Ellen and Cole knew from the beginning that there was a special romance between the two of them, like wildflowers, natural. Ellen and Cole met in middle school and the rest was history. Their wedding was filled with everything that Ellen and Cole dreamt it to be without boundaries. The ceremony was held at a special park near and dear to the bride’s family along with the reception location being at Cole’s family’s residence. Ellen also used her creative skills and created many decor pieces for the wedding like the floral garlands and her collective thrifted glassware. Stay tuned though because there is also a sword cake cutting and a special ending…spoiler alert: a pool is involved! Check out more here!
Ellen + Cole
May 25, 2025
Ceremony ~ Brown’s Creek Park
Reception ~ Private Family Home
How did you meet?
In middle school! He was my friend “boyfriend” in 7th grade. We went to different high schools, but never fell out of touch because we were in the same tight-knit friend group. I always say that he and I were never really friends because there was too much flirting all the time for us to be just friends. We gave it a for real adult shot in 2019, and here we are now!
How did the proposal go?
We took a trip to Washington DC for our 3 year anniversary. He made us plans to go to a historic garden called Dumbarton Oaks. He unfortunately ended up buying the wrong tickets though, and instead bought tickets to visit the historic house. So we were turned away at the gate. Unbeknownst to me, Cole was freaking out on the inside because he has hired a photographer who was already inside the garden waiting for us. While Cole was formulating a plan, the ticket collector at the gate ran back to us and told us that there was one more ticket for the time slot, but he didn’t believe in separating people at the gate. So he let us both go into the garden. We walked around the garden talking about our history and how far we had come, until we got to this one section called “Lovers Lane” which was a pond that the owners of the historic garden used to have concerts in. We got to the end and he proposed while our engagement photographer snapped away! I was so proud of him for thinking of hiring a photographer. Of course I said yes, and we had the rest of our trip at the gardeners having an engagement shoot.
I bought my wedding dress at Glitz Bridal. It’s a customized Johnny by Madison James. I added an extra layer of glittery tulle under the floral designs, and I also had it made off the shoulder.I also had a reception dress and I definitely needed it because it was HOT outside. I got it from Lulus. My husband’s suit was a custom sage green linen one from an online company called Hockerty. His tie was a white floral one from Dazy that he didn’t know matched my wedding gown. Our groomsmen wore natural linen colored suits that they bought from men’s warehouse. They also wore sage green floral ties from Dazy to match my husband’s suit. Both the groomsmen and my husband wore white linen shirts under their jackets. And my bridesmaids all chose their own different color floral dresses. There was a pink one from Birdy Grey, a yellow one from Abercrombie, a blue one from Altrd State, a green one from an online retailer called JJs House, and a purple one from Lulus.
What was the vision & theme for your wedding? What details were used to create this vision?
The theme was Wild Flower wedding. I had florals incorporated wherever I could, and DIYd a lot of our decorations. The entire wedding party had floral prints one way or another. I made roughly 50 floral garlands to hang from the top of our tent over the dance floor. We didn’t stick to any wedding colors, but instead opted for wildflower colors and had our table scapes match that theme by using floral print plates, and colored goblet glasses that I thrifted and collected for two years. I also hand painted a flower border all around our mirror welcome sign. And I even hand made a giant dandelion and a daisy to go around our sweetheart table.
Where did you splurge? Where did you save?
All of it felt like a splurge; but the big ones were food, videography, photography, and the tent. We were lucky to save where we could. All of our plates and flatware came from my husband’s parent’s collection. All of the signage including our invitation suite was made by a family friend, one of our best friends works for a lighting company, so he got us a deal on all of the disco balls. I collected the the glasses so we didn’t have to rent them, and we didn’t have to pay any venue fees since we were at a private home and a park.
What is your best piece of advice for others planning their wedding?
Start right away!! We got engaged two years ago, and put off any of the real planning for a year. We booked our big vendors, but all of the decorations and the little details didn’t get started until 9 months out from the wedding; But also enjoyed being engaged! This is probably the shortest time in your life where you’ll call each other “fiancé.” You go from friends, to boyfriend/girlfriend for however long, and then you’re husband and wife for (hopefully) the rest of your life! Enjoy the short time of being engaged and soak it in!
What was your first dance song?
So this is Love by Selah Sue
Can you share your favorite memory or any special moments from the day?
It’s hard to pick one, but I think the one I’ll treasure the most is when we were on the dance floor with our few friends that we have kept in touch with from middle school. The DJ played our friend groups anthem – Don’t Stop Believing. We were all in a circle jumping and screaming the song. I just looked around at these people I’ve known since we were all kids, and I looked at my husband and we were both crying and having the best time.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
We had a collective painting station where people could grab a pallet knife or a paint brush and add whatever they wanted to our canvas.I designed our own custom newspapers on Canva to use as our wedding programs. We had a Photo Booth that was designed too look like a mirror which was so cool. Instead of having disposable cameras around for everyone, I chose an environmentally friendly version and had reusable film cameras around for people to use! We ended the night by jumping into the pool which was perfect because we all worked up a sweat on the dance floor!
What an absolutely stunning wedding! It looked like so much beauty, romance, but also a touch of classic and quirkiness! Thank you so much to Meg Sutton Photography for providing these stunning images. Lastly, thank you Ellen and Cole for allowing us to step into your special day! Check out more real weddings here! See their wedding video HERE!
