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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What a beautiful day! You made a gorgeous bride! I love everything about your wedding. Plus, it helps that I love surprises. 😉 Perfection. Aww, happy day! Happy 3rd Monthiversary to you and the hubby!
aww, thank you! i love surprises, too (+ am good at keeping them), so this was perfect for us! we barely told anyone – almost none of our friends, siblings, etc. knew. it was pretty crazy in retrospect, but absolutely awesome!
Oh Amy! How beautiful! You made a stunning bride! I love this concept of the surprise wedding. I actually gasp myself as I was reading this post! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day
this is silly, but i *still* get goosebumps when i describe that day. i even have them now, ha! that you so much for your sweet words — i’m so happy that, through my little ol’ blog, i can share stories + events like this with friends, family, + readers alike.
You guys are just too cute! I still <3 the swing picture
that was such a fun moment! husband was actually going to push me in swing, but i decided to just start pumping my legs like crazy + swing myself. just as silly on my wedding day as i am on any other day!
What a fantastic wedding! I love how you surprised your guests. You look stunning and you both look so incredibly happy. Everything was just gorgeous. Thanks for sharing with us!
you are so welcome – i love being able to share things like this through the blog. it was truly an amazing night + we really were as happy as we look. =)
Love it! Sounds like an ideal evening. Besides, I totally love bluegrass!
kira, if you haven’t heard craig duncan + ‘friends’ play live before, you have to check them out. i’m so happy we went with them — they were fabulous! it was so cool to have our first dance to bluegrass music, since my husband was born + raised here, i’ve been here for 10 years, + nashville is what brought us together!
Of course it was absolutely stunning and perfect, I wouldn’t expect any less.
How was the food? I drive by the clean plate club nearly every day, I’ve always been curious how their food fared.
Congratulations again, you are a stunning couple. Lucky guy!
😉
thank you! ahh, the food. we went for an ‘upscale southern’ theme + it was AMAZING! here was the lineup:
cocktail hour: mini country ham biscuits with apple butter, white bean soup + celery barquette with pimento cheese
dinner:
iceberg lettuce wedge with pickled red onion, tomato, bacon + blue cheese dressing
Slow Roasted Pulled Pork + chicken with North Carolina BBQ Sauce, Apple Butter BBQ Sauce & Hot Sauce
3 Cheese Mac + cheese, Black Eyed Peas with Collard greens + Roasted Red Pepper, Fried Green Tomatoes + Okra, Squash Casserole, Succotash Salad
dessert: Mini Banana Puddings, Mini Strawberry Shortcakes, Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes, + Mini Whoopie Pies
booze: Vodka Thyme Lemonade, Tennessee Bourbon Iced Tea, Yazoo beer, wine + prosecco
oh, amy. this is simply lovely. everything about it. you, my dear, were radiant. and i must know who was responsible for that beautiful hair style.
i so appreciate your sweet words! the hairstyle (which i shall add to the credits now — good idea) was by Sarah at studio green in east nashville. absolutely *love* her + the salon is 100% organic — pretty awesome.
LOVE LOVE LOVE the pictures! So glad you shared! You looked beautiful and your hubby is handsome. What a wonderful treat for everyone involved! So sweet!
i’m glad that i shared ’em, too — everyone’s comments are so sweet. and my husband is going to love that you called him handsome! =)
Awww…what a gorgeous wedding! You were such a lovely bride…love that you and hubby pulled a fast one on the guests. Sounds like a perfect evening…
i still can’t believe we pulled it off! luckily, very few people knew + he + i are both great at keeping secrets. it was hard at times, but the awesome surprise made it well worth it!
AMAZING! beautiful pictures and such a fun story
thank you natalie! i think it’s a fun story, too, but i might be a little biased. =)
Wow! That is such an awesome story! I can’t imagine planning something like that and keeping it a secret! Beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing with us!!
thanks, BreAna! the secret-keeping was a little hard, but it was so worth it. my husband + i both love surprising people, + this was the greatest surprise we could’ve given everyone!
I just got chills reading this! So sweet, romantic & lovely!
thank you so much, heather! i’m so happy that you were able to be part of our special day + experience it in person!
It was such a fun day, so glad to be included and I love the recap – Gregory did an awesome job! I especially love the picture of you on the swing.
i am sooo thankful you were part of the day. thank you x 1000 for getting me changed into that wedding dress in record speed (less than 5 minutes, if i remember correctly) + helping calm my nerves!
Beautiful pictures Amy!!!! What a wonderful day! Your menu sounds awesome and those desserts gave me the goosebumps!!LOL!!
thanks, shannon!! the menu was absolutely amazing — the clean plate club does a wonderful job with catering + they have southern cookin’ down pat. everything was truly delicious!
Your blog is great, Amy! If people RSVP’d no, did you try to nudge them into coming?? We actually had a ‘surprise engagement party,’ which was supposedly just a family party, but that was when we announced our engagement. A couple of relatives didn’t make it, but I feel like they would have, if I’d let them in on the secret! That was tricky.
we were surprised because almost no one RSVP’ed no. our friends/family knew that this was their chance to celebrate with us prior to the wedding (which they thought was the following monday). we figured that that would coax people in + it did! it would definitely have been trickier to get people in for a party that was actually a surprise engagement party, for sure. congrats on your recent nuptials, by the way – the pictures on facebook were gorgeous!
stunning!!!
thank you so much! i know i’ve been telling you that these would be up soon for the last, oh, 2.5 months so i’m glad i finally got ’em posted. =)
So wonderful! I was wondering when you would be sharing the wedding photos. They are great and you and your husband make a fine looking couple. So cool that you pulled off a surprise wedding. Many best wishes on years and years of happiness!
thank you for your kind words + best wishes! it took me a little while to get the pics posted, but i finally did. i figured after i was more than a month late in posting them, i should wait for a somewhat memorable day to share ’em. =) glad you enjoyed looking through them!
Oh Amy. Those pictures are simply stunning. No doubt about it, you are gorgeous and so creatively talented to pull off such a spectacular surprise without a hitch. I’m just swooning over the details
Congratulations to you & your sweet, handsome husband for 3 months of wedded bliss and i wish you both a lifetime of splendor like that fantastic day! Thanks so much for sharing that sweetness with us, doll. Much love & many blessings always!
you are so kind, ally. comments like yours make me doubly happy i shared the story + pictures. i wasn’t sure if it was going to be too ‘personal’ for my readers, so it makes me just thrilled that y’all enjoy seeing them + hearing the story. if we can remain even half as happy in our lifetime as we were that day, we’ll still be incredibly lucky!
What a wonderful idea and gorgeous wedding! You looked so beautiful!
thank you so much, maris. it was a wonderful, memorable day + one i love re-living through pictures!
CONGRATS! What gorgeous pictures!
thank you so much — i’m so happy you stopped by to check ’em out!
What a fun wedding idea! Your day was beautiful, as were you! I looove wedding posts! It’s so fun. Congratulations on your big day and keeping it a suprise! Hope being married is blissful!
so glad you liked the post! so far, being married is pretty darn fun + that day was blissful for sure!
Amazing! You looked so beautiful
thank so much, cait. i think that the happier you are, the more radiant you look, which is why everyone looks so wonderful on their wedding day!
Amy-
You looked absolutely stunning. Thanks for sharing your pictures with us!
you are too sweet, mari! =) it’s been so awesome to be able to share the story + pictures with everyone. =)
Absolutely gorgeous!!!! I love that it was a surprise. Thanks for sharing!!
aww, thanks for stopping by to check ’em out – glad you liked ’em!
The dress + you in the dress = stunning! I love the story of your surprise. Maybe if my husband and I ever get around to renewing our vows (again) with a larger ceremony, we’ll steal your idea. Thanks for sharing your wedding through the photos and your blog. And congratulations on 3 months!
steal away! this was the biggest surprise we’ve ever pulled off + it was amazing. if my husband + i renew our vows in 10 years, we’ll probably skip the surprise so we can experience sharing it with people. =) i did tell him that i’ll try to fit in my wedding gown for the occasion – now *that* would be a surprise if i can pull it off! =)
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