Deeply connected to Emma’s family history, Sewanee, Tennessee provided a meaningful setting for a wedding filled with bright summer colour and relaxed Southern charm. Emma and Joe celebrated at SEWANEE INN with Magnolia Rouge Vendor KERA PHOTOGRAPHY documenting the day, HARPER EVENT COMPANY bringing everything together, and SOUL FLOWERS creating the wonderfully whimsical florals.
A Place Filled With Memories
For Emma, choosing Sewanee was about far more than finding a beautiful setting. She attended college there, as did her parents, aunt and younger brother, and her family has a vacation home in the area. Summers and holidays spent in Sewanee have woven the town firmly into her family story. “It is such a beautiful place that holds so many special memories for me and now Joe, too,” she shares.
The couple’s ceremony took place at All Saints’ Chapel on the Sewanee campus, the same chapel where Emma had celebrated her college graduation. A traditional Episcopal ceremony felt perfectly suited to both the setting and the significance of returning there to begin another chapter of her life.
She wanted the day to feel “bright, cheery, welcoming and happy,” and most importantly, she wanted everyone to have fun.
Bright, Happy and Welcoming
When imagining the wedding, Emma had a refreshingly straightforward brief. She wanted the day to feel “bright, cheery, welcoming and happy,” and most importantly, she wanted everyone to have fun. Colour became an easy way to bring that feeling into the celebration. Rather than prescribing a single bridesmaid dress, Emma asked her bridesmaids to choose their own pink gowns, giving the bridal party a layered mix of shades, silhouettes and personalities.
SOUL FLOWERS carried those summery tones through the floral design, with pink taking centre stage alongside an abundance of bright colour. Emma gave her florist plenty of creative freedom, resulting in arrangements that moved between classic forms and looser, asymmetrical compositions. Playful touches including lamps and decorative vessels added another layer of character.
Guests gathered beneath the tent around the dance floor and stayed there throughout the night, turning the reception into one long celebration.
The Fashion
Emma approached her own fashion with a similarly instinctive eye. For the rehearsal dinner, she skipped the expectation of wearing white altogether after falling for a vibrant pink LEO LIN dress she repeatedly spotted on Instagram. With her bridesmaids wearing pink the following day, it felt like a playful way to carry the colour through the entire weekend. For the ceremony, however, she gravitated towards something beautifully timeless. Searching for a gown with simple, clean lines, Emma visited just two bridal stores in Nashville and ultimately chose the very first dress she tried on, a design from THE BRIDE ROOM. Her veil brought an especially sentimental element to the look. Originally belonging to Joe’s mother, its detailed design happened to complement Emma’s gown perfectly while giving her something meaningful from her new family to wear down the aisle.
A Moment Together
Before the ceremony, Emma shared first looks with both Joe and her brothers. Having those quieter moments before the celebrations began proved to be one of the loveliest parts of the day. Seeing Joe immediately settled her nerves. “It is such a busy day and having a few minutes with your person helps you to remember the whole point of the day,” she says.
The morning itself had been deliberately relaxed, with Emma getting ready in a house in Sewanee alongside her bridesmaids, mother and mother-in-law. Being together in a home rather than a formal bridal suite created an easy atmosphere and gave her plenty of time with the women closest to her.
Personal Details
The couple also moved away from tradition with their stationery. Emma wanted something that reflected both their personalities and the location without feeling overly formal. HARPER EVENT COMPANY introduced her to PAPER ELIZA, whose bright, eccentric style immediately appealed to her and brought another dose of personality to the celebration.
That sense of fun continued into the reception at SEWANEE INN. Rather than filling the evening with a complicated schedule, Emma and Joe wanted the focus firmly on music and dancing. The Maxx, a band from Atlanta, delivered exactly the atmosphere they had hoped for. Guests gathered beneath the tent around the dance floor and stayed there throughout the night, turning the reception into one long celebration.
Filled with family history, brilliant colour and a packed dance floor, it was a day that felt unmistakably personal, all captured with Kera Photography’s beautifully considered eye.
From Nashville to Sewanee
Emma and Joe’s story had begun a few years earlier in Nashville, thanks in part to Emma’s friend and bridesmaid Wesley, who had already identified Joe as a potential match. When he later appeared on Emma’s Hinge account, the introduction finally gained momentum. Despite Emma admitting that she may have stopped replying at one stage, Joe persisted, eventually asking her to meet him for ice cream at Jeni’s.
Years later, he proposed at Nashville’s Urban Cowboy, returning to the very place where he had once asked Emma to be his girlfriend, before surprising her with a celebration surrounded by family and friends. Their wedding brought that same sense of warmth and familiarity to Sewanee. Filled with family history, brilliant colour and a packed dance floor, it was a day that felt unmistakably personal, all captured with KERA PHOTOGRAPHY’S beautifully considered eye.
“Their wedding brought that same sense of warmth and familiarity to Sewanee.”
