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Allie & Robbie’s gazebo wedding at Dara’s Garden ~ Knoxville Wedding Photograper

Weddings

“Is that Carolina blue?”  That’s all I had to ask to get the groomsmen on my side.  Carolina blue was everywhere from the guys socks to the flowers to the bridesmaids shoes.

I could not wait for Allie & Robbie’s wedding day to get here!  We had spent so much time together over the past year chatting, shooting engagement & bridal portraits and just sharing life stories as Allie planned the wedding while finishing nursing school at Carson-Newman College.  (Proud of you, girl!)

When June 4th finally arrived, I was so excited that I arrived at Dara’s Garden before anyone else!  It is a beautiful wedding venue with multiple sights for outdoor weddings and a huge bridal suite for the ladies to get ready–super important!  Allie & Robbie chose the gazebo as their “I do” spot and made sure that guests stayed cool with a couple of misting fans flanking the ceremony chairs; a thoughtful idea for an outdoor summer wedding.    Their reception was held in a ballroom at Rothchild Catering & Conference Center.

Allie was kind enough to share her vendor info and advice with me to pass on.

Congrats to you guys! xoxo

Wedding gown hanging from chandelier and brides bouquet and garter at Dara's Garden.

“I purchased my wedding dress at David’s Bridal.  I actually did not use a florist. I decided that I wanted to use silk flowers because I wanted to keep them forever (if possible) and let my bridesmaids, mothers, etc be able to keep their flowers if they wanted. Plus I did not want the stress of trying to pick the flowers up, keep them refrigerated, and hope they look great through the entire day. I believe that our flowers were a lot more affordable too. I purchased all of our flowers at Hobby Lobby for great prices! A nurse that I work with knows how to do floral arrangements and said that she wanted to arrange our wedding for us as a gift which was AMAZING!! I found pictures online of what I wanted our arrangements to look like and she did it. I put together our centerpieces with their flowers for the reception the night before the wedding with the help of my maid of honor.”Groom adjusting tie in mirror and bride putting on her earrings at Dara's Garden.

“My hairdresser was awesome!! Her name is Susuan and her salon is Susuan’s Hair Salon. Her prices are super reasonable and she does wonderful work!  I was actually planning to wear my hair down for our wedding day until Susuan put my hair up for my bridal pictures! I loved what she did so much that I decided to use that as my practice run and do the same updo for the wedding day! She is wonderful!”Bride's wedding shoes hanging from a candelabra at Dara's Garden.Close up shot of wedding rings entwined in bride's bouquet ribbon.Flower girl signing a bride's shoes at Dara's Garden.Bride holding her shoes signed by bridesmaids at Dara's Garden.

“I did my own makeup as did all of my bridesmaids. My maid of honor treated me to get our nails done two days before the wedding and we had a manicure and pedicure done at Nail Spa off of Kingston Pike near West Town Mall. They did a fabulous job!”Bride getting her wedding dress on at Dara's Garden.Bride putting her veil on at Dara's Garden.Bride pinning corsage on mother in law at Dara's Garden.Father of bride waiting for his daughter at the bottom of a staircase at Dara's Garden.“We also purchased all of my bridesmaid’s dresses and my mom’s dress at David’s Bridal.  All of the dresses that everyone wore were perfect for them. The bridesmaids wore the color ‘Cornflower blue’ from David’s Bridal.”Sign and main house of Dara's Garden, Knoxville,TN.“We had our ceremony at Dara’s Garden… It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! The owner is Dara Rothchild and she was so easy and wonderful to work with! Dara’s Garden is awesome because they have so many locations on site that weddings can be performed at for a very reasonable price. We chose to get married in front of the white gazebo there.”Fountain and statue at Dara's Garden in Knoxville, TN.Ring bearer riding in a wagon down the aisle at Dara's Garden.Wedding program fans in a Longaberger basket at Dara's Garden.Groom smiles as bride walks down the aisle at Dara's Garden.Bride and father walking down the aisle at Dara's Garden.Bride and groom shield unity candle from wind at Dara's Garden.Bride and groom at altar at Dara's Garden gazebo.Bridesmaids bouquets at Dara's Garden wedding.Bridal party standing at gazebo at Dara's Garden.Bride cheers as she walks back down the aisle with her groom at Dara's Garden.“The most memorable part of our wedding day was when our minister, Robbie’s uncle with the same last name, announced us before we walked back up the isle as Mr. and Mrs. Raymes however, he said, Mr.and Mrs. Weatherton!!!”Happy bride and groom at Dara's Garden wedding.Grandmother smiling at bride at Dara's Garden wedding.Groom's mother squeezing his cheeks at Dara's Garden.Bride and groom pose for portraits at Dara's Garden.Bride and groom pose for portraits at Dara's Garden.Bride and groom pose for portraits on swing at Dara's Garden.Bride and groom pose for portraits on swing at Dara's Garden.Groomsmen acting GQ at Dara's Garden.“We rented all of the tuxes from Men’s Warehouse. We loved that the colors coordinated perfectly with the bridesmaids.”Groomsmen portrait in chairs at Dara's Garden.Bride and bridesmaids laughing at Dara's Garden.Close up of bride's and bridesmaid's bouquets at Dara's Garden.Bridesmaids Carolina blue dresses and shoes at Dara's Garden.Bride's reaction to seeing groomsmen's Carolina blue socks at Dara's Garden.Reception room at Rothchild Catering.“Our caterer was Rothchild Catering where we actually had our reception at. Everything about our reception was AMAZING!! The food was great and they did a fantastic job with both of our cakes!! Robbie still is talking like crazy about the chocolate on chocolate grooms cake . The main person we corresponded through was Susan Rothchild who is the owner of Rothchild Catering. She was amazing. She was very professional and orchestrated the entire reception for us!”Caronlina blue and white wedding cake and centerpieces at Rothchild Catering.

“Our cake was made by Rothchild’s Catering. We met with them to try samples of cake and at that time, talked through what we wanted the cake to look like. We had blue flowers placed on top of our wedding cake which I brough in to Rothchild’s a few days before the wedding. The cakes tasted great! We also loved that we had only one person to work with to put together our reception, food, and cake. I highly recommend Rothchild’s Catering!”

Bride and groom's first dance at reception at Rothchild Catering Center.Bride hugging groom during first dance at Rothchild Catering Center.Guests dancing at wedding reception at Rothchild Catering Center.Bride and guests dancing at wedding reception at Rothchild Catering Center.Flower girl lifted in the air by her dad at wedding reception at Rothchild Catering Center.Bouquet toss and garter toss at wedding reception at Rothchild Catering Center.Bride and groom's last dance kiss at wedding reception at Rothchild Catering Center.Grand bubble exit at wedding reception at Rothchild Catering Center.

Favorite and least favorite part of planning?
“My least favorite part of planning was definitely all of the little details pertaining to the reception. I had never been to a reception before nevermind planned my own so I had a hard time knowing what I needed to do and picturing what it would look like. I also really hated shopping for a wedding band to match my ring… very frustrating because my engagement ring is so unique. My favorite part of planning was when we were looking for where to have our ceremony at and found Dara’s Garden. We loved our tour of the location and were so excited about our wedding!!”

Anything you would change?
“I cannot think of one thing I would want to change about our wedding!! Everything about it was perfect!! I loved every minute of it! I have been dreaming of my wedding since I was a little child and my actual wedding day far surpassed anything that I could have ever dreamed!”
Where was your budget best spent?
“Our budget was best spent on two different things. Most definately Shanell was worth every penny and was INCREDIBLE!! We have lasting memories of this last year to stick with us forever because of Shanell and her unbelievable awesome work! Our budget was also best spent on our honeymoon cruise!! We had an absolute blast and cannot wait to go on another cruise!!”
Advice for other brides?
“If you plan a wedding while you have a lot of other things going on, give yourself plenty of time to get it all done in. Also, if something does not need to get done until another two months passes but you can do it now, do it. It saves so much time and stress in the long run. Enjoy every minute and on your wedding day, just relax and have fun!!”
**Thanks, Allie!  All the best to you, doll!**
©2011 Bledsoe Photography

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