Rustic South Carolina micro wedding flowing with greenery

Caitlin and Haley were best friends in high school, but they didn’t start dating until their senior year of college.

Their outdoor micro-wedding took place in Columbia, South Carolina. They read their vows surrounded by large trees and a beautiful pond. Their overall theme, they say, was “rustic with wooden signs, white linens, and all the greenery. Our color palette was navy and dusty sage for the wedding apparel complemented by the floral arrangements.”

“Our priest incorporated our oldest son in the ceremony by including him in the vows,” they added, “and he also said the blessing before dinner. He finished by saying ‘let’s eat cake!”‘

What advice do you have for other LGBTQ+ couples planning weddings?

Remember, this day is all about you! So make the decisions that make you happy, make the day what you want it to be! And it’s easy to say once it’s over, but don’t stress the day of. Hire a great coordinator and a great team of people (photographer, caterer, venue staff) and trust that they have it handled.

Only you and the coordinator know every detail of how things are suppose to go, your guests won’t even notice if that one vase is not in the right place. Schedule some time after the ceremony to have a quick bite to eat with your new spouse! It makes a world of difference in your night and you get a chance to truly enjoy all the food. And, if dancing is your thing, GO DANCE! Give everyone a hug and hit the dance floor, it’s your night!

How did you each choose your wedding day look?

I (Caitlin) knew I didn’t want to wear a dress from the get go. I’m not huge into dressing up (I mostly wear scrubs for a living). We spent a lot of time looking at pictures from LGBTQ+ weddings to get an idea for my outfit. Ultimately, we decided on a navy suit. It was tailored to fit and was so comfortable, but still very nice looking. I went back and forth about the shirt to wear until literally the wedding day. I knew I wasn’t going to wear a tie or bow tie, but couldn’t decide if I wanted to wear a button up or blouse. I chose a white blouse with a V-neck cut. I had a floral pocket square and wore Oxford shoes with crimson elephant socks (Roll Tide!)

Haley wore a simple full length A-line dress with a lace bodice and slit up one leg of the skirt. It had a deep v-cut back and a small silver beading around the waistline. She wore a headband to complement the beaded waistline, along with earrings and a simple bracelet. This was not at all the dress she had planned on buying when she went to try on the first time. In fact, she was planning on something a little more modest (our kids were there after all). But, as soon as she walked in the dress shop she saw the dress on a mannequin and thought it was beautiful.

She wasn’t going to try it on, but her friends insisted she do it just for fun – then it was THE dress! She did wear heels for the ceremony, also not planned, but with the slit in the dress she had to pick amazing shoes, but she did switch to white converse for the reception so she could dance.

How did you decide to decorate?

We used a lot of florals to decorate tables, arches, and even the chandeliers. We decorated the large fireplaces at the venue by covering with mantles with a lot of greenery and a few candles, and we filled the fireplaces with lots of vases, candles, and arrangements. We had several wooden signs made for the sign in table, a photo station, and gifts.

We used a lot of greenery (think eucalyptus and olive leaves) and white flowers (baby’s breath and miniature white roses). We had a little pop of color with some lilac thistle. Haley had a bouquet that was mostly greenery with a little of the lilac thistle. The tables had white linens with varying sizes of bud vases, small tea candles, and the vases had the same florals just in smaller versions. Ceremony back drop was a rustic arbor with greenery and small white flowers accompanied by white hydrangeas.