Swan Lake Wedding : Melissa & Tyler

Plymouth, Indiana, Wedding Photography | July 30, 2011

 Tyler and I met a couple days after I moved to Louisville right after college. We were both recruited to the area through a teaching program called Teach Kentucky. He had just finished his second year teaching, so he was around as a sort-of mentor to us new recruits. We met at our program director’s home when he threw a welcome barbecue. I noticed Tyler right away, as he was an extrovert and introduced himself to everyone in the room except me. At the end of the night, I shook his hand, and the rest is history. We began dating that summer and have been together ever since.

Tyler’s proposal was perfect. While back in LaPorte visiting my family in December, we took a drive to Pine Lake after he had picked me up from a hair appointment. He explained he wanted to take some pictures of the lake for his parents. Tyler had me get out of the car in the snow and proposed in the yard of my dad’s childhood home. He wanted to start our family where my family had started theirs. We were completely alone, and I will never forget the look on his face in that moment.

Our flowers were beautiful. I never knew how much you could do with just white and green flowers. We used tons of hydrangeas in bouquets and centerpieces. I also chose different ribbons in contrasting patterns for the boutonnieres and bouquets. My bouquet was a beautiful mix of loose white roses and white, fluffy hydrangeas. The guys’ boutonnieres were bright green button mums wrapped with different ribbons.

It was nearly by chance we found Katie Whitcomb. My mom and I picked up her card at the bridal store where I purchased my gown. My mom met with Katie and felt comfortable with her from the start. I looked at her pictures on her blog and website and fell in love. Katie was so sweet and came to Louisville to take our engagement pictures. She was so fun to hang out with, and we felt completely at ease during our session. Our dog loved her!
On our wedding day, Katie and Chris were amazing. I felt like I was spending time with old friends as we shot all our photos. We will have amazing memories from looking through our pictures and by remembering the fun we had with them prior to the ceremony.

Because Tyler is a southern boy through and through, I aimed to incorporate as many southern touches in our northern wedding as possible. From the flowers to the table numbers, I tried to mix rustic elements with a modern spin. I loved the chalkboard table numbers my mom and I created with number and fleur de lis stencils. The fleur de lis is found everywhere around Louisville, so that was important for us to incorporate in some way. We served drinks out of mason jars and used some as decorations at our outdoor ceremony and cocktail our. Our color scheme of black, white, and green totally suited our style. We wanted classic black dresses and suits for our bridal party, and the pop of green was just the burst of color to complete our look. When I saw the reception hall the day of our wedding, I was overwhelmed with how perfect it was.

We anticipated having a lot of out-of-town guests, so it was important for us to find an all-in-one wedding venue. We wanted the ceremony and reception to be in the same place to make it easy for our friends and family. Accommodations were important too, because we wanted everyone to be able to relax and enjoy the entire day. Swan Lake Golf Resort had it all. We got married underneath their outdoor gazebo, and then had cocktails and the reception in their ballroom. It was great running into our guests throughout the weekend.

 I’ve always loved classic white wedding cakes, and ours was just that. Swan Lake uses Mrs. T’s bakery for their weddings, and we were so happy with them. Our cake was absolutely delicious. We chose white cake with white icing and white cake with raspberry filling as our flavors.

Our food was awesome! We were able to do a tasting at Swan Lake prior to our wedding day and loved everything. We had shrimp and grits as one of our appetizers to add to the “southern” feel of our wedding.

It was important to us to have a seated dinner, so we could really sit down and take it all in. I loved sitting at the dinner table looking at all our friends and family having a good time. We had Filet Mignon or chicken as entree selections served with the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever tasted.

After tons of dancing, we served cheeseburger sliders, mac and cheese bites, and chicken quesadillas. It was a great way to end a terrific night. We also had a candy bar, just in case anyone needed something sweet at the end of the night.

Tyler will laugh when he reads this, because I always have a ton of “favorites.” I cannot possibly name one favorite moment; I enjoyed our entire day. Getting ready with my bridesmaids was relaxing and fun. I loved hearing Tyler say his vows to me during our ceremony. Right after the ceremony, we did a receiving line and had the chance to hug each and every one of our guests, so that was really a standout moment for me. I loved looking around on the dance floor and seeing my mom and dad dancing the night away. I will never forget my sister’s toast to Tyler and I. Having all our friends from all over the country in one room was amazing.

Tyler had the chance to go fishing with his brother before the ceremony started and caught a fish, so he will always remember that. He also loved walking down the aisle right after his childhood Pastor named us man and wife!

Relax and enjoy! I don’t think either of us truly got nervous on our big day, because we were so excited. Taking pictures and hanging out before was fun and helped us to get straight to our reception to hang out with our guests. Some of the best advice I received was from a friend at our rehearsal dinner. She told me to stop planning and enjoy. That is just what I did!