(This is the last of our 2015 series ‘Wednesday Weddings.’ We’ll be back with more each February and July. However, we do feature weddings one-two times a month in our Southern Edition, so you can get your fix there! Special thanks to our Wedding Sponsor: Omni Hotels and Resorts Nashville.)
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Today we are excited to share a wedding from event planner Amos Gott. Jessie Salisbury and Thomas Merritt married last November with great help from Amos’s creative and elegant event planning firm, AmosEvents. He shared Jessie and Thomas’s lovely day with us, which we in turn are thrilled to share with you.
Amos Gott:
They say all roads lead to Nashville, and that’s where Jessie Salisbury and Thomas Merritt’s friends headed to celebrate the couple’s special wedding weekend!
A chance meeting, Jessie was out with her girlfriends who were in town for the holidays having a nightcap at Broadway Brewhouse following dinner at Tavern.
When she was getting up to leave, a handsome stranger stopped her and said, “Jessie?”
She nodded, surprised that he knew her. This man she had never met said, “One of your friends came over to borrow a chair from our table. I told her she could have the chair if she told me your name.” Having heard many a pick up a line, Jessie said, “Okay, not bad … ” and they stood and talked for about 20 minutes. Thomas got her number, and they went on their first date right after Christmas. Jessie knew after their second date at Firefly Grille that Thomas was the one.
Thomas proposed to Jessie in July on a hike in Breckenridge, Colorado. That morning as she washed her face and pulled her hair into a ponytail, the last thing she was expecting was a proposal. As they progressed along the hike Jessie grew more and more confused since they were not actually ascending the mountain and just circling the base. It all became clear when they got to a gorgeous overlook and Thomas looked at her and said, “You know how happy you make me, right?” Then he dropped to one knee, pulled a ring box from his pocket and asked her to marry him. [They recently returned to the same mountain and completed that hike as husband and wife with friends just a few weeks ago!]
Jessie and Thomas wanted a wedding with a Nashville feeling that was true to who they are as individuals and as a couple. Christ Church Cathedral, an Episcopalian sanctuary established in 1829 with stunning Tiffany windows, suited Jessie’s religious upbringing and Thomas’s love of history and architecture. The church felt like a perfect fit.
Every Nashville wedding should have a venue unique to the couple and to the city. Jessie and Thomas loved the feeling that ONE above the Cannery provided, with exposed brick and original wooden beams and gears. Unique and not stuffy, the venue gave the couple another opportunity to express their love of the city as well as provide a blend of elegance with Nashville’s comfortable, rustic charm.
Thomas, originally from Dallas, fell in love with Nashville when he came to Vanderbilt as an undergraduate. Jessie grew up in Franklin, so the wedding menu had to have unique twists as a nod to both regions. Thomas wanted a taco station to represent his home state, and Jessie wanted a biscuit bar with hot chicken and other ‘fixins’.
Jessie met Juanita Lane when she worked at Basante’s in college, and she always knew she wanted Dulce Desserts to make her wedding cake. “I’ll never forget Thomas’ face when he tasted her salted caramel filling at our cake tasting,” Jessie said.
The Respectables brought down the house. Opening with “Every Girl” by Turnpike Troubadours, the band allowed Jessie to surprise Thomas with one of his all time favorite songs. The fact that the couple had also taken dancing lessons to the tune certainly helped!
Both fantastic dancers, Jessie and her mom Debra Brake enthralled the crowd with a choreographed dance to a mashup of great dance songs.
And of course the band had to play “Jessie’s Girl” as a nod to the bride!
Leaving the party under the glow or sparklers, Jessie wore a fur stole celebrating friendship as it belonged to the great-grandmother of two close friends who are sisters. One was her maid of honor and the other a bridesmaid.
Jessie said that if she and Thomas could get married again tomorrow, they would do it all exactly the same way. “It was an unforgettable night made up of our whole life’s choices, and I would choose it all again.”
Congrats to the happy couple, and we wish you years of love and happiness!
RESOURCES
Planner: Amos Gott of AmosEvents
Ceremony: Christ Church Cathedral
Reception: ONE at Cannery Row
Bride: Romona Keveza gown from Kleinfeld
Groom: Custom tuxedo from Stitch It
Florals and décor: AmosEvents
Catering: Chef’s Market
Cake: Dulce Desserts
Rentals: Music City Tents and Events
Photography: SheHeWe
