If hot pink peonies (and a seriously fashionable wedding party) make you swoon, we've got your fix today! Northern girl Melissa and Southern boy Chris met through mutual friends, hit it off instantly, and tied the knot in Naples last November... and Stacy from Set Free Photography was there to capture every beautiful moment.
I just love how the beautiful bride, Melissa, started their story... "I am a Northern girl (from Michigan) and Chris is a Southern boy (from Louisiana/Alabama), and ohhh how a Northern girl just LOVES a Southern boy!"
We asked Melissa how they met, and to share their engagement story with us: "Chris and I met through friends. He is a firefighter/Paramedic and I'm the marketing manager for a large corporation. We say we live in a big 'small' town, so we knew of each other prior to being introduced, and each had a mutual interest in the other.
"On the weekend of our one year anniversary we replayed the events of our first date(s)… we went to a Florida Everblades hockey game on Saturday night and on Sunday morning we went to breakfast at our favorite spot, First Watch (mmm, Floridian French Toast). After breakfast we ran some errands and headed back to his house. It was a usual Sunday for us, just hanging out, until he disappeared upstairs and a few minutes later he called me up. When I got upstairs, there he was, on bended knee with the ring in his hand. I wish I could remember his exact words, but I was too busy dancing around in a circle and shrieking! and then I said 'YES! Of course!' He then stood up and watched me in amusement as I jumped on the bed for a minute. Hey, it's not every day that you get to marry your best friend and I was SO excited!"
The dresses, the pearls, the hair, those shoes... love every single bit of it! The girls looked gorgeously classy.
What an adorable first look!
During the planning process, Melissa kept two words in mind: simple, bold. She kept it clean and simple with the black dresses and tuxes, and added bold touches with the bursts of pink and graphic stripes. "We're not an extravagant couple," she says, "so I wanted the details to reflect our laid back, fun personalities."
Melissa carried two very special accessories with her on the big day: "My dad had given me the diamonds from his original wedding band which I had put into a custom setting that I wore on my right hand. I love that ring so much and plan to pass it down to our future children when they grow older. Also, wrapped along the base of my bouquet were the pearls that Chris's mother wore in her wedding to his father."
The bride shared a few more details and special moments with us: "I surprised Chris with an 'Alabama-Roll Tide' grooms cake… they didn't even come close to getting the Alabama 'A' right, but it made for a good laugh when we saw it. The big hit was the candy bar and the cupcakes. We had a wide assortment of all of our favorite candies and other goodies and Chinese take-out boxes with our names logoed on them for easy take home. At the end of the evening we passed out bottles of water with our names and wedding date on them and cigars.
"Besides Chris having a dozen beautiful red roses delivered to me the morning of the wedding, the whole day was so amazing that I simply cannot pick one moment that I loved the most. I still so often say 'I wish we could go back and do it all again and again-minus all the planning of course.' My favorite quote of the day was when we got to the reception and we were sitting for dinner and Chris says 'Wow, I knew you would do a great job of planning, but this is just awesome! I never imagined it would be this great'. It is a day that I will never forget! And thankfully we had an amazing photographer and many pictures so we won't be able to!!"
Melissa and Chris, congratulations, and our warmest thanks to you and to Set Free Photography for sharing this day with us!
VENUE/VENDOR INFORMATION:
Ceremony & Reception Venue: Cypress Woods Golf & Country Club | Photography: Set Free Photography | Floral Design: Floral Encores | Cupcakes: Naples Cupcakes | Dress: David's Bridal | Submission: Two Bright Lights
Just a lil’ obsessed with this gorg Naples wedding party… hot pink peonies, b&w stripes, and pearls! http://t.co/XVjmRanZ