A Nontraditional Southern Wedding with a Dark and Cozy Ambiance
Alex McFall and Ty Talley grew up just 15 apart, and their families have known each other for years. Back in high school, before she decided to go to law school, Alex even shadowed Ty’s father, a well-known trial lawyer. It’s ironic, then, how she and Ty never met or crossed paths until her brother’s birthday party in May of 2016.
“The night we met,” Alex recalls, “we ended up exchanging Words with Friends screen names after some good-natured trash talk. For nearly two years, that was our only form of contact – we played 78 games (I won 45!) and chatted through the app. Eventually, Ty reached out to me for help with a cite check for a law school paper. At the time, I was already a practicing attorney and, wanting to impress him, I taught him how to perfect his citations. That perfection caught the eye of his professor, who suspected he had cheated and almost got him expelled – a misunderstanding that, thankfully, was quickly resolved. Not long after, we had our first date on Christmas Eve. Keeping things under wraps from our families, Ty picked me up with a bottle of champagne on ice, and we went stargazing on his family’s farm. The rest, as they say, is history.”
“He made me believe in an extraordinary kind of love I didn’t think existed.”
While their relationship may have had a delayed start time, the couple’s first impressions of each other were pretty monumental.
“I remember the first time I saw Ty like it was yesterday,” Alex shares. “I was completely stopped in my tracks, which had never happened to me before. I thought he was the most attractive man I had ever seen, but it wasn’t just his looks – there was this authenticity about him that drew me in immediately.”
Ty, however, tried to play it cool. Alex wondered if he had any interest in her at al – that is, until a few weeks later when she ran into his dad. Ty’s dad causally let it slip that his son was in love with her. As it turned out, Ty’s first impression of Alex was simply: “Damn, she’s beautiful. I’m slightly intimidated, and I’m going to have to work for this one.”
“From the start, I knew this relationship was different,” says Alex. “Before Ty, I had no interest in marriage. I was a proud cat lady, living alone in my own home in Nashville, and I scoffed at the idea of ever changing anything about myself for a man. But Ty changed everything. He made me believe in an extraordinary kind of love I didn’t think existed. We did long distance for four years, and while it wasn’t easy, I was so ridiculously happy. Ty turned me from a skeptic into a romantic, and I’ll forever be grateful for the way he changed my life.”
A Low-Key Christmas Eve
During Christmas Eve one year, Alex and Ty were enjoying a relaxing night in. It was also their four-year anniversary, so the two were laughing and reminiscing over a collage of nearly 200 photos that Alex had gifted Ty, taken over the course of their relationship. In return, Ty proposed popped the question with a beautiful engagement ring that he designed himself.
“We’re pretty low-key people,” Alex states, “not big on social media or grand spectacles. We genuinely just enjoy being together, usually at home with our cats. So, fittingly, Ty proposed to me in his bedroom on Christmas Eve while we were both in pajamas. We didn’t even tell anyone until the next morning (okay, I did text my best friends, but no one else!) Instead, we just showed up to our family Christmas celebrations engaged, and our families and friends were ecstatic. I was 34 when Ty proposed, and by that point, I think everyone had started to believe I was serious when I said I’d never get married!”
The Nontraditional Southern Bride
The wedding planning process was one that Alex and Ty truly made their own. With Whitney Bowman Events taking the lead for the big day, plans were soon in the works for a celebration that was sophisticated, stylish, and veered from the path of traditional Southern weddings.
“I might be the only Southern girl in history who didn’t have a wedding Pinterest board or any vision for what I wanted,” Alex muses. “Honestly, I’d never even pictured myself as a bride, so I was starting completely from scratch. I knew right away I needed help.
I turned to Instagram and stumbled upon a stunning photo of a wedding planned by Whitney at The Mill & Mine – which, fittingly, became our venue. Whitney’s style is mature, sophisticated, and timeless, which perfectly matched my vibe. I reached out to her, practically begging for help, and explained just how clueless I was about weddings.
Whitney had her work cut out for her. For example, I told her I didn’t really like any particular kind of flowers – I preferred trees, sticks, and greenery. She took that and created the most magical enchanted forest I’ve ever seen.”
When their wedding day arrived, the nontraditional bride and groom spent the entire day together from start to finish. After waking up, they began the festivities with breakfast alongside their wedding party. Having rented out a huge loft in downtown Knoxville, there was plenty of space for the men to take over the bottom two floors – which included a speakeasy and bar area with TVs and a pool table – while the bridal party and glam squad got ready on the top two floors.
For the ceremony, the bride made her way down the aisle wearing a Galia Lahav wedding gown and a pair of New Balance sneakers.
“Honestly, it was one of the best decisions I made that day,” she notes. “As women, I think we need to normalize comfortable wedding shoes! Everything else about my look felt so elegant, and the sneakers were a fun nod to my laid-back personality.”
A Dark and Cozy Ambiance
The couple’s reception at The Mill & Mine turned out to be a jaw-dropping reveal, as they were greeted by a magical ambiance that was dark, cozy, moody, and warm.
“The head table was the showstopper for me,” says the bride. “Whitney created a see-through acrylic table filled with real moss and greenery, so it felt like we were dining on the bed of an enchanted forest. I was thrilled when I saw the clip art mock-up during the planning phase, but nothing could have prepared me for the final result. I knew the table would have sticks as part of the design, but I didn’t expect Whitney to gather actual trees to create a stunning arch over the head table. I could go on forever about all the things I loved about my wedding, but suffice it to say, it was the best day of my life. If I could relive that day and eat our wedding food on an endless loop, I absolutely would. There wasn’t a single thing we wished had been done differently, and I think that’s an incredibly rare and special feeling.”
Delaying the Honeymoon
Originally, the newlyweds planned to honeymoon in Switzerland a few months after their wedding. They decided to postpone the trip so they could meet their first nephew, who was due to be born right after the wedding day. Shortly after, however, they ended up delaying the honeymoon again after learning that they’d be welcoming their baby girl, Max, exactly nine months after their wedding date.
“Between the pregnancy nausea and early preparations for Max’s arrival, we stayed stateside,” says Alex, “but Switzerland is firmly on the list for 2025. Max arrived two months early, but she’s completely healthy, and we’re absolutely in love. There’s
something so special about knowing she’s a gift from the happiest, most magical week of our lives.”
WEDDING TALENT
Location & Catering: The Mill & Mine, Knoxville, TN; Planner: Whitney Bowman Events; Floral Design: Wither and Bloom; Rentals: Please Be Seated; Linen: All Occasions Party Rentals; Invitations: Little Postage House; Wedding Dress: Galia Lahav; Hair: Blo – Blow Dry Bar; MUA: Adriana Mejia; Photography: Kelsey Shea