CHILDHOOD DREAMS

STORY BY BETSY ILER & PHOTOS BY TIFFANY HALLMARK

Haley Carroll married the cutest boy in her fifth grade class last year at Lake Martin

Guests were invited to use vintage hankies for their happy tears

FFamily was the focus as Haley Carroll Bassham married the cutest boy in her school last spring at Lake Martin’s Church of the Living Waters, where her parents married 31 years ago.

When guests arrived at the outdoor chapel inside the gates at StillWaters on Lake Martin’s southeastern shoreline, they were invited to take a vintage handkerchief from a box to wipe their happy tears. Bassham’s mother found the hankies, some of which bore monograms for special guests, in thrift stores and shops in the weeks and months before the wedding. “She has always been really creative and loves thrifting and vintage things. I have to give the credit to my sweet mom; she did it all,” Bassham said. “I was finishing up my undergrad really close to the date of the wedding, and I told her to just give me a date, and I would be there.” Bassham and Sam wanted a sentimental and intentional wedding, no over-the-top decorations or expenses. “We wanted it to be centered around the meaning of marriage and family. The hankies and teacups were part of that,” she said. Bassham met Sam in the fifth grade when she moved to Navarre, Florida, after living abroad for her father’s military career.

“My mother would point him out – from a hundred students – and say, ‘Haley, who is that boy? He’s the cutest boy in your school.’ I would answer her and say, ‘Mom, that’s Sam Bassham. I could never date Sam Bassham; he’s the cutest boy in school,’” Bassham said.

The two began dating in high school and often visited Lake Martin, where Bassham spent summers with her grandparents.

“When I was younger, we traveled and lived in different places. We didn’t have a consistent home, but Lake Martin in the summers was always consistent,” the bride explained.

After high school, Bassham and Sam both chose to attend college at Southern Mississippi.

“We got to spend all four years of college together,” she said.

A year before they married, Sam proposed on Navarre Beach, where, surrounded by family, he presented his bride-to-be with her mother’s engagement ring.

“My mom and I were looking at rings, and everything I picked out was like her original engagement ring, so she gave it to Sam to propose to me,” Bassham explained. “We were home from school for part of the summer, and my best friend and roommate and a lot

The day was focused on the joy and blessings of being together

The bride's grandmother handstitched hundreds of pearls onto the veil

The reception was held at Eclectic Warehouse

Sunshine added warmth and joy to the table settings and festivities

White flowers and greenery adorn a cake topped with the bride and groom's initials Teacups carried the theme of a family focus for the start of their new life together

Church of the Living Waters provided a beautiful spring backdrop for the service

of family came to see us. We were going to go to dinner someplace on Pensacola Beach, for some reason. I remember that it just didn’t add up. And on the way, we stopped at Navarre Beach. Sam and his mom and his sister had set up a gorgeous lantern path with rose petals. It was just a gorgeous evening on the beach where we grew up, and he proposed to me.”

Family is woven into the fabric of the couple’s future together, from the hundreds of pearls that Bassham’s Nana stitched by hand on her veil to the brotherly bond her groom forged with her older brother and the extra effort Sam’s grandmother made to attend the wedding, despite travel issues during COVID.

The reception was held at Eclectic Warehouse in Elmore County, a lake area venue with a simple vintage and industrial vibe.

The bride dabbed away happy tears as she read her vows The newlyweds moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where Bassham is pursuing a Ph.D. in material science engineering with hopes of working in the solar energy industry. Sam, who majored in advertising at Southern Mississippi, also has a great love for music and has jumped into a worship leader role at the couple’s Atlanta’s church while he does contract advertising work. “I don’t know if we will stay in Georgia forever. We just want to stay open to wherever the Lord sends us and wherever we need to be. So many people in my industry get consumed with their work, and I don’t want that to happen,” Bassham said. “We want to be sure we have a good work/life balance.”