1. Real Weddings

Diane & Scott: A Traditional Wedding in Decatur, GA

Puppy love brought Diane and Scott together when her cocker spaniel, Angel, and Scott’s Labrador, Cooper, took a liking to each other in the courtyard

Puppy love brought Diane and Scott together when her cocker spaniel, Angel, and Scott’s Labrador, Cooper, took a liking to each other in the courtyard at their apartment complex in college. Scott admits he would crack his blinds so that when Diane and her cocker spaniel walked by, his Labrador would bark to go outside. “Cooper never had to twist Scott’s arm, though!” Diane says. The Bride Diane Cooley, 24, art teacher The Groom Scott Boren, 25, lumber sales associate The Date July 8 After dating for three years, Scott proposed to Diane while the two were stargazing -- using a stand-in ring that he had bought at Wal-Mart that day (the custom-made ring he’d ordered hadn’t arrived yet). “Although it was an improvised proposal, it was perfect,” Diane says.

Diane chose strapless, dark green, knee-length dresses accented with chartreuse sashes by Watters & Watters for her bridesmaids. To keep things comfortable, the bridesmaids wore their own shoes for the ceremony.
Diane bought dark metal pillar candle holders and candles in various sizes, which she grouped and placed on half of the tables. For the other tables Diane and her mother used old milk bottles from Diane’s grandfather’s dairy farm, and filled them with black river stones and glass beads with mango calla lilies. To bring in the green, Diane’s grandmother made green fabric squares for underneath each centerpiece.
Diane and Scott’s cake was a four-tiered yellow cake covered with white buttercream frosting, wrapped with a green grosgrain ribbon, and topped with various green flowers. The groom’s cake was all chocolate and covered with chocolate shavings and strawberries.
The DJ played “Walk With You” by Dispatch for the couple’s first dance (Diane and Scott went to a Dispatch concert on one of their first dates). “The words are very meaningful to Scott and me,” Diane says.
Scott complemented his gray vest and tie with a simple orange calla lily pinned to his lapel.
Diane used a leaf theme for the reception decor. Instead of a guest book, she cut out paper leaves and had guests write their best wishes and then pin the notes to a live tree in the entryway. Later, she created a handmade book filled with the leaf notes as a remembrance of the day.
As soon as they were engaged, Diane set to making 200 ceramic plates, which she pressed and shaped like peace lily leaves and then stamped with the wedding day design. She glazed each one with a green alligator glaze and tied them with a tea candle, as favors for her guests. The ceramic plate favors were attractively packaged in natural ivory boxes tied with white ribbon and a sprig of rosemary (a symbol for fidelity).
Diane and Scott were married at Peachtree Baptist Church, a very familiar and special sanctuary to many of her family members -- Diane’s grandparents were members there, and her parents had been married there 30 years prior.
Diane’s bouquet was a bundle of mango calla lilies (for the clean, elegant lines) surrounded by a ring of green orchids (because her father grows orchids) and wrapped with a white satin ribbon.