Samantha & Kyle || Swan House Wedding

Samantha and Kyle’s wedding day was pure magic! Their wedding took place at The Swan House and The Atlanta History Center. What a spectacular place! The venue itself is simply a piece of art but together with the beautiful decor and incredible folks who filled the space with so much love and so much joy everything just came together. It was in fact, absolutely perfect!! Below, Samantha and Kyle tell us all about their planning process and their big day!!

Take a peek, get inspired and let us know what you think in the comments.

Our wedding took place at the Swan House in Buckhead Atlanta on October 5th 2019. We chose the Swan House because it's a venue rich in history, in an area significant to our relationship (Buckhead where we lived together), where we could have an outdoor ceremony... Plus it's simply stunning and timeless.  We intentionally aimed for a Fall wedding to beat the Georgia summertime heat, and see some of the changing seasons outside during our ceremony. We stuck with themes that we thought matched our venue and season and aimed for something timeless, beautiful, yet very natural. A neutral color palette accentuated with tones of greenery, black bridesmaid dresses, and a black-tie reception. 

Aside from all of the formalities of planning a wedding, Kyle and I wanted to also make sure we incorporated elements that made it distinctly ours, for both our guests and for us to enjoy while we were there :).  There were lots of individual touches but some of our favorites were:-setting up a bar cart to serve champagne to guests as they arrived and walked to the Swan Gardens to await the ceremony-creating a curated playlist of our favorite songs that we played during the cocktail hour-setting up a photo booth w/ fun props to break the ice and capture some amazingly funny memories during the reception-serving Jenis ice cream mid-way through the reception (our favorite ice cream ever) for all of our attendees-lastly, setting up a late-night tray of chic-fil-a nuggets for our attendees to enjoy as they exited the reception to leave for the night.-On a more serious note, we also loved the fact that we wrote our own vows and surprised each other during the ceremony. We thought that was very important to us, and hearing what we had to say to each other was some of our best most heartfelt memories. 

We aimed for looks that were timeless and elegant. We imagined how we might react 20 years down the road looking back at our wedding pictures, and wanted to make sure that future us thought things were beautiful and not tacky.I (Samantha) wore a fitted long wedding dress with a lengthy train, and Kyle went with a slim black Michael Kors tuxedo and black bow tie. Bridesmaids wore black, with each in their own slightly different dress, and groomsmen wore the same slim black tux but with long ties instead of bows.

How did you meet? Tell us about the proposal

Kyle and I went on our first date in May 2013 in Buckhead Atlanta. Our first date was simple - we had some drinks, played a game or two of darts, then ate tacos -  but even so we both had an absolutely amazing time together. We started dating shortly after and in December 2017 - after we'd spent 4 years together and moved across the country to San Francisco in 2015 - Kyle (finally :) ) proposed.Kyle's proposal was actually one of the most fun days of my life. We were in Atlanta for the Christmas season to visit family and friends, and one morning, moments after waking up, Kyle had completely vanished along with all his bags. The only thing he left was a single envelope. Moments later my best friend (and soon to be Maid of Honor) arrived at my place. Needless to say, at first I was quite confused, but eventually, I figured out that I was going on some sort of scavenger hunt for fun, and that I needed to decipher where I was going next from the letter. My best friend and I ended up following 5 letters throughout the day - to the nail salon, to our favorite lunch spot, to Saks to buy a dress, to get our hair done, and eventually to the Swan House, where I've always wanted to get married. When I finally arrived, Kyle was waiting in the Swan House Garden dressed in a suit and tie with my family and friends on looking. It truly was an amazing day. 

The most special moments of our wedding day were all of the little moments where we could appreciate and take in the fact that so many of our family and friends were there for us. We had family and friends that arrived from California, Michigan, Alabama, and many other places, including some of our very old grandparents (92 and 95). Just absorbing the positivity and love from everyone there was absolutely amazing and humbling. 

Do you have any wedding planning or marriage advice that you'd like to share with other couples planning their day? 

Yes! Several bits of advice: First, don't rule out a bit of a lengthy engagement. Even though Kyle proposed in December 2017, we waited until October'19. This let us book the venue we wanted on a Saturday in our favorite season. It gave us more time to plan (therefore less crunch-time stress), and let us prepare our budget in a really easy way.-Next, take time to think about some of the little things you can do to make the day truly 'yours'. Our favorite memories ended up coming from some of the individual ideas we had like Jenis Ice-cream,  putting "Foreva-eva" (like Outkast) on our Cake because it was in Atlanta, and other things. Have fun with it and don't make it too rigid.-Lastly, assess some of your own strengths and weaknesses and seek help where you need it. For example: Kyle and I are pretty creative, and I'm definitely detail-oriented, but we both knew that matching themes and colors to overall decor & flowers was going to be too much for us to figure out on our own. We found some amazing help that was able to turn some of our simple ideas into reality.

Vendors

• Photography: @AlineMarinPhotography

• Wedding Venue: @SwanHouse

• Wedding Officiant: Randy Walterman

• Event Planner & Wedding Day Coordinator: Candace @smoothasbutterweddings

• Stationary: @minted

• Florist: @jldesignsfloral

• Rentals: @atlantapartyrentals

• Music: @djcuttlefish

• Videographer: @zvphotoandvideo

• Wedding Dress: @larainesboutique Designer - Martina Liana

• Bridal Shoes: Badgley Mischka

• Hairstylist: Taylor Niele @taylorniele

• Makeup Artist: Rebecca @bombshellcreationsga + @spraystudioatl @rebeccajayne_mua

• Wedding Suit: @MichaelKors  @guffeysatl

• Caterer: @dennisdeancatering

• Bridal Party: @lulus

• Wedding Bands: Suetake Brothers Co

• Late night snack: @jenisicecreams 

• Photo Booth: @robotbooth