1. Real Weddings

Lakefront Wedding in Lake Lanier Islands, GA

Heidi was looking forward to a great summer vacation in 2003, but a relationship wasn’t on the itinerary. And, like Heidi, Beau jokes that the last th

Heidi was looking forward to a great summer vacation in 2003, but a relationship wasn’t on the itinerary. And, like Heidi, Beau jokes that the last thing he was looking for was love. But fate (and a mutual friend) intervened and brought them together right before Heidi left for a two-week trip to Germany. “All I could think about the entire time I was away was Beau,” she says. The Bride Heidi Rauch, 27, attorney The Groom Beau Billington, 29, account manager The Date September 6 One evening, during dinner with her family, Heidi predicted that Beau would be calling her. “The next thing I knew, the phone rang and it was him!” she says. They dated for five-and-a-half years before getting engaged. After getting her parents’ blessing, Beau proposed to Heidi on Valentine’s Day. He handed Heidi a sweet card, nearly bringing her to tears. When she got to the end, it instructed her to flip the card over and she read “Will you marry me?”

Guests took home cute blue-and-white sailboat wine stoppers, a fitting reminder of the wine-loving newlyweds’ lakefront wedding.
Heidi carried a lovely bouquet of blue and cream hydrangeas, large white lilies and pearl-accented stephanotis. “I loved the look of the hydrangeas, and I love the smell of lilies, so the combination just seemed perfect,” she says.
A buttercream scroll design draped over the four tiers of cake, while white Swiss dots trickled down the sides. A large white lily served as the topper and sprigs of blue hydrangeas and stephanotis rested on each tier.
Blue-and-white carnation pomanders, attached to the chairs with ribbon, swung in the breeze.
The combination of tall bear grass and cream stock shooting out of silver urns, accented with shorter bunches of cream and blue hydrangeas, made for very dramatic centerpieces. Cream and powder blue rose petals scattered beneath the arrangements gave the tables a fresh, romantic feel.
Heidi and Beau exchanged vows in the Summer House Garden under a three-tiered gazebo facing Lake Lanier. Guests sat on white chairs along a stone pathway that served as the aisle.