Bride Sarah fell in love with Georgia’s Cumberland Island years before her engagement to Bryan, and knew it was the perfect place to invite their friends and family from around the world to celebrate their wedding. The couple hosted the weekend at Greyfield Inn, a romantic historic property with breathtakingly beautiful grounds. Their personalized events included special details nodding to the bride’s Scottish heritage and a muted white color palette that let the beauty of the surroundings shine. Amy Arrington was on hand to capture it all and we’re excited to share the lovely images with you today!
What made the wedding special and unique?
The picturesque, protected Cumberland Island provided the most amazing environment for our wedding, I fell in love with the island the first time I stepped foot on it to go camping years back. The wild horses, untouched beaches, and no one else around for miles made it the perfect place to share with the people most important to us. The atmosphere of Cumberland Island and Greyfield Inn feels like a step backwards in time, isolated from life’s usual distractions. It was a weekend to focus on being together with our favorite people from all over the globe. The Greyfield Inn, built by the Carnegie family in 1900 and converted to an inn in 1962, hosted our guests in addition to our rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony and reception. We had the entire inn to ourselves, and the charm and romance of Greyfield paired with the hospitality of the staff was unforgettable. Chef Whitney Otawka and beverage director Christopher Becerra worked with us to create amazing tasting experiences all weekend long. The whole experience had so many personal touches, we couldn’t have been happier with how the whole weekend went.
Tell us about the gown and where/how you found it?
I had no preconceptions when it came to wedding dresses; I had not dreamed of a specific wedding dress so I went into wedding dress shopping with an open mind. Not being the biggest shopping fan I was a little overwhelmed by the choices at first. However, I do love to dress up and love classic lines and a touch of vintage. I tried a number of classic ballgowns on and they looked beautiful but they didn’t seem in fitting with the outside wedding we had planned. I headed to Bridals by Lori in Atlanta as they have such a wide selection and pulled tons of gowns with nothing seeming to be quite right. Then I described our wedding setting and one of the assistants went to grab a couple more dresses. Once I put on the dress I knew it was the perfect one for the day and venue. The beautiful embroidered pattern running down the skirt reminded me of the Spanish moss hanging from the trees on Cumberland Island. I remember Skyping my mum back in the UK to tell her I had found the dress and tearing up a little.
What were some touches added to make the wedding personal?
The rehearsal dinner menu had a British twist through out (I moved from Scotland to the USA in 2009), we had posh fish and chips and then sticky toffee pudding for dessert. We were able to customize all the food and wine selections, and our favorite cocktails were handcrafted for our guests. The ceremony was performed by a dear friend of the groom and we worked with him to plan the entire ceremony and wrote our own vows. The weekend definitely felt like it was designed for us. It was great that we had the entire Inn to ourselves and our wedding party. There were so many small wedding details too that were personal from my family’s tartan on my dad’s tie to the horseshoe that I carried for good luck – a tradition from back in the UK.
What was the most memorable part of the day?
It’s almost impossible to narrow down; we had a whole weekend of memories with the most incredible people, some we hadn’t seen in years. Almost all of our guests were from out of state or out of the country – we were honored to have so many guests make the journey to Cumberland Island. But the most memorable part of the weekend has to be standing in front of all of our family and friends watching the love of my life starring right back with a big grin promising to spend the rest of his life with me.
Tell us how you met and became engaged?
Both of us had been encouraged by friends to try this new dating app that neither of us had heard of, but I think everyone has heard of Tinder by now! But when our friends introduced us to the app it hadn’t been out that long and everyone was just learning how entertaining it was to swipe left or right. Bryan was a day trader and I was a research scientist and I can’t imagine how our lives would have crossed path without this app. When we went on our first date he was certainly more interesting and animated than any other guy I’d met.
With our engagement I think Bryan had a challenge trying to catch me off guard, I’m not great with surprises. He knew I was maybe on to him and we had a trip coming up to Rome which I thought was an obvious choice. So he caught me off guard one night as I returned home from work. I hadn’t a clue what he had planned, all I knew was he kept calling to see why I was running so late that day. When I opened the door I saw rose petals leading throughout the house and I just stopped everything to register what was happening. As I walked in I saw photos strung through the house, chronologically displaying so many fantastic moments of our times together, then balloons, more petals and roses, and at the end my boyfriend all dressed up and smiling from ear to ear!
Photographer: Amy Arrington // Flowers: Island Flowers and Garden // Stationery: Minted // Venue: Greyfield Inn // Hair and Make-up: Kristen Waiting, Helmet Atlanta // Dress Designer: Eve of Milady / Bridals by Lori // Bridemaids Dresses: Jenny Yoo / Bella Bridemaids // Cake: Tamatha Cain Choux Cake Studio // Groom: Ralph Lauren Purple Label Saks Fifth Avenue // Music: Music by Pegge, Pegge Ealum // Engagement Ring and Wedding Band Vintage Setting: I. Switt Fine Antique Silver & Jewelry Philadelphia PA