Danielle Ray & Hunter Whitlock: A Birmingham Wedding

September 23, 2018

How You Met: It all started in the fall of 2005. Hunter had been to football practice, and I had been to cheerleading practice. A group of us were sitting on the back of his Bronco in the Shelby County High School field house parking lot waiting on the Thursday night team meal. Somehow Hunter and I were the only two left on the back of his Bronco before dinner. Sitting there together, alone, he looked at me and said the most adorably, terrible pick-up line ever. I remember being a flattered but thinking to myself, “Wow, that was weird.” The next week he asked one of my friends for my number, and called me. A few weeks later he invited me to a little “party.” After that we became an item and dated my junior and his senior year. Yes, we even went to prom together!

The Proposal: I planned a surprise 30th birthday party for Hunter and had his college friends fly in to celebrate. We went on a Birmingham Brewery Tour and then ended the day with dinner at The Club. Hunter decided it was the perfect time to propose and truly surprise me with all of his favorite people in town. Before he blew out the candles on the Bronco replica cake I made him, he stood and gave a beautiful speech and said he didn’t remember a single birthday wish he had ever made before, but wanted me to make his 30th birthday wish come true by being his wife. When I said “yes,” he blew out the candles. It was absolutely perfect and I was shocked.

The Wedding Dress: Since we opted for a sweet, intimate Sunday brunch wedding (because brunch is our favorite), I needed a dress to compliment the day perfectly. I tried on countless dresses, but really wanted to find something simple yet very unique. My mom and I were in Atlanta for work and had some free time on a Sunday afternoon. I found a dress store that happened to be open, Kelly’s Closet. I browsed the dresses and spotted an exquisite floral pattern. I pulled it off the rack and with much excitement I told my mom it was probably the one. I tried it on and fell in love with the classic shape and the unique material. It was super light, comfortable and had pockets. I was sold!

Favorite Moment from the Big Day: We decided to write our own vows. Hunter’s vows to me were definitely my favorite and sweetest part of the day. Hunter had his Bronco restored for the wedding. I love that we drove away in the car where it started back in 2005.

Favorite Wedding Details: We have so many wonderful and talented friends that traveled great distances to celebrate our wedding with us. It was very important to us to spend time with them and make sure they had a spectacular weekend relaxing and enjoying all the amenities at Pursell Farms. We really wanted incorporate their talents on the big day. Two of our friends from Charleston did an amazing job with our reception music. We had so many compliments. One of our best friends, Aaron, officiated our ceremony. We go to a very large church and do not know our pastor personally, so we felt it to be more meaningful to have someone that really knows us to marry us. Aaron took the task so seriously, and he met with him several times to make sure the ceremony was perfect. That meant the world to us. Our friend Kayla Williams made stunning silver cufflinks for Hunter, and our friend Jackson (also our wedding singer) painted us a gorgeous picture of our wedding venue the night before the wedding. These are just a few of the things our friends did for us our wedding weekend. They were all-hands-on-deck, and we will cherish that forever.

What You Are Doing Now: After the wedding we took a little camping trip and then honeymooned in Greece. We are living in Cahaba Heights and working on fixing up our house together. We love to cook together and take our dogs Opie and Charley on adventures.