Real Arkansas Wedding: Julie Terhune & Dan Smith

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

June 23, 2022 | Private Residence in Batesville | Chelsea Duff Photography

Julie and Dan met on a blind-date disaster. Their mutual friends decided to set them up on what she describes as the most awkward blind date they’d ever been on. However, about a year later, they reconnected on their own and got to know each other. And wouldn’t you know it? Their friends were right all along.Their friend Marisa Ayers wrote a beautiful article about their love story you can read here. 

In early 2021, Dan told Julie to be ready for him to pop the question at any time. But as the final minutes of 2021 ticked away, Julie noted that she’d been getting her nails done for almost a whole year and still no ring. At the stroke of midnight, as everyone shouted “Happy New Year!,” Dan got down on one knee and finally proposed. “I was so excited that I sort of blacked out, and I still have no clue what he said to me,” Julie said. “He even had to repeat ‘Will you marry me?,’ but of course, the answer was yes!” 

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

Q & A

Q: What were your florals inspired by?

Wildflowers! I’ve always loved bright, colorful, happy flowers and we both preferred the beautiful chaos of wildflowers over a more strict color scheme,” Julie said. “Plus, bright, happy wildflowers remind me of the bouquets Dan would buy me in college at the Fayetteville Farmers Market!”

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

Q: Did you hire a DJ, band or make your own playlist? 

After considering some live band options, we settled on looking for a DJ as we knew we had a wide era of dancers in our families,” Dan said. “I had some ideas about certain music choices, but together Nolan, from Crown Entertainment, and I worked on the perfect song list for the day. And he didn’t disappoint owning the rest of the night, Nolan was a stand-up professional. We had a minor mishap that delayed our reception, but he helped get it back on track and brought the party back up to speed!”

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

Q: What is your secret to wedding planning success? 

Hire a coordinator or planner, for sure,” Julie said. “It helps immensely to have someone who knows what they’re doing on your side! Other than that, I’d say trying to be as flexible as possible can never hurt.”

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

Q: What was your most worth-it wedding splurge? 

Ensuring that all of my bridal party got to get their hair and make-up done,” Julie said. “Haley & her assistant did the most fantastic job, and it was fun getting pampered in the morning before all the busy things started!”

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

Q: How did you customize your wedding?

I worked many nights to make our wine bottle candle centerpieces,” Julie said. “I wanted a European countryside kind of feel, and I think wine bottle candles are something that makes it feel very cozy-European. Our families rose to the occasion…helping me gather wine bottles–it must have been such a hard task, drinking all that wine!”

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

COOL CUSTOMIZATION

“Rather than have a traditional guest book, Dayflower Designs made us our own personalized recipe cards,” Julie said. “Now we have a super cool, personalized deck of recipe cards that doubles as our guest book. We can reminisce and see the sweet notes from guests every time that we make one of the recipes!”

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

MARRIAGE TIP

“Make sure you consciously make time for each other, and go on lots of fun adventures,” Julie said. “One of our absolute favorite ways to do this is by traveling. Now that we’re in Zurich, we’re able to take plenty of weekend trips.”

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

WEDDING VENDORS WE LOVE

Photographer: Chelsea Duff Photography; Florist: Vase & Vine

JULIE TERHUNE & DAN SMITH

MORE VENDORS

Wedding coordinator: White Pine Coordination; Tent rental: AR Tents; Rentals: Eventology; Catering: Fox Creek BBQ; Cake: Sweetie Cakes; Staffing: Eventful Staffing; DJ: Nolan from Crown Entertainment; Stationery: Dayflower Designs; Wedding dress: David’s Bridal; Bride’s rings: Blust Jewelers; Groom’s rings: Cecil’s Fine Jewelry; Hair and makeup: Painted by Haley; Luxury bathroom trailer rental: AR Portable Toilets

SUBMIT YOUR WEDDING TO BE FEATURED IN ARKANSAS BRIDE HERE!

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