Margaret Cranford and Trey McDowell
July 31, 2010
Ceremony: Riverside Presbyterian, Jacksonville, Florida
Reception: Florida Yacht Club
We™re very excited to feature the gorgeous wedding of our employee, Margaret Cranford to Trey McDowell as our Real Wedding this month. Margaret works as the bridal coordinator for our gift registry at The Summit.
It was instant chemistry when Margaret Cranford finally met the boy sitting behind her in multi-cultural film class. As soon as she met Trey McDowell at a party, they became inseparable. Two years later, Trey popped the question with a Bromberg’s diamond on New Year’s Eve last year. The couple married seven months later in Margaret’s hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, recreating the same wedding her parents had twenty-seven years earlier.
The Back Story
Margaret was a junior at Florida State University when she and Trey McDowell had a class together. But it wasn™t until a joint party with his fraternity and her sorority that they actually met. Their first date was lunch and they began hanging out together. But Margaret says within a month, she knew Trey was the man she would marry. When graduate school brought Trey to Birmingham, Margaret landed a job with Bromberg’s and made the move to Birmingham as well.
The Proposal
Margaret was home getting ready for a New Year’s Eve party and was running around her apartment, trying to get ready. Trey did a great job of keeping his diamond purchase a secret from Margaret. He had purchased a round stone with a diamond band from Bromberg’s at The Summit and had sworn the staff to secrecy so Margaret had no clue that the proposal was imminent. Everyone knew but Margaret! After Trey picked up the ring, it was burning a hole in his pocket so he went straight to Margaret’s apartment and asked her to sit down for a minute. Trey took a deep breath, got down on one knee and asked Margaret to marry him. Margaret said she was sort of in shock; the tears didn™t come until an hour later as she was telling friends about the proposal.
The Wedding & Reception
The story goes that by the time Trey came to her house the next day, Margaret and her mother already had a good start on the guest list and wedding plans. Margaret knew she wanted to get married in the church she grew up in, so that decision was easy. And as it turned out, they decided to have the reception in the same place her parents had their wedding reception, too, recreating the exact wedding her parents had years earlier.
Shopping for the gown was one of the details Margaret enjoyed the most. She met her mother in Atlanta one weekend for a wedding shopping spree and found the perfect gown there. Her Romona Keveza gown was designed of white silk taffeta. Margaret wore Phalaenopsis orchids in her hair for the reception and carried them in her bouquet. The bridesmaids wore cute JCrew gowns in champagne and carried a bouquet of soft pastel flowers including gorgeous pink peonies, Margaret’s favorite flower. The men wore classic black tuxedos with tie and cummerbund.
Cymbidium orchids, hydrangea, garden roses, peonies, and other white flowers were used by the floral designer to create an elegant, classic, traditional look for both the ceremony and the reception décor. Hydrangea also decorated the tiers of Margaret’s four-tier wedding cake.
Since she had been living in Birmingham for a while, and because she was one of the first of her group of friends to get married, Margaret really wanted their wedding to be a big party for friends and family so the band was very important. The couple was able to visit with their guests and then dance the night away before departing for their honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Margaret and Trey’s Bromberg’s Wedding Registry includes:
Formal China: Anna Weatherley Simply Anna
Formal Crystal: Waterford Lismore Essence
Casual China: Juliska Berry & Thread
Sterling Flatware: Gorham Chantilly
Stainless Flatware: Lenox Vintage Jewel
Congratulations, Margaret and Trey! Our very best wishes to you for a long and happy life together!