A New Year’s Eve party is a rom-com-worthy scene for a meet-cute—and when influencer Jacqueline Grace Littleson and Austin Haar Rendell ended up at the same one in Winnetka, Illinois, at the tail end of the holiday season in 2022, it set the stage for everything that followed. “Austin grew up with my brother-in-law, which is how we ended up at the same party that night,” Jacqueline remembers. “We found out we lived one block from each other in New York City and went out on our first date two weeks later.”
After two years together, Austin proposed on the roof of their NYC apartment, and shortly thereafter, the couple started planning their Sea Island wedding. “Austin’s family has a home there,” Jacqueline explains. “And their family has been going to Sea Island since the 1970s.”
With her mother and Kellie Ryan Designs by her side, the bride meticulously planned every detail of the wedding. Adison Land set the tone with a fresh invitation suite, while Gayle Brooker (with Lindsey Whatley assisting) photographed the weekend, and Kuzminsky Films captured it all on video.
For her dress, Jacqueline found the one at her very first bridal appointment. Style No. 18 from Sept New York was the third dress tried on. “Sarah of Sept fitted the wedding dress [on me] herself, which was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Jacqueline says. She paired the look with pearl earrings, a pearl choker from Etsy, and an Ines Di Santo veil—she also wore Austin’s grandmother’s diamond tennis bracelet as her “something borrowed.” “It was the most meaningful and stunning piece I could have imagined,” she shares.
On the morning of her wedding, makeup artist Brittany Stewart and hairstylist Tiffany Taylor of The Vanity Salon helped Jacqueline, who wore a monogrammed pajama set from Petite Plume—a gift from her mother via Over The Moon, get ready. Her sister and matron of honor, fellow OTM Bride Amy Littleson McNitt, wore a gingham Danarys dress she discovered on Over The Moon, and Jacqueline’s sisters-in-law rounded out the bridal party in coordinating pinks.
Reverend Dr. Rachel Rhodes officiated the ceremony at Saint Simons Presbyterian Church on Sea Island. The day of the wedding had been running smoothly, but the weather, as it turned out, had its own plans—and then, thankfully, a change of heart. “As soon as guests arrived, it started to rain lightly, and then during the ceremony, the sun came out,” Jacqueline recalls. The couple exited in a cream Moke, right after ringing the church bell. “We had been saying ‘Wedding Bells for The Rendells’ leading up to the day,” Jacqueline recalls. “So ringing the bell felt so perfect!”
The reception moved to the Ocean Forest Golf Club, where cocktail hour unfolded overlooking the water, before guests gathered under a tent for a seated dinner. Jacqueline registered for Ginori x Cabana dinner plates through her Over The Moon Registry and debuted them at the head table that very evening. “It was the cutest way to break them in for the first time,” she jokes.
The Atlanta Party Band of Music Garden Bands kept the dance floor full, before the party moved indoors where DJ Adam From Brunswick and saxophonist Spunk Adams kept the celebration going late into the night. By then, mini espresso martinis, cheeseburgers, and fries were making their way through the crowd—a welcome second wind for the revelry ahead.
