Leah + Austen Fearrington Wedding - Fearrington Wedding Planner

To say I love this couple is an understatement!! Leah and Austen could not have been a more genuine and sweet couple. I knew Leah and I were a match when I met with her and her wonderful mom to discuss planning and she said she wanted pink and gold glitter in a barn. Um, yes!!!

Austen and I met in class at the University of North Carolina. The summer before my junior year, I was living with one of my closest girlfriends, and we both decided to pick up a summer session class at the last minute. The stars must have aligned to make us choose that class, I swear. Austen and I were randomly paired up for a partner project in that very class. We had both noticed one another earlier in the semester–he sat diagonally to my front left–but hadn’t talked that much, and after the project was done, we didn’t go out of our way to stay in touch. He was always just the cute, funny guy from class. We’d see each other out and about around Chapel Hill, but that was it. Or so I thought–apparently, he’d called his mom at the start of the class to tell her about “a pretty girl who wears sweatpants to class.” Ha! I never thought my casual attire for early morning classes would be a good thing! A few weeks after our fall semester classes started, Austen got in touch with me to give me a hard time about my favorite football team. I’m a Green Bay Packers fan, and he pulls for their conference rival, the Minnesota Vikings. After some banter back and forth, he finally asked me for my number, and our “first date” was a trip to the grocery store in his old Jeep Wrangler. I was officially hooked!What is the one detail or vendor that you were so happy to have as a part of your wedding? There are two that I just couldn’t have gone without–Erin of Erin McLean Events and Nancy of Nancy Ray Photography. Originally, my mom and I thought that since we had a year and half to plan the wedding, we could handle it without a coordinator. Wrong! Planning a wedding is a full-time job, and hiring Erin literally took every ounce of stress out of it. I work for Southern Bride & Groom, a local wedding planning magazine, and I found Erin through their vendor recommendations, and thank goodness for that! I truly enjoyed the entire process, and I would do it again and again if I could have Erin by my side! She came up with absolutely wonderful ideas, sweet details, and took care of everything, while being honest about what details we should and shouldn’t skip to help our budget. My maid of honor introduced me to Nancy Ray’s blog right after Austen and I got engaged. I fell in love with her sweet story, her business ideals, and of course, her gorgeous photography. Nancy and her husband (who was also her second shooter!) also got married at Fearrington (in the rain, too!) so I knew they’d have beautiful ideas for our wedding photography. They captured our wedding day so perfectly–every time I look at the photographs, I relive every detail, and that’s something I will absolutely treasure forever. Not to mention, she’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met!