Real Bride Hadley in Josephine by Leah Da Gloria at her Timeless Ringling Museum Wedding

Tell us your love story! How did you meet and how did you get to a proposal? 

John and I met while attending SCAD in Savannah GA and were immediately inseparable. We met through a mutual friend bringing him along to what was going to be a "girls night" dinner, and quickly began making plans to spend time together. We spent the balance of our college years side by side studying art together ( and fashion merchandising for me, Graphic design for him) and moved to Florida with our fur baby after graduation. Our favorite staycation is highland beach in boca raton, and this is where he planned a surprise proposal to me. He secretly flew some of our friends and family in and they lined the walk to the beach, each handing me a red rose with John at the end. We had been together for 7 years prior to the proposal so it was time!

When you started planning your wedding what did you envision? How close did the actual wedding get to that vision? 

Luckily, we were always very consistent with what we were envisioning the day to look like in regards to design and detail/theme. My goal was to have a timeless wedding, almost entirely void of current trends. I was inspired by royal weddings (as a major Princess Diana Fan) and wanted to capture a timeless, elegant essence. I wanted to blend this with elements unique to John and I, and wanted to marry in a historic and european looking venue. Most of our family was unable to travel out of the country and we wanted to emulate an Italian wedding with no passports required. The wedding was everything we had envisioned and more and we are grateful for all of our vendors that helped make it happen. I wanted to ensure the color palette consisted of black/white/cream given the vivid pink backdrop of the Ringling Museum.

What were a few things that were important to you as a couple to include (or not include) in the wedding? 

It was important to us to ensure although we wanted a timeless wedding, we wanted it to feel unique to us with special touches that represent our love and story. I work in fashion, fashion is my life and I also wanted to ensure we captured that in the details and of course THE DRESS

How did you decide on the location? 

We wanted to plan a big Italian wedding, with a theme of renaissance revival. I wanted to capture our love for art and history with classic details, in a truly unique setting. We looked at several locations throughout the country, however as soon as we stepped foot in the Ringling Museum Courtyard we knew it was the one. As we toured the art museum for the first time we immediately recognized many works of art that we had studied together in art history classes in college and knew that this was the place that would be the backdrop of our perfect day.

Let's talk dress! Give us all the deets! 

Shopping for the dress was my lifes work coming to fruition. I ended up trying on around 65 dresses in total, and none were quite right until i found myself in Chic Parisian in Josephine by Leah Da Gloria. I knew I wanted a ball gown, with no beading/sprakle and wanted the shape and the fabric to do the talking. Kendall, had done such a great job pulling several stunning options for me, and I knew when I put Josephine on it was the one. I loved everything about the shape, the beautiful jacquard fabric and the regal train. The only detail that i was not in love with was the neckline- and Kendall worked her magic with the Leah team and they agreed to create the gown for me with a custom sweetheart neckline. In my professional life as a fashion buyer, we always laugh and say never commit to an order before you see it, and I could not believe here i was ordering my wedding dress without seeing what the neckline would truly look like on the dress. Nonetheless, Kendall assured me it would be beautiful and it was absolutely perfect. It was so perfect, that I did not want to take it off the night of the wedding and did not change into my reception dress.

On a side note- I had followed Kendall on instagram for years and always loved her style and wedding gown videos. It was such a full circle moment when she ended up being my bridal stylist and I knew when I saw her that we would end up finding my gown!

How did your family, friends, etc play into your wedding planning and wedding day? 

John and I have family in colorado and new york. so outside of wedding dress shopping we did most of our wedding planning by ourselves and kept everyone involved via phone calls/texts. As for the day itself we were so lucky to have them involved in all of the traditional elements of the day.

What's one specific memory you have from your wedding day that you don't think you'll ever forget. 

There are so many memories that i will cherish forever, including my first look with John. However another special memory was was putting on the dress with the help of my Mom and my maid of honor. The morning was very busy with everyone getting ready and quickly turned into a full blown photoshoot with our wonderful photography team, video team and content creators. Then as it grew near to put on the dress, the noise quieted, Frank sinatra hummed in the background and most of the group left the room for me to put on the dress. It was so special and was something I will always cherish getting to share with my mom and maid of honor.It was the final moment of peace before the events of the day began

How did you decide on your hair and makeup look? 

I always thought an up do would look best with the dress, and found Jany, a master of her craft on instagram and the look was everything I had hoped for. I am the ultimate girly girl and wanted to look as glam as possible, so I found a glam expert for my makeup (Ashley Robinson for Give Me Glam) and the marriage of the two was perfect. 

Was there one vendor you used that you wish everyone knew about? 

I think everyone should know about all of my vendors, but in particular Abner Reyes had an incredible impact on our day and the year leading up to it. Not only was Abner our photographer, he was so much more than that. He partnered with me on creative direction and was on our journey with us every step of the way. We will continue to work with him as other photography needs arise. Gamutcine was our videoographer and the content we recieved was above and beyond our expectations! We felt like family by the end of the wedding as we had spent so much time together and they were with us in all of our most special moments

Where did you go on your honeymoon and what was the best part? 

because our wedding was in November right before the holidays, we are taking our honeymoon to italy this upcoming June!! We are looking forward to eating good food, looking at art/architecture and of course SHOPPING!