I’ve got another wedding chockfull of love and details to share with you today! This one is decidedly modern and peacock inspired from Jared Rey Photography!! Fun :) I’m loving the vibrant and happy bride in her gorgeous wedding dress, the glorious ceremony setting, the beautiful, rustic table settings with green tulle bows on the chairs, the brilliant pops of teal and smattering of peacock feathers throughout, the mismatched bridesmaids dresses, and the amazing coffee bean favors that are a direct representation of a love story as sweet as the buttercream on their wedding cake. Take a peek! The bride offers some really fabulous and stellar advice too, so be sure not to miss out on that!

Brooke and Jordan met at a bible study. When he first asked her out, Brooke was a little skeptical so she invited him over while she roasted coffee for her clients (she owns a coffee roasting company). They wound up having great conversation over the smell of roasted coffee and never really looked back since. As a caveat, they now co-own the business and Jordan roasts for Well Coffee even more than she does!

Their next two dates after the coffee roasting were what sealed the deal for Brooke. Jordan was sold a little earlier on, but thankfully, had enough courage and confidence to continue to pursue her even though she put him off and kept her guard up for a while. But his steadfast pursuit won her heart, something he continues to do to this day. Even though they are now married, Brooke says that Jordan has never stopped pursuing her. We hope he never does.

Their first kiss was at sunset at the highest point off White Rock Lake in Dallas. The point faces west, so you can sit there and see the sun go all the way down. Brooke remembers it as the most beautiful and perfect evening.

They both knew very early on that there was something special between them. Jordan wrote Brooke a poem just about a month after they started dating and in it he expressed his love for her. It was simple yet profoundly vulnerable and she admired his step of faith for opening up to her and inviting her into that love. She told him she loved him that night too and has been telling him every day since.

When it came time to propose, Jordan took Brooke back to the place at White Rock Lake where they’d had their first kiss. It was sunset and he handed her a letter. They’d exchanged many letters throughout their courtship, so it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Or so Brooke thought. As she began reading the letter, she immediately realized what it was leading up to. She looked up to find Jordan on bended knee. Surprised, she said, “It’s happening now?!” He got out the ring and she exclaimed, “yes…a thousand times yes.” A few minutes later, his cousin and her brother emerged from the surrounding wooded areas (dressed in full camouflage). They had been photographing and videotaping the scene the entire time :):):) I hope someone will do that for me someday.

{From the Bride} We wanted our wedding to be low on the stress and to be a blessing for everyone involved and everyone who attended. I didn’t make my bridesmaids go out and buy some dress they will never wear again and Jordan’s groomsmen didn’t have to rent anything. My gift to the lovely women that stood by my side were peacock feather earrings. I just told them to find a solid color dress they liked or currently owned that went with the earrings. The array of colors turned out to be beautiful and all complimentary. Jordan’s guys had the option of black or gray suits and Jordan bought them all ties which were the color of his Scottish plaid. We incorporated a lot of Jordan’s Scottish heritage into our wedding – local bagpiper, Jimmy Mitchell, played while I walked down the aisle (and during our recessional), we had a stamp made of the Ramsay Scottish Crest with our wedding date and we stamped all of the bags of coffee we gave away as wedding favors and all of his groomsmen wore the Scottish plaid ties.

For whatever reason, I got on a peacock feather kick before the wedding so that was incorporated throughout the design of our wedding too – they are simple, colorful, inexpensive and beautiful to accent with. I even wore one in my hair!! The cool thing about peacock feathers is that you can use them as accents and unlike some accent colors that seem a little obtrusive and can be overkill, they are very elegant, beautiful but remain unobtrusive no matter how many of them are lying around. It was fun to include them in the flower arrangements.

My favorite two moments were: when I started to walk down the aisle and got my first glimpse of Jordan wearing his Army uniform. It was a surprise to me – I thought he was going to rent a tux. I was shocked that once again he got away with surprising me (I was hard to surprise before Jordan) and I loved marrying this handsome man in uniform! My second favorite moment was reading him my vows. We both wrote our vows. I rehearsed mine over and over and when it came time, I thought I would be a twinge nervous, but instead I was just so excited to express to him with words all that I felt for him among this crowd of people we love as witnesses. It was a beautiful moment. I framed them for him later – more as a reminder for me to have in our home of the things I committed to that day. Every day until we die will be living out what I said in just a few words.

We had a blast at our wedding and at the same time had some incredibly meaningful moments where time stood still. It was the perfect mix. Our first dance was to “You are the Best Thing” by Ray Lamontagne. We also did something unique and had a special dance after the Mother-Son/Father-Daughter dances, where we had all of our family out on the dance floor to “We are Family” by Sister Sledge. We both have fun families that like to dance so after we all tore it up – we invited everyone else to the dance floor and people continued dancing until long after Jordan and I had left the building!

I didn’t know or expect that wedding planning can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it. Delegation is huge but most importantly it’s keeping the important things important every day and not letting the urgent things run your life. Jordan and I planned our wedding in three months and it was beautiful! We still had date nights each week and were very intentional to still invest in our people along the process, to take days of rest and to limit our time spent on planning so that it did not become a priority over the other things that are priority in our lives. We didn’t stress over a lot of the things that I had seen others stress over and we did a lot of things ourselves. We asked for help when we needed it and got to see a lot of people around us with different gifts and talents all come together to make it happen. As long as the focus remains on what the day represents and on the relationships around you, the day will surely be a beautiful one because people’s heart will be engaged. That means that I had to let go of “perfect” and be okay with “good enough is perfect” – a huge lesson for me. Everything worked out and the things that didn’t, I couldn’t have solved by worrying or fretting. I would always tell myself, “at the end of the day, we’ll be married and that’s all that matters to me.”

Oh, how I love this wedding and everything about the bride’s write up above. It’s completely possible to plan a GORGEOUS wedding in three months and stay sane at the same time. This wedding, this couple, proves that. What I love most is that they were completely committed to each other and date night during the planning process. It makes my heart super happy to hear that :) Congratulations, Brooke and Jordan! We wish you both so much love and luck in the years ahead of you and thank you so much for sharing your love story with all of us. A very special thank you also to Jared Rey for sharing their gorgeous day with us today! xoxo