Natalie and Scott

Today's real wedding was brought to us by Soli Photography. Natalie and Scott were married October 2nd, 2010 at Barnsley Garden Resort. We are loving all the lovely details in this wedding. Read on for more from Natalie.

What was the most anticipated moment of your wedding day? I was extremely excited about the overall atmosphere of the days surrounding our wedding, but the most anticipated moment for me personally was walking down the aisle. We planned not to see each other the day of our wedding, until the moment I was walking down the aisle. I was excited to see Scott. I was excited for him to see me. I was excited to simply be in the moment. The rest of the entire wedding to me was details, but this was the moment, our moment.

What was the most important thing to you about your wedding? First and foremost, I wanted to make sure that Scott and myself enjoyed the entire process and the days leading up to the wedding. I simply wanted us to have a big time with our friends and family! I kept telling myself that I could not worry about the small things and not to get overly panicked about the details. It would have been a shame to have some small detail or problem that was out of my control ruin one of the most important days of my life. In the end, I only had one brief moment of panic right before the wedding, but it passed quickly! My mother was doing enough worrying and panicking for all of us!

Tell us about “the” dress. Who was with you when you found it? I think we were fairly lucky. My mom and I went dress shopping and we found the dress on the first day. When we began the process that day I was a bit worried because I tried on way too many dresses that I liked! We were having such a hard time narrowing down the choices. By the end of the day, I found the dress or rather it found it me. It was a simple and understated dress, very much like myself. Even random people in the dress shop that I didn't know commented that the dress was made for me. We were able to "jazz" it up a bit with a grey sash and a jeweled broach.

Did you do any DIY projects? I did do some DIY projects. I am a hands on kind of person and I wanted to add my own special touches to the wedding.. I bought plain wedding invitations from Paper Source and a few art supplies. I embossed the invitations and stamped each one with a specific design. I carried out this design and theme through the table cards, wedding favors, welcome baskets, and thank you cards. I was able to put my own touch and personality in so many places throughout our wedding. Although these were only small touches, it made me feel so much more hands on and involved in our wedding! Paper Source is great and provided all the right ideas and supplies. In the end, we also saved money by doing the small projects.

What was your favorite wedding moment? I truly did enjoy all the moments! Because our wedding was set in a destination wedding type location, but close to our home, we had a great deal of people come to spend several days with us. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with so many people that we truly love and care about. But I especially loved when we said our vows! The pastor told a wonderful story about friendship and marrying your best friend. Then he went directly into the vows. Scott choked up a little bit!

How did you choose your colors? I love the color yellow and I thought grey would be a good compliment. I picked a bit of orange to make all the colors pop. We also used a lot of silver and gold. These colors were perfect for our outdoor fall wedding. I realized soon after I settled on the colors, that grey and yellow are the colors of Scott's employer. So, as an added bonus, Scott was able to fly the company colors!

What was your favorite part about planning your wedding? Scott and I moved to Switzerland a few months after we were engaged and one year before our wedding. Being so far away from home and our wedding location had it's positives and negatives. It was great that I wasn't consumed every moment of every day by wedding plans, but it certainly didn't help when I had to make decisions about something I had never seen. However, it did give me an excuse to come home to Atlanta every few months to see my friends and family!  I would fly in for a couple of weeks at a time and truly hit the planning phase hard with my mother and my friends. Sometimes it was stressful because I had to make decisions quickly, but it was only short periods of stress. Overall, the stress was irrelevant. It is absolutely a blast to plan and create a day for me and for my dreams! It was so fun to wonder, dream, change, create and then see come into action everything I ever wanted. I wish I could do it all again.

What was your favorite moment your photographer captured and why? Meghan Campbell at Soli Photography was awesome! I can't believe we lucked out and found such a wonderful fit for us. Because we live in Switzerland, we did not meet Meghan until the day of our wedding. We did communicate with Meghan by phone, voicemail, and most importantly Facebook! We knew Meghan's photo's were superb, but we were certainly nervous that her personality would fit with us. Both Scott and I met her separately the first time the day of the wedding. Meghan and her husband spent the entire day with us. They both helped us in so many ways, not only with the photographs. I had one panicked moment that probably would have escalated had Meghan not been there to calm me down. They certainly made us feel at ease and made us laugh. They were quick, easy, and a blast to be around. They didn't make a huge fuss about anything and dealt with every obstacle in a seamless and professional manner. We could tell that they loved their job and that they loved spending time with each other, which frankly made it a relaxing experience for us and for all of our guests. We honestly felt like we knew them for years and we were simply being photographed by great friends. Everyone at the wedding and days after told us time and time again that our photographers were great. They were virtually hidden from the entire process, they were not in anyone's way or not rude to anyone. It was amazing to see them work!

In the end, our favorite picture Meghan took was fairly random. Scott and I were on the back of a golf cart immediately after the ceremony, driving to the reception. Meghan and her husband jumped on the cart with us, as we were hoping to snap a few posed bride and groom pictures before the wedding. While we were driving and enjoying an adult beverage, Scott proudly showed me how his wedding band looked and how he was now official! We were completely lost in each other. When Meghan first shared the pictures with us, this was by far one of our favorites. It displays the intimacy between Scott and I and the importance of such a small thing as proudly wearing a ring.

What are you most looking forward to about being Mr. & Mrs.? Cheaper health insurance! In reality, it is amazing to share a home and life with someone you truly love, whether married or not. It is amazing to know everyday that person is there for you through all of life's adventures and you get to share your dreams, hopes, tears, and laughter with that person. The trust, commitment, and selflessness that comes from sharing life together is evident everyday in all of our actions. Marriage to us was simply about sharing that bond and driving that deeper commitment to ourselves in front of God and family.

Photographer Soli Photography - Meghan Campell

Wedding Planner/Caterer Barnsley Gardens

Cake Classic Cheesecakes and Cakes

Invitations Paper source

Calligrapher The Pen Palette (John Valentine)

Bridal Shop Bride Beautiful

Ceremony and Reception Location Barnsley Garden Resort

Ceremony Music David Freeman Saxaphone

Reception Music The Business

Formalwear J. Crew (women), Jos A. Bank (groom) Mens Warehouse (men)