Claire and Hannah's Lesbian Wedding at the Trolley Barn

Inman Park hosted Clair and Hannah’s wedding, one where they shared a first look and incorporated their Christian faith into a heartwarming ceremony.

Clair and Hannah shared two proposals, they were both romantic, and meaningful – ‘it was beautiful, just like her.’

READ THEIR ENGAGEMENT STORY

Photography by Zach Barron

What Led You To The Destination?

We have lived in the historic Inman Park neighborhood for over two years and absolutely adore it. It’s right off the Beltline, where we hang out and eat with friends. There are beautiful Victorian-style homes along with a historic trolley barn that now serves as a venue space. The convenience in proximity and the fondness that we have for the area led us to have our wedding at the Trolley Barn. So much of our relationship happened here in this neighborhood, and we wanted to share that with our friends and family. We take weekly walks passing by the Trolley Barn and get to reminisce very often.

What Was The Inspiration Behind The Theme Of Your Wedding?

The theme was focused on the experience for us and the guests more so than any particular style or vibe. It was all about the feeling and intentional behind our planning and selections. We spent a lot of time picking out songs for the musicians. The string quartet performed while people arrived, during the ceremony, and at the cocktail hour. The arrival feeling set the stage for a magical start with songs from The Beatles, The Verve, Adele, and Brandi Carlile. We both knew that songs from Taylor Swift would play a role in our day as we are both big fans of her work and particularly of analyzing her polysemous lyrics like we are back in AP Literature. Thus, our bridal party walked down the aisle to “Invisible String,” and we walked down the aisle to “Lover.” Faith Hill couldn’t be left out though, and her song “The Way You Love Me” was played during the ceremony exit. Then, the 9-piece band for the reception was phenomenal as well. The band’s rendition of The Killer’s “Mr. Brightside” will never be forgotten. To touch on a theme a little, we did provide a mood board to our decorator that mainly proved that we loved the color green, white flowers, and brass accents.

Talk To Us About Your Experience Finding The Perfect Outfits.

We both wanted to wear white dresses and knew our dream styles differed. We wanted our outfits to be a surprise until “first looks.” We went to a couple of the same bridal shops at different appointment times with friends and family who had the task of making sure we didn’t select the same dress. Hannah’s famous first words before going were, “I do not like strapless,” and sure enough, the salesperson brought one to her to try on, and it was the one. Claire tried on a few at different places and magically found her perfect dress off the rack.

Talk To Us About The Big Day!

We knew we would both feel more at ease and comfortable if we didn’t separate for the whole day, so we started the morning off our favorite way– waking up to each other and our dog whining to go out. Claire had her bridal party come and get ready in our apartment and Hannah had hers in the building club room one floor up. We had champagne and snacks, sweetly set up by Hannah’s mom. We separately made our way to the venue to prepare for photos and first looks. Taking the time to do a first look really felt like it gave a calming presence to the day. Being able to be alone with each other before all the fun and wildness of celebration helped steady the day.

We had our ceremony in the venue courtyard. Our parents walked each of us down the aisle. Our ceremony was led by two very important people in our life– our pastor and our good friend. We had written vows to read to each other. I (Claire) was so scared of locking my knees and passing out that I kept walking in place. We had a beautiful ceremony that led into a cocktail hour enjoyed by our guests. During that time, we had a few more pictures done of just the two of us. We had a quick meal by ourselves in the venue chair closet before going out to greet our guests. The food was amazing and catered by a family friend from Hannah’s hometown of Vidalia, GA. Of course, we had some famous Vidalia onions on the menu! The rest of the night we spent talking and dancing with our guests. The surprising hit of the night was Mr. Brightside. We almost didn’t add it on to the setlist, but whoa, was it a crowd pleaser. We ended the night with a private last dance and drove away after a fun streamers and bubbles celebration send-off.

What Are Your Favorite Moments?

One of our dearest friends, Chaz, was one of our officiants. Before our wedding day, we spoke with him about what he would say that day in a high-level format. He noted that he was not telling us everything. During the ceremony, he took a moment about halfway through and had us turn and look out at our guests. It was a really special time to take a breath and take it all in. Getting to see so many loved ones all there to witness our commitment to each other. Another favorite moment was reading the vows that we wrote to each other.

We surprised our moms with a mother/daughter dance! We chose for the band to play Dancing Queen and pulled them up from their seats for a bit of quality dancing time, just the four of us.

Lastly, a favorite moment was having a private last dance. The wedding guests left the venue to go outside for the send-off while we had our final dance together. The band played “You Are In Love” by Taylor Swift.

Did You Incorporate Any Family Or Religious Traditions Into The Day?

We are both practicing Christians and attend a local Methodist church that is part of the Reconciling Ministries Network (affirming for LGBTQ+). This part of our lives is very important to us, and we wanted our ceremony to reflect that. Our ceremony included prayer and readings from Deuteronomy 11.

What Does Marriage Mean To You?

Marriage is an active participation. There is nothing passive about it. It’s setting up expectations of what we each need to give to each other and what we need to give ourselves. It’s something that I said in my vows to Claire, but marriage means loving her in the grey and in the duality. It’s practicing daily gratitude for having the opportunity to spend my life with her and patience for the inevitable challenging moments. We focus on putting each other first.

Advice For Other Couples Planning A Wedding?

A shared spreadsheet and often communication goes a long way. One thing we really liked was making date nights out of certain planning tasks. Most of our date nights were spent at home, but some tasks can be done at a dinner out over conversation!

Anything You Are Glad You Did? Or Wish You Didn’t Do?

We really thought about what we wanted and went with it. Some things we wanted to do were more traditional wedding practices, and some we had never heard of people doing before. I think that sums up how we wanted our wedding to be— things that made us and our guests happy, fun, and comfortable. I (Claire) wish I had taken photos with friends in front of our beautiful flower arch. It was GORGEOUS, and I was busy greeting and it slipped my mind.