Real Wedding: Melissa + AJ’s Rustic Elegant Vineyard Wedding

I have a gorgeous rustic vineyard wedding to share with you all today. From the amazing vineyard in Georgia, to the stunning peony bouquets, this wedding is not only gorgeous, but you can tell it was super fun! Oh, they also had the amazingly talented duo of W Scott Chester photograph their day – just wait until you see some of the photos in the vineyard!  Melissa, the bride, is also a big fan of Green Wedding Shoes, so thanks so much Melissa for sharing your day – and some great advice! I’ll let her take it away!

sparkly wedding shoes

My dress is by Romona Keveza and my shoes were Valentino. Wearing ballet flats was one of the smartest fashion-relateddecisions I made. After standing in heels as the bridesmaid in other weddings, I decided fancy flats was my only wedding shoe option. When I bought them, I imagined Rachel Zoe saying that they were “bananas” and that they would absolutely work with a wedding dress or jeans. It is kind of nice, hundreds of dollars later, that they weren’t a purchase that can only be worn once.

wedding dress

dahlia bouquet

bright pink peony bouquets

Bridesmaids Dresses are from White House Black Market. From the beginning, I knew I wanted to find a dress for the bridesmaids off the rack. I wanted my bridesmaids to feel comfortable, look hot and not spend a fortune on the dress. My savvy shopping maid of honor, Fara, even managed to find an online coupon to use when the girls went to purchase it.

bright pink peony bouquet

groom in tux

Groom’s Tux is by Joseph Feiss. Thanks to my little brother Matthew, who is almost 25 years-old but still little to me, we convinced AJ that bow ties were cool. He was leaning towards a solid black tie, but after Matthew said he was going to rock the bow tie, AJ decided he was going to do the same.

wedding vineyard

wedding frames on tree

Most memorable moment of your wedding day? There are two moments that stand out. We had a traditional Jewish ceremony, which really means there is very little talking that either the bride or groom have to do. AJ spoke first and in the middle of reciting his part, he got choked up, wiped the tears from his eyes, and I smiled and said, “Cry baby!!” All the guests started laughing, AJ grinned and despite my sarcasm, he thankfully still wanted to continue the ceremony.

A couple hours into the reception, Scott Chester asked if we could step away to take some pictures because the light was the dreamy kind that all photographers love to shoot in. To our surprise, Scott, being the talented and kind photographer that he is, purchased these amazing paper lanterns for us to use. This was a magical moment that we will always remember. Even with Scott and his amazing team standing there photographing us, it felt like it was just the two of us and that the entire experience was a dream – just the new Mr. and Mrs. and our “hot air balloons.”

wedding alterscape flowers

wedding flamingos

While we’ve lived in Georgia for over a year now and had our wedding in Georgia, we wanted to make sure to incorporate Southern elements including our Moon Pie and RC Cola favors. Since AJ and I were born and raised in Florida, we wanted to incorporate something that reminded us of home. Besides the custom Gator and Seminole cake toppers, created by Hilary of Bunny with a Toolbelt, to represent our rival Florida colleges, the Universityof Florida and Florida State University, I brainstormed to come up with the perfect icon to represent the Sunshine State. It didn’t take too much longer to realize pink plastic flamingos would be the perfect “Florida” prop and a way to bring a little bit of home to our Georgia wedding. They also ended up being one of the top props our guests used in the photobooth.

wedding decor

wedding cake

The incredible, creative and lovely Amy Osaba did all the floers. After inquiring with Montaluce who did the arrangements that were pictured on their website, they provided us with Amy’s contact information and the rest is history. She was theonly florist we met with and the vision, execution and hard work she put into our day was more than we could have ever hoped for.

wedding vineyard wine

wedding balloons

How awesome is their photo booth?!!

smile booth photobooth

moon pies wedding dessert

wedding exit golf cart

Any advice for those planning now? Enjoy the planning process! The actual weddingday goes by quickly and for us was such a blur. As long as you have the time, whichwe had over a year, don’t rush to pick a florist or band or dress. Instead, make sureyou find what you believe to be the perfect vendors and elements for your wedding. It’snot a race to see how quickly you can finish your checklist, and on such an importantday there really is no reason to settle for anything less than what you envision. The day after we got married, I remember telling my mom that I thought the overall process was just about as much fun as the big day. It was bonus mother-daughter time and we found the vendors and planned the details that still have our guests talking about our wedding today.

Vendors:
Photography: W Scott Chester
Venue: Montaluce Winery and Estates
Catering: Le Vigne Restaurant at Montaluce Winery and Estates
Make-up:  Rachael Hoch
Invitations: Talie Shove
Flowers: Amy Osaba
Music: Drivetrain Band
Cake: Publix – It’s a grocery store in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama. We always get our birthday cakes from there and they are hands down the most delicious cakes you’ve ever tasted!!
Cake Topper: Bunny with a Toolbelt
Photobooth: W Scott Chester

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