Jackie's Wedding Planning Journey - Why I Chose Savannah

Savannah, Georgia is an incredibly popular city for destination weddings. I have met people who have traveled from all over the United States to have their dream wedding here in this southern city. I am lucky to live in such as city - there are so many vendors and sites to choose from. however my decision to get married here was not one I took lightly.

I was born and raised in Bradenton, FL. My entire family lives there, and were also born and raised in or near Bradenton. We are members of First Presbyterian Church, where Rev. Jack Wolfe married my Mother and Father in 1974. Rev. Wolfe also baptized me there in 1983 shortly after I was born. My grandfather passed away in January 2007, and was laid to rest in the memorial garden on the church grounds that my father designed and landscaped. With so much history it always seemed like that church was meant for my wedding. I must say sitting here writing all this down is making me tear up just a bit thinking about home!

The choice between Savannah and Bradenton was difficult on many levels, but a decision had to be made. For starters I tried very hard to be realistic and to put things into perspective. I occasionally get a tad over-emotional. Although grew up in Bradenton, Rev. Wolfe has since passed away, the congregation has gone through 3 pastors - none of whom know me - and I have lived here in Savannah for almost 4 years. Matt and I both work full time and Matt does not have a lot of vacation. Moreover, Matt and I - at the time I was choosing a location for the wedding - had recently decided that we really loved it here and were starting to house hunt. Our wedding would be the perfect opportunity for our families to come to Savannah and truly share this experience in a city that we have grown to love and are planning to make our home.

Once Matt and I decided we would like to have the wedding here, I knew I needed the approval of my mother and my grandmother. I spoke to my mom first, explained our situation and, to my surprise, she was thrilled to come to Savannah. She completely agreed to it as long as we had it in the summer! She is a teacher and has all summer off so I completely agreed. I really wanted her to feel like she could still help me plan and take care of things even though we weren’t going to be in Bradenton. I reminded her that we needed to talk to “Vovo”, my grandmother, before we made it official; and was so pleased when my grandmother had the same reaction. Both were so excited and both have still been highly involved in the planning even though it is a destination wedding for them.

Planning this wedding in Savannah has been better than I imagined. There are so many amazing wedding vendors in Savannah and everyone practices the "Southern Hospitality" that one would expect. It also doesn’t hurt that I work for an event coordinator. Tricia and Ainsley have been irreplaceable when it has come to helping make some key decisions about the wedding. They have worked with so many of the vendors, and having seen how they interact with brides they have been able to help me pick the best vendors for my personality.

Now that I’m about half way through my planning I couldn’t imagine having my wedding anywhere but Savannah.