If joy is the mark of a beautiful wedding, then these two have it in spades! Not only do Jack & Sarah have stars in their eyes for each other, but those galaxies are felt by everyone around them — their guests, their wedding party, even their vendors! From top to tail, their wedding was one of deepest, most incandescent happiness, and we could not be more thrilled to share their story!
Love notes from the couple, Jack & Sarah:
How did you two meet? What were your first impressions of one another?
Sarah: “Jack went to UGA and I went to UNC Chapel Hill, we met through mutual friends at a UGA football game Fall of 2012. I thought Jack was charming and funny. Jack says he thought me to be witty and cute. After chit-chatting at that tailgate we went our separate ways with no info exchanged and none the wiser. About a week or two later Jack stopped through UNC on his way visiting up north and, as fate would have it, we ran into each other randomly again… from there we ended up exchanging numbers and keeping in contact. The rest I guess is history!”
Tell us a funny story relating to your wedding day!
“One of our favorite parts of our wedding day was getting to do a first look! We loved being able to take a small moment to ourselves without being herded around or in front of hundreds of people, or so we thought! What we didn’t know until later when we got a sneak peak of our pictures was that there were about 20 little heads in the background peeking out a window. Our whole wedding party watched us have our big reveal and a private moment it was no more!”
Describe a hurdle you had to overcome in your relationship.
“One of the biggest hurdles we had to overcome early on in our young relationship was distance. UGA and UNC are almost 350 miles apart so if the time spent driving to see each other alone wasn’t maddening enough, add juggling that between classes, friends, family, and jobs. Safe to say sometimes our long distance relationship was knocked down on the priority list. But yet somehow we always made it work. We committed to each other early on in our relationship and always made time to see each other, even if that meant meeting in middle (literally). It also allowed us to get to know each other as people and learn how to communicate with one another really early on.”
Any special ways you incorporated your family into your wedding day?
Sarah: “My biological father passed away of ALS when I was 3 years old. My mother remarried to my current step dad (also widowed) when I was 12 years old and together they have raised the most perfect blended family. However, on my wedding day there was no question I wanted my biological dad to be present somehow. To include him in the ceremony we tied his wedding ring to my bouquet so he was there with my step dad walking me down the aisle. We also spread some of his ashes outside the church grounds so he will forever remain apart of that special day!”
What part of your wedding day was most important to you?
“Overall the most important part of our wedding day was to have our family and friends together to celebrate our commitment to each other. On an individual level, we had committed to each other and to God every day before the wedding and every day since the wedding; but we thought it really special to have all the people that helped us and supported us along the way in one room to celebrate. We loved being able to thank them and spend time with them. They have truly been such a big part of our life and our support system that it was nice to get to include them in our celebrations.”
What was your favorite part about planning your wedding?
Sarah: “Getting to spend so much quality time with my mother. In getting to create my dream day I also got to learn a lot about her and her dreams when she was my age. It was an honor to get to learn about traditions she did and get to incorporate some of them into my own life. It was also great to hear stories about her and my late father on their own special day. The time and effort my mother spent making sure our wedding day was perfect is something I will never be able to repay her for but only hope to pass down to my daughter one day.”
What is the best thing you’ve learned from one another?
Sarah: “How to trust someone completely! Whether it be physically, emotionally, financially… trusting someone unconditionally is a concept that is hard to grasp. We have learned that trust takes a lot of ingredients and a lot of nurturing to be successful. But through trust I have learned that Jack always has my back and he knows things about me that I might be aware of myself — and visa versa. We fill in each others shortcomings with our own strengths and trust each other enough to know that it’s okay to own up to those shortcomings.”
If you had one piece of advice for other couples, what would it be?
“Take a moment on your wedding day to stop and stand still for just a minute. The whole wedding weekend fills up with people, places, toasts, flowers, beautiful dresses and it’s easy to get sucked into the whirlwind of it all and get spit back out Sunday and forget what even happened. Find a moment on your wedding day to be alone together and alone apart and envelop yourself in that momentous feeling.”
What is the most honest thing you can say about love?
“To love someone is to wake up every day and consciously make personal decisions that better the other person. It is not always the most popular decision, or the easiest. Love is an act of service that doesn’t keep tallies or one up another but instead it’s unloading the dishwasher for the 100th time or changing out laundry so the other person can sleep ten minutes longer! Love is humble and love is forgiving.”
photographer: Cheyenne Schultz Photography / venue: Myers Park United Methodist Church and Charlotte Country Club / stylist and planner: Hall and Webb Event Design / floral designer: Lily Greenthumb’s / dress boutique: J Majors / dress designer: Martina Liana / cake designer: Charlotte Country Club / makeup artist and hair stylist: Charisse Holliday of Be Pretty / men’s formalwear: Bonobos / rentals: Party Reflections and Old South Vintage Rentals / lighting: Eye Dialogue / ceremony musicians: Brian Winegardner, Nicolas Haigh, Angela Watson / invitations: Sealed Design Studios / Band: ATL Groove Factory / videography: Carlisle Videography
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