Intimate Backyard Wedding in Arkansas

It must be quite quelling to realize that when you’re planning your wedding, you already have the ceremony and reception venue locked down. And not only that, but it’s gorgeous, spacious, and–huge bonus–your family home. Bride Hayley knew that it was a no-brainer to get hitched to her beau Toby on her parents’ sprawling land and have an intimate backyard wedding in Arkansas nestled in the Ozark Mountains. Since her move there during her junior high, fond memories were already widespread throughout the years and Hayley knew this would be the ultimate, beautiful family memory á la “Father of the Bride”. (Crying, yet?)

Photog Haley Hawn captured Hayley and Toby’s minimalist-style wedding in detail, and the details are resplendent, of which their big day continued on truly being a family affair. Haley’s sweet mom helped with all of the decor and Haley let her have free reign; we love her inclusion of the blue details and the travel pieces. To add, while the lovely blooms were from Zuzu’s Petals NWA, the florals were wholesale and expertly strewn around the place by friends and family. Haley’s parents even created the stunning ceremonial arbor that caught our eyes.

The couple wanted to let the natural beauty of the Arkansas outdoors shimmer, and with water views and heaps of green country like that being front and center, we can’t blame them. We love feel good weddings like this. When the family is involved this much, you can’t help but grin over the endearment and the sweetness.

How did you meet?

We first met on a hot summer day in 2014 at a “watering hole” in Fayetteville, Arkansas through mutual friends. We didn’t run into each other again until New Years Eve 2016, breaking it down on the dance floor at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee!

What is your proposal story?

Toby proposed on New Year’s Eve last year on the rooftop of a family friend’s condo in downtown Memphis, to commemorate how it all began. I was completely surprised because I thought we were just meeting friends for drinks, but nobody else was there when we arrived. Later, we had dinner with our families (my family had come into Memphis without me knowing). More friends surprised me later, and we spent the night celebrating on the dance floor at the Peabody hotel with all of our closest friends! It was an epic night, and Toby was the mastermind behind it all.

What was the most important to the two of you while planning? Was there anything that you chose to splurge on or skip?

For the ceremony, the most important thing to us was having a gospel-centered approach to entering this covenant between us and God. To do that, we decided to have a small ceremony in the morning for the friends and family who have had a large impact on our own journeys thus far.

For the reception, the most important thing was that people would have a blast and celebrate our union! We both love live music and dancing, so we knew a great band was something we couldn’t skimp on budget-wise. We have had numerous people tell us that Al Paris & the Heartbreakers was the best band they have ever seen perform at a wedding. We wanted a mix of vintage mo-town music and upbeat, modern music, and they brought home exactly what we wanted.