Southern Inspired Baltimore Maryland Soiree

Chris and Kati’s southern inspired wedding was over Labor Day weekend, so they incorporated seasonal elements to ensure that their guests enjoyed the last weekend of summer. The navy and black color palette was softened by the addition of blue floral gowns worn by the maid and matron of honor. The outdoor cocktail reception space showcased boxwood hedge bars and watercolor floral linens. They incorporated touches of lemon into their big day in multiple unique ways. They offered fresh lemonade and lemonade signature cocktails on the bar; a nod to the quintessential summer drink! Kati painted lemon table numbers and stippled lemons on a hand lettered seating chart mirror. Kati even wore lemon shoes and Chris wore socks to match! Don’t miss out in hearing more about that, below.

An element that we loved about the southern-inspired event was that the couple incorporated all of their favorite foods from below the Mason-Dixon! They featured Maryland favorites like crab cake hors d’oeuvres and lemon sticks (a Baltimore tradition). On the bar they continued the nod to their home state by featuring Sagamore, which is a local Baltimore-based rye whiskey. The couple hand bottled these at Sagamore’s distillery prior to their wedding. For dinner, guests enjoyed shrimp and grits and bourbon-braised short ribs. For dessert, in addition to the cake, guests enjoyed pecan pies and house made strawberry shortcake. The sweetest end to the sweetest day! Thank you to Hudson Nichols Photography for sharing this southern inspired outdoor Maryland wedding ceremony with us today!

Describe your wedding vision: Chris is a graphic designer and I’m an Event Planner, so one thing that we have in common is that we both love meaningful details and we set out to include as many personal touches as we could. We decided on a southern-inspired, late summer garden wedding in Baltimore. From the honey favors that we sourced from an apiary near my grandmother’s farm, to the invitation suite that Chris designed and the incorporation of family photos displayed alongside my ginger jar collection, we wanted to create a wedding that would feel like it could only be ours.

Special Moments, Traditions or Unique Touches: Chris and I had a hand in most every detail at our wedding. He designed a navy floral invitation suite, complete with save the date; envelope liners; favor tags and even a template for our guest welcome letter and wedding program. I love to paint and do calligraphy, so I painted our table numbers and created a seating chart mirror with lemons stippled onto the border. I had gotten Kate Spade Lemon themed wedges as a gift to wear for the wedding and set out to find Chris lemon socks. After months of searching I gave up on the idea of our matching lemon attire. My mother knew that was unsuccessful in my hunt for lemon socks, so she found lemon appliqués and sewed them onto a pair of socks and gave them to Chris at our Rehearsal Dinner!

Our families are very close. In order to honor them at our wedding we added wedding photos of our parents and grandparents to our guestbook table. I also really wanted to incorporate my family into what I wore down the aisle; I wore my mother’s veil as my “something borrowed,” my maternal grandmother’s watch slide charm bracelet as my “something old” and my paternal grandmother’s Wedgewood brooch served as my “something blue”. It meant so much to me to be able to create new memories with items from the women in my family.