Dreaming of eloping? See this elegant, Southern brunch wedding

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In the world of weddings, sometimes less can absolutely be more. If the stresses of wedding planning and all the “must have’s” don’t quite seem like “you” there is no shame in wanting to piggyback off this sweet (quite literally) Southern brunch elopement.

Our real bride gives us all the right reasons to consider eloping. Forgoing the wedding stresses, saving plenty of cash (her dress was under $100 and she looks amazing!) and with a brunch wedding, allowing the rest of the day for plenty of lake time fun.

To make the event more stress-free, Alexis still invested in a few key vendors to pull off this refined and elegant morning elopement. By hiring a planner, florist and excellent beauty team, there wasn’t much left for her to do besides write her own heartfelt vows and enjoy the waffles and quite fabulous looking cake.

Our Love Story

Sometimes you find love in the places that you least expect it. I was recruited for a job interview at a car dealership in south Georgia. A manager that I used to work with said that he knew I’d be a perfect fit. I’ll never forget what he said, “there’s a new GM who is young and full of energy – you’ll love him!” The timing may not have been expected, but the whole “when you know, you know” thing, had never been truer.

We already knew we wanted to get married – in fact, I didn’t even think we’d have traditional “engagement period” I figured if we eloped and my parents were there, we were doing pretty good! But my hubby surprised me. I had just had a terrible day and was recovering with a homecooked meal on our balcony.

I had actually been married once before and never knew what to do with the ring. We started talking about our future, he asked me if he could see my old ring, just to get some ideas – what I liked and what I didn’t like. I got the box out and started going off on how awkward this was, opened it and found a new ring. I was absolutely shocked. He was on one knee telling me how he promised to always have a plan, to take care of me for the rest of my life, and to love me forever. It was the biggest surprise of my life, and I couldn’t be more thankful.

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The Dress & Attire

In my opinion, it didn’t make sense to spend a bunch of money on a dress. I wanted to wear something that made me feel beautiful, and that didn’t make me feel guilty when I swiped the credit card.

I found a dress that wasn’t labeled as a “wedding dress”, however, who wears a long white dress on any other day? It was under $100 and fit without any alterations. I felt like the most beautiful girl in the world when I put it on and knew that it was perfect for our day.

My husband wore a suit that we bought a few months before. We went with a navy blue suit with a light blue patterned dress shirt and no tie. We wanted a formal, yet casual feel for the groom.

The Wedding Style & Flowers

We wanted a super simple wedding that still had sophistication and class. We wanted to focus on the most important things to us, and not stress about the little things that often don’t make the memories.

We were looking for classic, pastels, warm and sweet colors. We wanted our guests to feel welcome, our surroundings to feel natural the overall feel to be romantic and tender-hearted. Everything that we chose had careful thought contributed – but lacked the stress that often accompanies wedding planning.

Our flowers were absolutely gorgeous. I wanted the flowers to set the tone. It was important that they had structure, but weren’t too rigid, were free-form but not too wild. I wanted the colors to be soft and sweet, while still maintaining a happy and joyful feel to them. I couldn’t have asked for better flowers!

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Favorite Moments

My husband and I had vows prepared (great vows, but traditional) – both of us had the idea to write our own but got giddy and nervous at the idea. I woke up the morning of our wedding with vows dancing around my head and flowing out of my mouth. It was so awesome, we were able to pour our hearts out to each other.

We had the most relaxing day and enjoyed every part of it. That afternoon, instead of having a full reception, we played on the lake all day! We rented jet skis, ate some great food, played games, and had some very quality family time. I couldn’t have asked for a day more authentic to us.

My husband came down the aisle to Bruno Mars “Marry You”. I walked down to an acoustic guitar version of “Amazing Grace”. My middle name is Grace and my husband has always called me “Gracie”. Everything in regards to grace reminds me of him, so when I asked him what he wanted me to come down the aisle to, I already knew the answer. We wanted a song that was sweet and simple, and the acoustic version was perfection.

The Cake

Delicious! We found a great local baker who designed just what we needed. We wanted a home-made feel that still looked as elegant as ever. Our baker certainly delivered! It was simple, elegant, beautiful and TASTY!

Advice to Other Couples

To stay relaxed! We almost eloped to avoid the stress of wedding planning altogether but we wanted our family to be a part of our special day.

If I was to give advice to any other bride who was getting overwhelmed it would be this: think about the things that are going to make you truly happy. Are centerpieces really the end of the world? If this particular thing wasn’t exactly as you wanted on the day of, would it ruin your day? It was important to me to make decisions that at the end of the day, if they didn’t turn out the way I planned, that I could sit back and say “oh well, it wasn’t that big of a deal – I got married and it was the best day of my life!”

I saw the value in paying to have my hair and make-up done, because I didn’t want the pressure of trying to do it on my own, spent the money on a great photographer who could capture the most precious moments, and a great wedding planner so that I could enjoy our day (even if there were very few guests).