What happens when two dentists from New Jersey fall in love? They have a gorgeous, romantic southern wedding at one of the coolest venues in Savannah! The couple met in dental school, are very down to earth and wanted a wedding that was intimate, and meaningful. It was also important to them that it combined her italian/irish and Catholic family with his Jewish family. Since weddings in New Jersey tend to be big and crazy, they wanted to have a destination wedding, and Savannah was their first road trip together, so it was the perfect pick!

Marianne + Michael both love details. From family photos sprinkled throughout to the DIY dessert table décor to the tooth cake toppers (just wait…) inspired by their love story that began in dental school, they were all about personalizing their venue. Even the location itself was a nod to their history—a road trip to Savannah from New Jersey was the first trip they ever took together. Thanks to photog Izzy Hudgins + Ivory and Beau—two pros our bride swears by—for sharing their day!

"We wanted a rustic venue and when we got to Old Fort Jackson, the vision came alive. We loved that we could make it our own and tailor it to our style. We brought in a lot of vintage furniture and set up the space to have a cocktail hour on the top platform. We then made the lawn area a space where people could play games. We had our guests transition to the covered pavilions for dinner/dancing. We wanted our guests to feel like they were in a different space during the cocktail hour/reception, but also feel comfortable playing games/spending time up on the deck/ or making s’mores later in the night if they didn’t want to dance."

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They had their ceremony in front of Forsyth Fountain, which is hands down our favorite spot in Savannah for a ceremony. The fountain is so classic, and so famously Savannah. Their Chuppah was amazing, Colonial House of Flowers did the best job! It was covered in lush greenery and flowers, and was really a show stopper. So many guests stopped and awed at it before sitting down, and countless pedestrians stopped and took pictures! They took portraits around Savannah, and Izzy Hudgins just captured everything perfectly. (She is hands down one of our favorite Photographers!)

The bride explains, " Izzy Hudgins was the first person I wanted to book. She is just such an amazing photographer. Not only is her work brilliant, but she is the sweetest. We were super nervous about feeling awkward while taking pictures, but after our engagement shoot, we couldn’t wait for our wedding. She makes you feel so at ease and captures the most intimate moments. She just knows what you want and delivers x1000."

One of the most important things to the couple were flowers and food. Marianne envisioned her flowers to be lush, natural, and filled with garden roses, peonies and ranunculus. The reception had garlands that cascaded down the large farm tables, and lush arrangements around the space. They chose Old Fort Jackson, which is a large venue with so much for guests to do. They utilized the space by having cocktail hour on the second story, which overlooks the marsh. This way guests really got to explore the historic space! Their reception took place under a pavilion, allowing guests to eat at long farm tables and really mingle. Their dance floor was lit by cafe lights, and they danced the night away! Thrive provided amazing food, that really made these foodies happy. Not only did they have a delicious cake (salted caramel and chocolate buttercream, yum!) but they had mini pies, cookies, macarons and the cutest cake topper ever, teeth! This couple was so sweet and so fun to work with!