18 Guests + One Gorgeous Louisville Greenhouse Wedding
Bigger isn't always better. After two years of long-distance dating, this couple gathered their children and immediate families for a micro-wedding at Ashbourne Farms. Set among horses and beneath pink-and-purple sunset skies, the day proved that a small guest list can hold a whole lot of love. Image: Love Hunters
Like many great love stories, Rachel Henin and Corey Wood’s relationship started as a friendship. The couple first met while working at the same company, and it wasn’t long before they developed an easy connection that became increasingly important to both of them.
”We had a lot in common, but more than anything, there was just an ease to our friendship and an understanding of one another that felt different,” Rachel says. Over time, that friendly affection grew into something more, eventually leading to an intimate Louisville micro-wedding at Ashbourne Farms … centered on the people who matter most.
After a courtship that included two years of long-distance dating, the surprise proposal came a few days before Christmas in downtown Louisville. While standing in front of the festively lit Galt House, Corey suggested taking a photo. When Rachel turned around to oblige, she found Corey down on one knee. The happy couple then headed to Jeff Ruby’s to celebrate their engagement.
Rachel and Corey knew from the start that they wanted their wedding to be different. Both had been married before, and neither wanted a large, elaborate celebration. Instead, they envisioned a micro-wedding, something small and intimate attended only by their parents, siblings, and children — totaling 18 guests in all.
They also knew they wanted their soirée to be set on a property with horses. Rachel explains that she grew up riding in Arizona, and for her, horses represent both joyful childhood memories and a sense of calm. “Being around horses was always a place of peace for me, a chance to get away, quiet my mind, and just feel grounded,” she tells us.
Ashbourne Farms in La Grange was willing to host a micro-wedding, and the couple knew from the start that the property, with its beautiful greenhouse, was perfect. Rachel planned the wedding herself, but credits Pepper Alesandrelli, Ashbourne’s events manager, with helping the day come together seamlessly.
Pepper created the timeline, sent Rachel a mock-up of the dinner arrangement, assisted with setup, cued every song during the ceremony, and kept the celebration going. “Ashbourne didn’t simply give us a beautiful place to get married,” Rachel says. “They gave us a team that allowed us to be completely present and enjoy it.”
The couple married at 5 p.m. on June 17, 2026, surrounded by an aesthetic that Rachel describes as romantic, intimate, rustic, and timeless.
She’d offered little floral direction to the team at Nanz & Kraft, asking only for a look that was organic, unstructured, and neutral in hue — but what they created took Rachel’s breath away.
“I loved the absolutely amazing job they did,” she exclaims. “The flowers exceeded my expectations. They took a very small amount of inspiration and turned it into something stunning.”
Rachel knew she wanted a semi-form-fitting dress and, choosing to break from tradition, she brought Corey along on the shopping trip. With her fiancé by her side, the bride-to-be found exactly what she envisioned at Rebecca’s Wedding Boutique: a design by Essence of Australia.
”The way it draped, the way my back looked — it was all just perfection,” she recalls.
The wedding day itself was designed not simply to mark the union of two people, but to celebrate the blending of two families. The couple has five children between them, and each one played a part in the special day. Corey’s 19-year-old daughter, Ashley, served as Rachel’s maid of honor, while his 15-year-old twin daughters, Courtney and Kacie, were bridesmaids.
“Some of my favorite moments happened before the ceremony,” Rachel says, “with the girls and my sister helping me into my dress.”
Corey’s 21-year-old son, Justin, stood beside him as best man and carried the couple’s rings and handwritten vow books while Rachel’s son, Kaiden, walked her down the aisle.
”Having him beside me in that moment meant more than I could ever really put into words,” she says. “I had him when I was only 23, so a part of me feels as though we grew up together.”
The wedding party made their entrance to “Days Like These” by Luke Combs before Rachel and Kaiden walked down the aisle to “10-90 (The Sound of Roses)” by Muscadine Bloodline. Rachel explains that the song’s message about giving your best when your partner has only 10% left resonated with the couple and reflected the partnership they were promising one another.
The bride’s father became an ordained minister so he could officiate the ceremony, during which the couple read their own vows.
“Our vows were very personal,” Rachel says, “but so much of what we both wrote came back to the same themes: faith, friendship, family, and choosing to be true partners through every season of life. We talked about believing that God brought us into each other’s lives, even when we may not have understood why at the time, and trusting that there was a bigger plan unfolding.”
There was no cocktail hour, but the celebration featured two custom drinks: “Meet the Woods,” a smoky margarita made with Herradura Silver, grilled grapefruit and orange juice, jalapeño, lime, a mezcal rinse, and cilantro salt; and “A Daisy Style,” the couple’s take on a classic vodka soda that featured Tito’s, Cointreau, lime, blackberry, and basil.
For dinner, Ashbourne’s chef and mixologist created a fully custom menu. The seated four-course meal featured cacio e pepe agnolotti (a stuffed pasta dish), along with a Green Goddess Caesar salad, a wood-grilled filet, and a dark chocolate molten lava cake. Rachel calls it “the best meal of our entire lives.”
Though guests enjoyed dessert as part of their one-of-a-kind wedding menu, the couple still had a wedding cake — and it held profound significance. Rachel explains that Corey’s late sister, Brittany Littlejohn-Dillander, was a pastry chef for Jeff Ruby’s. After she passed away in December 2022, Corey’s sister, Amy Fields, began making desserts for the family.
“Asking Amy felt like the most natural choice,” Rachel says. “It made the cake so much more than just a beautiful part of our reception — it carried a piece of Corey’s family and its history with it, which made it incredibly meaningful to us.”
After the cake cutting, Rachel and Corey shared their first dance to “I’m Gonna Love You” by Cody Johnson and Carrie Underwood. Though the dance is a beautiful memory for the bride, Rachel says her favorite moment came around sunset, when she and Corey had a chance to step away for a few minutes. Beneath a sky streaked with pink and purple, the day finally grew still.
“We had talked about that moment long before the wedding,” Rachel recalls. “We spent two years of our relationship long distance, dreaming about the day when we would finally be in the same city and building our life together.”
She adds that standing there with her new husband, knowing they’d finally made it to the moment she’d dreamed of for so long (and that her family had traveled from Arizona and Tennessee to commemorate the occasion with them), felt incredibly surreal.
“For so long, being together in the same place was something we looked forward to,” she says. “That evening, surrounded by everyone we loved, it was no longer something we were waiting for. It was our life, and we finally got to celebrate it.”
At the end of the day, the party bus that brought everyone to the venue also took the entire group home, giving them all another chance to celebrate on the ride back.
For couples considering a micro-wedding or other breaks from tradition, Rachel recommends letting go of expectations and focusing on what matters most — because the smaller celebration allowed her and Corey to share real moments with every guest and to remain present throughout the day.
“Make the day yours,” she says. “Invite the people you cannot imagine the moment without, choose the details that actually mean something to you, and let the rest go,” she advises.
More than anything, Rachel says she hopes their children remember how much love can exist in a small room. Every child had a place beside the couple, making the celebration feel complete — not only for Rachel and Corey, but for the entire family.
Thanks, Rachel and Corey, for sharing your special day with us!
RESOURCES
Venue: Ashbourne Farms
Photographer: Susan Jordan, Love Hunters
Bride’s gown: Essence of Australia from Rebecca’s Wedding Boutique
Bridesmaids’ dresses: Azazie
Hair & Makeup: The Beauty Patrol
Flowers: Nanz & Kraft
Cake: Amy Fields
Day-of coordination: Pepper Alesandrelli, events manager at Ashbourne Farms
STYLEBLUEPRINT RESOURCES:
Planning a wedding? Check out StyleBlueprint’s two Wedding Resource Guides. (More to come!):
- StyleBlueprint Nashville’s Wedding Resource Guide
- StyleBlueprint Birmingham’s Wedding Resource Guide
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Lennie Omalza
Originally from Hawaii, Lennie Omalza is a Louisville-based freelance writer of over 18 years. Lennie is a yoga-loving foodie who travels as often as she can and enjoys writing about food, homes, and weddings. You can find more of Lennie's work at Eater, Hawaii Home & Remodeling, and The Louisville Courier-Journal.
