• Real Weddings

HOW DID YOU START PLANNING YOUR WEDDING?
WHAT WERE THE FIRST STEPS?

Chris and I got engaged on July 4th and knew we wanted to get married in the fall. We didn’t want to wait two years to start our lives together so we knew we would have to get moving on making plans. Our first step was deciding the location so we could set the date.

WHAT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND WHEN PLANNING YOUR WEDDING?

Our vows. We both wrote our own. The toasts. It was so important to us to hear from our friends and family. The food. We love good food. I was committed to having food that people talked about, and they definitely still are months after the wedding. Great music.

We wanted the experience to be fun and memorable for our friends and family. Photos. We both own an online business and get many professional photos done, so these had to be special and mind blowing. Video. We haven’t gotten this yet but know it’s going to be amazing. We wanted to capture every important moment and have something that would take us back to the emotion we had on that day.

HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR HUSBAND?
TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP.

My husband and I met originally for business through a mutual friend. I’ll spare the details but he did a personality test for me and reviewed it over coffee in Louisville. We both left that coffee date with a funny, exciting feeling, but didn’t reconnect until 3 months later. Chris asked me out and we had a 7 hour first date. We both knew from that moment we would be together and have been inseparable ever since.

Chris and I have the relationship I truly believe that everyone dreams of, and I always wanted. You can catch us cooking a delicious meal together drinking wine, listening to Frank Sinatra, or reading personal development books together with our homemade lattes (Chris makes almost every morning), or battle testing business ideas and creating new ideas for both of our businesses, or entertaining a cerebral conversation about the meaning of life, or laughing about something our crazy black lab did until our bellies hurt. We are very much each others equals when it comes to our motivation to creating a life that blows our minds, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for us in life, business, our relationship and our health AND we balance each other in all the right ways. We have fun, we dream big together, we reach for massive business goals individually and together and we take responsibility for our own individual happiness which I believe all comes together to make the beautiful now marriage and partnership we have together.

HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON YOUR BRIDESMAID STYLE?

I wanted something flattering for all of my bridesmaids, unique, and elegant. I loved the Bridesmaids dresses so much I would have worn them to a gala.

DID YOU DO ANY BEAUTY OR FITNESS PREP
FOR YOUR BIG DAY?

Fitness tends to be a constant in my life, so I cut out a few more unhealthy options before the big day and felt a little more motivated for my workouts but kept most things the same.

I made sure to drink lots of water and treated my skin to a nicer nightly routine and a few face masks leading up to the day. 2 days before the wedding I had to have my favorite fried chicken in Asheville, NC so that made the wedding diet cut.

HOW DID YOU FIND YOUR PERFECT DRESS?

Finding the perfect dress was not an easy task until of course I put it on. I went to 6 or 7 different shops. To top it off I live away from my sister and mom, but found it important that they were with me for it which took a bit more maneuvering to shop and align our schedules. The minute I put my dress on and added the over skirt, I knew it was IT.

It gave me the all in one, unique look I wanted. The tight fitting dress to please my husband and make me feel sexy and the huge overskirt to make it feel like a dress I have never worn and nail some of the dreamy photos I wanted at The Biltmore.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU
GIVE TO ALL OUR FUTURE BRIDES?

It rained on a day that it hadn’t rained on for 10 years. It rained the entire day. And it was 25 degrees colder than it was supposed to be. It would have been easy to worry and focus on this, but instead, we decided to enjoy the rain. I remember texting my husband beforehand and saying, “let’s make rain look so good people wish it rained at their wedding.” And we did. So I say all this to say, your wedding day is going to kind of be like life, some moments won’t go as planned and some will be the best moments of your life. Remember this day is about you and your husband (Or wife) and your love. Don’t worry about the things that go wrong, soak up every moment, and remember it’s all what you make it.

WHAT MOMENT FROM YOUR WEDDING
WILL YOU NEVER FORGET?

I will never forget our first look. The look on my husband’s face will be one I never forget. And our vows. We wrote them and they were both full of love, passion, joy, and a little humor that made our entire guest list laugh during the ceremony. I will never forget the look on my husband’s face or his words.

HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH
THE GALIA LAHAV BRAND?

It was absolutely amazing. The overskirt they created was stunning, perfect for me, and something I got more compliments on than anything else. It was such a fun addition to my already beautiful dress.

HOW DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR LOCATION?

One of the themes of Chris and my relationship and now marriage is that we do not settle for anything less than what we want. We wanted to do a destination, with the beauty of mountains and we wanted to do it at a location that was unique and one of a kind. The Biltmore was just that. We also knew The Biltmore’s service would be second to none and their staff of chefs would execute the dinner we always dreamed of.

WHAT WAS YOUR WEDDING THEME?

I would say our wedding was a modern, classic, elegant theme. The Biltmore is such a beautiful, one of a kind location that we wanted the beauty of it to speak for itself with gorgeous, simple decor.

WHAT DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST ABOUT PLANNING YOUR WEDDING?

I loved bringing my vision to life, planning something for both us and our family to remember forever, and the energy everyone around us brought for our upcoming big day.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST WEDDING SONG?

Our first song was Birds of a Feather by Mandolin Orange. A very rare song many people have never heard of, but one that brought both of us back to when we first fell in love.

HOW DID HE PROPOSE?

In 2017 I had an opportunity to join a mastermind that included a VIP day (in person business type meeting) in the South of France. Two months before the trip I decided to join and told Chris we would be going to France with only two months to plan. We quickly made travel plans and added in 7 days in the most romantic city in the world, Paris. Our 4th day in Paris, my now husband Chris woke me up at 4:00 AM to do a photo shoot that he convinced me was for my social media business. I hoped this was going to be THE moment, but he told a very compelling story and I wasn’t sure. I feel like no matter how much you think you are being proposed to, it still doesn’t feel real until it’s happening. At 5:30 AM we pulled up to an empty and barely lit Eiffel tower where Chris handed me the most romantic letter ever, got down on one knee, and asked me to spend my life with him, all while the photographer Chris hired took hundreds of photos of the moment, with the sun coming up and the Eiffel tower as the backdrop.

• Coordinator: Two Sweet Sparrows
• DJs: Remixweddings
• Flowers: Floressence
• Hair, Makeup & Beauty: Amber Daetwiler
• Hair, Makeup & Beauty: lox.by.lo
• Photographers: Anastasiia Photography
• Venues: Biltmore Estate
• Wedding Dresses: Galia Lahav
• Wedding Dresses: Bella Bianca Bridal Couture
• Wedding Films: Inkspot Crow Films