Modern Country Wedding | Sterling Event Venue - Real Couple

Ashley and Adam celebrated their modern country wedding at Sterling Event Venue, a timeless European-inspired venue with rustic elegance.

When we saw their amazing images, we reached out to this amazing couple for all the details that made up their special day!

Tell us about how you chose your ceremony and reception venue.

We chose Christ the King for our country ceremony because it is the church I’ve attended since I moved to Orlando. I’ve always dreamed of having a church ceremony, and I especially loved the stained glass windows. We also wanted to make sure we had an indoor ceremony since we got married in June.

We chose Sterling Event Venue because we wanted a barn venue, but modern. We also liked that the venue was located outside of town, but not too far away from hotels and attractions for our guests. The hills and lake in the background of the venue make it seem like you aren’t in Florida anymore.

I also loved the staircase for grand entrances because Cinderella has always been my favorite princess. And they have a wonderful bridal suite and grooms’ room!

Tell us about your modern country wedding. What was the inspiration behind our day? Did you have a specific theme, style, or color palette? Did you incorporate any cultural or religious traditions in any part of your day?

Adam and I met line dancing, so we wanted to incorporate that into our country wedding day. We chose a barn venue and encouraged our guests to wear cowboy boots with us to line dance at the reception.

We chose to have a unity candle ceremony to symbolize us becoming one, and a rose ceremony to honor our families becoming one. I’ve always loved turquoise, so we used that as our theme color with the wedding party and the decor.

What were the personal details of the wedding that are a great reflection of you as a couple? What were some of your favorite parts of your modern country wedding?

We displayed our parents and grandparents’ wedding photos at the reception to honor the generations that have come before us. I made my veil out of pieces from both of my grandmother’s veils and my mother’s wedding dress.

When Adam and I first started dating, I took one of his flannel shirts to wear around the house. I used that same flannel shirt to get ready for our country wedding. Adam used his grandfather’s cufflinks with their last initial engraved on them.

We used my parents’ toasting flutes and chose to cut a red velvet cheesecake instead of a normal wedding cake because we like that better. For our guest book, we had an album of our engagement photos for guests to flip through and sign.

Let’s talk wedding decor. How did you decorate your space for the ceremony and the reception? Was any part of the decor DIY?

We kept the ceremony space as it was since the church was perfect on its own. The only thing we added were engagement photos in the door windows so guests couldn’t see me until the doors were opened to walk down the aisle.

For the reception space, we also kept things simple with a turquoise napkin and three vases with submerged white roses. We kept all the florals simple with white flowers and greenery so the turquoise accents would pop!

What was the most anticipated or special moment of your wedding day?

We chose to save our first look until I walked down the aisle, and that was a special moment when the church doors opened for me to walk to Adam. I had a first look with my dad, and that was a special moment where I got to walk down the staircase to him.

Adam and I met line dancing, so our first dance was an extremely special moment where we got to do what we love in front of all our family and friends.

We also surprised our in-laws with a special dance to honor my mom and Adam’s dad. I danced with my dad, and Adam danced with his mom, then we both danced with each other’s parents. Adam’s family is all boys, and my family is all girls so his Dad and my Mom would never get to do a parent dance at a wedding otherwise.

What was the most important lesson you learned while planning your modern country wedding?

Since I am a wedding planner, I thought planning a country wedding would be easy, but there are so many more decisions that go into planning a wedding than I realized!

I didn’t have any issues with the logistics side of things, but it was exhausting having to choose shoes, outfits, and how I wanted my nails for all of the different events (engagement photos, engagement party, rehearsal dinner, welcome party).

I learned to prioritize the things that were actually important to me and let the little things go if it was something out of my control.

Do you have any wedding planning or marriage advice that you’d like to share with other couples planning their day?

Ultimately, your wedding day is for you and your significant other. No matter the other influences or voices you have around you applying pressure for decisions, make sure it is special to you. The only thing that matters on the wedding day is you and your partner.