Our Wedding Inspiration

Happy Friday, y'all! Hope everyone has had a great week! Does anyone have fun plans for the weekend? Will and I don't have much on our agenda which is nice for a change. Usually we have a bunch of errands we run but not this time!

Have you all enjoyed all the posts from this week? If you need a recap you can catch them all below.

Our Wedding: Preparation and Formals
Our Wedding: The Ceremony
Our Wedding: The Reception
Our Wedding: The Details

To finish things off, I'll be ending things with all of our wedding inspiration. What Will and I envisioned our day to look like, how everything came today, and all the things in-between!

If you asked me to describe the way I wanted our wedding day to be like, I would say I wanted it to have a rustic romance feel to it. I wanted the ceremony to have a traditional elegance to it with a touch of modern whimsy. And I wanted the vibe of the reception to feel like a big southern soiree!

For all of the festivities, we wanted to make sure our guest experienced our love and joy. We wanted those feelings to flow out in every detail. We wanted everyone to feel comfortable enough to let loose, and enjoy each moment that passed by. To assure all of those things, we made sure are focus from the beginning was on the location for both the ceremony and reception. We were inspired by our reception venue because it gave off the vibe that you were right at home.

In the ceremony post I did earlier this week, you got a good idea of what everything looked like and how the ceremony played out. But what really inspired us to hold the ceremony at this venue? Well, besides the fact that I attended church there every week while a student at Peace College, it was a venue that was already so beautiful, and I could incorporate simple, minimal decor that emphasized the beauty of Dinwiddie Chapel itself with ease.

Oh the flowers. They were perfect in every way. Marsha with Mews Designs went above and beyond and met all of my expectations. My bouquet was a lush and textured assortment of blush, peach, and white flowers with touches of foliage and greenery. The trailing silk ribbons added a whimsy feel.

For my bridesmaids bouquets, I went with something simple. Baby's breath. The bouquets went well with the dresses my girls wore, and were simple but spiced up with greenery and ribbon. Just like my bouquet. My inspiration for the flowers was something that reminds you of Steel Magnolias. 

Oh my wedding dress. How I LOVED wearing it so much. It was the third dress I tried on at the first boutique I went to. It was an Amy Kuschel gown, the style was the 'Rita'. My inspiration for the dress was something lightweight, was made of lace, and reminded me of The Great Gatsby. This dress was all of those things. It even had cap sleeves and a vintage inspired brooch that was the icing on the cake so to speak. Before the night ended, I changed into a different dress to depart in. It to was also made of lace and actually looked pretty similar to my wedding dress!

I've always been known to give thoughtful gifts and I was inspired to do just that for my girls as a thank you gift to give them at the bridal shower. I wanted to gift them with something extra special. Something that they could wear on my wedding day and to be reminded of our sweet friendship. So after lot's of thinking, I knew I wanted to give them earrings. I wanted them to be gold and they had to be unique. So I decided that if I wanted all of those things, I'd have to make them myself. I ended up doing just that with the help of the girls at Beads Inc. in Charlotte!

For hair and makeup, I wanted to go with a more natural look. I didn't want to have crazy color for eye shadow, but I still wanted my eyes to pop! The gals with Makeup by Ashley Mooney did a wonderful job. We went with gold tones for my makeup and a classic up-do for my hairstyle. You can get more of an idea of what types of makeup looks and hairstyles I was was inspired by from taking a peek at my hair and makeup Pinterest board.

Look at my handsome groom. Will did a great job in picking out the suits he wanted him and his guys to wear. Will decided on a light grey suit and mint green ties that looked perfect for our summer wedding. He wanted something that his guys would be comfortable in, and would be able to wear more then once. I think they all looked great, don't you?

Our Wedding: The Ceremony

"I Melissa, take you, Will, as a gift from God, to be my husband. Through tears and laughter, sickness and health, hardship and plenty, I will love you faithfully, constantly and prayerfully. As God as my witness, I give you this promise now and forever".

Our wedding ceremony was a dream come true. We held our ceremony at Dinwiddie Chapel on the Peace College campus, where I attended college when it was an all-girls school. One of our requirements at our school was to attend chapel every week. Over the course of three years while at Peace, I grew very fond of the chapel's charm, and have many memories that were created there. Which is one of the reason's why we decided to hold the ceremony at this location.

Having a ceremony that was both intimate and inviting was very important to Will and I. The venue allowed for both of those things to take place. The large windows brought in lot's of natural light and the organ when played sounded heavenly. Regarding the songs chosen for the day, we decided on the following:

Prelude (Air from Water Music by G.F. Handel)

Processional (For Grandmothers: Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel)

                       (For Bridesmaids: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring by J.S. Bach)

                       (For Bride: Trumpet Voluntary in D by Jeremiah Clarke)

Recessional (Hornpipe from Water music by G.F. Handel)

Scripture is also very important to us and we wanted to have read something that showcased God’s intent for what a strong Christian marriage should look like. After narrowing down our choices, we selected Mark 10:6-9 and Colossians 3:12-17 to be read by one of our bridesmaids and groomsmen. For our homily, we asked our officiant, Tyler Jones  from Vintage Church to focus on Ephesians 5:21-33. I highly recommend these readings if your planning a wedding.

All in all, I can't tell you how amazing it felt to have all of our family and friends surrounding us that afternoon. At one point while we were praying, I looked out at everyone sitting in the pews and couldn't help but smile knowing that they were there for US. That was a powerful moment for me. I've never felt so much love then I did throughout the ceremony that day. It was magical and very moving.

If you missed yesterday's post, you can read it here! Tomorrow I'll be sharing our reception which is defiantly one you don't want to miss!

A St. Lucia Honeymoon

If you've been following along recently, you already know that Will and I spent a week honeymooning in St. Lucia and it was an absolute dream! Before we ventured overseas, I wrote a blog post offering an inside peek into the resort we would be staying at. And let me just say that I was quite 'photo-happy' while Will and I were in St. Lucia, trying to capture all of the colorful buildings, the architectural details and all of mother nature's goodness...especially everything at our resort; Cap Maison. Because we were in St. Lucia for a week, I have tons of photos and information I could share but don't want to overwhelm anyone so I'll do my best to keep my St. Lucia posts as brief as possible, while still giving lot's of details and helpful information!

Two weeks ago on a Monday morning, Will and I woke up excited like little kids on Christmas morning, boarded our plane at the Charlotte International Airport and made the four hour trip overseas to our beautiful destination. We landed at the Hewanorra International Airport in Vieux Fort, went through customs and then waited for a van to pick us up and take us to the "heli-pad" where we took a helicopter to the George F.L. Charles Airport in Castries.

There are only two airports on the island, the main one (Hewanorra) being on the South side and our resort on the far north. They are pretty much on opposite ends of each other which meant Will and I had two options. We could take a taxi from Hewanorra to our resort which would be about an hour and fourty-five minute drive OR we could take a fifteen minute helicopter trip to the second airport and catch a taxi that would take us to our resort. We looked at the pros and cons of both options and decided to go with the helicopter for our arrival and a taxi on our last day. That way we got to see all of Saint Lucia from both land and air on our trip. Plus, we wanted to ride along with a local to learn more about the island and it's history which is something Will and I both are fascinated with.

But back to the story...neither of us had flown in a helicopter, and knew it would be a neat experience and would get us to our resort much faster. The only downfall was that the weather when we arrived was rainy and cloudy and made seeing everything a bit difficult and kind of scary. It was so worth it though and we would be willing to do it again, on a more clear and sunny day.

After all of our traveling, we finally made it to Cap Maison and were in awe of what we saw. As soon as we were dropped off, we were greeted by staff and offered refreshments and a cold cloth to use to cool down from the humidity that the afternoon's storm had brought in. Once checked in, we were taken to our room. We stayed in Room 8 which was a Junior Suite and just what we were looking for. If you ever have the opportunity to visit St. Lucia and decide to stay at this resort, we highly recommend Room 8 because of the ocean views, the specious balcony and cozy interior. From the balcony we could see the resorts main pool area, and the main restaurant. It was really nice being located so close to everything and was perfect for people watching!

After about an hour or so of unpacking our bags and relaxing, the weather started to clear up and we were able to venture out and explore the property. One of the things I personally loved most about the property was the Spanish Caribbean design and the fact the resort had it's own private beach and beach bar called The Naked Fishermen. 

After leisurely strolling around the resort and checking everything out, we made reservations and enjoyed our first of MANY delicious meals at The Cliff at Cap Restaurant. We watched the sunset, popped a bottle of champagne and toasted to a week in paradise before calling it a night. Our first day was a success and we were a happily married couple.

Later this week I'll be sharing more photos and recaps from our honeymoon and I'm really excited to tell you about my favorite things that we did. You can expect my next honeymoon post to be focused on all of the land and sea activities that we took part in. Until next time...orevwa (which is goodbye in Creole and one of the many words we learned on our trip)!

Cap Maison

Y'all, it's Friday and I'm getting MARRIED tomorrow! Eek! I can't believe our big day is finally here and the countdown is over. To say we are excited for our life as one to begin would be an understatement. And what better way for us to enjoy being newlyweds then to travel to a destination that neither of us have yet to experience, and to celebrate our first days of marriage as just the two of us, savoring all of the blissful and relaxing moments that we have been dreaming about for months?!

So welcome to Cap Maison friends! The place Will and I will call "home away from home" for a full week following our wedding day. I mean....did you look at those pictures above?! All of the photos came from Cap Maison's website and I can't help but sit here and daydream about how amazing this place will be when we see it in person. We will be staying in an 'ocean view' Junior Suite that has it's own private veranda and even a minibar. Y'all, I can't wait to wake up early, have breakfast in bed some mornings, and some days even outside, and spend our days exploring the property and all of St. Lucia. 

For most of you, you know that I'm a planner, but when it came to planning our honeymoon, we wanted to leave our schedule pretty open. Of course we have a list of things we want to do, but we want our time to be spent relaxing, going with the flow and being as flexible as possible. Something we both struggle with doing and thought would be the perfect time to practice while on vacation. Even though we don't have much set-in-stone, we are looking forward to our helicopter ride from the airport to our hotel once we arrive, going snorkeling, visiting La Soufriere Volcano and the Sulfur Springs Park in Soufriere, checking out the Castries Market and eating lots of yummy food.

I'll be documenting my time in St. Lucia periodically via Instagram (@mmackvick) and Snapchat (@mscheek) so be sure to follow along over the next week and when I get back I'll be doing a few recap posts. Have a great weekend, y'all! Can't wait to catch up when I get back!