A Garden-Inspired Indoor Wedding at Hazlehurst House in McDonough, Georgia

Even though Emma Dubois (25 and a flight attendant) didn't know much about the random guy who gave her a high five at the bar, she and Christopher Porter (31 and in real estate) started talking about their dreams, and she quickly fell in love. Christopher proposed on a trip to Key West, and the couple exchanged vows 14 months later in the bride's hometown of McDonough, Georgia. Emma wanted to get married in the church that she grew up in, McDonough Presbyterian Church, followed by a classic garden-party reception at Hazlehurst House. "The venue is a breathtaking vintage old house with spectacular outdoor grounds for a magical garden wedding," Emma says. "Against all my best efforts, we decided to move the reception because of rain and held it in a ballroom that opened into a large open, covered pavilion." The flower arrangements brought the ballroom to life with the garden theme the bride envisioned. Tables with white linens were scattered throughout the ballroom with a variety of flower boxes, lanterns and floral iron candelabras as centerpieces. The blooms included shades of white, pink and green hydrangeas along with peonies, roses, ranunculus and ivy. "I wanted to keep colors soft in order to really highlight the beautiful colors of the gardens," Emma says. Emma and Christopher left the reception under a canopy of sparklers and drove away in a stretch limo. The Hazlehurst House had a picnic basket of food from the reception and a bottle of champagne waiting in the limo for the newlyweds to enjoy on the ride to their hotel.