Yellow DIY California Wedding

Apr 8th

by: Lauren

Happy Monday everyone! We’re starting this week off with a beautiful yellow DIY wedding from Emily Takes Photos! Complete with handmade bunting, a gorgeous yellow, gray, and white color palette, and tables named after meaningful places, this wedding is absolutely full of DIY love! The bride, Jen, shares her insight with us:

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

My fiance (now husband!). Planning a wedding (in the midst of a cross-country move and new jobs for both of us) was really stressful, but the key was that we learned how to work as a team in the process. That will serve us as a couple for the rest of our lives together.

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

I work as a production manager for a regional theatre — and it turns out that planning a wedding is not really any different than producing a play. So even though I’d never planned my own wedding before, I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into, and I wanted vendors who would not only respect but also understand the perspective and experience that I was bringing to the process. Consequently we selected vendors whom I know from my field — our wedding coordinator is also an actress, I knew our band from having produced a show with them a few years ago, my hair stylist was a costume designer friend, etc. I wanted folks who WEREN’T specialists in the wedding industry, but instead came from the same creative, out-of-the-box, roll-with-the-punches event-producing environment that I come from. I’m not the sort of bride who needs to be ‘managed’ and so I wanted vendors who would communicate openly with me instead of managing me (and my wallet!).

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

My husband and I had moved to northern California 2 years earlier and most of our guests were coming from out of town, from all over the country. We really wanted to share a bit of our northern california life with them, so we selected a venue that really featured the natural beauty of northern california and served great local food. We love to craft and design and make things, so we filled out the details of the wedding with handmade crafts that matched the natural outdoors aesthetic. Our venue was in the middle of Sonoma county, where our guests could fill out the rest of their weekend going hiking, to the ocean, wine tasting, and exploring the countryside and nearby small towns. We love hearing stories about the adventures that our friends and family had before/after the actually wedding day.

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

Having nearly all of our favorite friends and family all in the same place at the same time.

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

Remember to always, continuously check in with yourself and our partner and see if it matters to YOU. If a tradition doesn’t make sense to you, throw it out the window! You won’t be able to make every element of your wedding be important and personal and special. When you have inspiration, run with it, but for everything else, either make a quick, cost-effective decision and or skip it entirely. (Eg, neither of us likes cake, and the cake-cutting ceremony moment seemed unimportant to us. So we served pie for dessert and skipped any sort of posed-dessert-cutting moment entirely — and our guests were too busy enjoying delicious pie to care that we’d skipped the tradition). Also – the DIY wedding aesthetic is really in these days. Make sure that you are making things because you LIKE to make things, not because you think you’re supposed to. Consider making things that you need in the 10’s (centerpiece) rather than the 100’s (invitations, favors). I loved every handmade thing at my wedding, but it was overwhelming at times (like, when we handmade all 200 invitations including envelopes made from upcycled national geographic maps.)

I love Jen’s advice about DIYing things- focusing on things that can be made in smaller quantities is a great piece of advice!

So are any of you planning on DIYing things for your own wedding? What will you being making?

Vendors who made it all happen…

Photographer: Emily Takes Photos / Wedding Planner/Coordinator: Duet Design Events / Reception Venue: Valley Ford Hotel & Firefly Catering / Band: Misner & Smith

Eclectic Green Nature Inspired Illinois Wedding

Category: REAL WEDDINGS 2 Comments

Apr 5th

by: Sammantha

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Hello all! Another week has come to an end, and I am so excited to send you off with this fabulous nature inspired wedding from Amanda Megan Miller Photography!

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

We worked together on finding all the vendors, which was great. We had lists of pro’s and con’s for everyone and everything! So our teamwork was our greatest asset. Our vendors were great because they were super confident and professional. And of course, the internet! From DIY to fashion to decor – how did people plan weddings before 1998?

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

We were looking for people who were more independent – we did not want to work with giant wedding conglomerates. We knew we wanted vendors who were genuine, relatable, and open to our less-than-traditional ideas. The best vendors are the ones who can see your vision and then amplify it. Amanda Megan Miller and Fleur were really key in that regards. They also were confident enough to take charge, which was really important for us, who were sometimes uninformed about and sometimes impartial to certain wedding norms.

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

Such a big part of who we are as a couple is founded in the beauty of nature. From our first few dates (hikes and runs in the woods), to our epic annual road-trips, some of the most memorable moments in the journey of our relationship have been founded in the natural. Jackie (bride) was brought up a nature-lover, from family hikes to “pushing the limit” camping trips, and has worked hard to convert Andrew (groom) to who appreciate the “finer” side of life – sleeping under the stars, running down a mountainside in the rain, finding the most colorful leaves at the base of an old maple.
Additionally, one of Jackie’s favorite books is “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. I spent a lot of time working on including this book and its message into our special day.

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

We got to marry our soul mate!! In terms of design – we loved the “organic elegance” – the simple and natural vibe to our wedding. We really paid attention to the details, and we put in our own sweat and tears into every part of the planning. The wedding was OURS, from the grand scheme of celebrating at an arboretum, to the ceremony that we wrote ourselves, to the handmade table numbers, place-cards and giveaways, to the songs we chose for a live band to play, to the song that Andrew’s dad wrote for us, to our tree cake–you name it! No stone was left unturned.

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

Make your wedding reflect you. And by you I mean the essence that is “you” as a couple. Put your heart into it – You should be able to connect to all the things going on around you throughout the whole evening. It will make even the most random guest feel like they are part of something bigger.
Also, know what you want, and if you don’t be flexible and open to ideas.

I love her advice! Taking everything that is very “you” and making it a part of one of the biggest days of your life seems like it would be easy but it isn’t always something that comes naturally. What are you doing to make sure that your wedding is you?

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Cheers!

Samm

Vendors who made it all happen…

Photographer: Amanda Megan Miller Photography / Flowers & Decor: Fleur Inc / Cake Baker: The Cakery, Inc. / Band: Front of the House Band / Reception Venue: The Morton Arboretum

Vintage Red & Orange North Carolina Wedding

Category: REAL WEDDINGS 6 Comments

Apr 5th

by: Carlee

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This sweet vineyard wedding from Big Star Studios is absolutely full of vintage charm! I adore the bride’s birdcage veil, the bridesmaids’ floral pomanders, and the best color palette Fall has to offer: shades of vibrant red and orange with bright pops of purple. The stunning bride, Rose, is here to share her planning insight with us:

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

I would say our wedding planner Amanda Scott (A Swanky Affair) helped us most with planning the wedding. It was great that she would come to appointments with us and knew what questions to ask. She also set everything up on the day of the wedding, and kept us on schedule. Our wedding was atypical in that we had a small intimate ceremony followed by a larger reception, at the same venue on the same day, so her help in keeping the events separate and flow smoothly was invaluable.

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

In choosing our vendors, it was important to choose what aspects of the wedding were most important to us. If you put the music, flowers, food, clothes, etc as a top priority you will drive yourself (and your family and fiancé) crazy! We decided that our top priorities were our pictures and the food. The rest we just wanted reasonably priced and reliable.

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

Our inspiration was vintage, seasonal, and vineyard. We had a year and a half engagement so that the ceremony would be in the fall. Fall accents like bales of hay at the ceremony and red and orange flowers were awesome. The temperature on the wedding day was in the high 70s and just perfect. The vintage accents included the birdcage veil, lace dress, and black and white pictures of our ancestors’ weddings. The vineyard theme was apparent in not just having the ceremony at a vineyard, but having corks hold the name cards and a large wine glass full of corks that the guests could guess the number of corks. The winner of the “guess the cork” game won a bottle of Hinnant wine, as did the couple who had been married the longest.

What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

The favorite part of the day for me was the first look. Jeremy and I had a first look among the vines with just the photographers present. The look on his face when he saw me was priceless! All the emotions of the year and a half engagement just came pouring out in tears. It was such a sweet moment before the formalities of the ceremony began.

What is your best piece of advice for other brides?

My best piece of advice would be, like I said before, choosing where your priorities lie. Choose 2 or 3 aspects of the day that you want to focus on. Also, hire a wedding planner. That takes a lot of the pressure off of your family and friends in the planning process and day of the ceremony. My family and friends had small jobs like counting the “guess the cork” guesses, and helping take presents home after the event, but other than that they were just socializing and dancing. The wedding planner also keeps you focused and on track during the planning process. She was also available to answer phone calls or emails and was almost like a counselor some days (“is it normal that…?”). I could rest assured during weeks without contact with her that we were on schedule and not to worry.

I would also recommend brides have touches of their fiancé’s interests involved in the day (and not just the rehearsal dinner). I think men feel second rate when it comes to their wedding day, which isn’t fair. As Jeremy is a golf professional, we chose vintage golf clubs and golf balls as table names. It was fun for him to come up with the names and corresponding images. Unless men have a say and part in the wedding details, it’s easy for them to leave the planning 100% up to their bride.

Thanks, Rose! I love that she wanted to include her fiance’s interests and profession in the planning of the wedding. The vintage golf named tables are a great detail and conversation piece. I’m sure their guests loved that gentleman’s touch! Are you planning something creative for your dinner tables? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comment section below!

XOXO,

Carlee

Vendors who made it all happen…

Photographer: Big Star Studios / Event Planner: A Swanky Affair / Event Venue: Hinnant Family Vineyards

Lessons Learned: Hire People You Want To Be Friends With!

Category: WEDDING PLANNING 7 Comments

Apr 4th

by: Lauren

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Hi friends! I’m still traveling in Italy for a few more days, but of course the Lessons Learned series is continuing! So far I’ve shared lessons from other brides, but today I thought I would share some of my own lessons that I learned while planning my wedding…

Full disclosure: I was NOT in the wedding industry when I was planning my wedding. I was totally and completely clueless about weddings and had no idea what I was doing.

So now that we have that out of the way (since so many people assume that bloggers had super amazing weddings), let’s chat about some of my lessons learned…

Image by Studio222 Photography

Lesson Learned…

Less IS always better. I wish I had really and truly embraced this concept in all aspects of my wedding. From the number of guests and bridesmaids, to the number of hours that my wedding day spanned- if there had just been LESS, things would have been so much better. Sure, you set your guest count and hope for less than that, but I also wish I had been a bit more selective about who I invited to my wedding. I wish it had been more intimate, and thus, more personal. As for less number of hours, well, my wedding day started at 7am and went until about midnight. It was definitely exhausting. A lot of that had to do with the fact that I had a Catholic ceremony and it had to be earlier in the day, but knowing what I know now, I would have tried to do the day differently. Even in thinking about the general decor of my wedding, I could have gone with less. For example, I could have done without the SUPER speciality linens and used that money for something else that would have made a larger effect- like chivari chairs.

Image by Aislinn Kate Photography

Lesson Learned…

Hire people who you would want to be friends with. This part- the hiring of wedding professionals- was something totally new and weird to me. I felt like I was going on a job interview when I went to meet with wedding vendors! I actually didn’t end up hiring vendors who I would have been friends with, mostly because I had no clue as to how to find them. But the one thing that I learned from this was that it makes a HUGE difference in the planning and outcome of your wedding. You spend A LOT of time with your wedding vendors- whether it’s in the months leading up to your wedding, general communication, or just on the day of. So of course you would want your vendors to be people who you WANT to spend time with, right? Thus, hire people who you would want to be friends with!

Images by Markit Photography

Lesson Learned…

Wear comfortable shoes. I know it seems petty, but seriously, your shoes can have a HUGE effect on the enjoyment of your wedding day! I couldn’t even partake in the last part of my wedding because my feet hurt SO bad- all because I insisted on being cheap and buying shoes that were half a size too small for me because they were on sale. Horrible. Idea. I don’t care how much glitz and glam you want, or if they have to be a certain color- just make sure comfort is your top priority! Sure, buy those awesome heels you want, but be sure to bring a pair of shoes to change into, because you want to be out on the dance floor enjoying your wedding reception, not stuck sitting down because you can’t walk! ;)

Image by Spindle Photography

And I of course have LOTS of other lessons too, but this is all for today! Don’t want to ramble on and on! ;)

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Do any of you have lessons that you’ve learned already in your planning that you would care to share with everyone? Please do- the more people who know, the happier brides you can be! :)