The quaint features and timeless touches of Hannah and AJ’s elegant wedding are as darling as can be! They infused personality into their classic celebration through meaningful details while still keeping things minimal. And speaking of personality, can we talk about Hannah’s extravagant wedding dress from Couture by Tess Bridal?! Her gown had the most intricate detailing that paired well with the vibe of the day. But that wasn’t the only dress that made an appearance during the celebration. To pay homage to AJ’s career working with family history, the pair decided to have a room dedicated to the marriages of family members that came before them. This consisted of dresses from both mother’s and one of their grandmother’s along with a family tree. It doesn’t get much more charming than combining the memories of the past with the beauty of the present! Enjoy scrolling through these highlights captured by Alyssa Michelle Photography.
Hannah + AJ
First Presbyterian Church
How did you meet?
Through mutual friends. The groom’s high school friend married a family friend of mine. The first time we met was at their wedding, but just in passing. A few years later they introduced us, and we started dating.
Describe your wedding day.
It was perfect and could not have been more wonderful. It was classic, elegant, and timeless. Very traditional but also showed our personalities and style.
Tell us about your gown!
Extravagant and over the top. In its full glory it took 2-4 people to move me around. It was a show-stopping dress but still classic and elegant. It had an open back with lace detailing. To me it has an art deco lace design and beading on the train and bodice. It was a cathedral train, and I had a cathedral veil. The veil had a similar art deco lace design along edging that accentuated the details of the dress.
Anything else interesting or funny you would like to tell us about your wedding day?
Funny: My dad accidentally stole my sister’s phone (the maid of honor)! He thought it was his since they had similar cases. The thing about this was that my sister’s phone had all the reception music on it. Everyone was frantically looking for her phone just 15 minutes before the ceremony (including my dad). Luckily, we did figure out it was in his pocket the whole time.
Interesting: Me and my husband have four leaf clovers in common. We find 100s per year! So, we did add some touches of clover to the wedding. One thing we did was add four leaf clover bookmarks at every table placing for our guest to take home. We had been collecting them this year and the total bookmarks made was 250! We still have lots of extra clover bookmarks!
Interesting: My husband does family history for a hobby. We wanted to incorporate this into the reception for our families and guests to enjoy. This room included wedding dresses of both mothers and one of my grandmother’s dresses. Other things we had on display were wedding announcements, albums, and photos. My husband also put together a family tree that included both of our families which we had on display surrounded by photos of us as children. This room was designed to honor all the marriages that have led up to our special day.
Interesting: For the unity ceremony we chose to do a knot tying ceremony as a way to celebrate union.
Do you have any budget saving tips for other couples?
For us we had our top two things of importance to us. My main focus was photography and flowers. So, I did put more into those elements. However, me and my family did a lot of things and had lots of helping hands. I decided to not do a few things to save money and that was not too important to me. One of which was a DJ for the reception. I really wanted a short and sweet reception and that really did save a lot of money. My advice is pick what’s the most important to you to invest in. The decision to have a church wedding for the venue also saved us money when it came to planning our day.
Special thanks to Hannah and AJ for sharing their elegant wedding with extravagant wedding dress from Couture by Tess Bridal.
