Non Pro BAM - LilBit -Nashville afternoon luncheon & Grand Ol Opry

Well crap. My fave pic was sideways. Repost

All the words below:

Our backstory:

We live in FL. His family is all in Nashville. His father is in failing health and we wanted to make it as easy as possible for his parents, so we chose to have our wedding in Nashville. Planning a wedding, even a small one, 800 miles away can be stressful. This influenced our decisions on venues. My parents live in FL and are very conservative Baptist. This influenced our style of reception and timeline. My Hubby has 4 siblings and they have 13 children between them. We wanted this day to be comfortable for everyone and focused around family. We decided an intimate family wedding was what we wanted. However with parents and siblings families, that adds up to 30 people

Ceremony:

We held our ceremony at a wedding chapel, called well “The Chapel”. They have wedding packages that include videography, photography, officiant and a live webstream. The webstream turned out to be VERY important to us. My FIL’s health has continued to decline and he is now bedridden. He was not able to make it to wedding at all, but a social worker from hospice came and stayed with him and allowed the rest of the family to be there in person, while he was able to watch the webstream. He wore his boutonniere and even toasted us from his hospital bed they have set up at home. Turns out, there were many other older aunts/uncles that probably wouldn’t have been able to make the trip that absolutely LOVED watching us say our vows too. Before the ceremony, all the grandkids stood in front of the webcam and waved and said “Hi Grandpa!!!”. The videographer loved it and asked them to do it again so he could include it in our wedding video.

The ceremony venue did not provide a lot of information about how our ceremony would go, even when I specifically asked. This was a trade off / compromise that we had to deal with. As a result, I ended up writing our entire ceremony (with the help from the Univs of Google & Pinterest). I was nervous that I would offend our officiant but I was not willing to leave something so important up to chance. When I met him the morning of our wedding, he complimented me on the ceremony and said he loved the entire tone. He later told our parents that I wrote the perfect ceremony he would have liked to write for us. Whether he meant that or not, it was very sweet and gracious of him. He was an amazing officiant and very warm and gracious.

We did a “Unity Cross”. Here’s some advice --- practice putting that together! I put my part in backwards and couldn’t get the pin in. Husband tried to help and dropped it. It was broadcast on the interwebs

They took some pics there and then we were on our way to our luncheon reception. Our ceremony started at 11 am, reception began at 12:30 (no gap) everyone took pics after ceremony and we had about a 30 min drive.

Reception:

When you are doing a simple luncheon with no alcohol and no dancing - 2 things.

1.The FOOD had better be awesome. 2) consider your timeline. This is why we chose lunch and why it was scheduled for a total of 3 hours.

We held our reception in a private room at the historic Loveless Cafe. The minute we walked in, there were cold soft drinks and hot apps available for everyone. I had coloring books for the kiddos to help occupy them.

I hired another photographer to cover our reception. We didn’t NEED it, but I am SO GLAD WE DID!!! The Chapel would have taken more photos, but I knew people were going to be hungry. Plus, I was not 100% confident on how professional those would be given the venue type, so I wanted to cover my bases. She worked with me and created a custom package for 3 hours of coverage. She did an amazing mix of portraits and candids/action shots.

We did not have a DJ, I created a playlist for background music and used their sound system. It was perfect for our event. We welcomed and thanked everyone for coming, my Dad said prayer, food was served and it was AMAZING. The perfect balance between southern comfort food and elegance. My Mom just texted me and said “you had better plan on hearing from your Dad for the rest of the year how great that steak was!”. We gave everyone a small jar of their famous preserves as favors.

We had a Publix wedding cake and it was amazing too. Beautiful and affordable. Loveless provided a stand and cut the cake for us at no additional charge.

We were completely wrapped up at 3:30.

Post - Reception:

Husband and I wrapped up some wedding cake and drove an hour north to see his Dad. He watched on the webcam, but wanted to see us in person in our wedding clothes. It was emotional and sweet. I am crying now thinking it may be the last time we see him.

Post Post Reception:

We wanted to do something fun in Nashville with a smaller group of 8. We decided our “after-party” would be going to the “Grand Ol Opry”. I wore my wedding dress, changed into my cowboy boots. Hubby changed into jeans and a Harley Davidson shirt. It was fun, historic. We finally had some adult beverages. The Grand Ol Opry retweeted us and congratulated our marriage.

My advice to those who want to host a reception without alcohol due to religious beliefs, is to host a nice lunch/early dinner for your guests. Move to a 2nd location for the party if that’s what you and some of your guests want.

Post Post Post Reception:

Opry ended at 9. Traffic was crazy. We were hungry again. Dave & Busters was RIGHT THERE. So that is how I ended up eating a late night snack in my wedding dress at D&B on my wedding day.

Budget:

These questions get asked a lot --- so I’ll do a quick breakdown with round #’s

Ceremony Package - $1300 (for 29 guests or fewer)

Reception - $1500 - no fee for room, just a F&B min of $1000.

Flowers - $220 - my bouquet was sooo awesome. I told her I had a small budget and to just choose flowers in season. I showed her some pics from pinterest. She got pink/cream roses and then went and picked wildflowers and dogwoods that were in bloom to round it out. It was PERFECT. She also setup my reception decor for me.

Reception decor - $150. I made centerpieces and the guestbook table decor.

Cake - $200 from Publix, including delivery

Dress - $425 including alterations. Dress is David’s Bridal. Alterations by my normal tailor (when you are 4’10”, you have to have a good tailor).

Photographer for Reception - $900 for 3 hours of coverage, edited photos, all digital images

Tickets to the Grand ol Opry - $500 for 8 of us

I realize this is not the style of day that many want, but it was perfect for us. I married my best friend. We made family our focus and priority. Our ceremony was beautiful and I’m really happy we didn’t do a huge wedding or elope with just the 2 of us. It was like Goldilocks, just right.

On mobile so just a few pics

Hugging Dad at altar

My bouquet was a couple roses from the floral market and wild dogwoods and wild flowers from the field in front of our chapel

You look so gorgeous and happy! Love that you were able to do a webstream so lots more family could watch. Congrats!!

Visiting FIL after our reception so he could see us in person

Congratulations! You look so happy! (Also aren't web streams the best? We're super excited that our cathedral has one because we both have some elderly guests that probably won't be able to travel for the wedding.)

ETA: Also, prayers for your FIL and family.

Opry retweeted us

One of my faves. Nephew talking selfie waiting for ceremony to start. Captures his side of family very well!!

FIL waving at the kids from webstream before ceremony

You look beautiful and your wedding day sounds wonderful! Congratulations!

Cake and kiss

This whole thing is beautiful <3 I love that you were able to stream it to him at home. Makes me wish my dad was here even if he were still sick and able to watch from home. Prayers to him and your family and congrats on the big day. :')

Just beautiful. You got my eyes all misty. Congratulations!

Congratulations! It was so sweet that you guys drove up to see your FIL and that he was able to be there through web stream, I'm crying thinking about it.

Everything about this sounds absolutely perfect. That story about the web stream made me tear up!

Congratulations on your beautiful day!

This is so sweet. It definitely made me tear up about your FIL. How wonderful that he got to share your special day with you guys. I'm sure that meant the absolute world to him.

Double post, sorry.

Congratulations. Beautiful pictures.