It’s Friday, and I for one am ready for the weekend, so I’m excited to kick it off with this pink and green Vermont wedding from Jessica Connery Photography! I love how this couple infused vintage and rustic elements with a classic style!

From the bride, Anna:

What (or who) helped you most in your planning process and/or on your wedding day?

LISTS and EXCEL!  We couldn’t have planned without lists, lists, lists!  Everything is better when you have lists.  My husband and I had multiple shared google documents with lists, multiple excel spreadsheets for budgets, guests, and in the last couple of months we had an email with last minute “to-dos” that we emailed back and forth as we completed items or added new ones to the list.   The best thing about lists is you never have to worry or lose sleep at night because you just write down the detail on a list and then you don’t have to remember it later! For the actual wedding week, I had multiple “to-do” lists and an extremely detailed schedule.  I had all of these vetted by my wedding party, and then I shared with them and all of my vendors. Once I got to my wedding destination (on a Wednesday for a Saturday wedding), I made sure everyone else had all the lists and the detailed schedule and then I relaxed!  I had delegated all the rest of the work so all my husband and I had to do was relax and enjoy- we knew that if it was on the list it would get done by others!

What was the most important thing to you when deciding who to work with for your wedding?

Low costs and excellent reviews.  We are very frugal so it was very important with us to work with someone who was more interested in providing a valuable service than charging huge amounts of money for it.  It was also very important that we got a quality product, so it was very important that we received very positive recommendations. I also immediately decided against anyone who was interpersonally difficult on the first email or phone conversation. If they aren’t pleasant way before the wedding, then how can you be sure they will be pleasant at the wedding?

What was your inspiration for your wedding details and/or design?

I am a very feminine person and I love flowers, pinks, and lace.  I knew that I wanted lots of huge beautiful pink and white blooms, along with some more delicate roses, and that I wanted everything to support that vision.  My husband and I also love antiquing, especially for china sets, so I knew early on I wanted to do the mismatched china settings on lace tablecloths.  My mother was a huge supporter and it all came together very well because she and I have the same idea about what a “pretty plate” is.  Since we were both looking for the same “look” all the plates, teacups, etc., wound up coordinating perfectly.  Family is very important to us- we only had family in the wedding party even though we were blessed with friends who helped a great deal as well.  I knew I wanted to highlight our families and was so excited to have the display with photos of family weddings throughout time.  I felt like it was also a happy way to honor many who had passed away.  Similarly, the anniversary dance was wonderful, as we had SOO many couples that had been married for SOO many years in attendance.  We were so lucky that Jeff was still in the Marine Corps Reserves so that he could wear his Marine Blues for the wedding ceremony! He looked so sharp. Jeff and I are also both very much nature-people and we are always more relaxed in an outdoor setting.  We love lakes and mountains so Mountain Meadows was a perfect spot for our wedding which wanted to be beautiful, relaxing and fun.  Many of the more rustic elements fit in well with the setting- the birch arch for the ceremony, the hand painted signs made by a friend, and the lodge itself, I am lucky to have a great friend who is excellent with crafts- she sewed the tissue holders that were in each welcome bag, as well as made crayon rolls and personalized coloring books with pictures of Jeff and I and our favorite things for the children who were attending.It was important to us to have children feel welcome at the wedding, so the special gifts for them were perfect.  My mom did a great job with the items for the gift bags, working with a local northern Massachusetts soap maker to create personalized lavender and rose geranium toiletry items for the welcome bag.  Jeff’s brother owns a plant nursery and he and Jeff’s family and some of our friends made ALL of the flower arrangements and provided the various planters and hanging pots for Mountain Meadows as well as the boxwoods for the ceremony. Overall, I wanted a beautiful and charming English Cottage styled wedding. without the cloying primness of  Victorian  wedding trappings.  We wanted it elegant, but fun and relaxed.  We both feel like it was the best wedding ever- everything went perfectly and it was exactly what we wanted!

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

I loved all of it.  I loved the ceremony (a bald eagle circled overhead during the vows), the setting (nothing like going for a relaxing canoe ride the morning of your wedding), spending time with family (our wedding party arrived Wednesday/Thursday, and we hosted all guests on Friday night for a BBQ with dancing), the decorations and flowers were perfect, I think the best part of our wedding was how much FUN everyone had!

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

Remember that you need to ENJOY your wedding! For every decision we made we thought about how it would affect our enjoyment of our wedding.  One thing we decided to do was invite all the guests for a BBQ with dancing followed by a campfire and s’mores on Friday night.  This was great because it gave us a chance to visit and spend time with almost all of the guests, so we didn’t have as many to get around to and thank for coming on Saturday night at the reception!  Also– I cannot emphasize how important well maintained lists are.  A dedicated and helpful husband-to-be is also very helpful!! Even though we were very frugal throughout, as time got closer it was important for us to relax a little about money and enjoy ourselves. When my peony supplier fell through, the only farms I could find that would have peonies in August were in Alaska near the Arctic Circle. I had them FedExed to the wedding at some expense- but boy was it worth it!!!

So gorgeous! I love how Anna’a advice was to really enjoy your wedding, and she certainly seemed to know what was important to her and her husband on their big day.

How about you- what is most important to you on your wedding day and how will it show through your style, decor, and details?

Cheers!
Samm

Vendors who made it all happen…