My heart welled with joy when this wedding landed in my inbox. Traci and Tony put together a lovely woodland celebration, including an intimate gathering featuring BYOB (bring your own blanket) seating for their ceremony under a canopy of pines. Their reception was a true outdoor reception with tables under the trees and paper lanterns strung between branches, creating a glowing woodland outdoor-room. This is a great example of how you can let the environment do most of the decorating for you. Oh, and Traci’s whimsical tea-length dress and floral shoes? SO cute. A perfect fit for walking down a woodland aisle! Read below for their exciting love story!

Before the Ring (as told by the bride):

Tony and I met when I came to Berea as a freshman. He was a sophomore at the time. We met the first week of the semester when we auditioned for the first play of the season, Life is a Dream. We were in the same audition piece together. From there we got to know each other because of how involved we were with the theatre. He was stage managing the second show of the season, and he asked me to be his assistant. We became close after that and were friends for about a year before we both realized that we wanted to be more. We started dating in late April 2009, and a month later we flew to Greece to study abroad together. We spent 5 weeks in Greece studying, and then spent two weeks traveling through Europe together. We went to Rome, Venice, Paris, Amsterdam, and London. It was pretty amazing to spend your first few months together in such romantic and amazing places. We love to travel together, and it probably has something to do with the first few months we spent together. Kissing on top of the Eiffel Tower tends to have that effect, I guess.

The Proposal (as told by the bride):

It was our two year anniversary and Tony made sure that the whole day was spent doing things that I loved. We got up early, had a delicious breakfast at one of my favorite places. Then we went antiquing and thrift store shopping, which is one of my favorite things to do. Then we had lunch. After that, we went to Indian Fort Theatre. We sat on a blanket on the stage and watched the sun set behind the trees. Then he put his arms around me and just asked me. I kind of knew it was going to happen because he had already asked my mom if he could, but it was still a wonderful moment. He didn’t have a ring because he wanted me to pick out the ring that I wanted. I thought that was very sweet. We got the ring a week later.

Photography: Meg Wilson Photography / Catering: Berea Coffee & Tea / Tables & Chairs: Action Rental in Berea, KY / Dress: David’s Bridal / Suit: JC Penny / Paper Lanterns: Luna Bazaar / Everything Else: DIY by bride and groom