This North Carolina wedding is pure pretty. It began with a beautiful outdoor ceremony was followed by an ultra-elegant (and fun!) ballroom reception. But our favorite part just might be Eliza’s dress, a look she thought she didn’t want, until she put the gown on and realized it was her dream dress.
The Ceremony
Corey and I met on Lake Norman, so we knew we wanted to get married on the lake. It was beautiful. What made our ceremony so special was that we had family friends (a married couple) officiate our wedding. They had never done it before, but they were a couple we looked up to and had such a strong marriage themselves and I knew they would do an amazing job! They had the perfect balance of personalizing the ceremony, but still bringing the presence of God. We could all feel He was there. (Afterwards some of our friends asked if they could officiate their weddings! Haha)
The Reception
The reception was inside a lakefront ballroom. Beautiful chandeliers hung all the way across the room.The entire wall was windows so our guests could see the lake. We had wedding activities on Friday night before so a lot of our guests already had time to meet each other. The reception was a big dance party! Exactly what I wanted.
Our guests raved the most about our flowers – they were AMAZING! We used blush and wine colors to bring the fall vibe to our reception. Gray linens with ivory cheese cloth table runners really made it romantic, along with those chandeliers. Our guests also loved the food – especially the beef. 6 months later and they are still talking about it!
Eliza’s Wedding Dress Search
I went to two bridal boutiques in downtown Chicago (where my parents live) and ‘my dress’ was the first one I tried on at the second boutique. It was probably the 5th dress that I tried on. My mom and my best friend were with me and I showed them some pinterest photos of flowy, ethereal dresses that I liked… I scrolled down to my first pin from 8 years ago of a fitted wedding dress with big ruffles and made a joke about how much my style had changed. Sure enough we saw a dress that looked pretty similar to that first pinterest wedding dress, so I had to try it on. I got all the feels! I never thought I would choose a fitted dress but it was so stunning and I just didn’t want to take it off! The fabric of this dress is so flexible it hugged my body perfectly and the ruffle and lace details matched my romantic wedding theme I was going for.
How She Felt In Her Lazaro Wedding Dress
Stunning, sexy, romantic
Why She’s Selling Her Wedding Gown
My mom kept her wedding dress for years, and just threw it out when she moved because it was all faded yellow and we both knew I was never going to wear it. We really didn’t see much value in keeping mine. The thought of someone else loving this dress as much as I did warms my heart! Plus I didn’t need to get any alterations (besides the hem) because the fabric of this dress is so flexible. I think it can mold to lots of different body types.
