Oh, Deer! This BHAM Wedding Had a Few Unexpected Guests
Even some hungry deer couldn't dull the sparkle of this BHAM floral truck Owner's North Carolina wedding. Image: Jesselin Snavely Photography
As one of six siblings, Birmingham’s Wild Honey Flower Truck owner Jardin Friedl always knew her wedding would be a family affair. Couple that with the fact that her mom and business partner, Bree, is a former wedding coordinator, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a full-scale celebration of love filled with fun, fireworks, and florals — and some unexpected early guests!
As often happens, Jardin met her future husband, Jonathan Towner, by chance back in 2021 when they were both sophomores at Samford University. Jonathan was the roommate of one of Jardin’s friends, and she says they “instantly clicked.”
Jardin and Jonathan started working together at Pizzeria GM, where they bonded over shared interests including a favorite pie — the seasonal peach pizza.
“We spent some time getting to know each other as friends before he finally asked me out at a Circle K gas station just down the road from Samford,” Jardin shares.
Maybe not the most romantic spot to spark a love story, but it worked.
When it came time to propose, there was not a Circle K in sight. Instead, the couple took a trip to Wilmington, NC, to visit Jardin’s family, where they went on a sailboat cruise down the Cape Fear River. At a picture-perfect spot on the water, Jonathan popped the question.
“Easiest decision I ever made,” Jardin tells us. When they returned to shore, they found a photographer waiting to capture the magical moment in an engagement photo session. “Jonathan was just so relieved he didn’t drop the ring overboard!” she adds.
Just two days after the proposal, Jardin’s mom showed her the Wrightsville Manor as a venue option, and it was love at first sight. “We fell in love with the natural greenery surrounding the beautiful white brick manor,” Jardin says. “Everything else, from the bridal suite to the interior, just made our decision that much easier.”
The holiday date was a happy coincidence. The couple originally had a spring or fall wedding in mind, but the manor wasn’t available. “We continued to look at other venues, but as we did, the idea of having a wedding on the Fourth of July grew on us,” Jardin says. “A big party on a work holiday, and great weather!”
In addition to their mother-daughter flower business, Bree’s background in wedding planning proved helpful when it was time to select and book the vendors. Once they were secured, Jardin and Bree enlisted the help of Social Butterfly Events to pull it all together so they could relax and enjoy the day together.
Not surprisingly, the bride had a vision for the colors and florals for her big day. Still, she gives her mom all the credit for the floral design, and praises their florist, Augie with Salt and Stem Floral Studio, for making their vision a reality.
“My mom was the true mastermind behind my florals. She created the recipes for each bouquet and came up with the idea to utilize ferns for my ceremony pieces,” Jardin shares, “and it meant so much that my mom was able to be involved in the process. Augie was such a pleasure to work with!”
Even with all their combined expertise, however, the flowers ended up being one of the biggest hiccups of the day. The beautiful hydrangea plants for the ceremony were stored in Jardin’s parents’ backyard, and they attracted some uninvited guests. Just days before the wedding, some hungry deer ate all of the blooms off of one of the plants — leaving the florist scrambling for a solution.
“Nobody could find another one to replace it, so my quick-thinking florist bought single-stem hydrangeas, and water picked them into the plant (placed the stems in small, water-filled tubes to keep them fresh) so it looked like it had the blooms,” says Jardin, who wasn’t told about the snafu until a month after the ceremony.
The search for the gown went much more smoothly! Jardin found her perfect dress in Roswell, Georgia, with the help of Aisle and Veil. The strapless jacquard ball gown featured a subtle basque waist and buttons trailing down to the elegant train. “It was truly my dream dress,” Jardin says.
The wedding featured some whimsical touches, too. Specifically, an audio guest book from After the Tone, where guests were invited to record their well wishes rather than write them down. Jardin housed the vintage phone in a red British telephone booth that had special meaning. “I grew up with that phone booth being somewhere in our home, adorned with photos from my parents’ travels and our family,” she explains.
As the hour of the ceremony drew closer, the bride and groom shared a first look and exchanged private vows in a special moment that Jardin says was one of her favorites. “All my nerves melted away as soon as I saw him,” she shares. “It was so special to stand with just one another and commit our lives to each other before declaring it and celebrating with all of our guests.”
A trio of musicians from Arbor Strings added the right amount of ambiance to the outdoor ceremony and continued to play in the background as 85 of the couple’s closest friends and family enjoyed an outdoor cocktail hour before moving indoors to the stunning reception hall.
There, they found an elevated pizza-and-salad bar (which Jardin describes as uniquely “them”) and included an option inspired by the couple’s beloved peach pizza. Personalized pizza boxes let guests take home leftovers.
The dessert options included “his,” “hers,” and “theirs”: a chocolate chip cookie with a shot of milk for the groom, a tiramisu cake for the bride, and a chocolate cake that satisfied everyone’s tastes — all cleverly served in coupe glasses for a chic touch.
The party wound down with a final dance to “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” by Toby Keith, and of course, only sparklers would do for a Fourth of July send-off. The couple took off in the cutest baby blue Moke getaway car, perfect for a Wilmington summer night.
“A Moke is an iconic, open-air vehicle originally designed in the 1960s as a lightweight military car and now revived as a fully electric, street-legal beach cruiser. We loved it!” Jardin shares.
As a floral truck owner and daughter of a wedding coordinator, you might think Jardin has all the answers when it comes to planning the perfect celebration, but her best advice has nothing to do with flowers. Instead, she recommends keeping your eye on the “why.”
“When you keep your future spouse and your future marriage at the forefront of your mind, everything seems way less stressful, you both have way more fun, and truly nothing could affect your wedding day,” she says.
Not even a hungry deer or two!
RESOURCES
- Wedding Planner: Social Butterfly Events
- Venue: Wrightsville Manor
- Photographer: Jesselin Snavely Photography
- Flowers: Salt and Stem Floral Studio | Wild Honey Flower Truck
- Bride’s gown: Aisle and Veil
- Hair: Forever Bridal Beauty
- Makeup: By Melissa Kinnamon
- Groom’s & groomsmen’s formalwear: Jos. A. Bank
- String Quartet: Arbor Strings
- Audio Guestbook: After the Tone
- Catering: True Blue Events
- Entertainment: Dow Oak Events
- Reception Pottery: Handmade by Junes House
- Dessert Bar: Sugar and Sage Confections
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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Katie Leigh Matthews
A Birmingham native, Katie is a lifelong waterfall chaser and is passionate about the outdoors. She also loves connecting with remarkable women in the Birmingham community and bringing their stories to life. Katie has been writing professionally for over six years; you can find more of her work at Moms.com and Islands.com.
