The Bride Who Wore Her Mother’s Wedding Dress for Her Summer Celebration at Sassafras Springs Vineyard
Abagail Perry and Colby Perry met through mutual friends, though Abagail credits their relationship to a piece of furniture.
“I needed help building furniture, and who better to ask than a man with muscles,” she says.
Their relationship eventually brought them to Osage Park in Bentonville, a place where the couple had already made plenty of memories together. In November 2024, Colby chose the park for his proposal. “It was a really intentional place to propose,” Abagail remembers.
A year and a half later, on June 28, 2026, they married at Sassafras Springs Vineyard in Springdale, Arkansas.
A Summer Wedding at Sassafras Springs Vineyard
Abagail knew exactly how she wanted the wedding to feel.
“Timeless and elegant,” she says. “I wanted something that was simple. Something that just let the love fill the room.”
Their guest list held particular importance. The couple’s friends and family are deeply woven into their lives, and Abagail wanted them to feel present throughout the wedding itself.
“Our community, our people are so important to us,” she says.
That began before the ceremony. As the women prepared to leave for Sassafras Springs Vineyard, they gathered around Abagail and Colby and prayed over their marriage.
Abagail had also prepared something privately for her groom. Before she entered the ceremony, a voice recording written by her played for Colby.
Her message ended with the thought she wanted him to hear before he saw her walking toward him: It had always been him.
Then she walked down the aisle.
“I suppose I cannot forget seeing the tears in Colby’s eyes,” she says.
Communion With Everyone They Love
During the ceremony, Abagail and Colby chose communion for the union of their marriage. They invited their guests to participate with them.
“We had our guests take the communion with us,” Abagail says. “A reminder that we are all one.”
The room joined them in communion, creating one of Abagail’s favorite memories of the day.
“Sharing communion with all of our people was so special,” she says.
For a bride who had envisioned a wedding filled with the people she loved, the ceremony gave those relationships a place within the vows themselves.
A Legacy Dance for 63 Years of Marriage
Before dancing opened for the evening, Abagail and Colby invited the married couples in the room onto the floor for a legacy dance.
One by one, couples left the floor according to the number of years they had been married. Eventually, Abagail’s grandparents remained.
They have been married for 63 years.
The moment carried particular weight for the family following her grandfather’s recent battle with cancer. Abagail watched her grandparents dance together as the longest-married couple in the room, then presented them with a bouquet to celebrate their marriage.
It became one of the memories she returned to first when recalling the wedding.
“Seeing my grandparents dance together after his recent battle with cancer,” she says.
Sixty-three years into their own marriage, her grandparents danced at the wedding of their granddaughter as she began hers.
Her Mother’s Wedding Dress
Family history appeared again during the reception.
Abagail changed into her mother’s wedding dress for the evening, bringing the gown out for another wedding and another generation.
She had one more surprise planned for her mother. The two shared a mother-daughter dance to Lauren Alaina’s “Like My Mother Does.”
For Abagail, having her family and closest friends together in one place became one of the luxuries of the day.
“Having all of our most important people all together,” she says, was among her favorite memories.
The Final Dance
The reception continued with Brock Entertainment behind the music and the couple surrounded by the people they had wanted beside them all along.
At the end of the evening, Abagail and Colby stayed behind for a final dance before their exit. Chris Stapleton played as the newlyweds had the dance floor to themselves.
By then, the day had given Abagail a collection of moments she wanted to hold onto: the prayer before the ceremony, her recording for Colby, his expression when she appeared at the aisle, communion with their guests, her mother beside her on the dance floor, her grandparents dancing after 63 years together, and Colby with her for the final song of the night.
The next morning, she had one piece of advice for remembering all of it.
Abagail’s Advice for Future Brides
“The cliché: take it all in and it goes by so fast,” Abagail says.
Her own advice is wonderfully practical. Pause during the reception. Look around the room. Find the people who came to celebrate with you. Hug them.
“Truly look around and take time to just pause throughout the evening,” she says. “Hug everyone if you can and celebrate those that are there to celebrate your love.”
Then, the morning after the wedding, find a journal.
“Write down every little detail that you want to remember.”
For Abagail, those details now include Colby’s tears at the aisle, her mother’s wedding dress, communion shared across a room, and her grandparents still dancing after 63 years.
The Wedding Team
Venue: Sassafras Springs Vineyard
Catering: Sous Chef
Coordinators: Brody Jennings & Milana Hainline
Florals: Mallory Morris
Cake: Rick’s Bakery
Hair: Conlee Mitchell
Makeup: MakeupbyMacey
Photography: Courtney Paige Photography, Courtney Weber
Videography: Nate Leonard
Content Creation: Anchor Moments & Sophia Lacey
DJ: Brock Entertainment
