We traveled to Tennessee this summer to celebrate the beautiful Taylor and Edward! We first met the bride at Sydney and Mark’s wedding (she was Sydney’s maid of honor) last year in Maui, and THEN photographed her sister Hayley’s wedding to Will last fall, so we were super excited and honored to hear from her when Edward proposed last year (ESPECIALLY when she told us they’d chosen an old rock quarry as their wedding venue)! Graystone Quarry, located just outside Nashville, is a STUNNING backdrop for a wedding, and the number of the incredible spots for photos was almost overwhelming!
Taylor had just moved to Nashville when Edward approached her at a dance in the park (this was their second encounter; the first had been at a bar when Edward asked Taylor to dance and she turned him down). Taylor AGAIN turned Edward down for a dance, and his charming persistence convinced her to give him a chance. Their first date went really well, but Taylor was still unsure about dating anybody since she had just moved to Nashville. She kept dodging his second date ideas, but it was getting more difficult for her to say “no.”
It was around this time that Taylor was hosting a swing dance to raise money for a refugee center in Uganda; Edward asked to be her date, but her friend challenged him: “You can’t take her unless you get enough sponsors for the dance!” They agreed he had to get 72.5 sponsors (but Taylor thought they were just being funny). Two days later, she got a Facebook event invite for “Edward’s 26th birthday for Uganda” and he asked friends and family to bring donations instead of gifts or food. Edward handed Taylor a stack of cash at the end of his birthday party and said he’d see her at their second date.
When it came time to pop the question, Edward used Taylor’s love of puzzles, games, and the Pixar movie “Up.” He picked her up with a fun date idea: a scavenger hunt. Each clue had a balloon, a bag of puzzle pieces, and a riddle that Taylor had to solve. The clues took them to all of the places around Nashville that the couple loves most: the bar where Edward first asked Taylor to dance, the concert hall where they had their first date, etcetera. At the end of the hunt, Taylor put all of the puzzle pieces together for one final clue: “72.5.” This was the number of sponsors Edward had promised in order to secure their second date, and she knew it meant they were headed to his parents’ backyard (where he had hosted his 26th birthday party “fundraiser”). When they arrived, the theme song from “Up” was playing and there were balloons, champagne, and an Adventure Book that fit all of the clues from their scavenger hunt. Tears were shed as Edward proposed (with a STUNNING ring made by Taylor’s sister, Ali, the owner of Everett), then further surprised our bride-to-be with her parents, siblings, and best friends flown in from around the country. Edward is SUCH a thoughtful, romantic guy! (This story had us in tears for sure.)
Recommended listening while perusing this blog post (the song that played while Taylor walked down the aisle): Ed Sheeran’s Tenerife Sea.
“All that you are is all that I’ll ever need…”
venue // graystone quarry
floral design // enchanted florist
dress designer // sarah seven
ice cream cart // jeni’s splendid ice creams
cake // dessert designs
catering // chef penelope
officiant // pastor jim lee
dj + mc // josh hearing
bar // the aerobar
rings // everett
stationery // minted
