I’m just going to come right out and say that our wedding day was absolutely perfect. Not everyone gets to say that their wedding day went exactly how they envisioned for it to go, but here I am, 4 months later, still thinking about how grateful and blessed that I am that I had my dream wedding. It has all to do with the vendors that we chose, but without my dad there is no way we would’ve even been able to afford those vendors. We weren’t even going to try which is why we were originally only going to have an elopement ceremony. We didn’t feel like we were compromising or settling for something that we didn’t really want, so all was truly well (and affordable). Then one night my dad told me about how he felt about our plans - he was supportive, but at the same time he felt like marriage is something to be celebrated, so he really wanted us to have a reception. Me being the virgo that I am, I wasn’t down for having a reception that wasn’t going to look exactly how I wanted, and I wasn’t down for the added stress of essentially having to plan another event. My father being the man that he is, told me to do what I needed to do, don’t worry about the money, and to send him the numbers. That brings me to the first added expense, the reception venue.

We had our elopement ceremony at Avenue, located in downtown Greenville. It’s one of the only rooftop venues in the area so I felt it’d be perfect for my “Glam with a bit of Elegant and touch of Simple” theme. I got that from a quiz that I took on The Knot, and I’ll link it here for any of y’all that may have just gotten started with wedding planning. Anyway, there are a few reasons why we didn’t decide to hold our reception there. First and foremost, they’re expensive. We were looking at a minimum of $12,500 for a Saturday event, not including any of the decor. Also, considering the fact that just about everyone that was invited to the reception would not have been at the ceremony, I think we would’ve struggled with having a grand entrance. Lastly, parking would’ve been less than ideal. Either we would’ve had to pre-pay for everyone’s parking spots or they would’ve had to figure it out on their own and both options are just ugly to me.

Then there came the point when I reached out to the Hilton Greenville. I was just inquiring about pricing when they extended an invitation to a presentation that they had in partnership with A Touch Of Essence. When I tell y’all this was the absolute best thing I could’ve came across - the rental for the ballroom lasted all day, so the ceremony very well could have been included in the price (I was just set on the rooftop already). It also included 2-nights in one of their executive suites and a 5-hour block of time for one of their smaller gathering rooms (which is where my bridal shower was held). As far as the reception, it included all of the food, all of the decor, and we didn’t have to worry about setting up or breaking down any of it. We did have an open bar which was the only thing that wasn’t included, however, the total with everything still came out to less than what it would have been at Avenue.

Who I worked with at the Hilton was Hayley Jarrio, and her professionalism and flexibility made her an absolute pleasure to work with. As far as A Touch Of Essence, it is owned and ran by Essence Pugh. She’s a black woman that has absolutely perfected her craft and will truly turn your vision into a reality. Not just for weddings, but for baby showers, birthday parties, and other miscellaneous events. Definitely keep her and the partnership with the Hilton in mind if you are looking to get married in Greenville, SC.

I also wanted to mention that the floor wrap with our initials and the seating chart were not included with the package. Essence was gracious enough to do the floor wrap as a gift to us. So glad she did because I think the hardwood dance floor would have surely been an eyesore. The seating chart was fairly inexpensive, I think somewhere between $50 and $100. I honestly can’t remember the exact amount and can’t find the invoice for the life of me.

Essence is the reason why this next expense is even an expense to begin with. My original plan was to DIY all of our ceremony decor because I knew how expensive wedding florals can be. There is obviously no way that I could’ve made anything close to what Essence created for our reception, so I just let her do it all. Again, didn’t have to worry about the setting up and breaking down of any of it and it was cohesive with the decor for the reception. It did fall out of what was included in the package with the Hilton, so I ate the extra $1000 for that.

Avenue is the the kind of venue that you can get away with doing very minimal decor and still have a nice event. Essence did a total of 6 arrangements for our ceremony. Two large arrangements at the altar, two smaller arrangements on the inside of each row of chairs, and two more smaller arrangements at the very beginning of the aisle. As I’m typing this, I’m coming to the realization that I paid more for the flowers than we did for the entire elopement package. For $750, we got a 2-hour rental, an 8-inch cake, and champagne for a toast. If you’re hoping to elope, definitely check out this package that they offer. You’ll most likely be speaking with Rachael who is on site at Avenue and get to work with Jennifer who is another woman that’s amazing at what she does.

Jennifer plays an extremely important role in the planning and execution of that entire day. She’s the owner of Curated Elopements and Love This Little City, and the wedding coordinator that you work with when you book the elopement package at Avenue. Not sure if you guys can remember when I first started the “Planning Your Own Wedding” series, but the literal purpose was to be able to document how I went about planning a wedding without a planner or coordinator. I especially didn’t think that I needed one if we were only going to have a ceremony. Then Jennifer and I had our very first meeting and she was asking me questions about things that I didn’t even know I was supposed to be thinking about, so I instantly became very grateful for her. There was absolutely no way that I was going to plan a reception without her either, so she created the timeline for the entire day. She also gave us reminders on important things that we needed to get done, kept everything extremely organized, and took over all vendor communication the week of the wedding so I didn’t have to stress about anything. I can honestly say that I felt very minimal stress throughout the entire process thanks to her.

For the elopement, her rate was only $750, but once we tacked on the reception, we booked her full wedding coordination package for $2495. Very much worth it. I couldn’t have asked for a more attentive, organized, and professional person to help me out with such an important day!

I absolutely must mention the guys behind capturing the entire day! We hired Silo Media Group for photography and videography and I was super pleased with how everything turned out. The photos were wonderful quality and had that clean look to them that I was hoping for. As far as our cinematic recap video, it showed the true highlights from the ceremony and reception which I’m absolutely obsessed with. In addition to the almost 600 photos and the cinematic recap, we also received raw footage from the entire day. Their total fee was $3500.

I had someone shocked that my dad would pay that much for photography/videography. The way I looked at it was as an investment. You can make any venue look how you it to, can do as much food tasting as you want to put together a great menu, but you don’t get to test out a photographer (or unless they do your engagement photos). One of the most important things to me was having good quality memories to look back on so that’s not something I was looking for the cheap way out of.

The jars that you guys see pictured is what we decided to do for our dessert instead of a cake. Since we had a cake at the ceremony, it really wasn’t necessary to spend money on another. Plus, the whole process of me trying to figure out who to hire to do the cake just about gave me a gray hair.

My Aunt Shorhonda did the cheesecake jars and has actually opened her own shop in Hemingway, SC, Check her out here!

Now, an entire book later, let’s cut to the chase of what I REALLY wanted to show you guys - how CLEAN me and my baby were that day. Deion customized his suit at Men’s Wearhouse and I added my own little touch to an Enzoani dress that I found at Rashawn Rose Bridal in Miami. It had the detail that I wanted, the dramatic train that I needed, the only thing that it was missing was sleeves. So when I finally bought the dress, which was from La Raine’s Bridal Boutique in Atlanta, they referred me to Gizzelle James to do my alterations. All three places I would highly recommend - the only reason I didn't buy my dress from Rashawn Rose, which is black owned, is because I found the dress a month into our engagement and no one was ready to pay for it. Without the addition of the sleeves, my dress was $3,200. For Enzoani to make the sleeves, not even to attach them to the dress, plus tax, that put the total at around $4,200. I shit you not, my alterations cost $1000. This included attaching the sleeves to the dress and taking it in, so around $5,200 total for the dress. If it wasn’t for the reception, the dress would’ve been the highest expense.

I told my Dad I could choose another dress, but he insisted I get the one that I really want :) I strive to be a parent with that kind of energy.

It wasn’t a dress that needed to be dressed up, so I kept my accessories minimal. I bought my earrings, necklace, and shoes from Amazon, and I chose to wear a headpiece instead of a veil. I bought it from Pandora Bridal for a pretty little penny to be quite honest, but it was beautiful and from a black-woman owned shop so I was very happy about that.

Saved the best for last, of course … my hubby :))))))) His suit was 100% customized to his liking and I only gave my input when he asked. I really wasn’t trying to be a bridezilla, so I told him my only requirement was the color of his suit. It looked a little more gray than I hoped, but nonetheless it still looked great on him. He bought his shoes from Taft, got his Ankh pin and bow tie from Amazon, and we found his socks at this smoke shop in Greenville. I just knew I was about to have a full course meal waiting for me at the altar.

The morning of the March 6th I woke up dancing. I hadn’t gotten that much sleep, but I had so much energy. It looked like it was going to rain, but surprisingly I wasn’t concerned. By the time I left the hotel to go to the venue, it was sunny. Not once did I ever feel nerves or have the jitters, I was just so ready to see him and get married. When I say that everything was perfect, I mean it whole heartedly. I wouldn’t change a thing about that day.