Real Wedding: Catlin & Aaron

May 18, 2013: Alexander Homestead

Catlin Worley and Aaron Rankin met at UNC Charlotte in anthropology class, when he asked her to study together. She came prepared to hit the books, while he just wanted to talk. A year and a half later, he proposed surrounded by Christmas lights at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden.

The bride, a manager at the YMCA, and groom, a surgical trauma nurse at CMC Main, both loved the Alexander Homestead for its laid-back, country-chic atmosphere. For their romantic spring wedding, Catlin combined their favorite colors, gray and buttery yellow, for cocktail-length bridesmaid dresses from David’s Bridal and the groomsmen’s gray Calvin Klein suits and vests from Men’s Wearhouse.

Catlin found her Maggie Sottero dress at Poffie Girls just three weeks before the wedding, but the boutique altered the silk satin gown with its decorative belt and cathedral-length train in a hurry. Her father walked her to the gazebo, decorated in tulle and garlands, where her pastor, Clint Pressley from Hickory Grove Baptist Church, performed their traditional vows. After a first dance to “God Gave Me You” by Blake Shelton, Agape DJ got everyone dancing with a huge conga line (the groom even did “the worm”).

With a serious thing for sprinkles, Catlin chose a Funfetti cake topped with white fondant and chocolate flowers. Guests showered the couple with rainbow sprinkles before they departed for a Dominican Republic honeymoon of kayaking, sailing, and snorkeling.