Grace + Sam: Classic Wedding

This blog post first appeared on Happily Connected.

Grace and Sam’s love story started in a coffee shop where they both worked and first met. After a swoon-worthy proposal in the Maldives, they celebrated their special day at 14Tenn with a touch of classic charm. The venue was elegantly décorated in sage green and white, with classic white flowers and greenery from Carmela’s Flower Company, adding a touch of timeless romance. We’re excited to share the details of Grace and Sam’s beautiful celebration!

How did you meet?

We met at work! We ran a coffee shop, formerly Cafe Makai, now Substrate, and had seen the business through multiple COVID re-openings as well as rebranding. Now Sam and I have been asked back to the shop as part owners with Grace working there full time. It’s a lovely menu of healthy eats and a side of wellness-based products. We are affiliated with the Old School Farm based in Ashland City, grow our own mushrooms, and have a curated variety of retail products for sale.

Tell us about your engagement!

After traveling to Kerala, India, for one of my best friends’ weddings, we took a short plane ride to the Maldives. On our first night there, Sam proposed over dinner, having traveled across the world with the ring beautifully crafted by our dear friend, Tana Smith (owner of Hoop House just three doors down from the cafe).

Tell us about your dress and bridal beauty!

I was incredibly fortunate to find my dress on my first shopping trip. VOW’d came highly recommended by a couple of friends and did not disappoint! I was able to preselect a few dresses online in addition to the options pulled by the associate, and I was able to buy them right off the rack. The service was fabulous!

Oh my gosh, the hair! I sure have a lot of it and knew I would need some swept up, but I wanted the appearance of somewhat down. I loved our hair and makeup company, Mobile Beauty Team.

What was your vision for your wedding?

Having a very large family, we knew the space would be full of life! Keeping that in mind, we incorporated a lot of greenery and kept to shades of green. Our wedding was also the day before St. Patrick’s Day! We both have extensive Irish heritage, and my godmother was married on St. Patty’s, so it was certainly a special day for us! We knew we wanted to be as authentic as we could be—meaning a variety of great food from our wonderful friends and colleagues, live music as well as a DJ to keep us dancing all night, and an overall organic flow.

Tell us about your day.

Our ceremony was extraordinary. When deciding on wedding details, Sam was the first to suggest writing our own vows. From there, the ceremony came to life. We knew we wanted to incorporate some of the traditional structure of a wedding ceremony, but we still wanted it to feel personal. Three of my cousins, all sisters, have been so significant in our lives that we asked them to team up for officiating. They brought our vision to life along with the help of some of our best friends and their readings. An Irish blessing, along with The Art of Marriage, was read. One of the sweetest moments was when we got to the vows, and all I had said the whole day was, “I just need to keep a steady voice through the vows, and that’s it!” Well, my voice may not have shaken, but my hands certainly did, and ironically, the first line of my vows was, “I’m so grateful my best friend is holding my hands right now because you know how nervous I would be otherwise.” Sam had already taken my hands to steady me.

After the ceremony, the reception was held on the veranda, welcoming guests in with a champagne shelf and life music courtesy of Caleb Elder (local musician, friend). We had an exquisite living table provided by another dear friend, Susan White, and delicious appetizers (later food stations) from Wildberry Catering. Knowing we didn’t want to be seated for much of the night, we kicked off the reception with Joyful Noise and took a short break for a few speeches, our first dance, and a family dance. Our first dance was to Lady Gaga’s “Is That Alright” from the “A Star is Born” soundtrack. We also decided to incorporate not only my father but my brother, mother, Sam’s brother, sister-in-law, and maid of honor in our “family dance,” as we called it!

Carmela was fantastic to work with as well. My mom came across a post on Facebook and connected with her. We visited her home office to see some of her pieces, and she was so accommodating. I didn’t have a very picky vision of what I wanted, but I knew the direction, and it was clear from the get-go that she had great taste. I totally trusted her expertise and flexibility!