Tomorrow marks three months from the day my now-husband + i pulled off our surprise wedding, i thought it was a perfect time to (finally) share some pictures with you from that amazing day!
The ‘engagement party’ started at 6 PM + we planned the surprise ceremony to begin at 6:45. This was minutes before we separated to change into our wedding clothes, taking a quiet moment together.
About 45 minutes into cocktail hour, almost-husband (now in a jacket + tie) gathered everyone’s attention. He thanked them for coming + told them we had a surprise before dinner was served. The bluegrass quartet changed to classical music (canon in d) + the minister strolled out from the wings.
My father + i emerged from behind the carriage house + (truly) an audible gasp rose from the crowd. I joined my soon-to-be husband + minister under the gorgeous gazebo for our vows. After the ceremony, my now-husband + i snuck back into the carriage house for a glass of champagne.
Thanks, mom, for holding my bouquet!
We emerged, to everyone’s awesome well wishes + words of surprise. but first, i hugged my mom.
We took some pictures, just the two of us, before the sun started setting.
Then we took some pictures with our parents + family, too.
As the sun started setting, i had just enough time to take a little bridal swing.
We re-joined our nearly 100 guests for a wonderful southern dinner, dessert, drinks + champagne.
Our meal was accompanied by the amazing blueglass stylings of Craig Duncan’s bluegrass quartet.
I had my first dance with my husband under the stars.
With the sun long set, our surprise revealed, + everyone happy, we headed out + left our guests to continue the party.
It was a perfect day. friends + family had come in from all across the country + world (my brother flying in all the way from india), The weather had been sunny + warm, + our surprise had gone off seamlessly. If i had to do it again, i wouldn’t change a thing!
Update: our surprise wedding was featured in a magazine – so cool!
venue: the mulberry house (owned by our lovely family friends, catherine + doug)
photography: gregory byerline photography
musicians: craig duncan’s bluegrass quartet
lighting: nashville event lighting
flowers: megan mcdugald (email me if you’d like her contact information)
catering: clean plate club
hair: sarah behnke at studio green
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Looks like an amazing, beautiful day!
it was, it was! i love that you + i got married within a week of each other. =)
What a beautiful night and what a wonderful way to celebrate your love!
thank you do much! it really was the most perfect, beautiful evening i ever could have imagined. + the weather was even perfect, too — no small feat for nashville in april!
So beautiful!
thank you, darlin’! i’m oh-so-happy that you were able to travel down to nashville to be part of our day. it is always wonderful to see you!! xo
I’ve never heard of a surprise wedding. That sounds like a completely crazy fun adventure! How does one pull that off without dropping the secret?
it’s not easy! here’s what we told everyone to keep our surprise a secret + here’s the post from after we revealed the surprise. basically, we told the bare minimum of people – our parents, the minister, the band, + 1 girlfriend who helped me change into my gown. they were sworn to secrecy (+ were great about that) + everyone else (family, siblings, friends, even the caterers) was clueless! it was awesome to share such a fun surprise with everyone!
Lovely wedding and you were a stunning bride! Congrats to you both.
thank you so much!
Hi Amy, lovely photos! LOL – I live across the street from the venue!
I love this house so much. I want to live in the carriage house, it is so nice! My neighbors who live there, I love then too, they are “salt of the earth” people. I think that I was out of town during your wedding because it was after the Sunset Grill event, and I went out of town for 2 weeks starting the next day, and I think you were mentioning something about your wedding that weekend.
oh my goodness, what a small world! they are wonderful people – great family friends of ours. + yes, the home is just gorgeous! too bad you weren’t in town during the party – you could’ve come over + celebrated with us. =)
gorgeous!
thanks, kelli! =)
What an amazing surprise! The whole day looked beautiful and you were stunning
Congrats…
thanks so much, ashley! it was a pretty amazing day for sure. =)
Hi, I know it has been awhile since the big day, but I just came across this and wow! You both look amazing! Congratulations,again! Thank you so much for coming to Studio Green, it was so great working with you and hope to see you again!-Sarah behnke
you will absolutely see me again, sarah! studio green is definitely my go-to salon these days. thanks for making my hair look fab for the big day!
This is so amazing! How you pulled that off is beyond me! I could have never been able to keep it a surprise!
thank you so much, carrie! keeping the secret was definitely a challenge but we both managed to do it. we even kept it a secret from our siblings — it was crazy!
I’m amazed! That must have been a great surprise for all your guests, and you were such a beautiful bride, just great in your dress and close to your husband!
Yeeees, I like you! : )
aww, thanks, katia! it was a fantastic day – so memorable for us, of course, but also for our guests since they were all surprised, too. =)
I love love love this idea!! You look so happy and beautiful!
aww, thanks so much patty!
These pics are gorgeous … What a great day, I’m sure
Eeeeek I had no idea! What a brilliant and totally memorable surprise and way to get married. Ahhh I’m so jealous. Beautiful and just wonderful
You looked gorgeous!
THat is so stinking cool! I’ve always seen surprise weddings on tv but never knew anyone who actually had a surprise wedding! love it!
This is perfect!! Can I have all my deposits back from my vendors and do this instead?!
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