Dawson and I got married almost a year ago and I’m so so excited to share with you all the details and love that went into our destination micro-wedding! Dawson proposed to me on May 20th, 2021, and exactly six months of planning later (with no coordinator) we were married! The only reason such a quick engagement was possible is because of how much talent and generosity our friends and family shared with us.

When we started planning I was sooo overwhelmed with all the choices but there were two things Dawson and I were absolutely sure of; 1. We wanted the wedding to be as intimate as possible, 2. We wanted to get married in the fall. We ended up deciding on a destination micro-wedding in Tennessee with around 40 guests, which is pretty impressive considering how big our immediate family is!

The Details

I’ve never been a huge fan of flowers, personally, I’ve always leaned more towards greenery and pretty trees, so live florals weren’t a huge priority for me. All our bouquets and boutonnieres were dried florals done by Etsy seller FBloomCo and my table florals were dried as well! The greenery was provided by the venue owners (The Camp at Buffalo Mountain), who went above and beyond to make sure my day was perfect! They knew I loved greenery and made sure to bring their outdoor plants inside to keep them alive through the fall for my wedding. TCABM family even helped us hotwire our neon sign when we realized the cord was lost and stayed up decorating with us all night!!! My bridesmaid Olivia did all the signs, seating charts, and place-setting labels herself. She’s a crazy talented artist and you can commission art from her for your own wedding HERE! As far as outfits go, the groomsmen’s tuxes were rented from The Black Tux, the bridesmaid’s dresses are from Revelry, my veil was from BHLDN, my dress was from Second Summer Bridal, my earrings were “something borrowed” from my sweet family friend Sunny Jean, my shoes were custom bridal Converse, and my custom leather jacket is from Brodie Bride!

Faith & Dawson

The Wedding Party

I am obsessed with every single one of these people. Seriously. We could not have asked for better people to stand by us on our wedding day, and I’m so so grateful for each one of them!!! I grew up either living with or 20 feet away from my cousins, so we’ve always been more like siblings. Anyway, because of that ever since I was a kid I knew I wanted all my cousins in my wedding! My youngest cousin Jon wasn’t able to be a groomsman because we’d have uneven numbers and he was just a tad too young at the time, but he is an insanely talented pianist and performed our first dance song live for us during the reception!

My Bridesmaids- Sarah Mesich (my cousin), Claudi Russey (my new sista), Brooke Stokes (my good friend who also happens to be married to my cousin Andrew), Aliza Elliott ( my little sis and the best maid of honor ever), Oliva Stokes (my cousin), Grace Russey (my new sista), Cora Stokes (my cousin), Hannah Jean (my good friend who is a Stokes now cause she married my cousin Paul)

Dawson’s Groomsmen- Blaine Mallon (His best man), Andrew Stokes, Paul Stokes, Bennett Stokes, Roe Russey (Dawson’s brother), Luke Elliott (my brother), Hart Stokes, Y’shua Stokes

Two other members of our wedding party were close family friends Kam Roehrig (our Flower Man) and Ethan Jean (honorary Groomsman)

The Ceremony

Our ceremony was truly the best 30 minutes of my life. Standing up there with Dawson, promising to spend the rest of my life loving him while our closest people watched was so so special. I hope I never forget how happy I felt at that moment, an asteroid could’ve fallen from the sky and I probably wouldn’t have even noticed! Our extremely talented family friends Tailer Ream & James Jean sang for us as we walked down the aisle, Eli Tinney was the cutest little ring bearer, and my dad was our officiant!

Post-Ceremony Portraits

The Reception

Our reception was a freakin PARTY. The excessive amount of alcohol and my life of the party mom leading the dance floor meant that pretty much every single person was dancing all night haha!! Tailer sang our first dance song for us while my little cousin Jon played the keyboard. I SOBBED during my father/daughter dance and got teary seeing Dawson dance with his younger sisters, another big highlight was my uncle, cousins, and Kam sharing a dance with me. If I’m being totally honest I don’t remember a lot of detailed moments during the day, I mostly just remember how I felt. Which was completely and totally filled with happiness…and a little bit worried about my boobs falling out of my dress. I wanna give a little shout-out to our AMAZING photographer who every single person at my wedding loved, Emily was such a gift and our day wouldn’t have been the same without her. I also wanna shout out our family friends and videographers Edwin & Ben, they are so talented and did an amazing job capturing the whole day. Our destination micro-wedding was just a small glimpse for me of what life in Heaven will be like, and Dawson and I both feel so so thankful for the people and memories in our life that God has given us.