It’s rare that I feature engagement shoots but when I sawKarlee and Justin’s Game of Thrones shoot I knew I had to break my own rules. So needless to say I’ve been looking forward to seeing their actual wedding for a while and oh boy they certainly didn’t disappoint. Again, designer Karlee hand made pretty much everything including both her dress. The wedding also had an unusual and very specific theme, 1913!
“I am a seamstress so I went into this wedding knowing I was going to be making everything”, she began. “We chose the year 1913 as inspiration because we both love things and places of another time. Finding a venue that would work with the theme of the wedding was tough. We wanted a laid back feel, something along the lines of a party that our great grandparents would have thrown – a family gathering on a farm, rather than a ritzy city building filled with every acquaintance you know. Coincidentally there just so happened to be a farm with a historically built barn on a beautiful piece of ocean front property, nestled in the mountains… available on our 7 year anniversary.”
“Making and collecting everything was an experience to say the least”, she continued. “My outfit (both my dresses, veil, petticoat, chemise, corset), Justin’s suit, the bridesmaid’s dresses, the groomsman’s knickerbockers, the patchwork table clothes, the flower arrangements, ladder golf, decorations… you name it, we made it. I met many questionable people off craigslist to get our tea sets. I dyed the lace for my dress with peppermint tea. I turned a bridesmaid into a sweatshop worker. I finished Justin’s suit one week before the wedding. But everything turned out beyond perfect, it couldn’t have been more ‘us’, to say the least. Sweaty dance party included.”
“The ceremony was one of our favourite parts of the day,” she concluded. “We went with a celebrant so we could have a unique ceremony, made entirely from scratch, all about us and our love story. It was the most beautiful 45 minutes of my life. My second favorite thing would be our friends who travelled from England and did the music for the ceremony and our first dance. They did an outstanding job and it made those moments even more special (as special as you can get with KISS as your first dance!)”
