Bridal Profile - Hannah Jolly Simmons

"We were married on the beach in front of his uncle’s beach house. We had no bridal party and there were 75 of our closest friends and family in attendance. We expected less than 25 when we planned the wedding, but we were amazed at how many people drove to the beach to celebrate with us." - Hannah​ Jolly Simmons

Hannah Jolly and Yancey Simmons were surprised at the turnout, because of the threat of a little storm called Irma that wreaked havoc on coastlines between August 30 and September 16. Their wedding was at Holden Beach on September 9th and clearly the Wedding Gods were shining down on them. Their day turned out to be filled with lots of laughter, ice cream, PBR and fun.

Once attendees decided to go to the beach, they made it a holiday. Hannah and Yancey, along with their closest pals, went the week before and when others joined them for the wedding, most people made it a family vacation and just stayed the extra time to veg at the water's edge. 

These two are laid back and one of their reception choices was a good old fashioned ice cream bar with choices guests chose on their RSVP cards. Due to the worries of Irma, the rental company's cleaning services made sure that the freezers filled with ice cream that were ready to go were, well, cleaned out in the various rental houses for guest. Oops.

Minutes before the ceremony, a family member had to race out to grab versions and flavors promised so that everyone could enjoy a treat. This goes under the category of all's well that end's well and it did end well. The ice cream bar, great weather and frivolity made up for any snafus. 

The dress Hannah said yes to ended up being kind of a surprise too, because Hannah told us that she really had no intention of wearing a traditional wedding gown on the beach. She thought, "beach wedding, understated but cool beach dress" - maybe a short, white shift dress from Lilly Pulitzer. Her mom convinced her to try on wedding gowns anyway. Hannah had purchased prom gowns from us before and shared that she always prefers supporting small businesses (YES!! WE LOVE YOU TOO, HANNAH, AND SO APPRECIATE IT.] She tried on 3 and the second one was THE one.

"The only vision I had really was that it be affordable and suitable for the beach. I looked for something with a chiffon overlay or a light-weight fabric that could blow in the breeze. And of course, I wanted it to be simple, yet flattering and pure white. I ended up with an ivory gown with more embellishment, but it was perfect."

"BT made a HUGE part in my selection and actually Logan picked out my dress after chatting with me. It was perfect and we all knew it. I loved that there was a layaway option. My goal was to have no debt after my wedding. My mother actually paid for half of my dress and bought her dress as well. It matched my dress amazingly and had the same embellishments and we bought my veil from BT as well."

I mean: COME.... ON!!!! Not only is her dress floating and swirling around her just as she wanted, but it's beach ready and beach perfect. AND SHE IS GORGEOUS.

Hannah is paramedic in Surry County with a degree in Emergency Medical Science and her now husband  Yancey is a Deputy Sheriff. 

"I know they say never to bring work home, and we don’t let it run our relationship, but we do talk to each other about our jobs and both decompress by discussing the traumatic events (and always joking with each other to keep us both sane! We live in Mount Airy and have almost finished building our home (we should be in it next month!). I enjoy staying at home and doing my own thing, while he loves being a social butterfly."

We couldn't be happier for these two. Congratulations on starting your first full year together, guys!