A Rustic Vineyard Wedding At The Vineyard at 37 High Holly in Highlands, North Carolina

In 2013, HLN News Anchor Lynn Berry moved to Atlanta to start a new job with Headlines News. Having spent the past eleven years in New York City, she had no idea what to expect, as she had only traveled to Atlanta once before. Fortunately, her three best friends from college lived there–one of which, said “I have the perfect guy for you.”

Curious to see if her friend was right, Lynn and Graham Smith connected over the phone and realized they had more in common than a Northerner and Southerner would expect. They both agreed to a “blind date” at 3pm in the afternoon–a safe time of day, so either of them could easily slip away if the date turned out to be a complete disaster. After five hours together, however, they both knew they had something special.

Over the next year, Lynn and Graham spent weekend getaways together at Highlands, North Carolina, at a mountain retreat only few hours from Atlanta. It was there that they fell in love; and when he asked her to marry him while staying at a mountain cabin on the one-year anniversary of their first date, they both knew that would be the place they would get married.

Their wedding venue of choice was The Vineyard at 37 High Holly. When Lynn woke up, April showers were pouring, yet had little effect on the happiness of the big day. “I would marry that man in a monsoon,” she says. Fortunately, the weather shifted and the sun came out just in time for a bagpiper to begin greeting a bus of arriving guests–a nod to Graham’s Scottish mother.

The ceremony was held under a rustic wooden arch with dogwood branches woven throughout. Pastor Randolph Harry began with a reference to Lynn’s passion for cooking, using the layers of her lasagna as a metaphor to the recipe needed to build a strong and happy marriage. With their six nieces and nephews running around and giggling, the two were married in front of seventy-five of their closest friends and family members.

A following reception was inspired by the loved ones that had supported the newlyweds from the very beginning of their relationship, and the couple kept their guests in mind while planning each detail. A s’mores bar was set up for the children so they could have fun playing by the fire pit. Milk and cookies represented the bride’s college girlfriends, who would buy cookie cakes for every reunion. To signify the bride’s Italian roots, a family-style meal was served along with salmon–Graham’s mother’s favorite food. Bourbon iced tea was also the signature cocktail of the night, as a tribute to their Atlanta and Dallas friends.

Pashminas were handed out to the ladies to keep them warm, hand-wrapped by Lynn’s mother with a quote from “The Velveteen Rabbit”–“Love isn’t put in our hearts to stay. Love isn’t love ‘til you give it away.” Even the golden chalices Lynn and Graham drank from were from her grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary, to remember the loved ones that couldn’t be with them. Filled with love, laughter, and dancing, their celebration was as personal, sentimental and meaningful as it could be.

For their honeymoon, the newlyweds traveled to Playa Mujeres, Mexico.