Margaret Gregory’s Little Rock Wedding Mixes Southern Gothic, California Style

Margaret Gregory & Thomas Hart Jr.
May 18, 2013 • Hidden Valley Farm, Little Rock

Photos by Ashley Carson Photography

When Rochester, N.Y. native Tom Hart, Jr. and Margaret Hart, originally of Little Rock, were invited to a Los Angeles-based bash for the 2011 Super Bowl, they never suspected that a mutual friend intended to turn the football matchup into a matchmaking ploy. The pal’s game-day guise inspired an unforgettable introduction, kicking off a yearlong romance. After asking Margaret’s parents for her hand in marriage, Tom surprised Margaret with a proposal at the St. Regis on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in May 2012.

BRIDE’S INSPIRATION

The couple went for “California wine country chic” in a pastoral Southern setting for their wedding. To highlight the elegant, rustic setting, designer Todd Bagwell chose a khaki/taupe foundation color and used some of Margaret’s favorite “punchy” shades, such as oranges, pinks, yellows, pale reds and others, as accents. He used linen and silk fabrics in floral, polka dot and geometric prints to “add a whimsical, yet sophisticated flair to the furnishings and tabletops,” she says.

“Having been to a number of friends weddings in the South, it was important to me that the occasion not be anything most people, particularly Tom’s New York-based family, had experienced,” she adds.

HOW THEY CUSTOMIZED

All of the tiny details played a huge role on the big day. The custom save-the-dates for guests set the tone for the wedding. The couple played up the barn theme by selecting a horseshoe as the wedding logo, using it on burlap gift bags for guests staying at area hotels, on cups within the bags and on the wedding-day stationary and tea towels. They also created small linen cocktail napkins monogrammed in the same color that the wedding invitations were engraved in. And they used all of Margaret’s mother and grandmother’s linen napkins during dinner.

HAPPY FEET

Since Margaret works for YouTube, the part of the reception when the entire wedding danced to viral video sensation “Gangnam Style” by Psy was a big highlight. “Everyone from 5-year-olds to the 70-year-olds were giving it their best ‘Gangnam Style’ dance interpretation,” Margaret says.