Lauren + Jarrod's Murray Wedding

From the Bride: Our wedding day truly felt like something out of a fairy tale. When planning, I really wanted to make sure Jarrod was involved in the planning process. He went on all the venue tours with my mom and I, to all the appointments and food tastings with vendors, participated in all the phone calls, and helped with making final decisions. In the early stages of planning, I had asked him what he really wanted to see at our wedding and his only two requests were to incorporate some Star Wars and to have a cereal bar. We kept the Star Wars more subtle with just the vow books and our cake topper. However, for the cereal bar we went all out. We used the bar space that was included with our venue and covered it with four of Jarrod’s favorite cereals in farmhouse serving bowls, two different types of milk in large mason jar dispensers, and a variety of toppings. It came together so perfectly and was such a big hit with our guests - especially the little ones!

We have several highlights of our day ranging from the cereal bar to special moments with each other and with our families. We loved the time we spent together alone in the silo immediately after the ceremony. Even though we had our first look and got to be alone together prior to the ceremony, afterwards, our time alone in the silo was something we will always cherish since it was our first moment as husband and wife. There were so many personal elements we were able to incorporate into our day. For our ceremony we were able to include both of Jarrod’s nephews as ring bearers, his sister as a bridesmaid and our brothers as groomsmen. We also had a bagpiper who was one of Jarrod’s groomsmen and one of our best friends. During our exchange of vows, Jarrod surprised me. For our second Valentine's Day together in 2019, he gifted me a picture frame with three of his favorite pictures of us in it. On the back of each picture, he wrote parts of his wedding vows each Valentine’s Day. When it came time for him to read his vows from the 3 pictures, his best man pulled out the picture frame. At that moment, I think everyone was overwhelmed with emotion by this, and then as he read them, along with the date he started writing them (2/14/2019), I think everyone just melted right there! At our reception, on the entry table we displayed a cross stitch wedding sampler my Memaw made for Jarrod and I. She surprised us with it a couple days before the wedding and I didn't even have to think twice about displaying it. For our favors, my mom made about 170 jars of homemade apple butter that we placed at each seat. Whenever she would come to Murray to visit or I went home to Georgetown, I would help make a couple batches. Jarrod even helped with a couple batches! My dad wanted to make sure Jarrod knew he was marrying into a Kentucky family, so he had a UK casket cake made with a Louisville Cardinal resting in peace inside - Jarrod is a Louisville fan. We knew we wanted a picture with everyone who came to our wedding, so after dinner, we ran around with our photographer to “Mission Impossible” to get pictures with everyone at their table. Looking back on those pictures now, we are so glad we did that. I was lucky to get to work so closely with the ladies at Celebrations Events + Tents for my florals and decorations. They helped turn our desired color scheme into a beautiful color pallet. Our whole wedding was centered around blues and greens with pops of other colors such as yellow, pink, and orange. We had bud vases along farmhouse tables filled with craspedias, roses, greenery, blue thistle, and a variety of other flowers. These florals were consistent within my bouquet, our ceremony circle arch, the back wall floral towers behind our sweetheart table, and all the personal florals. We also had beautiful greenery chandeliers hanging from the exposed ducts which added something extra to fill the whole reception space.

Jarrod and I truly enjoyed the best day ever. We are so thankful to have worked with some of the best vendors who really outdid themselves to make sure our day was perfect. We enjoyed our first meal together being able to look out over the reception and see everyone we cared about all together celebrating us and it made us both feel so very grateful for all of our family and friends. We danced our first dance to “Lifetime” by Justin Bieber. We also had such an amazing group of people surrounding us all day to make our day special - our parents, mom’s best friends, my bridesmaids and their moms, our groomsmen, our families and our guests. I sincerely think that if it was not for those surrounding us, the day would not have gone as smoothly as it did. We are so thankful and blessed to have had the day we did!

Bride’s Advice: It is only stressful if you let it. Trust the people around you and let people help you! That makes the whole planning process go so much smoother and be so much more enjoyable.

Photography + Videography: Mallory Clapsaddle of Roots + Anchors Heirloom Photography | Location: Murray | Venue: The Barn at White Oaks | Florals + Rentals: Celebrations Events and Tents | Wedding Planner + Event Designer: Sherina Hill and Mercedes Nisbet of Celebrations Events and Tents | Caterer: The Keg in Murray | Cake: Karen's Cake Creations | Music: Pervine Productions | Stationery + Paper Goods: The Knot | Hair: Alyssa Bogard with Profiles Salon and Spa | Makeup: Kerri Willie of Blush Salon | Bride’s Attire: David’s Bridal | Groom’s Attire: Jim’s Formal Wear | Credits: (Bridesmaids’ Dresses) Birdy Grey (Calligraphy) Heather Brock of Marcardin Calligraphy