Dana & Joseph’s Backyard Wedding

A wedding can be held in a great venue, or the great outdoors. In the case of Dana & Joseph, they opted for the latter and transformed their backyard into a ballroom of blooms and elegance!

from the planner: “Dana and Joseph had the clearest vision for their wedding that I have ever seen in a couple. From the beginning, Dana knew she wanted a romantic, elegant, natural feeling wedding, in the backyard of their home, at Crystal Lake Country Club in Hampton, GA. She wanted her colors to be pale pink, dusty rose with lots of greenery, white, and gold touches and wanted it to look like an enchanted forest, very romantic, elegant, lots of flowers, candles, and chandeliers. This is exactly what the wedding looked like. What is most amazing about the wedding was how many elements they built themselves: the ceremony backdrop (greenery/flower wall), estate table, pergola, dance floor (over their pool and hot tub!) tiki bar, a swing (which guests signed as a guest book), planted a monogram flower bed, installed the chandeliers, cafe lights and uplighting. It was truly a labor of love!

It was important for them to include the Georgia bulldog mascot, given that they are big fans, so Dana surprised Joseph with a grooms cake shaped like that. A few other unique elements: Joseph’s best men were his two teenage sons, they had a food truck, they also rented vintage table settings and cherry blossom trees (everyone thought they were real). Their backyard ceremony overlooked a golf course and guests were transported via golf cart to the ceremony. The photographer shot with film and digital. Both of them were so kind, talented and their backyard transformation was remarkable.”

Describe a hurdle you had to overcome in your relationship or during your wedding planning.

Since most of our wedding decor was DIY it was challenging getting everything done on time. We knew it was going to be a lot of work and extremely time consuming converting our backyard into a storybook wedding venue. The last couple of months were the most stressful and every free minute was dedicated to the wedding. My husband would be working on something until around midnight each night. There were many times we lost sight of what was important and that was that we were going to become one. This wasn’t just about one big fancy party. It was also about us becoming one unit and promising to always be there and love and respect one another. We had to take a moment every now and then during the planning process to remind one another what this day was truly about.

What part of your wedding day was most important to you?

There were two things we absolutely had to get right. That was the food and the DJ. We both felt like guests would remember the food and the party. If you can nail both you will give everyone a wonderful night to remember.

What was your favorite part about planning your wedding?

My favorite part was that we were able to watch our vision come to life little by little each week.

Since we had the wedding at our home we completely transformed our backyard. My husband was amazing during the entire process and did almost everything himself. He built the dance floor over our pool, built the pergolas, made me a beautiful swing for photos, and even helped with the flower wall for the ceremony. All of the lighting and chandeliers were hung by him as well. He even went as far as making the 12 foot table that we sat at with our bridal party. The table was stunning and he put so much time and love into it. We would sit in our kitchen at night drawing up plans and throwing out ideas. We spent months preparing for the big day. It was very stressful but definitely worth it in the end.

If you had one piece of advice for other couples, what would it be?

Try not kill each other during the process, lol. It’s super stressful and it’s easy to get into a meaningless disagreement about food or vendors. Don’t forget to take time to enjoy it. On the wedding day, take a moment together to soak it in because it really is over in the blink of an eye.