Real Bride Spotlight: Lindsey

Updated: Mar 13, 2020

After a magical proposal at Edward's Point in Chattanooga, TN, Lindsey and Nate exchanged vows before family and friends. Read more about their fun wedding day below!

Nate and I met at the University of Iowa in the winter of 2014 when we were at the same apartment party one weekend. We basically met through a friend, of a friend, of a friend…and the group was playing a card game called Killer Bunnies that night (which we now own today). It was the classic “we caught each others eyes across the room” type thing, Nate decided to make some moves, and they worked!

Phone numbers were exchanged, and the next week was the first official date. The first date included dinner, old fashioneds and darts, and listening to Miles Davis on vinyl. The dates continued, and we made it “official” after Puppy Bowl XI that year.

Nate and I both moved to Tennessee in June 2015 for work; unfortunately at that time in different cities (Chattanooga and Knoxville). The first week after Nate moved to Chattanooga, we took a hike on the Cumberland trail and found a gorgeous, rocky overlook with an amazing view of the river and valley below (which we now know is Edward’s Point). We agreed that one day, we absolutely had to return at some point in the fall when the leaves had changed to have a little picnic on the overlook.

A year later, I moved to Chattanooga for a new job…and on October 15th, we took that hike to the overlook…and Nate had been plotting the proposal. When we reached the overlook, Nate popped the question, and I honestly just kissed him and forgot to say "yes", so we kind of had to clarify that later! Nate had a friend hike ahead of us, take pictures, and bring wine and cheese for us (the wine was the same wine I was drinking the night we met).

Our wedding theme was FUN. We had burgers grilled on the back patio of the venue, had flower men instead of flower girls and wanted the dancing to start as soon as possible. We were married early in the afternoon and the party continued well after midnight!

The band really added to our fun theme. The Coveralls made seamless transitions between our recorded music during dinner and band breaks into their songs. We had so many compliments on how fun (and amazing) the band was!

Our colors were navy, emerald green, sunshine yellow and grey. The groomsmen wore grey suits (not necessarily the same shade) and the bridesmaids picked a color or found dresses with multiple colors. We had a large, paper cone backdrop behind us in the Church on Main that had all of our main colors (blue, yellow, green and white) in an anthropology-inspired vibe. The flowers picked up on the colors as well - Creekside Flower Farm in Chattanooga did an amazing job.

My favorite memory was getting to see Nate for our first look. I could tell that he was nervous/anxious…and he immediately lightened up after we were able to see each other. After that he and I just could not stop smiling.

Dress shopping was one of the first things I wanted to take care of. I did a shopping trip closer to my hometown, so I met my mother and a bunch of friends in Indianapolis one weekend…and they all spent the day while I tried on a bunch of dresses. I fell in love with one of the dresses I tried on there, but decided against getting that dress…for some reason it just did not seem to be the dress I wanted.

After I got back home to Chattanooga, I ended up looking up dress shops nearby that had more dresses from the same designer (Eddy K), who made that dress that I had loved in Indianapolis, and this is how I ended up at Wedding Angels.

I loved my dress because of all of the sparkles and bling…it honestly made me smile every time I put it on. I ended up going to Wedding Angels on my own. I had the big shopping experience and it involved a lot of other opinions thrown at me. I needed a trip where it was just myself and my own opinions about the dress.

I tried on this Eddy K dress and loved it instantly…I was going back and forth between the Eddy K and another dress…until Ellen was finally like “Really?! I think we both know which one you love!” I bought my sparkly dress that day!