Brie started her wedding planning from a place of ‘formal flower power’. She and fiance Ryan both knew they wanted their ceremony entrance song to be Neil Young’s Harvest Moon (they had an acoustic version of the Poolside cover performed by Ryan’s friend on guitar) and they wanted to arrive to their reception to I Was Made for Loving You by KISS. So, they also wanted a theme which fit the same vibes. The retro, 70s influence came through strong when they started to look at colours and decor.
The day started with a lunchtime ceremony in their own back garden. They created a flower arch to say their vows under and decorated their garden with warm toned fabrics, hanging dried oranges and disco balls. “Things needed to triangulate within the same spectrum of vibes”, Brie told us. “Ryan did a ton of DIY work to our backyard to make it a suitable venue for the wedding.”
But the festivities didn’t end there. After the ceremony, the wedding party embarked on a journey through the heart of the city, boarding the downtown subway to their rooftop afterparty.
“One of our highlights was walking to the subway stop and taking the train to and from the reception with everyone”, the bride continued. “There was actually a guy on his way to a baseball game that said ‘What are you guys doing?!’ and we replied ‘We love transit, I guess!’. Then we saw THE SAME GUY on the train on the way home, the timing was eerie.”
At rooftop space was decked out in even more retro inspired pieces. Metallic colourful fringe was hung from the ceiling, colourful flags pointed where things were, and they had matchboxes and candles for guests to take as favours.
But their favourite detail was definitely their audio guest book. “Our guestbook was a huge hit” Brie said. “We had a phone where guests left us voicemails. This completed a project Ryan had in mind since proposing! He had family and friends record us voicemails about how excited they were for the engagement, the RSVPs were all voicemails to a Google Voice number, and the guest book would be the final step for a before, during, and after project! Our DJ was vinyl-only too and absolutely killed it, she was amazing.”
“Make your celebration your own and get started early!” the bride advised in conclusion. “However it turns out, it’s not about comparing to everyone else’s wedding or all the versions your wedding might have taken, it’s just about feeling proud of yourselves, your family and friends, and your choices. Everything’s relative, just have a good time and everyone will too. The wedding industry is hyperinflated and hard to navigate, but we met some incredibly talented artists, artisans, and other individuals who made things easy and worthwhile for us.”
