Check out this bride and groom’s wedding, along with their amazing Nashville vendors. Their list just might make your day even better!
Sarah + Hunter
Wedding Date: July 10, 2015
Ceremony + Reception Venue: The Bridge Building
Guests: 130
Budget: $20,000 – 30,000
Wedding Team
Planner | Lesa Neff
Photographer | I Love You Too Weddings
Gown | David’s Bridal
Groom’s Suit : 14th & Union
Bridesmaids’ Attire | Union Station
Floral Halo, Hair, Makeup | Lisa Wolfe
Invitations | Wedding Paper Divas
Fans | Ann’s Bridal Bargains
Caterer | Infinity Events and Catering
Cake Artist | The Cupcake Collection
Floral Designer | Ashley Walters, Forget Me Not Flower Shop and Designs
Reception Musicians | DJ Rich Matthai
Getaway Car | Matchless Transportation
Rehearsal Dinner Location | The Old Spaghetti Factory
Wedding Details
How would you describe your style as a couple?
Simple, fun; a mix of vintage and modern
Where did you get your inspiration?
Definitely Pinterest, but also from the Bridge Building itself. Once we picked that as our venue, we were better able to get a feel for what we wanted our wedding to be. I would also say we took inspiration from our lives in general – me spending my entire life living just outside Nashville, Hunter being in law school, our favorite music, etc.
How did you incorporate that style into your wedding?
Choosing the Bridge Building made us really want to sort of “show off” downtown Nashville, so our décor was really simple – nothing taking away from that amazing view of the Nashville skyline! I also think that by keeping the décor simple, we kept the focus on the fun. We just wanted it to feel happy and sweet, not over the top or extravagant.
We incorporated our mix of vintage and modern by going with a very modern venue, but featuring vintage touches like old doilies from the flea market and very old law books (also a nod to Hunter’s life being just a tiny bit consumed by law school right now!). Other than that, we kept it fun with little details like music from our favorite band, the Avett Brothers, as pre-ceremony music, flowery fans for our guests featuring a quote from one of their songs, and wedding favor CDs with some of our favorite songs as a couple!
What was your (or your guests’) favorite aspect of your wedding?
Just how fun it was from start to finish! We had so many guests tell us how much fun they had, and we couldn’t agree more! The reception was just a big, happy party and that’s all we really wanted! Our ceremony was fun as well, with our choice of fun Avett Brothers songs as pre-ceremony music and funny stories and laughter incorporated into the brief, simple ceremony. When we think about our wedding or look through the pictures, the joy and fun is what stands out the most to us, and that means more to us than any other aspect of our day!
Where did you splurge? Where did you save/DIY?
Our biggest splurge was definitely the venue itself, but that worked for us because it’s such a gorgeous venue that we didn’t feel we had to use tons of décor. We wanted the focus kept on the building and the amazing view of Nashville. We saved on what decorations we did use! For centerpieces, we bought some early 1900s law books from a going-out-of-business used bookstore and old doilies from various trips to the flea market. Other simple decorations used throughout the reception were actually wedding shower gifts!
Who were your favorite vendors and what made them exceptional?
This is tough because all of our vendors were truly amazing!
First of all, the Bridge Building is a wonderful venue that takes care of just about anything you need. They genuinely cared about every little concern we had and about helping us have the perfect day.
Our wedding coordinator (provided to us through the venue), Lesa Neff, was absolutely wonderful! She and her team truly cared about making our day everything we wanted it to be. She took our very vague vision and made it more than we ever could have hoped. Lesa recommended just about every vendor we chose, and not a single one disappointed us. On top of being wonderful to work with, the Bridge Building also did our catering, and the food was amazing! We really got so much more than just a venue when we chose the Bridge Building for our wedding.
Ashley Walters of Forget Me Not Flower Shop and Designs was fantastic because other than wanting wildflowers and knowing the “feel” I wanted our wedding to have, I didn’t have many other specifics for her to go off of, and she totally nailed it! Our flowers were gorgeous.
We loved the Cupcake Collection because their prices were very reasonable, they were very friendly and easy to work with, and the cake was beyond delicious!
Lisa Wolfe was great to work with because, with me being someone who doesn’t ever do much in the way of hair and makeup, she did an amazing job at making sure I felt beautiful without being uncomfortable. And she is so sweet!!
Finally, our DJ, Rich Matthai, was just so fun! He made our reception the party we wanted it to be, and we had multiple guests comment about how much they loved him and how fun he was. He kept the party going all evening long!
Now that the wedding day is over, is there anything about your planning process you feel you could have done differently?
The only thing I can think of is that I shouldn’t have worried so much and just had more fun with the planning. Not that planning our wedding wasn’t any fun at all, but I am someone who tends to stress about every little detail, so I think I sometimes forgot to just have fun with it! Other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing! We hit the jackpot with the Bridge Building and our coordinator Lesa. I could have stressed a lot more than I did, but they made the process so much easier!
In one sentence, what words of advice do you have for couples in the midst of their planning?
Don’t worry so much about all of the little details because it really will all come together and you will have too much fun at your wedding to even remember those little things anyway!
