Sweet as a Georgia Peach

September 17, 2012 in
Real Weddings
Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods

Claire Teschel
Claire Teschel

Claire is a freelance graphic designer and founder of dot + jim, a little stationery shop named after her quirky, Cajun grandparents.

Eddie and I met in Savannah back in the spring of 2010. He asked me out; I said no. He asked me out again a few months later; I said yes. We smiled a lot, drank sweet tea, and roamed around Savannah without a care in the world. A little over a year later, he got down on one knee under the gazebo in Whitefield Square (one of my favorite spots in town).

Since I’m a designer and lover of all things handmade, Eddie let me go crazy in styling our wedding. The theme? I guess you could call it low-country charm with plenty of handmade love. Since Eddie is an engineer and we both have a fascination with trains, we agreed that the Roundhouse Railroad Museum was the ideal backdrop for our reception. The rustic, relaxed vibe and heart-of-downtown location was exactly how we wanted our guests to experience Savannah.

Luckily, I come from a pretty crafty bunch and have plenty of art school friends who helped out with the DIY projects. My brother made the groomsmen’s ties out of a sweet orange gingham fabric, and my matron of honor and I crafted each groomsman’s cotton boutonniere. My dad pulled an all-nighter the night before our wedding and baked all 12 delicious desserts from scratch. I don’t think anyone left the reception with an empty tummy!

When choosing our wedding colors, I knew I wanted to tie in haint blue, which is a hybrid of robin’s egg blue and mint green (and about as Southern as cornbread). Porch ceilings all over downtown Savannah are painted this color as a tradition to ward away the evil spirits. To keep in tune with our low-country theme, we picked peach accents for the ties, boutonnieres, and flower arrangements.

I’ve always had a thing for paint chips and their sometimes offbeat color names. So when it came to designing our escort cards, I chose a mix of colors that also had special names — I even found one called Spanish Moss (which couldn’t have been more perfect for a Savannah wedding).

Our flowers were crafted by my favorite florist and good friend, Julie. We were able to create the most perfect sprays for my bridesmaids and my bridal bouquet — a mixture of Juliet garden roses, sweet peas, feverfew, Dusty Miller, and sprigs of baby’s breath. The minute I saw the flowers, all of my anxiety lifted and everything felt just right.

Both sets of grandparents were honored in many elements of the wedding — the anchor carried by the ring bearer was from my grandparents’ wedding in 1945, and the pearl necklace draped around my bouquet was given to me by my grandmother when I was young. I was able to collect many vintage bottles, vases, and hankies that had been in the family for years, which added a little charm to each table.

The music was a blend of jazz favorites, bluegrass old and new, and random movie scores. My brother sang a few classics, including Joshua Radin’s cover of “My First, My Last, My Everything” for our first dance, and Eddie’s dad even sang us a special love song in Japanese!

We wrapped up the night riding into the sunset via pedicab. Our driver rode us around Forsyth Park as we reminisced about our favorite moments while getting plenty of waves and high fives from random onlookers. It was the best day ever!

All photographs by Jade + Matthew Take Pictures.

Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods
Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods

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