1. Real Weddings

Arin & Andrew: A Beach Wedding in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

When Arin went looking for a guitarist, she found instead a partner for life. I walked into a room of guys playing guitar and shouted, 'Who wants to l

When Arin went looking for a guitarist, she found instead a partner for life. I walked into a room of guys playing guitar and shouted, 'Who wants to learn a song?' remembers Arin, who needed someone to accompany her in a talent show during a retreat for leaders in Young Life, a Christian outreach ministry for high school kids. THE BRIDE Arin Haun, 23 THE GROOM Andrew Guthe, 23 THE DATE July 21 Andrew, a seminary student, volunteered and, as they say, the rest is history. After the show, marathons of all-night conversations between the two University of Tennessee students ensued: We couldn't get enough of each other, says Arin. We would sit up until six in the morning laughing like best buddies. Only by God's grace and adrenaline did we make it through that semester, so sleep deprived. Andrew's proposal was no less blessed by divine luck: After convincing Arin that he wasn't ready to get engaged -- much to her crestfallen surprise -- he staged a whammy of a proposal a few days after Christmas at a place called Cade's Cove in the mountains near Knoxville, TN. What Arin thought was a Christmas gift exchange turned out to be much more. In the snow, near a stream, Andrew had placed an antique trunk filled with pictures, movie stubs, and love letters. He had saved everything that had to do with us, beams Arin. Also inside was a card asking for Arin's hand in marriage.

After the ceremony, the couple was whisked away in a friend's 1929 red convertible Ford roadster to the beach for pictures. We kissed all the way! laughs Arin.
The Transportation
The couple cut a vanilla cake filled with raspberry ganache and covered in buttercream icing; a Celtic Waterford cross, wedding gift from the bride's parents, topped off the confection.
Looking back on this time after their honeymoon in Mexico, starting their new life together, Arin still cherishes her wedding day and the week spent with family and friends. We laughed until our tummies ached, and cried until we couldn't breath right. We celebrated God's blessing of marriage and allowed Him to close one door and open a thousand others.
The reception was scheduled for the Plantation Beach House but, facing a 97-percent chance of rain that day, the festivities were moved indoors to the Plantation Country Club just five hours before the event. Yellow lanterns hung from bamboo sentries and white linen tablecloths were topped with homemade topiary centerpieces crafted with lemons and limes.
The couple planned their wedding in seven months with the help and inspiration of the bride's mother, who lives in Florida. Friends and family also helped the couple stay on budget, folding invitations, stuffing envelopes, tying programs, building topiaries, and setting up tables for the event. An interior architect with an eye for design, Arin was especially thrilled with the invitations, which incorporated the wedding's summer color themes of yellow and green. By this time in our planning, wedding etiquette was out the door, says Arin. Not only was Emily Post rolling over in her grave, we were rewriting our own rules on what's proper and poised, funky yet fabulous! We wanted the invitation to set the mood for the whole event and be characteristic of us -- bold and different. The result was a multi-part package of cards -- a quadri-fold invitation, an RSVP postcard, hotel information, directions, and a small map -- secured with ribbon and sent in a chartreuse vellum envelope.
The Flower Girl Looks
They chose Christ Episcopal Church in Ponte Vedra Beach, a newly renovated church built in the shape of a cross. Accompanied by her father, the bride clutched a bountiful bold bouquet and walked down the aisle to the tunes of a bag piper playing Highland Cathedral. Arin's father sang the Lords' Prayer, and both sets of parents read scripture.
The mothers and grandmothers, carrying nosegays made of white roses, freesia, and mums, and Arin's bridesmaids, dressed in kiwi-green silk Watters & Watters dresses that Arin and her mother hemmed from floor- to tea-length, all walked in to Handel's Water Music.
Arin's bouquet featured cut stems of pink dahlias, yellow ranunculus with kiwi green centers, green buttons, hot pink and light pink roses. Her bridesmaid's bouquets were cut stems of dahlias, pink, yellow and orange Gerbera daisies, green buttons, yellow freesia, and hot pink and pale pink roses.
Arin and Andrew basked in the gathering of family, friends, and their own good fortune. It felt dreamy and very real at the same moment. We kept saying, 'I can't believe we're married,' recalls Arin. The newlyweds started the party with a first dance to I Could Write a Book by Harry Connick Jr.