We did some serious searching as for where to have our wedding ceremony, and by “we” I mean myself and Justin’s mother, Sandy. Justin did not see the location until the day of the rehearsal. Let’s just say he’s not that into wedding planning, thankfully I had Sandy.
I had just two things I was looking for in the location, I wanted it to take place outside and preferably near some trees.
We checked out the Bulow Plantation Ruins, which is close to Justin’s parent home, which is where we had already determined we would have our reception. The Bulow Plantation is mostly associated with it’s history, being the ruins of a former sugar mill plantation. It is very rustic and pretty, take a gander for yourself…
It was definitely in the running for our ceremony location, but I wanted to check out a couple more places before hopping on board with the plantation.
We then headed to Washington Oaks State Park, which is equally, if not more beautiful.
As you may have figured out, I have a thing for moss covered oak trees. L-O-V-E them. I actually loved Washington Oaks so much, that I requested to book our ceremony there. Unfortunately, our date was already taken by another couple. Thanks a lot other couple! I guess it wasn’t meant to be.
I went back to good old google and did some more searching and found a place called Princess Place Preserve. It is a nature preserve that is on the Matanzas River.
I pretty much fell in love with the old oak trees immediately.
It also has a charming old lodge on the property. I ended up checking if our date was available and it was, so we were in.
Next, we had to get an isle to walk down and some decorations to make it look like a wedding was going to happen! So that’s just what we did.
Sandy made this amazing hydrangea wreath to hang on the tree that we decided would be our backdrop for the ceremony…
We decided to use shepherd hooks with hanging mason jars filled with more white hydrangeas to line the isles.
And in case you are dying to know(I know you are) the chairs are rentals from Rentaland.
I also made reserved signs using chalkboard markers and small chalkboards I found at Hobby Lobby, but I’ll tell you more about that later.
One more chalkboard sign that I made that I’ll explain more about soon.
We also decided to use our friend Mike Shackelford as the musician for the wedding ceremony and reception. Because let’s be honest, who doesn’t like live music better than pre-recorded music?
I am so happy we chose the preserve. It ended up being a nice sunny day and we both showed up. Score!
PS it was a great back drop for pictures!
The Mace Place 