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Katrina and Fletcher’s Wedding at Gatlinburg Falls

You are going to love this adorably put together wedding! Katrina and Fletcher have all kinds of DIY items including bowties that she sewed herself. And…. wait until you see the dress–it is too cute (especially with the pouffy veil)!!

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How did the two of you meet? Through a mutual friend in early 2006. We’ve been best friends since then, but we were never single at the same time and our friendship was always strictly platonic. Then finally in 2011, we were both single and we realized there was no one else we could spend all day talking to and still have things to say. We started dating quickly and immediately knew we needed to be married.Knoxville Wedding Photographer in Gatlinburg Tennessee02Knoxville Wedding Photographer in Gatlinburg Tennessee03Knoxville Wedding Photographer in Gatlinburg Tennessee05Knoxville Wedding Photographer in Gatlinburg Tennessee06

How long have you been together? Romantically, October 2011. Platonically, February 2006

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What was your first date like? There wasn’t really a first date! It’s a running joke between us that we’ve never been out on a date.

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How did he propose? Out of nowhere, Fletcher’s mom said she really needed to run some errands in Indianapolis on March 31st while Fletcher was refereeing soccer games and asked if Katrina wanted to go too. While we were driving, she expressed an INTENSE desire to go to the zoo, which is kind of weird, but Katrina went with it. So, they spent the day at the zoo, which Katrina loved, and then went back to Muncie to Fletcher’s house. Fletcher said he had made dinner reservations for soon after Katrina got home so she needed to get dressed quickly. 

The couple rushed out to the car. About 5 minutes into the drive, he said he forgot his wallet and turned around. Katrina politely offered to pay for their meal, but he was insistent. Upon returning to the house, he asked for her help to search for the wallet.

While they were gone, his friends had set up the living room with flowers and candles and a table like a restaurant (with menus and everything!). Halfway through dinner Katrina realized there weren’t any soccer games – Fletcher had spent all day preparing for this and his mom was acting strangely because she was tasked with keeping Katrina out of the house. The engagement was also Arrested Development themed, so Steve Holt(!) was the waiter and Fletcher proposed while doing a dance to The Final Countdown. When he said “Marry me,” of course Katrina’s answer was “Maybe.”

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Do you have a song?  We have two – “There’s a Kind of Hush” by Herman’s Hermits and “The Reasons” by The Weakerthans

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Why did you choose your wedding date? The officiant got married on Fletcher’s 21st birthday, so Fletcher has been joking with him since then that he would get married on Patrick’s birthday. When we got engaged, we looked at when Patrick’s birthday was in 2013 and it just happened to be a Saturday. The date was set.

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Any particular reason for the theme/venue/etc.? Katrina wanted to elope in Scotland, Fletcher wanted family and friends there, so we compromised by doing a cabin wedding in the mountains.

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What is the thing you love most about the other person? (From Katrina) I love his sense of spontaneity and how he’s constantly keeping me on my toes. For last New Years, we were in Chicago for an early dinner with friends after work and we were going to go back to Northwest Indiana for fireworks with my family. We missed our train and the next train would’ve had us on it at midnight, which was not what I wanted. Of course to me, the night was completely ruined. He called around to hotels and found a room overlooking Lake Michigan, so we booked it, got some drinks at the bar to take upstairs, and watched the fireworks from our room. He’s always able to turn a potentially disastrous situation into a great memory.

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What is the thing you love most about the other person? (From Fletcher) I love her desire to constantly try new things. I’m a pretty routine oriented person. For example, I eat the same two things for lunch every single day (PB&J or smoked sausage and cheese). But Katrina is constantly convincing (forcing) me to try new things. She finds at least one new recipe for us to make each week for dinner. She finds weird places for us to visit on road trips. She comes up with goofy activities to spice up the mundanity of everyday life (silly hat dinners). She gets me out of my bubble and shows me the great things out there that I haven’t tried yet.

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What was your favorite thing about your wedding day? The sense of community. I loved that everyone dove in headfirst to get everything done and execute our vision. Almost everything – the flowers, the cake, the food, the decorations – were done by people in or dates of the wedding party or related to us.

Knoxville Wedding Photographer in Gatlinburg Tennessee35Knoxville Wedding Photographer in Gatlinburg Tennessee36Knoxville Wedding Photographer in Gatlinburg Tennessee37Knoxville Wedding Photographer in Gatlinburg Tennessee38Did you have any DIY projects? If so, what? Where did you get the ideas? Would you do it again? So many DIY projects! Katrina did the clutches, bow ties, pocket squares and painted some of vases and we made jam together (including picking all of the berries!). Katrina’s sister made the sashes for all of the girls. Katrina’s mom painted the rest of the vases. Fletcher’s godmother did our cakes for the weekend – she made four cakes total — two each for the rehearsal dinner and reception. One of the bridesmaids (Michaela – the one in purple) is a graphic designer and did all of our stationary (see her blog at www.happyapple.us). As mentioned previously, we did all of our food, and we think at various points throughout the weekend everyone had their hands in it, quite literally in some cases. Table decorations were done by the wife of the officiant the day of the wedding… we feel like we’re missing something here! Katrina is slowly but surely getting all of the DIY project information for inspiration and the processes up on her blog at tcreatesalife.wordpress.com. As far as the items we were directly involved with – the clutches, bow ties, pocket squares, vases and jam – we would definitely do it again. We loved the way they turned out and we loved the personal touch that it provided. We think everyone else enjoyed it too and it was just a little bit more special that it was actually FROM us, not just something we bought somewhere. It also gave us the opportunity to put our personality in without going overboard.

 

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Did you do anything special for your honeymoon? No honeymoon yet due to work schedules, but we plan on a 10-day road trip of the West Coast, starting in Seattle, heading down to Phoenix, and looping back up. We sustained our long- distance relationship with road trips and we love the time we spend in the car together.

Knoxville Wedding Photographer in Gatlinburg Tennessee40When we started looking at engagement rings it was very important to us that Katrina did NOT have a diamond for personal and ethical reasons. However, we also did not want the ring to be a statement and constantly dragging us into conversations or debates. We wanted it to be happy and symbolic of our love and relationship, while still adhering to our beliefs in the process. So we did some research and discovered moissanite, a mineral that is naturally derived from meteors but made commercially in labs. It is colorless, a 9.5 on the MOHs scale (diamonds are 10, emeralds are 7.5-8) and has more fire and brilliance than diamonds. Not to mention it’s also way less expensive. We were sold. We ordered the ring from moissanitebridal.com and their customer service is completely awesome. Fletcher accidentally ordered the wrong size and within two days they resized the ring and gave him free overnight shipping so he’d get the ring in time for the proposal. And Katrina can attest to the fact that nobody can tell the difference – in the weeks after the engagement, she showed off the ring many, many times and everyone complimented her on how gorgeous her diamond is. We even convinced another couple who were already looking into non-diamond options to go the moissanite route and they are so pleased with their decision as well. This was definitely the best decision for us and I don’t think we could have been happier with the engagement ring we chose. 

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Venue: Gatlinburg Falls Resort
Dress: Etsy
Makeup: Katrina
Shoes: Anthropologie
Groom’s Outfit: Suiting: A local suit shop in Columbus, OH: Sofyano http:// sofyano.com/ Tie and Pocket Square were made by the bride
Flowers: Lasting Impressions in Daleville, IN http:// www.mylastingimpressionsflowershop.com/
Cake: Dream Bakes – Gluten Free — Fort Myers, Florida (groom’s godmother’s bakery)
Food: We did it all ourselves!! Special thanks goes out to the mothers of the bride and groom and Gabe Saxon, for making the delicious lamb tagine
Rings: My band is his grandmother’s wedding band and his is from Ashcraft Jewelers http://www.ashcraftjewelers.com/
Jewelry: All borrowed opals from his mother – the pendant was from her mother, the chain was a present she gave to his father as a wedding present, and the earrings were a present from her mother-in-law
Officiant: Patrick Frazier, friend of the groom
Photography : Knoxville Wedding Photographer — Star Noir Studio

 

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