Some couples take the long way ‘round. Carrie and Mike met in high school, when he sat in front of her in geometry class. “I always remembered had had a big smile on his face,” Carrie recalls. As Lexington natives, they saw each other out and about over the years, but didn’t really reconnect until 2017.
The couple had a big celebration in mind for their 2020 wedding... but we all know that the world had other plans. They postponed the wedding and downsized the guest list. Their church and The Lexington Club worked out perfectly for both their new date and more intimate feel.
For this couple, the day was all about relaxing and letting the day unfold. “God put us all right where we needed to be at the right time in our lives. Since Mike and I are both 40 and it was our first marriage, we were not stressed at all about any of the details,” she explains. “We just let things flow naturally. We knew we were in love, and that this was a celebration of us.”
The Maid of Honor, Haley Williams, tucked a picture frame into Carrie’s bouquet 10 minutes before the bride was to walk down the aisle. One side featured a photo of Carrie’s 95-year-old grandmother, who couldn’t attend due to her health. The other side featured a photo of Carrie’s late brother. “It was such a thoughtful gesture of her to think of that detail, and nice that they were there in spirit on our big day.”
Mike stepped in to ensure that the details were meaningful. “Mike is very sweet and sentimental, so he took all of the little things in the wedding very seriously,” Carrie says. From the brass quintet to soloist La’Shelle Allen singing a Kenny Chesney song to a drum roll before Carrie walked down the aisle, every note of their ceremony was pure perfection.
A week before the wedding, Carrie’s mom asked her how the couple planned on getting from the wedding to the reception. The bride simply replied that they’d ride with someone, which shocked her mom. So Carrie worked with her friends to devise a silly, homespun getaway. Her friend escorted them away in his late mother’s pearl white Cadillac. Her friends had painted tin green bean cans white and tied them to the bumper, and wrote “Just Married” in shoe polish on the back window -- a very retro look! For fun, they had a flashing caution light on top, which made them laugh all the way down to The Lexington Club.
“With the smaller crowd, we decided we would get really tasty wine and have a nice, seated dinner,” she explains. The couple chose navy velvet tablecloths, blush napkins, and beautiful tableware. The vintage wedding bells the couple used for their cake topper came from Carrie’s parents’ wedding 45 years ago.
Carrie’s friend, j. stuart hurt of house was in charge of the florals. “When you have a best friend in the flower business, you don’t even have to ask what it’s going to look like; they just know how to reflect you!”
“I would not do a single thing differently,” Carrie explains. “Be thankful for having your parents and grandparents there, if you are fortunate, and if you are blessed enough to have a handful of diehard friends by your side, then you are one lucky couple.”
PHOTO
Keith & Melissa Photography
CEREMONY VENUE
Centenary United Methodist Church
RECEPTION VENUE
The Lexington Club
CATERING
The Lexington Club
WEDDING PLANNER
Bride along with Stuart House with house by JSD
FLOWERS
house by JSD
RENTALS
Bryant’s Rent All
BRIDAL GOWN
Italian Handmade
GROOMS ATTIRE
Jos A Bank and Logan’s of Lexington
HAIR
Prive Hair Salon
JEWELRY
Joe Rosenberg
photos by abigail e photography
