Through the different pages, Matt had written riddles that, once I figured them out, led us to various places that were significant to us.

One of the last riddles led us back to Matt’s place. Living in an old mill, his loft and the surrounding property is architecturally beautiful and imposing. He left after giving me the last riddle. Following its direction, I went up to the roof. And, up in the clouds, he told me “I love you” and proposed. I had always asked that if he ever proposed, that it wouldn’t be in front of a lot of people. So, it was perfect to be able to soak in the moment and then see our families at dinner later that evening. Oh, also, that scrapbook is the same one we used as our guest book in the wedding.

The Vision

When we first started to plan our wedding, my husband and I knew that we wanted it to feel elegant, whimsical, and yet relaxed. I think we’ve all been to a wedding that makes you feel uptight and uncomfortable. For us, we dreamed that our day would be like a fun cocktail party. So, when we found Ridge Rose, we knew it was perfect. With its candle-liered tent and stone cottage bridal suite, it felt like it was plucked of a fairy tale book and set in a magical forest. Because our Christian faith is an important part of who we are, we loved the antique wooden pews that felt like we had a piece of church with us.

We chose to incorporate hymns, Scripture, and prayer throughout our ceremony and day. For the Scripture readings and songs, we asked several friends if they would read the passages and lead the singing. As prelude music, my friend from Harp and Soul offered to play the harp for us. The gentle harp music danced in the mountain air. It was special to have more people who we love be a part of our day. For us, each of those moments helped us to be fully present and overwhelmed us with thankfulness.

Because our venue was outdoors in the mountains of Georgia, I chose dark green, blue gray, and white as our wedding colors complimented with gold. For my bridesmaids, they wore varying shades of blue gray dresses while the groomsmen wore navy blue. I felt like those colors would complement my dress well while also blending with the lush greenery around us. Because I wanted their unique personalities to show through, I asked the bridesmaids to pick any style dress as long it was floor length and sleeveless.

The Style & Decor

For the wedding décor, I wanted it to look simple yet elegant. While two long wooden tables ran through the middle of tent as the head table, the rest of the reception tables were round and covered with white tablecloths. I printed out table numbers from Etsy and surrounded them with sparkling gold votives, greenery, and varying sizes of glass cylinders that had candles floating in water. At each place setting, antique looking gold chargers were also used. The middle of the head tables had greenery and a sheer bluish gray table runner adorned with clear glass votives and white roses in petite, delicate vases.

For our seating chart, I knew that I wanted something unique. So, I took an antique gold scrolled mirror that I had and wax sealed the table numbers with everyone’s name in cursive onto the glass. It looked dramatic and naturally drew the guests’ eyes to find their name and table. For my dessert table, a bridesmaid and I hand wrote signs for each of the donut flavors and coffee signs. Another bridesmaid made a welcome sign that had a large “B” on it. For the décor, hand crafted details like these helped the reception to feel unique and personal.

For the reception, I made my own photo booth. It looked like a large polaroid with our names and wedding hashtag (#bowerschickabowwow) on it. Held by giant clothes pins, the frame hung from twine that was connected to two large wooden poles. Each pole was secure in a tin bucket of cement with green moss covering the gray. For the guest book, I used a leather scrapbook that I had found at an antique store when I was 15. Guests would use a mint polaroid to take their picture and then tape it in the scrapbook with washi tape.

When we were choosing favors, I knew that I wanted little bottles of hot sauce. Because my dad is from Mexico, I grew up eating hot sauce with everything. So, we ordered personalized Tapatío style labels that had our faces on them. Making it even better, my dad made and bottled all of the hot sauce himself. It was really special to be able to give a nod to my Mexican heritage with our favors. To this day, people from our wedding ask if they can get another bottle of my dad’s hot sauce.

One of my favorite parts of the wedding was during the father daughter dance. My dad and I are both dramatic and love to pull pranks; so, we knew we needed to do something unique. In the beginning of our dance, we chose “Daddy’s Little Girl” sung by Michael Bublé. Just as people were beginning to doze off, we had it cut and switch to “Camino Real de Colima.” Grabbing a sombrero and an aqua shawl, my dad and I moved from formal dancing to more traditional Mexican dancing. Because my family is from Colima, Mexico, I loved being able to incorporate my Mexican heritage into my wedding day.

I also loved getting ready with my mum. It was a really special moment to have her help me put on my wedding dress and veil. Through the years, we have always stayed very close and it felt right for it to just be the two of us. As odd as it may sound, we also loved when we left. It wasn’t because we needed to get out; but, rather because the day had been even better than we imagined. As we walked past everyone to our car, I couldn’t help but think that it’s incredibly special to have friends and family to celebrate life moments with.

Your Outfits

For my wedding day look, I drew inspiration from Audrey Hepburn. I’ve always loved Holly Golightly, Sabrina, and Ann from Roman Holiday. So, when I tried on my wedding dress from La Raine’s Bridal Boutique, I felt elegant, comfortable, and excited. From the deep back to the ballerina-esque front, I loved everything about it. The top layer of the skirt was sheer with flowers embossed into it and, it had pockets. Laraine, the owner, told me that she and a designer in New York made my dress.

When I bought this dress, it was several sizes too large. After the wedding, when I looked for the name of the designer, I realized that the alterations shop had cut out the designer’s tag. Other than Laraine, the designer of my dress is a mystery.

For the other details, I wore Porter Cluster studs from Olive+Piper and my oval engagement ring. I wanted to keep my look simple with accents of gold. I had my hair pulled up with curls framing my face so that you could see the deep V in the back of my dress. For my veil, I chose one that was cathedral-length because I loved the drama and length of it in the green grass. I ordered mine for $35 on Poshmark. Not only was it perfect for the wedding; but I plan on turning it into a baby canopy in the future.

For my shoes, I bought luxurious pink pompom high heels also from Poshmark. I loved the richness of the pink velvet and fluffy pompom; so, I used them for my getting ready pictures. Afterwards, I switched to black Steve Madden boots that I had previously worn for our engagement pictures. Even if anyone saw my shoes, I loved how the black leather contrasted with the delicate flower embossed skirt. They felt like the perfect shoes for an outdoor wedding in the Georgia mountains.

For makeup, my one request was that I wanted to look like myself. I wanted people to look at me and see me, not makeup. Because of how all the details worked together, I felt equally elegant and myself on my wedding day. In the near future, I’m going to dye my wedding dress black and have it altered so that it’s tea length. I’m dying to wear it again and I can’t wait to see it recreated.

The Flowers

For the ceremony backdrop, our florist used loose, airy greenery to drape across the wooden arbor. While it was simple, it complemented the ceremony without being distracting. Four wreaths were also used to reserve the first two pews for family. For the reception, two of the wreaths were then placed on the back of my husband’s chair and my chair. On all of the reception tables, loose greenery was used to contrast with the candles and table numbers. Because the tables were round, I wanted guests to be able to converse with each other without being blocked by tall centerpieces.

I think that simple greenery can look whimsical when paired with sparkling gold candles. While I used simple greenery for most of the décor, I knew that I wanted a bright, hand-picked styled bridal bouquet with long ivory streamers. It was fabulous with pink peonies, coral spray roses, fully bloomed peach garden roses, and white stock flowers gently arching over the rest of the flowers. Complementing it all, hypericum berries, Italian ruscus, and eucalyptus helped fill out the rest of my bouquet.

Because I was keeping the rest of my wedding natural and muted, I wanted a pop of color to provide balance. For the bridesmaids’ bouquets, the florist used white wax flower to accent eucalyptus, lemon leaf, and ruscus tied with blue gray ribbons. When it came time to toss the bouquet, I used one of the bridesmaids’ because I knew that I always wanted to keep mine. After the wedding, my mum dried it for me, and I now have it in a crystal vase in my home.

Memorable Moments

I will never get over how sacred and impactful the moment was when we said our vows. Both of us holding back tears, it was sweetly vulnerable to stand before each other and those closest to us as we committed our lives to each other. I will never forget hearing them proclaim that we were “Mr. and Mrs. Bowers” and walking hand in hand to steal a few moments away before the reception. Without a doubt, the pictures that Taylor English captured in those moments are some of my favorite from the entire day.

Advice For Other Couples

While I didn’t use a wedding planner, I so appreciated having a day-of coordinator. Because I knew Hannah Anderson personally, she would send me reminders of things that I might be forgetting for our event. But, the real icing on the cake was having her coordinate and run our wedding so that our family and friends could fully appreciate the day with us. For marriage advice, I love to tell people that it’s better than I expected. Before our wedding, people kept telling us that everything was going to be so hard the first year or that we were just in the honeymoon stage.

Well, first year down, I can honestly say it’s been the best year of my life. 2020 has been the best year of my life. Yes, you’ll disagree with each other; but, you also love one another so you work on it. And, the way I see it, you have the opportunity to build the strongest relationship with the person you love most.