Savannah Wedding at Savannah Quarters Country Club by Alternative Life Photography

Posted January 13th, 2012 by Callie Rogers | Post the First Comment

One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is having the opportunity to see couples interpret the concept of a “wedding” in their own way. Some opt for big, traditional, southern plantation affairs, while others marry on the beach in a family-only ceremony. So many variations, and each is as much fun to look at and be inspired by. Take today’s real wedding for example. “Traditional” just didn’t suit bride Sarah and her groom Jason. Opting for an olive green wedding dress and a mid afternnon wedding, these two bucked the notion of the status quo for a wedding that was as unique as they are! Photography by Alternative Life Photography

What inspired the theme or style? Initially my inspiration for the theme was nature. I knew that I wanted to feature colors that are uniquely bold and harmonious with one another. As the planning went further along, I fell in love with peacock feathers which you will see played a major role in the overall theme of the wedding. They were the piece of the puzzle that tied everything together.

Now for the proposal… details! Have we mentioned how non-traditional we are? Apparently we threw the rule book out when it came to our entire relationship. We actually decided to get married before the proposal. We had plans to move away right after I graduated from college. We knew that we were going to get married but also considered the fact that we HAD to get married in Savannah since both of our families live here. A conversation one night led to us deciding to get married around the same time as my graduation so that we could move away without having to plan a wedding from a distant location. Jason still wanted to give me a proposal though, so I knew it would be sometime before the wedding, which was only 10 months away when we picked a date, but not exactly when. It was excited knowing he could spring it on me at any minute. One night as I was getting ready for bed, I walked into our bedroom and noticed a small box perfectly placed on my pillow. This was no ordinary box. It was this ornate black wooden box that he had bought from an antique shop months prior and given to me as a gift. The lid of the box was slightly parted with a gorgeous diamond ring gleaming from the inside! I just stared at the box in shock and when I turned around, there he was, down on one knee, nervous as could be, asking “will you be my wife?”. I dropped to the ground with him to accept his offer while embracing. It was so understated and sweet and personal. It was perfect.

What were your playful twists that made the event unique? We thought it would be interesting to make our own unique table markers. We had a photo shoot with a friend of ours who, with the help of Photoshop, perfectly placed our faces in various famous paintings such as “American Gothic” and “Sistine Cherubs”. We then printed out the images and put them in free-standing photo holders to place on the tables. It was utterly ridiculous but we loved the reaction of our guests when they noticed.

Tell us about your wedding gown and what your wedding party wore. So, keeping with our non-traditional theme, I did not wear a white dress…or a beige dress…or an alabaster dress. As long as I can remember, I never wanted to wear a white dress on my wedding day. Let’s face it, I’m a red head. I look terrible in white. The color I look my best in? GREEN! Yes, that’s right, I wore a strapless green dress with a sweetheart neckline. It had a ruched bust and purple cummerbund-style waist band. An applique of sweet, delicate flowers were sprinkled throughout the bust, while an applique of flowers and vines crept across the skirt. When I saw it, I knew that it was THE dress. I gave the bridesmaids full freedom to pick out whatever dress they liked as long as it was a knee-length deep purple. I left the rest up to them and they looked stunning in their selection.

Did you DIY any of the details? Yes! We didn’t just want to buy everything pre-made to pull this wedding together. We very much wanted to add our own personal touches. For the favors we bought small bars of home-made soaps and individually wrapped 100+ pieces in burlap and secured it with a piece of twine with tags that read: “Brought to you by Jason and Sarah.” Since the wedding I have had a lot of our guests comment that they loved the soap and loved even more that we personalized the favors. It was totally worth the man hours that went in to wrapping each piece of soap!

What was the most memorable moment? Our most memorable moment would be found on the blooper reel, if we had one. We were in the middle of the ceremony when one of the flowers that was attached to arch we were under, detached and fell on my head! Then shortly after, a gust of wind blew a strand of my hair onto my lips. Being the considerate husband to be, Jason attempted to detach the wayward hair from my mouth. Next thing I know the focus had moved away from the ceremony and onto this stubborn piece of hair he repeatedly tried to remove. Looking back, it really was the not-so-perfect moments that we cherish the most.

If there was one thing you could change, what would it be? The second we read this question, there was complete silence between us because there is NOTHING we could imagine wanting to be different! Every little piece of that day was special to us. The “mistakes” made it memorable and fun to look back and laugh about. So the short answer to this question is: nothing.

What was the best wedding advice you received? The best wedding advice we received was from our photographers, Sharon and Bowie. They told us to just relax, let them handle any stressful situations, and soak up every minute of the day because it goes by fast. I think it is because they kept telling us to not worry about anything, that the day actually seemed very long and peaceful! I don’t know if there are many brides or grooms out there that can say the same and for that, we are very grateful for their words of wisdom.

What were the honeymoon plans? We chose to stay in a 2 story cabin nestled in the mountains of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It was amazing. We spent our days hiking various trails that led us to beautiful waterfalls. We took some time to check out Gatlinburg. We even spent a day to venture into Knoxville. It was seriously the longest week of our lives which was great! There were more exciting events, but that stays between Jason and I.