Real weddings are extremely inspiring! To get you in the mood to plan, we asked real brides to spill the facts from getting engaged to finding their wedding gowns to the special touches and surprising moments that made their celebrations completely one-of-a-kind. Baylie and Brady were high-school sweethearts and tied the knot within an intimate cottage mini-wedding within their home state of Georgia. Read on for additional of their cottage mini-wedding in Athens!

Brady and I met in middle school. I was built with a crush on him, but we simply remained friends. That changed our sophomore year in senior high school when we started chilling out more, and so the rest is history! He’s my senior high school sweetheart!

Brady loves grand gestures, so he always said he desired to propose when I least expected it. In August of 2019, we visited Daytona, Fl with my loved ones as we do each year. Because getting engaged by the pool with my loved ones seemed expected, that’s when I least expected it. I even made jokes the entire time about trolling social networking with a “fake proposal” picture that was built with a funny caption indicating it wasn’t a proposal. This year, particularly, we chose to climb a lighthouse there, something we’ve always said we desired to do. As I was posing for that fake proposal photo, Brady whipped out a real ring and said “how’s this for any fake proposal?”. It is unexpected since it was too expected, which they later explained was his plan all along.

I have a diverse range of tastes in style, so I never had one dress or sexy wedding dresses I envisioned wearing. All I knew is the fact that I wanted something unique but timeless, then one more boho and modern instead of traditional. feeltimes was the foremost and only place I checked out dresses!

Possess some dresses or styles in your mind before going shopping, but don’t be so set on one particularly. Having a basis, to begin with, helps you to limit what you love and eliminate that which you found not to work. Having your heart set on a single thing can lead to disappointment, and never having any clue could make your shopping experience stressful and then leave you overwhelmed. It’s about finding that balance with a few sort of directions to begin in.

I LOVED the sleeves on my small dress and also the off-the-shoulder style that felt sexy and chic. Besides the dress, my favorite things were my shoes. Our wedding was outdoors inside a terraced garden, so I must be sure that my shoes work on the terrain. They were essentially tan, leather, heeled booties!

The dress I found wasn’t one I ever saw online. The amazing stylist inside my David’s Bridal store pulled it for me after our consultation because she thought it might suit my style. Before I even been with them fully zipped up, I was in love. It felt so “me” and I couldn’t imagine wearing anything else on my small wedding day. I was four weeks postpartum when I went dress shopping, so having that dress on helped me feel so beautiful and confident at any given time when I was vulnerable.

Both people always wanted an intimate ceremony that was more about the wedding itself compared to the wedding. We wanted an enjoyable, non-traditional, celebration of our love that will reflect our relationship. So, we decided to have the day with 20 people in an outdoor garden in a small cottage within our hometown of Athens, Georgia. We were encompassed by so much love and celebrated with this favorite pizza and delicious desserts afterward while gathered around a fireplace. It was purely magical. So dreamy!

Because our day is simple and raw, I feel like we've got to appreciate it and are in a position to remember it not only the usual big blur of a big day that passes so quickly. The part that stands out was having us and friends surrounding us inside a semi-circle during our ceremony. Our officiant had us browse around the congregation once or twice to see everyone there supporting us. It felt so intimate and we felt a lot of love.