- Sep 1, 2023

Diane's Bride Amanda & John

They say it's good luck if it rains on your wedding day - and after seeing Amanda & John's special day we have to agree! While it might not of been love at first sight for this lovely couple - they fell in love when the time was right and have a solid foundation of friendship to guide them forward. Every aspect of their elegant wedding at The Sonnet House reflects back to their love for the Lord and his involvement in their sweet, sweet love story!

The Diane's DRESS!

Amanda wanted her wedding gown to reflect simple elegance - and she found it in Allure Bridals Style #9854. This gown featured two layers of lace with a lovely champagne layer underneath which made the lace pop. Finished off with a stunning illusion train - this wedding gown was everything Amanda dreamed of and more.

Her Diane's Experience

"My dress shopping experience at Diane's was wonderful! I loved being able to look at all the dresses and pick the ones I wanted to try on. I never felt rushed during my appointment and felt as if the staff was there to help with anything I needed. Once I was down to two different dresses I was able to try on them both again to finally decide on my dream dress. It was great when I purchased my dress that I could do ahead and set up for it to be steamed prior to the wedding. It was also fun getting to sign the wedding dress previous Diane's brides had signed. My mom, mother-in-law and I truly enjoyed our experience at Diane's."

Tell us about your Love!

Amanda's brother, David, and John were on the same youth baseball team when Amanda and John first met. Amanda was 1 and John was 6 so it was not love at first sight. When they were little their families spent a lot of time together, however as they got older the busier everyone got. Fast forward to 2020 - Amanda moved back from Atlanta their moms decided it was the perfect time to re-introduce them. From the first meeting Amanda and John started working on small projects together and making up excuses to see each other. It did not take very long from their first meeting for them to become inseparable. Looking back, you would think their meeting was due to their mothers, but ultimately it was due to the Lord. The Lord had already been preparing both individually for this relationship and they had no idea. It was his perfect timing and an answer to many prayers throughout the years.

The proposal: John knew Amanda wanted to be completely surprised for the engagement. When her family decided to do Easter photos on Good Friday, John knew this was his opportunity. The plan was for everyone to meet at Aldridge Gardens, but as they were headed there Amanda’s mom called and said Aldridge wasn’t going to work due to them preparing for a wedding, so the plan had changed to photos at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. This just frustrated Amanda because she was not wanting to take the photos in the first place and then they were having to drive all the way downtown not to mention her brother’s family was running late who wanted the pictures to begin with.

Unknown to Amanda, John already knew the plan was to go to the botanical gardens because their moms had gone to Aldridge earlier that week to find a spot and knew it wouldn’t work. To make the frustration worse, when they got to botanical gardens it was prom night which meant the parking lot was packed and people were everywhere. After circling the parking lot three times John finally decided to make his own parking spot. Luckily for John the frustration helped to cover the nerves of proposing. As Amanda and John walked into the gardens, they found a spot off to the side away from the crowd to wait for her family. While waiting Amanda spotted a guy with a camera and made the statement “That guy kind of looks like Kody”. Kody is one of John’s friends who he had asked to capture the proposal. This made John panic because he thought the surprise was ruined so he ripped Amanda’s phone from her hand (so it wouldn’t be in the pictures) and mistakenly said “It’s now or never” out loud instead of in his head. As John dropped to one knee, he had pulled it off and surprised Amanda because she never caught on until he was down on one knee and saw the ring. Because the proposal happened on Good Friday, the couple likes to say it was a very good Friday!

The Wedding Day!

Even with the rain - our wedding day was everything we could have imagined it to be. Both of us love spending time with friends and family which was apparent on our wedding day. Each member of our wedding party and those involved in the ceremony were selected for a special reason. We were able to have my youth pastor pray over us before the ceremony, our youth pastor who we serve with now do the communion during the ceremony and our head pastor perform the marriage ceremony. Our notary for the marriage certificate was one of my good friends who has been present through all the big events in my life. The strings which played during the ceremony were my childhood neighbors and their wedding gift was to play for the wedding. My dad passed several years ago so my brother walked me down the aisle. We had a special memorial table for my Dad, and a special mantle to pay tribute to our grandparents who had passed or were not physically able to attend the ceremony. I always described the theme of the wedding as simple elegance. There was nothing elaborate about the decor or food, but it created a beautiful environment to celebrate. It also helps that the Sonnet House is already such a beautiful venue.

I believe that our wedding day truly reflected who we are as a couple. It reflected first our love for the Lord and his involvement in our love story. The day also reflected our love for one another and the friendship that our relationship is built on. For example, John bought me a highland cow picture for Christmas and the cow has his tongue stuck out. Our joke with each other is to periodically stick our tongue out at each other to make the other laugh. As I walked down the aisle we did just that to each other!