Fairytale Woodland Dunaway Gardens Wedding In Burgundy Tones

Does it get any dreamier than this stunning Dunaway Gardens wedding in Georgia? I think not.

Christina and Nick held their fall wedding outdoors in a woodland setting of the gardens and the result was like something out of a fairytale. Complete with burgundy hints in the outfits, flowers and reception decor later on too.

There were some really meaningful touches such as the sand pouring ceremony and Christina’s hand-sewn gown. When you read their beautiful account of their day below, you’ll be blown away by the love and attention to detail poured into their wedding.

A massive thanks to Sheena Shahangian for sharing these sensational images with us.

Dunaway Gardens Wedding

The Venue

For Nick and I, our love has always felt like a fairytale, and when we found Dunaway Gardens, we knew we’d found the venue to match.

Tucked 30 miles south of Atlanta, Georgia, the Dunaway Gardens origin involved a love story of its own. The story of Dunaway began when famous stage actress Hetty Jane Dunaway met dashing booking agent Wayne P. Sewell. In 1916, Dunaway’s vision of a storybook garden as a setting for a theatrical training center came true, nurtured over 18 years and was host to Walt Disney himself.

Given its theatre-based origins, the gardens are packed with picture-perfect pockets of fairy tale flair. The Sunken Gardens are surrounded by twin water channels with moss-covered paths that let the feet wander and bring the imagination with them. One of the hardest choices for us included choosing between two beautiful ceremony location options at the gardens, as the grounds themselves are host to two gorgeous nature-framed amphitheaters.

The Vision

Our preference for more personal touches on our wedding day extended past the gardens into the details of our wedding day itself. The embroidery on my dress was a reflection of our fairytale love and my veil was hand sewn with love by my aunt.

My bridesmaids were also encouraged to wear a dress style of their choosing to add their personalities to the special day.

An added joy of our wedding planning process included getting to know our phenomenal team of vendors that made the day possible. The photography team had been part of our love story before it began, with lead photographer, Sheena, of Sheena Shahangian Photography taking the very first photo of Nick and me 6 years prior.

It was Sheena’s artistic vision and photography style that brought the day to life and captured each picture-perfect detail more beautifully than we could have imagined. Outside of capturing memories that Nick and I can now cherish for years to come, simply put, they love the team themselves!

The team at The Grand Gourmet showed the seal team six levels of service to accompany a menu that was nowhere shy of Grand. Owner, Aaron, also shares a Cuban heritage with me and surprised both Nick and I with Cuban coffees after dinner.

Sierra, from Gracie’s Garden Floral Studio made personal floral recommendations based on my personality with my favorites from the day being the bouquet and floral framed ceremony arch she decorated. Sierra even made an extra boutonniere in honor of Nick’s late brother that sat at his memorial table.

Although Nick’s brother was not in physical attendance as his best man, as intended, we opted to use an hourglass and sand as a symbol of our union during the ceremony as a reminder that life is finite.

It was the people involved in our day that truly made it special and one of the happiest days of our lives.

A Few Other Noteworthy Details About Our Day!

My uncle is actually the one who married us, and he wrote a custom sermon for the occasion.
We wrote our own vows (and saved them until the last minute, which for me was at 3am the day before and for Nick was the day of the wedding).
My dad made a life-size chess board for the cocktail hour.
Nick’s mom was the one who brought the wedding cake-flavored cotton candy (which we used for cotton candy cocktails) and all the cute signage for the day.
Our family friend Angie Keilhauer gave a live performance at cocktail hour. She also sings the Wish Upon a Star song that plays at Disney World and was a contestant on The Voice. She wrote us a song for the day, too.