I'm soooooo excited to post my first #WCW Wedding Crush Wednesday couple of 2016 as Mr. & Mrs. Korcel. Christie is extended family, sister of my sister-in-law and I was honored to sit down with her and her husband, Brent, to talk about their beautiful Destination Wedding. With the two both residing in Northern Virginia, they decided to get married in Pawleys Island, SouthCarolina, a place special and dear to them. The two make a beautiful couple and have plans to own their first home together within this year. Brent works with landscape design and Christie is a sales representative for a kitchen and bath tile distributor. The two want to take some time to enjoy their newlywed life and hope to start the expansion of their family with a puppy. Please take a moment to read about this awesome couple and their wedding experience.
How and where did you two meet?
"At first we were lying about it to people and said that we met through a mutual friend." -Christie
"It just happened to be a dating website mutual friend." -Brent
"Yeah, we met on Plenty of Fish and went on a date. We met during happy hour at Coastal Flats, in Fairfax. We picked a very crowded place so nothing sketchy was going down. I didn't feel comfortable about the whole online dating thing. We met there, had a couple of drinks and it turned into a 6 hour date." -Christie
"It was about 3 and half years ago on August 16th." -Brent
"I think we'll always think of the day we met as our anniversary versus our wedding." -Christie
How long were you dating before you got engaged?
"It was about 2 1/2 years." -Brent
How did you know she was the one?
"We joke about this, but we first knew on our first date. We didn't hold back on any of the questions. It went from family, to religion, to work, to future. We went through everything and it just seemed like we connected. I think we both walked away from that date knowing that this was going to be something special." -Brent
"My sister was obnoxious about it. I would post something up on Facebook like a picture of a salad or what I was having for dinner and she would say, 'Oh is there is a ring in there?’ Every opportunity she could, she would ask him, 'When are you going to propose? When are you going to propose? I think he was holding off for that." -Christie
"Yeah, I think that was a little frustrating because I always knew, but I thought there was a waiting time. I don't know why, I guess I'm just a little more traditional and I wanted to surprise her. I was always thinking about trying to create the moment where she wouldn't expect it." -Brent
How did you propose?
"I did it in the fall right before Thanksgiving because I knew I wanted her and I to be around family the following weekend to be able to celebrate and just enjoy the new family we were going to become. I kind of reserved her Friday by telling her that my boss was going to take us to a play at the Kennedy Center. I figured that way she wouldn't book anything else on that Friday and she wasn't busy. That Friday, I sent her flowers at her office saying that there was no play, but that I was taking her away for the weekend and so when she got home she had to pack a bag. I didn't tell her where so she just had to get in the car and go. We got home, packed, and drove out to Middleburg. I rented a little cottage at Good Stone Inn. I had the dinner set up and everything. I ended up coordinating with a couple of people at the Inn and I did it in front of the fireplace outside of the restaurant. I told her I wanted a picture in front of the fireplace so we took one and I told her I didn't like that one and that I wanted to take another one. During the second picture I got down on one knew and asked her to marry me."- Brent
Wedding Date: October 17, 2015
Outside Ceremony & Reception: Heritage Plantation, Pawleys Island, South Carolina.
Approximate expense: The Bride & Groom's parents covered the expenses, so the couple is unaware of the actual expense.
Color Scheme: White, Grey, & Coral with Silver and Magnolia (leaves) as accents
Where did you get inspiration from for your color scheme?
"I really liked Magnolia leaves so I wanted to incorporate that. I didn't really want to incorporate any other greenery, just have the leaves. I didn't really want any color in the flowers because I'm picky and I know myself. I felt like the florist couldn't go wrong with all white flowers. I just wanted whatever was in season. I chose grey for my bridesmaids because I felt like that was the best decision because all of my bridesmaids were different sizes and I wanted to pick a color that each girl could buy their own dress and feel comfortable in. It worked out really well. There were all different shades of grey. We decided that we wanted a pop of color so all the guys wore coral colored bow ties. Brent found this lady on Etsy that hand makes bowties, so they each had different patterns and shades of coral bowties. Lastly, his mom asked me if I wanted to use this silver platter that used to be her mother's. She used it in her wedding and then Brent's sister, Katrina, used it in her wedding as well. I said definitely and she brought it out and it was this beautiful antique silver place setting tray. The gears started turning and I decided to do all the centerpieces in silver and the accents in silver." -Christie
Did Brent help with the planning or did he just say 'you do it all and I'll just show up'?
"He helped 100%. There were definitely times where I was like 'Why do you even care, why do you even care about this shade of coral?' He was a tremendous help." -Christie
"Sometimes I went too far in and I didn't want to, but I just wanted to make sure she was ok." -Brent
What caused the most stress while planning?
"The biggest stress for me was trying to make sure that these girls felt beautiful and looked beautiful. It took me like four months to try to figure it out. I finally decided ok, pick out a long dress, any shade of grey, no strapless, and send me a picture before you get it." -Christie
"The most stressful part for me was trying to keep Christie sane. We didn't hire a wedding planner so Christie was doing everything herself. I was trying to help when and where I could. I just wanted to take some stress off of her because without a wedding planner, that stuff really piled on her quickly. It all came together great, but I was trying to keep her calm and as stress-free as I could." -Brent
"I think we also had a mutual stress, which was the 'Rain Plan'. We didn't really have a rain plan. We started freaking out about that and our guest list because the place where we got married only allowed about 140 people." – Christie
What was the most helpful while planning?
"I would say the internet is almost too overwhelming. It's great to get a bunch of ideas, but if you're not organized with categorizing and filtering your ideas then it can become overwhelming. I liked looking through magazines and cutting them up. I have a push-pin-board that I put up on the wall where I can see everything. Every now and then I would take a step back and see everything together and I would decide if I liked a certain color or pattern together. That worked well for me." - Christie
What was your best memory of the day?
"My happiest memory was actually seeing her come out of the mansion. I hadn't seen her all day and I didn't know what she was going to look like. I kind of envisioned it, but nothing could have prepared me for that moment. Luckily everyone was facing her because my eyes starting watering." -Brent
"It's hard to just pick one, but I'll start with the groom. Everyone kept saying 'Are you nervous?' 'Do you have that butterfly feeling in your stomach?' and I was just ready to see him. I wasn't nervous at all. I wanted to just get the day started and see him and have fun. That was a great moment and obviously seeing my father too." -Christie
What was your worst memory of the day?
"I would say that the entire reception went by entirely too fast. I felt like we were rushed. I know they always say that, but nothing can really prepare you for that. We missed out on some things or didn't get to say hi to some people and there was just not enough time." -Brent
"Yeah I would agree. Nobody really prepares you for that. If I was to tell another bride, I would say, 'be prepared to have the most 1-minute conversations of your entire life.’ You almost feel like you're rude by the end of it because you start realizing like, oh I didn't get to say hi to that person or only talked to them for 30 seconds. Everyone always understands, but I agree with Brent, it just went by way too fast." - Christie
Was you wedding day everything you expected?
"It was definitely everything I expected. I wouldn't change a thing about the day. The only thing different is that I would hire a videographer." -Christie
"It's funny because I had done 3-D modeling of the venue while planning. I kind of had a visualization of how things were going to go. I was trying to incorporate all of Christie's ideas. When it actually came down to it and I saw everything come together in real life; all of Christie's ideas were above and beyond what I could've imagined. Seeing it all just blew me away. Seeing how beautiful Christie was, I couldn't imagine that and seeing how beautiful the venue had become was just breath-taking." -Brent
Are there any pictures that you wish your photographer would have captured, but didn't?
"I told our photographer that we didn't want to do the big reveal or anything like that, but Brent and I had discussed another idea. Looking at the mansion, where we got married, there is a balcony off the bridal suite upstairs. I wanted to be standing on the top balcony and have him on the bottom, so we could kind of be looking at each other, but not really. Unfortunately we were kind of rushed with make-up and getting ready that we weren't able to capture that shot." -Christie
"Another one was this picture that we wanted in the cocktail area with the Victorian chairs and chandelier. We wanted a nice picture with just us, but because the reception went by so fast we never got a chance to get that picture." -Brent
What was your most wasteful purchase in regards to planning your wedding?
"I completely forgot to wear my veil. I didn't realize until the end of the night when someone mentioned it to me. I think that was pretty much the only thing because everything else we made use of." -Christie
What is the best advice you would give to someone else planning their wedding?
"Don't lose focus about what the day is actually about. There were definitely times that I got caught up with something like the font on the menu card, but at the end of the day it really doesn't even matter. Brent would bring me back to reality on that stuff, but I would just say just enjoy the engagement period. It can be very rushed and once you are engaged and after you're married, you're rushed to have children. I would just say take the time to enjoy each other and be very frugal with the money, because it also goes very fast." -Christie
"I would say to really sit down with your future bride and really focus on the guest list. Spend a lot of time on that because that determines your number, which determines your venue, food, budget, and a lot of things overall. I know I ended up inviting a lot of people that I knew wouldn't come, but it took up guest space that could have been applied for closer friends and family." -Brent
Thank you for taking the time to read this week's Wedding Crush Wednesday post and I hope you stay tuned for more tips, guidance, advice, and pure wedding entertainment. Please take a moment to check out some of the great vendors this couple used to make their dream wedding possible.
Vendor Credit:
Photographer | Lindsey Thorne
Florist | Denise at Greenskeeper Florist
Decor Rentals | Melissa & Joe at Event Works Rentals
Hair & Make-up | Beautiful Salon & Spa
Dress (designer) | Romona Keveza
Bowties | Tangled Ties on Etsy
Caterer | Heritage Plantation
HAPPY PLANNING FOLKS!!!