Annie + John’s wedding will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the second time I had the pleasure of working with this sweet family! I had helped Annies older sister, Maggie, with her wedding back in 2017. So it was just a true joy to have the chance to work with this amazing family again!

And what a thrill to see Annie + John’s wedding featured on the front page of Style Me Pretty today!

Our couple wanted to have a wedding day that felt blissful, yet silly. "Our wedding style was to keep things simple and make things easy for our guests, since all but 2 guests were from out of town," says Annie. "We wanted to keep it fun and focused on what the day was about: celebrating our love." The wedding ceremony took place at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Uptown Charlotte, followed by a reception at the Mint Museum Uptown, a modern art museum with breathtaking views of the city.

The inspiration behind the design was to bring the outdoors indoors. Annie notes, “We would have loved to have an outside wedding, but didn't want to be dependent on weather, so hoped for a design that would bring the outside inside." With the talented of New Creations Flower Company, we installed a canopy of greenery, which followed twinkle lights, along the ceiling of the Mint Museum's Grand Room. The color palette was bright and cheerful, with tones of pink and lavender accented with greenery. We also included ivy into the floral recipe as a nod to the couple's former home of Chicago, and their mutual love of Wrigley Field and their favorite baseball team, the Cubs.

One of Annie's favorite details was a piece of lace from her mom's wedding dress, which was used as a wrap around the bridal bouquet. When asked about her favorite moment from her wedding day, Annie said, "My favorite moment was the first look!" She adds, "After getting ready all morning, I was just really excited to see John and get to give him a big hug. It was so nice to get to see him before the ceremony and connect."

Fun was the name of the game! And our couple wanted to do something different than what their friends and family might have seen at past weddings. They decided to do a floor plan that was predominantly lounge furniture, to create an atmosphere that felt more casual and encouraged guests to mingle. Annie + John also decided to forego a traditional wedding cake, and decided to offer guests cookies as a sweet treat to cap off the night. We displayed the cookie varieties on two gold shelves, among candles and votives. Lastly, Annie + John choose to get married in June in Charlotte, when the weather can be quite warm. So, they decided to greet guests at the reception with strawberry margarita push-pops - another way to infuse fun into their celebration and offer guests something a bit different.

Annie + John were both very family oriented and come from large families. So of course we had to include the couple's black lab, Finny, in the wedding day. "My dress had pockets and the one item I had with me during the wedding was Finny's bowtie - he looked so handsome in the pictures wearing his bow tie!," said Annie.

Oh how I love this family and this couple! Everything about this wedding day was a dream come true, and I’m so excited to share their wedding day with you!