River House Wedding | Heather & Sean

Heather and Sean’s River House wedding was exactly what they wanted it to be…one heck of a party! These two are the best kind of people in this world and their big day proved that. Their friends and family surrounded them with incredible support, love, and some wild dance moves. It’s rare that we get to see guests of all ages breaking it down on the dance floor well into the evening, but Heather and Sean’s wedding day was certainly reason enough to keep the party going!

Heather and Sean knew that River House in Saint Augustine was the venue for them almost immediately. They had a few venue tours scheduled on the same day, but after seeing River House they couldn’t get the place out of their heads. Sean always tells people that he knew the River House was right for them because when they walked in Heather immediately looked at him and smiled like she could see them being married there. Good call, Sean! The cool thing about these two is that they decided to take their color scheme to a new level compared to the examples given by the venue. Lots of muted colors were popular, but Heather and Sean went with teal and coral to really make the venue pop and play off the river behind it. We always tell our couples to follow their guts when it comes to decisions in the planning process, and these two are a fabulous example!

Don’t forget the cutest groomsman of all…Heather and Sean’s beautiful dog, Maverick! We absolutely love when our couples incorporate their furry friends in their big day.

Heather and Sean wanted to keep their ceremony sweet and simple. They also knew emotion would probably take over if they exchanged personal vows during their ceremony, so they opted for a first touch. During their first touch Heather and Sean exchanged letters that contained their personal vows to each other and got to have a few moments alone to chat without seeing each other before the aisle.

Heather said,

We decided a while back we wanted to exchange personal vows but not read them out loud during our ceremony. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it through reading mine to him without bawling my eyes out so we decided to keep them private and write them in letters to each other. That letter and the vows are now one of my most treasured possessions and I’m glad I have a hard copy of them to always look back on.

Sean said,

I also thought the first touch was great. Not having any communication or seeing her that day was difficult but special. When we did get to speak it was amazing. We read the letters we wrote to each other and the vows that we would keep just between us.

Heather’s favorite moment of the day happened coming down the aisle at the start of the ceremony.

While I absolutely loved the entire day/night one of my favorite memories was seeing his face when the doors opened for me to walk down the aisle. This may seem cliche, but there was an on-going bet about whether or not he would cry. I didn’t think he would because he is normally really good at keeping his emotions under control and keeping a composed look. So seeing him get a little emotional was special and something I’ll never forget.

Sean’s favorite moment happened coming back down the aisle after!

My absolute favorite part was walking down the aisle together as husband and wife. We walked down the aisle and stopped at the end of the rows of chairs and kissed my wife again. After a second we got to see our ring bearer (our dog) running by us as fast as he can up the stairs and wanted to give kisses and hugs to both of us. His way of saying congratulations.

That moment at the end of the aisle post “I do” is also one of our favorites!

THESE TWO JUST COULD NOT BE ANY CUTER TOGETHER! That’s all we kept saying all day.

Shout out to Heather’s sister who wins the Maid of Honor of the Year Award! She was always right behind us ready to hold a bouquet or fluff a dress. Heather and Sean did a wonderful job picking people to stand beside them at their River House wedding that wanted to help and make sure their day went smoothly!

A cool moment happened when we stole Heather and Sean away from their reception to do some night photos. We all got outside and stopped to look in at the reception. Every single guest was standing in a big circle with their arms around each other dancing to “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks while Heather and Sean weren’t even in the room! The two of them got a chance to just stop and take in the beauty of all of their loved ones celebrating THEIR LOVE. It was that moment we always tell our couples to look out for…where they get to press pause on their wedding day and carve a picture into their mind of what it looked and felt like.

Heather and Sean decided to end their River House wedding reception with an emotional and private last dance. This is a wonderful way to work a quiet moment into your day that allows time for just the two of you to soak it all in. It ended up being another favorite moment for both of them! Sean told us it was an indescribable moment.

Heather pointed out,

Looking back on what I wrote, it seems my favorite memories are the moments where Sean and I had a few minutes to ourselves to take everything in. Everyone tells you your wedding day will fly by and they are not wrong, but these moments between him and I seemed to make things slow down a little bit!

Heather and Sean’s advice for couples planning their wedding now is,

My advice to brides planning now is to plan early. Book everything you can book early and be done with it. We waited to book some of our vendors (due to my school schedule) and it was like a constant cloud hanging over my head. Another piece of advice is to figure out what is most important to you and worry about those, then have your bridal party/family/vendors help with the rest, that’s what they are there for! There were certain things we didn’t care about (table cloth colors for example… I still can’t tell you what color they were) so we turned that decision over to the venue and our coordinator

LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!

There are a ton of decisions that go into making your big day perfect, make the ones that are important to you and your spouse but realize it is okay for the people you have selected to help you with your day to actually help you!

Heather and Sean’s River House wedding was everything a wedding should be. Beautiful, emotional, filled with love, and (most importantly) a celebration of the commitment of two people. Mr. & Mrs. Green, you are clearly so adored by everyone who knows you and we can’t wait to watch you take the world by storm together!

All the ♥, Sierra & Cat