As modern love stories go, Hannah Stefanek Reehl and Cameron Reehl first connected through Instagram. Hannah is an interior designer and Cameron is a builder, so they ended up following each other’s professional accounts. He posted a bathroom remodel he had finished on his Story, and she commented, “Wow. That looks great.” The next morning, he asked her if she would ever be interested in doing some design work for him. “It was professional for about a week, and the rest is history, baby,” Hannah states.
After a year-and-a-half of dating, he proposed during a Valentine’s Day weekend at his house. “He borrowed a friend’s heart-shaped waffle maker and made me the sweetest breakfast,” she remembers. “To be honest, I thought it was a sympathy breakfast because the night before we’d gotten into a big fight about, you guessed it, not being engaged yet.” He presented her with a note addressed to “Poodle Mother,” her nickname, and as she read his sweet words, Cameron got down on one knee.
For their #ReehlLoveBaby wedding on October 9, 2021, Hannah always knew she wanted to get married near her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. The ceremony was held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Chapel in Magnolia Springs, right outside of Fairhope. Cameron’s family has a home in the area, and Hannah had always kept the chapel in the back of her mind. The florals we chose were loose, organic, and soft. “I told my florist, Revelry Bloom, I wanted them to seem as though they’d been growing in this chapel for a decade, unkept and wild,” the bride shares. Hannah is also super thankful she didn’t listen to anyone who told her to skimp on flowers for her hour-long ceremony because the photos in front of the floral arch at the chapel are the ones prominently framed in her home.
Finding the reception location was the hardest part of planing for the couple. After several options fell through, Hannah made a call to her husband’s alma mater, Bayside Academy, and chatted with Cameron’s old baseball coach. The school, overlooking Mobile Bay, ended up being the perfect spot. Design-wise, the bride wanted things to feel soft with a ’90s bridal vibe, and planner, Blair Gewin of Blair Weddings + Events knew when to let the bride’s creativity shine through. “I constantly asked myself ‘is more really more’? I felt that it was,” she states. “‘Feminine’ is a good word to describe how I wanted my wedding to feel.”
The cake was impressive with spun flowers, draping, and embellishments. “Fairhope is in the deep South, and cake is everything at a wedding,” Hannah clues us in. “People will talk about your cake when they wake up the next morning, and honey, you better give them something good to say!”
To set the tone of the day, Soiree Signatures created a beautiful invitation suite. “Our wedding invitation was formatted into a booklet of sorts with our wedding monogram letter-pressed on the cover,” Hannah explains. “It was a nod to my parents’ wedding invitation. Growing up, I remember thinking it was so romantic, it reminded me of a love note.”
Selecting her wedding wardrobe was the only time in Hannah’s life where she didn’t consider labels. “Typically, I am very brand aware. I’m unashamedly that girl!” she exclaims. “But in this instance, I wanted my bridal wardrobe to be timeless. I wanted a wardrobe that lacked evidence of a specific decade.”
“I will be the first to admit, I’m not one who enjoys being copied,” she shares. “I lack the strength to believe it is purely compliment.” Her mother-in-law first sparked the idea of having dresses custom-made and suggested Hannah go to New Orleans to search for fabrics. In Nola, the bride placed orders for yards of a vintage silk velvet burnout and a vintage Chanel remnant that would make up her rehearsal and grand exit dresses.
For her wedding gown, Hannah chose a lace dress by Romona Keveza that made her parents cry at Ivory & White Bridal Salon. “I was happy they were so happy,” she remembers. BW Designs Inc. custom-made the bride’s veil with a blusher, using the same lace on the bodice of her gown, and Hannah and her mother found her blue Carolina Herrera shirt dress at his boutique in Atlanta.
On the day-of, Hannah got ready with makeup artist J. Edward Beauty and hairstylist Jason Chambers. Bridesmaids complemented her in Amsale’s Sonia gowns in Faille Ice, and groomsmen wore their own tuxedos to stand next to Cameron in his custom Samuelsohn tuxedo.
At St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the time had finally come for Hannah to walk down the aisle with her father. The bride and groom exchanged their vows and exited the church as husband and wife!
Directly after at The Bluff at Bayside Academy, the new mister and missus celebrated with their guests under a sailcloth tent and enjoyed a delicious dinner by Rob Berglin Catering. After the meal, the two cut their fantastic vanilla and almond wedding cake with buttercream icing, made by Betty Weber.
1 More Song from Atlanta kept the dance floor packed, and Walker Hayes, who is Cameron’s uncle, made a surprise appearance and sand “Fancy Like.” Later on in the night, their favorite drive-through tacos were served to keep everyone energized.
Once the reception came to a close, the new Mr. and Mrs. Reehl made their grand exit via a vintage pink Cadillac and drove to The Grand Hotel in Point Clear, where they spent their wedding night. “We heard the next day that a crowd lingered after our reception to catch the tail end of the Alabama game,” Hannah reveals. “My father-in-law pre-arranged for there to be a television wheeled in right after we left. Roll Tide.”
