The Perfect At-Home Southern Wedding

Welcome to May and June! The South’s most desirable time of year for a wedding. Weddings come in all different sizes and styles these days. The micro-wedding has gained popularity over the last few years, with brides focusing on spending time with family and friends in a more intimate setting. With smaller weddings and fewer guests, an at-home wedding could be the perfect solution for couples who want privacy and desire to spend more time with those attending.  

A house with an open traffic pattern is best suited for hosting over 20-25 guests. If that space leads to an outdoor area, it can work even better. If you’ve been in the South for long, you know never to plan an outdoor event that is solely outdoor and in an uncovered area. Rain is always a possibility and can put a damper on an outdoor wedding or reception. The photos shared on these pages reflect the bride and groom’s desire for an intimate event spent one-on-one with family and friends. 

The location? The bride’s parents’ home. While the 1938 Tudor is quaint from the exterior viewpoint, the open main floor interior allowed for the perfect ceremony, which included only parents, siblings, and sibling spouses. The ceremony, attended by the bride, groom, minister, and eight guests, was held in the spacious formal dining room. The dining room table featured a large arrangement of fresh flowers for the ceremony, and the dining room chairs were used for seating guests. 

The bride dressed in the guest bedroom upstairs, and when her time arrived to greet her groom, her father awaited her at the bottom of the steps. The staircase, draped in yellow and white roses with lush greenery and fresh magnolia, was beautiful for the bride’s entrance and served as the perfect backdrop for the double-ring ceremony. The bride’s choice of yellow roses complemented the forest green staircase walls and looked beautiful for early spring.

After the ceremony, the dining room chairs were stored in an upstairs bedroom, clearing the way for two caterers to set the dining table with an early cocktail supper. The flower arrangement from the ceremony was moved to the center of the table and was flanked all around by trays of beef tenderloin, chicken satay, roasted vegetables, and an extensive charcuterie selection. The extended family waited during the ceremony at the Airbnb, just across the street from the parents’ home, so that photos could be taken immediately after the nuptials. At the same time, the inside was being transformed for the cocktail supper for guests arriving in just a couple of hours. 

The wedding cake table was located in the breakfast room. The breakfast room featured French doors that led to the covered veranda, where clothed tables and wooden bentwood chairs awaited guests. The bride’s father hung clear sides to the veranda cover to protect the evening from any rain that might have come their way. Blessedly, there was not a drop of rain that early May Saturday. A tradition not held too often any longer, the bride and groom waited at the bottom of the staircase at the front door and greeted every guest as they arrived—such a very personal gesture to extend to your guests. 

As guests moved from greeting the new couple, the staff served a variety of passed hors d’ oeuvres. The flow of the house and the covered veranda allowed enough space for the bride, the groom, their families, and 38 guests to mingle easily. A little trick used to keep guests out of the kitchen worked very well. The caterers brought portable ovens and coolers and operated out of the lower-level garage. The florist covered every surface in the kitchen with greenery and florals, even the top of the range.  

Music for the bride’s entrance and the reception was provided by a classical guitarist. The caterer’s set-up time was used for him to transition to the veranda.  Nothing too bold, simply understated, and the perfect background music for a lovely evening. The flower boxes on the veranda were “planted” with Boston ferns, fresh yellow roses, and greenery.

The guests were greeted at the front door with the front planter box filled to the brim with yellow roses and fresh greenery, along with evergreen topiaries surrounded by yellow roses. Small arrangements of the same flowers were placed on each table, draped with off-white, textured linen cloths. The bride’s parents’ favorite local bartender served champagne and two signature drinks created by the bride and groom. 

One of the sweetest moments of the day was the groom and his mother making the half-block walk to the local florist to pick up the bride’s bouquet. Where else but in the quaint town of Columbia, Tennessee, could this be possible? There were so many small-town moments associated with this perfect at-home Southern wedding. The parents’ friends who brought them two loads of fresh cut magnolia stands out as one of the sweetest gestures of the entire wedding week. The bride’s mom’s friend, a freelance florist, captured her vision of the house florals perfectly, while the local florist down the street was so accommodating to allow the groom and his mom to be photographed picking up the bouquet. Neighbors provided the pièce de résistance by moving nine cars off the narrow historic street to locations away from the house, as there was no off-street parking available in the downtown location. Indeed, it was undoubtedly the perfect at-home Southern wedding.

AMY MONTGOMERY has over 25 years of design experience and owns Amy Montgomery Home in Columbia, Tennessee. She delights in sharing her personal collection of vintage china and dishes with readers. As a lifestylist, she is focused on home and is thrilled to offer her customers an elevated customer service experience. Visit amymontgomeryhome.com for additional information and follow her on social media at @amymontgomeryhome.

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