I love it when couples embrace their “uniqueness” when preparing for their big day. This vintage eclectic wedding from Smitten & Hooked does just that with a focus on quirky details specific to the bride and groom, including an amazingly intricate cake and flowerless floral arrangements. The gorgeous bride, Caroline, is here with her insight on planning the perfect “un-wedding” wedding. (P.S: You know awesomeness is around the corner when the bride says, “I want things to be fun and we are weird”. A girl after my own heart!)
What (or who) helped you most in your planning process and/or on your wedding day?
Our wedding planner, Erica Stawick of Ashley Baber weddings, was so helpful throughout the planning process. I looked a lot at Pinterest and on wedding blogs, but would fall in love with these really specific details. Erica was instrumental in making sure that all of our crazy ideas fit together.
What was the most important thing to you when deciding who to work with for your wedding?
The most important thing in deciding who to work with for us was simply that we liked the people. Our photographers Lucy and Steven Randall of Smitten and Hooked, my hair and makeup artist Kymm McClean of Who’s the Fairest, and my wedding planner, Erica Stawick of Ashley Baber Weddings were a huge part of our wedding weekend and were all people I would want to hang out with, wedding or no wedding.
What was your inspiration for your wedding details and/or design?
Our inspiration…hmmm, that’s tough. I’d probably just describe it as unique, quirky, eccentric…however you want to say it. Basically we just wanted details that looked like things we would pick, not typical wedding girliness.
What was your favorite thing about your wedding?
My favorite thing was marrying my best friend in a unique ceremony that reflected exactly who we are and how we feel about each other. I loved the Celtic Handfasting ceremony that closed our wedding with our parents and families tying our hands together and the background of some of our favorite music by U2, Sigur Ros, and MGMT played on strings by Charlotte Strings for Events. I also LOVED the “floral” if you can call them that, arrangements. When I first met with Karen Greenoe and Kristin Dills of Lily Greenthumb’s I said I don’t like flowers so anything that looks like something besides flowers. That’s probably pretty tough direction for a florist. They did an amazing job of making it happen. Also, Jill Del Mastro of Cake Lady Jill did a phenomenal job with our cake. It was insane in a good way, which was what we were going for: intricate, colorful, and delicious!
What is your best piece of advice for other brides?
I think everyone is probably different, but I guess I would say….Surround yourself with people (and vendors) that you love, focus on the reason for the day, and try to have people leave going “hmmm that wedding was soooo Chris and Caroline”.
I do love a fun and unusual cake; how insanely amazing is this tasty treat? I had a seven tier coconut confection at my own wedding and it was – and still is – one of my favorite things about that day. Yum!
How about you? Are you more of a traditional white buttercream or fondant gal or are you planning to get a little crazy with the design, color or type (pies, anyone?) of your first sweet bite as husband and wife?
XOXO,
Carlee
Vendors who made it all happen…
Carlee
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Thanks for the fab feature, Lauren! Just wanted to give a shout out to J. Major’s Bridal where Caroline got her dress and to Lindsey Regan Thorne from LRT: be pretty who styled the bridal party! xoxoxo
Erica
The florals are so unique! Love them.
Yikes on the misspelled signs…
Not a Bride and not a vendor I guess I’m curious? Renewing vows is why I paused. I love the idea of a non traditional wedding too. After you hear “Here Comes the Bride” and “Canon in D” the first 1000 times you can maintain your sanity. By the 1001st I was ready to break every pianist in town fingers! Just because some moron told people Canon is the so called wedding song doesn’t mean everyone from the last 20000 years must use it! I shall digress as my point is made. I will be walking in to our song which is Lonestar’s “Amazed” and since we are both huge fans also playing Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” since this is a renewal. My wedding also was unique and probably the most memorable thing we did that I’m told we are famous for at my parents church is we turned around backwards. My mother said she wanted to see my face so we turned where she and everyone else could. The minister stood at the bottom of the steps and my husband and I onstage. Like you I didn’t do flowers except in honor of my mom (she was ill for many years) I did carry stargazer lilies which are her favorite. My presentation roses were “fire and ice” (they are white w dark pink tips) to represent how opposite my husband and I are. All other floral was greenery and the foliage like you used. Loved your cake! Before everybody jumped on the bandwagon I did cupcakes. No bakery in town was equipped to make such and now we have 3! Had to make my own cake stand since it was all new then. Imagine 4 layers of 350 white monogrammed cupcakes stacked on top of each other. It hung off the table. Everybody remembers those cupcakes. I was asked the other day if I was going to get a bakery in Vegas to make us a couple. Funny what people remember… Congratulations to you both. May you be as happy as we have been! Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us. It looks like a wonderful time was had by all