#fsubride

Rustic Romance. Florida bride marries in Georgia  Good evening Morgan! First, tell me the most memorable moment from your wedding. 

The most memorable moment from our wedding was our ceremony. Bryan was adamant that he didn't want to do a "First Look" ahead of our vows, so the first time we saw each other all day was when I was walking down the aisle. I'll never forget the look on his face. We were both so happy, we cried. I remember him mouthing to me how beautiful I looked when we held hands at the altar. We definitely broke from tradition in a lot of ways, but I'm so glad we kept with this one because that moment was everything.

How you and your husband Bryan met? 

Bryan and I met during my freshman year of college at FSU through a mutual friend. His best friend, Wiley, just so happened to be one of my childhood friends who I'd known since elementary school. Wiley and I reconnected when we wound up in the same microeconomics class, and he invited me out to meet some of his buddies from the water polo team. Bryan and I met at one of the house parties and we just hit it off right away. I know that's cliche, but it's true. There was never any awkwardness and even in the very beginning, it felt like we'd known each other longer than we had.

When did you know he was the one? 

We'd been together for almost 6 years when Bryan proposed so there were definitely a lot of moments over that time where I felt just completely certain that he was the one for me. However, the first time, I clearly can remember thinking it was on our 3 year anniversary. I had just graduated college so we were long distance, and we decided to meet up in between Tallahassee and Orlando to celebrate. We rented a room at a small Bed & Breakfast, and spent that weekend hiking, kayaking and doing all of the outdoor stuff we love. It was our first vacation where it was just the two of us. We had such a wonderful time together and I remember coming back home from it and thinking, "This is the man I want to spend the rest of my life with."

What did you love most about your experience finding your dress? 

Just finding the dress was a huge relief to me! I was so stressed going into the whole process. My husband and I only had a 6 month engagement, so I knew my options might be limited and that I had to act quickly but I didn't want to sacrifice on my vision. When I came into Solutions Bridal, the staff at Solutions Bridal were incredibly helpful, patient and supportive during the whole process. My consultant went over my Pinterest board with me and took the time to really get to know me and what I wanted and together with Tali was able to find me the dress of my dreams.

Did you always know what style of dress you wanted to wear when you walked down the isle? 

I knew what elements I wanted in a wedding dress (backless, simple, lace) and I knew how I wanted to feel in it (floaty, pretty, ethereal) but I didn't have a specific vision for how it would all look together. I picked up a bunch of different styles to try on to figure out what I felt comfortable in, but the dress I chose was actually one that Tali had pulled for me after the fact, that I'd actually passed over during my initial search through the store. I'm so glad she told me to try it on, because it was exactly what I was looking for but it just didn't stand out to me on the racks.

What elements from your wedding were your favorite? What moment is most memorable to you?

I loved the venue for our wedding. It was so us. My parents have a wonderful cabin up in Georgia that we love visiting and one our favorite things to do when we're there is to go hiking on these beautiful waterfall trails.It was my pipedream to get married in front of one of those waterfalls, but my dad had voiced some concerns about the practicality of getting married in the middle of the woods. Funnily enough, about two weeks after Bryan proposed my dad was at the cabin and watching the Georgia Outdoor Network when a segment came on about historic grist mill sites in the state. He saw the one at Hightower Falls and immediately checked online to see if they did weddings, and toured the venue the next day with my mom. Bryan and I booked it sight unseen, but when you know, you know :)

My other favorite elements from our day were our handwritten vows and our officiant. He's actually a friend of my family. He married my own parents more than 30 years ago, and I've known him my whole life. Deep down, I'd always hoped that one day he'd be able to marry me whenever the time came around. I'm pretty sure he was the first "vendor" I called once we booked our date, and thankfully he said yes and did an amazing job.