Wedding Wednesday | Tate House Georgia Wedding | Rachel and Alex

Rachel and Alex met at Kennesaw State University. They were neighbors who became best friends. They even tried setting each other up with their sorority and fraternity friends, but it never worked out. Fate had other plans for our Tate House newlyweds! This sweet couple said “I do” on July 2, 2016 at our North Georgia Special Events Venue. They chose a summer wedding date as Rachel always dreamed of getting married with purse sunshine on her most special day. “Our love story has always been focused about ‘light’ – shining a light to this world together Jesus followers and never losing our spark as a couple throughout this journey.” Our beautiful bride, Rachel, is sharing more about her Georgia garden wedding below. Enjoy!

What was your overall vision for your wedding?

For our wedding, our main vision was for people to see how Jesus played such a big role in our relationship through our music, our ceremony, our vows, scripture, our blessing at dinner, etc. We wanted our wedding to exemplify elegance and sophistication. Tuxes were obviously a must for the men. The colors we decided went perfect with the marble mansion, but yet did not give off an extreme girly-feel. We wanted to stick to the coral, peach, blush color scheme for floral/décor because those colors looked stunning with the bridesmaids blue/gray dresses. As a bride, I pictured my wedding day to be like a scene on the Titanic – where everyone is dressed up for a classy dinner with the most stylish friends and family with a southern twist.

How involved was your groom in the wedding planning process?

The groom was definitely a trooper and participated in the planning process! He made every decision with me. I know that might be considered more rare for a groom to do, but I was so thankful he helped me with everything because it exemplified how important this day was to him as well. We decided our wedding day would be our only wedding day and our only marriage. We planned our wedding by ourselves, so were given the privilege to pick any and every detail possible. Most of the time, this can be a good thing, but sometimes when you mix an indecisive person with an ADD person, it can get tricky.

Did you have a wedding theme or color pallet, and if so how or why did you choose it?

Yes. I knew for a fact I wanted the men to be in tuxes. My dad and I both agreed it was a necessity. Because the men would be wearing black, I wanted the bridesmaids in a color that would be refreshing and peaceful. The color of their dresses was a jaybird blue with a shade of gray. The Georgia wedding venue already has a pink color scheme to it, so we wanted to add some color to ensure it did not look like a girly wedding. We had the bride’s flowers pop with a coral orange, peach pink, and blush scheme. The bridesmaids focused more on the blush scheme. The same went with the groomsmen’s boutonnieres. The groom had a pop of coral in his to stand out from the other groomsmen.

How important are the typical wedding traditions? Did you plan on doing something outside of the norm to make your wedding more of your own?

We wanted to follow the typical wedding traditions. We did choose our own scripture for our vows. We also chose worship music throughout our ceremony, which meant I did not walk down to the aisle to the typical song. This was something we purposely wanted to do to exemplify our relationship with the Lord. Everything else was definitely focused on the southern tradition. We did have two pastors in our ceremony (which is considered different) because we wanted the pastor of our church and my grandfather to both play a role. My grandfather was a pastor and had the privilege to marry other members of her family and it was part of my dream to have my grandfather up there with me. The pastor of our church was also someone who helped us get to where we were, so we couldn’t have imagined saying “I do” without Pastor Ken assisting us with communion like we do every Sunday. Another thing we decided to do that was outside of the norm was a dance-off. We teamed up with our maid of honor and best man to compete against each other. We also have this all on camera – which will be uploaded soon!

Why did you choose the Tate House as your wedding venue?

We knew we wanted the ceremony to be outside. However, since it was July, we knew the reception would need to be inside for our guests. Immediately, we fell in love with every detail of the Tate House for our Georgia historic home wedding. The color of the mansion inside and outside had this elegance to it that grabbed our attention. The best part about it was the location being in Tate, Georgia. This created the elegant vibe we wanted mixed with the southern belle sweetness of North Georgia Weddings. Nothing was comparable at all! The bridal cottage was stunning as well. The groomsmen had their own nook, which featured a poker table (talk about all of our dreams coming true!) We truly loved the mixing of a beautiful mansion with a countryside landscape.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

There were so many opportunities for us to take pictures at the Georgia estate wedding venue – it was great having the freedom to create any vision we truly wanted. The best part about planning this wedding was having the opportunity to pick every detail we wanted. The Tate House helped us with this a lot and was so kind to us throughout the process!

We are so thankful to have been able to host this sweet couple’s wedding day at our venue. We wish you two a lifetime of love and happiness! Cheers to the newlyweds! PS: their wedding video is a must-see.

Photography: Our Labor of Love