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Intimate $1k Old Mill Elopement

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Intimate $1k Old Mill Elopement

Georgia + Nathan

Lexington, South Carolina
- 05/24/2019
Total wedding budget $1,000

What was your total budget? Please provide a budget breakdown.

  • Venue: Free
  • Attire (Bride and Groom): $200
  • Flowers: Handmade from recycled materials, Free
  • Cake: $120
  • Hair and Makeup $150
  • Reception dinner for all 10 wedding guests: $250
  • Officiant $75
  • Photography services $350

Total Budget: $1,145

How many guests did you have?

We had 10 guests.

How did you meet?

Nathan and I met through online dating, while I was working at the University of South Carolina. He opened by asking me about my Geochemistry research, which is pretty much my favorite topic. We met for coffee at Waffle House, and several hours later followed up with a late showing of Wonder Woman.

What is your proposal story?

Every Christmas, Nathan’s family goes into the mountains and rents a cabin for a week. While driving home from this year’s Christmas cabin, he turned to me as we are going through Charlotte, NC traffic and said, “We should just get married!”. While I had been looking at the logistics of weddings, I was shocked at the brashness of his suggestion. A few conversations later, we were on track to a very small wedding.

Tell us about your attire choices.

I had done the whole wedding dress shopping and even purchased a dress for the “dream wedding”, but ultimately decided to get a navy knit dress from Torrid to match the more casual feel of our microwedding.

I paired it with my work shoes, a pair of Dansko mary jane flats, that I polished for the occasion.

Given a February wedding, I chose to wear golden yellow tights from We Love Colors.

What were your favorite parts of the day?

We all arrived early to our venue and were standing around when our officiant turns to Nathan and me and says “And you guys have the marriage license, right?”. A panicked look later, Nathan made the 5-minute drive home to grab it and we all stood around in anticipation. Our photographer, Sam, was clever and grabbed a fantastic photo of Nathan’s service dog, Bonnie, with our rings.

Do you have any advice for couples planning their weddings now?

Use the internet to your advantage and source items locally whenever you can.

Offbeat Bride provided so much positive inspiration for doing things just a little different than a standard wedding. I loved their advice articles.

Nathan and I drove up to Spartanburg, SC to meet with the jeweler, Gina Smith of Moonkist Designs and it was the best time I had ever had. We got to look at all of her beautiful designs and a ton of amazing gems.

Vendors

Photography: Northern Red Photography | Ceremony Venue: Lexington’s Old Mill | Officiant: Jack Heape | Albums: Shutterfly | Engagement Ring: Moonkist Designs | Stationery: Paperless Post | Wedding Cake: Ally and Eloise | Hair: Raven Salon and Bridal | Makeup: Raven Salon and Bridal | Wedding Dress: Torrid | Groom’s Attire: Kohl’s | Bride’s Shoes: Dansko | Headpiece: Etsy | Submitted via: Matchology