Our Wedding. — mary morgan gentry

Charles and I got married on June 1, 2019 at my family farm in Franklin, Tennessee. It was the most perfect day- 75 Degrees in June and nothing but blue skies. We had just immediate family and a few cousins for flower girls. We both have such large families and know so many people, this was the best option for us and we cherish this day for its simplicity.

The night before the wedding I stayed with a couple of friends at Sweeney Cottage, a White’s Room and Board property in Leiper’s Fork. It was such a special night and morning. I worked for White’s Mercantile at the time and Owner Holly Williams left me a beautiful wedding present (a champagne bowl) from The Registry. The ladies of The Registry also left me a gift card and their well wishes. I love my downtown Franklin friends. The next morning we had coffee with HFD half and half, naturally. Thank you Tanner for making it such a memorable time. I stitched our initials in to the lining of my dress for “Something Blue”. My best friend from college brought us to go Iced Coffees and pastries to enjoy and then I headed over to the farm. We set everything up for the day and my grandfather kept everyone in line while driving around on his golf cart. We tied linen like ribbon from the branches of the trees and collected a few pews from all over the farm to make our ceremony area. My dad proposed to my mom under this tree and now a swing hangs there.

I got ready at my grandfather’s house in my dad’s old bedroom. My friend Tanner did my hair and my sister did my make-up. I wore Charles’ late grandmothers pearl earrings for my “Something Old.” Katie, my other best friend from college, came to take video and I am so glad she did.

I thought I would be super emotional as the ceremony approached but I was just so excited. It was so fun to watch Charles and Charles’ family arrive from the upstairs window. By the time I walked down the stairs to see my dad I was just so excited to get the ceremony going that I didn’t cry at all. I take that back, a few tears came to my eye as I walked down the aisle as I saw Charles and all of our family, but other than that it was pure happiness. My cousins children and our nieces and nephew served as flower girls and ring bearers. We walked down to ‘Blue Sky’ by the Allman Brothers (Charles’ choice) and it was the perfect song for such a beautiful day. My flowers are by Charles’ cousin, Devon of Belles and Buttercups.

My dad performed our ceremony. My sweet grandfather read scripture and Charles’ dad said a beautiful prayer that I really want to print and frame.

We had asked our nephew if he wanted to be our ring bearer and if he wanted to stand up front with Charles and he told us “I just want to watch from the audience.” So it was a total surprise to see him standing up there when I walked out, but I am so glad he did. It was really sweet to see him peek around Charles every once in a while through the ceremony.

We had a cocktail hour after the wedding and took pictures. We brought Cades Cove Winery Cabernet back from our annual Townsend trip and served it at the wedding. The vintage cocktail napkins with “drinking chickens” where my grandmothers and I had to include them. My brother served as “bartender” and brought us drinks while we took pictures. The kids loved playing for a little bit and Hatcher bought his own keyboard for entertainment.

We then sat down to a beautiful dinner by Frothy Monkey. They so kindly offered to do our dinner because of the Hatcher’s long relationship with them (They use Hatcher Family Dairy milk and all of their location). Chef Chase made Brisket with Gentry Farm beef, Scallop Potatoes with Hatcher Family Dairy Cream, roasted veggies, Frothy Monkey Bakery bread. I picked up a Dessert Designs Firefly Cake the day before the wedding (Pound Cake with a layer of Chocolate truffle dripping in Caramel Icing) and everyone still talks about it. If you haven’t had one of Dessert Designs Cakes, you need to stop in to their Nashville shop ASAP. The napkins are a collection of from my grandmothers linen collection.

We did not honeymoon, we just enjoyed time in our new home (we moved in the weekend before) and we wouldn’t trade it for anything. And Charles had to milk cows the next day, so it was back to farm life.

Special thanks to our families for all they did to make the day so special. Here are a few more photos and credits below!

Much Love,

Mary Morgan