Southern Charm Savannah's Happy McCullough Is Married and Living Happily Ever After

It's a happy day for the Southern Charm Savannah gang. Pal Happy McCullough officially married her fiancé Azam Mughal on Saturday, May 13. 

Happy announced the news on Instagram Sunday with a peek at the moment she and Azam became husband and wife. "Thank you to all our family & friends for the most perfect night of our lives!" Happy gushed on Instagram. "We couldn't be happier and loved celebrating with everyone!"

Many members of the Southern Charm Savannah crew were in tow to celebrate the big day, including Catherine Cooper, Daniel Eichholz, Hannah Pearson, Louis Oswald, and Lyle Mackenzie.

The wedding ceremony was held at the Savannah Yacht Club, and Happy told The Daily Dish prior to the event that she was going for a "coastal elegance" vibe for her wedding, complete with oyster shell artwork and a white, blush, and gray color scheme. "It’s going to have this laid-back but elegant feel," Happy described. "It’s going to be beautiful, so I’m really excited. There’s a few little surprises for people that I think will be fun that we’re looking forward to." 

Some of those special touches came in the form of Happy's something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. "I’m sort of in the process of looking for something that was my grandfather’s to use as my blue because he was so influential in my life, and unfortunately he won’t be there in person, although he will be in spirit. So that’s kind of what I’m on the hunt for now," Happy told The Daily Dish prior to the big day. "But my borrowed is my veil [from a friend], my ring actually is my something old because it was my grandmother’s and my great-grandmother’s ring, and my new is my dress and my shoes." 

In the days leading up to the wedding, Happy said that she felt "really chill" and she wasn't worried about anything, but that hadn't always been the case along the road to the altar. "It’s been OK. I think planning a wedding is really stressful. I think there’s probably been some added pressure on me just having a big, well-known family in Savannah, people just expect me to have a huge, elaborate wedding. It’s just not my taste to do that. Also, lots of people give me really bad anxiety," Happy shared. "So I’ve been trying to balance how I can have something that would make my family proud versus what I truly want. It’s been fun, but it’s been very overwhelming."

But Happy couldn't contain her excitement over the thought of becoming Mrs. Mughal. "Azam and I dated for so long, we’ve known each other since college. I never really paid him much attention, and when we reconnected later on, eight years later, I instantly felt connected to him. And it’s just something I knew, literally since day one, I’m going to marry this man," she gushed. "Other than that, having everybody we love in one room, that is just so cool, you never have that, you know, people from out of town and blending all your friends and family together, I just think that’s what I'm most looking forward to other than being married."

Happy and Azam first met while studying political science at Georgia Southern University. They connected over interning for then-U.S. Representative Jack Kingston of Georgia. "I did my internship the semester before he did, he reached out to kind of pry for questions, secrets, and tips and whatever, and after that, literally for six years, he asked me out and kept saying, ‘If you’re ever in Atlanta, come see me, I’d love to take you out.’ And I just never did because it didn’t feel right, it just seemed so bizarre," Happy recalled. "And I actually ran into him when I was up in Atlanta. And after that night I just couldn’t stop thinking about him." 

From then on, their relationship was mostly long distance. "I think when you’re long-distance you kind of savor every moment you have together," Happy said. "And so maybe that made us progress a little bit faster than most relationships, but it totally worked for us." 

Now Happy couldn't be happier (sorry, we had to do it) to be married to Azam. "He’s just amazing. He’s just so kind and loving," she gushed. "He just treats me differently than anyone I’ve really ever come in contact with in my whole life, and he makes me feel so special." 

Happy and Azam also had a grand feast for the couple's rehearsal dinner to celebrate the groom's Pakistani culture. "We are trying to blend the two cultures together," Happy said. "So it’s going to be a really fun, festive evening. I think it’s going to be really cool to show everyone his side and the other side of his life that people don’t really know about. It’ll be really nice and fun, and my family can get to know his culture a little more, and I’m just really excited about dressing up."

But Happy admitted that marrying someone from a different background has been challenging in Savannah just because it's not the norm. "I think people probably anticipated a certain person I would be with, that person’s different for me, and I realize I’m probably a bit of a rebel in the southern traditional ways, but that’s just how I am," she explained. "The biggest thing people ask, people are kind of expecting me to keep my name, ‘Oh, you’re going to take his name? How do you say his name? How do you pronounce that?’ And for me, I can’t imagine not taking his last name. So it might be a little bit different, but it’s a name." 

Now that Happy is Mrs. Mughal, she and Azam are figuring out where they want to make their home together. The couple has a house in Savannah, as well as an apartment in Atlanta, where they both work (Happy owns a Pure Barre studio in Inman Park, and Azam works in marketing for The Home Depot). Since they've already been sharing a home, Happy said she didn't anticipate anything feeling different once she and Azam tied the knot. "We’ve already been living together, we started sharing some bills. I don’t think it’s going to really feel different. I think I’m just going to be excited to say, ‘This is my husband.’ I’m kind of over hearing 'fiancé' all the time," Happy said. "I don’t know if it’ll feel that much different, other than I know people are constantly going to ask next, 'When are you going to have babies?’"

And that's something Happy and Azam have already been discussing. "I think every couple talks about it a little bit. I have always been, no questions asked, I do not want children. Over the past two to three months, my feelings about it have changed a little bit," Happy said. "About a month ago, I told Azam that we can start trying at the end of next year to have a baby because I know he is dying to have children, and he’d be a great father. It’s kind of hard when you see the person you love playing with a child, because then you’re instantly thinking, 'I need to give this man a child.' We don’t have a strict timeline. Of course, we would love to travel and have time to ourselves just being married. If it happens before, it might be difficult, but we don’t know. So we’re just going to see what happens. Ideally, if we can start trying at the end of next year that would be good for me." 

But before the rest of their lives begins, Happy and Azam will be off on their honeymoon in Santorini. In fact, Happy said that she knew she would one day become Mrs. Mughal after the couple's first big trip to Mexico. "That’s really when I realized how much I loved him. Traveling with someone is so difficult, especially when you have the flying aspect of it and not just a road trip, and it can be so stressful. And we got through that trip. It was so perfect in every way. No fighting, nothing," Happy said. "And that’s when I was like, ‘I can be with this man forever because I can travel with him.’"

See more of Happy and Azam's wedding, below.