Welcome to a brand new week everyone! This week is going to be a fun one, because I have LOTS of excellent posts planned for you all! You see, Wednesday is my husband and I’s 3 year wedding anniversary, and as you all know by now, I really like celebrating things. :) So, I’ve decided that in addition to the usual daily features, I’ll also be featuring a wedding every single day this week… which really just means that I’ll be adding Tuesday and Thursday to the mix. I hope you all are ready for LOTS of gorgeous weddings!
We’re starting this week off with a modern, eco-friendly wedding from Shang Chen Photography. With a modern color palette of green and black, a bride with some fabulous style, and lots of eco-friendly details, this wedding is FULL of inspiration for you all. And to top it all of, the bride Joanne is sharing some her wedding planning insight with us too!
What (or who) helps you most in your planning process and/or on your wedding day?
We had so much support from our family and friends. My Mom and (now) husband, Chris, helped to made a lot of my crazy ideas come true! I had so many ideas and sources of inspiration for our wedding day. My friends and family really helped to keep me calm and organized.
On the day of our wedding, our caterer from Different Tastes and the event coordinators at DeCordova Museum really kept the event running smoothly and ensured that each of the special details we wanted as part of our wedding day were included and showcased for our guests.
What was the most important thing to you when deciding who to work with for your wedding?
From day one, Chris and I knew we wanted to have a personalized and uniquely “us” wedding. This importance to detail and personalization was part of every decision we made about the wedding, including which vendors to work with. Vendors are there to help make your dream wedding come true so it is so important that they understand you and are willing to listen and give feedback about your big day.
Did any of your vendors do anything special for you before, on, or after your wedding day that you would like to share?
Our photographer, Shang Chen, knew so much about Chris and I before even meeting us face-to-face (we lived in different parts of the country!). We had video chats and a plenty of email exchanges about how Chris & I met, the wedding vibe we wanted, photos we loved, our wedding day timeline and so many other details. Shang coordinated a photo shoot with us a month before the wedding too, so on our wedding day we were very comfortable with her photography style and she really made us feel at ease. We feel so lucky to have so many beautiful photos of our wedding day.
When it came to food, we personalized our wedding day menu – New England Fish & Chips, Pesto Chicken Pizza, beef filet, and butternut squash risotto – and our caterer, Different Tastes let us! None of our food items were on their menu, but they were willing to work with us and make our menu come to life. Guests loved the food and our cupcakes in place of cake.
Our florist really understood our love of fresh herbs and simple flowers. Our DJ helped outline the perfect music atmosphere, in addition to playing only The Beatles during our “Beatles Cocktail Hour,” and introducing the bridal party and us “Fenway Park style.”
What was your favorite thing about your wedding?
Getting married! Chris and I exchanged vows that we had written to each other and taking the oath to spend the rest of our lives together was absolutely my favorite part of the whole day. We were able to celebrate our love with family and friends and had the most amazing night of our lives. When we returned from our honeymoon, I loved hearing from guests about how much they loved the personal details from the wedding from our journals, guest book fingerprints, the cacti favors, to the bar menu, to the table numbers and table settings.
What is your best piece of advice for other brides?
Figure out what is important to you and your fiance on your wedding day, and remember it! There are lots of opinions and inputs from family and friends, and while their thoughts and feelings are so important, you need to remember that is it YOUR wedding day and that you and your fiance are who matters the most on that day. Stay true to yourselves and your wedding day will be the most amazing experience of your whole life!
Love love love Joanna’s advice! Thank you for sharing all of your insight with us Joanna! And thank you to Shang Chen Photography for sharing all of the gorgeous photos too!
I absolutely LOVE the herb container centerpieces and the escort cacti! Such awesome eco-friendly options, and all things that guests can take home and enjoy after your wedding! And how about Joanna’s shoes?! LOVE! So what do you all think of these eco-friendly details? Love them as much as I do?
Vendors who made it all happen…
Lauren
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Absolutely love the whole wedding. But my fav little detail has to be the little placecard plants. They are so cute!
You don’t often hear the word black as a wedidng color, unless it’s black and white. What a refreshing and modern wedding!
It is such an honor and I’m so happy to see such a fabulous couple featured on ELD. Thank you so much Lauren, this blog is beautifully written!
I love an excited and uber cute bride. And this wedding is the perfect example of just that :) So sweet!
I love green and black together. And look at the brides face!! She is so animated – love how happy she is!
First of all, i was looking at these photos and thinking, I know that place, then after scrolling down and seeing it was at deCordova I smiled!!!! I love that place and I grew up in Acton which is so close to there. It holds special memories for me since I’ve been there A LOT! If I did get married in Mass. that is was one of the locations on my wish list. Your wedding was gorgeous and I loved all the “green” touches! Best Wishes <3
Great expressions captured!