May 16, 2012
Joseph & Fabiana had a low-key and intimate wedding at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. They decided against an expensive or extravagant wedding, instead favouring a simple and touching ceremony with their nearest and dearest.Read more...
May 1, 2012
Working in the music industry it was important to Mike & Melissa that their wedding suited their lifestyle and sensibilities and 1903 Hontoon, a vacation property in Deland Florida, turned out to be the perfect place. "Mike is a local musician and recently I have decided to leave my job and become his manager!" began the bride. "We have been together for almost 4 years now and over the next two we will be setting up our lives to hit the road indefinitely until we find the best place to live! We are too hot here in Florida and always long to be in the mountains. We changed our wedding date 3 times just so that we could have it at this venue, because as far as Florida goes it was pretty hard to find a place that really spoke of who we are. We chose 1903 Hontoon, a vacation property that used to be an old boat & motor repair shot. It has an awesome feel to it. Our wedding is hardcore DIY & hand made - from 1,000 paper cranes to the tablecloths to the bridesmaid dresses and jewelry. I'm extremely crafty so I have been a non-stop force of productivity in creating everything I possibly can for this day. With that being said it is REALLY important to us to have our wedding captured because every detail is so dear to our hearts! The two of us never imagined that we would get married but, love eventually finds you and before we left for our travels it was important to us to share this bond and experience with our families."Read more...
April 23, 2012
The inspiration for Alex & Denise's Brighton wedding was for it to be "just like a big picnic". They used local suppliers (including the caterers who used local produce and supplied locally produced champagne) where possible and DIY'ed the rest! "Our inspiration was for it to be like a big picnic - although without having to sit on the floor!" Denise told me. "I found mini picnic baskets that were used as the centrepiece on each table. These were filled with chutney, pickles and breadsticks. We wanted the wedding to be really relaxed – I've always disliked formal situations. I also wanted there to be lots of colour. For the meal we had a blanket set up on the floor for any children that got bored of the adults. We also did a play area with a wigwam, dress up box and colouring books. Although on the day they mainly opted for running around the field like lunatics."Read more...
April 20, 2012
Ruby & Emmanuel's sweet wedding took place on a private residence in Adelaide. The bride wore a 1930s vintage wedding gown with a vintage headpiece. Even her bridesmaids wore vintage dresses. The couple locally sourced things where they could including the food their served and the flowers the used to decorate the marquee. The bride's sister made all their stationery and paper goods. The wedding was a really personal and intimate affair. "Our focus was really just on our family," the bride explained. "We handcrafted our wedding with, of course, some true vintage touches."Read more...
April 10, 2012
Yes you did read that correctly - Melissa & Greg got married in a cave (and instantly went into my 'coolest ever wedding venue' mental checklist). "Greg and I picked up the love of spelunking (caving) during our 4 ½ year relationship and wanted to show our families what we found so beautiful about underground," Melissa explained when I asked them about their unusual choice. "The ceremony felt very romantic; low lighting, candles everywhere, glowing stalactites and the silhouettes of the people who love us the most. My stepfather Mark became ordained and performed our ceremony. It was very special to have him be such a huge part of my wedding since my father refused to attend for his own personal reasons. One of the more emotional moments of the day was when I danced with my stepfather. I hate crying but there was no holding back my ugly crying face! Greg walked me down the aisle, which was a perfect way to begin our marriage. I was much less nervous than I would have been otherwise. We broke a few traditions that I used to think were important, but now I understand exactly what a wedding is all about; it’s about man and wife and everything else is too insignificant to worry about."Read more...
April 2, 2012
I'm loving the fact that the gorgeous country vintage/ festival-inspired wedding of Nichola & Jay is brightening up Monday morning on my blog! Talk about heading into a brand new week with some gusto! The August wedding was held at New House Organic Farm in Derbyshire. The farm is not a wedding venue (the couple were legally married at the resister office after their handfasting ceremony in the field) but they chose it to host their celebration here because it's a place that's very special to them. Their theme was chosen to not only compliment the farm setting, but because they love Glastonbury music festival - they met there and were engaged there (not in the same year!)Read more...
March 1, 2012
Frances & Will were married in December at the Mofam River Lodge in the Elgin Valley just outside Cape Town, South Africa. The venue was very important to the couple and really set the whole theme for the day. Both the ceremony and reception were held under the trees alongside the river.Read more...
February 28, 2012
Being animal lovers, and with the bride's Mother running an animal rescue sanctuary (where the couple actually met!) an eco and aminal friendly wedding was perfect for Danny & Sandy. The bride explained, "We wanted everything to be eco-friendly and cozy! We stuck to bamboo plates and wooden utensils, and decorated with hay bales with burlap on top for seats, a bonfire, and mason jars with teelight candles hung in trees and lights draped throughout my backyard."Read more...
February 22, 2012
Jacob & Sarah had a DIY country wedding at Harmony Museum, PA. "Together with our community of friends, we pretty much made everything on our own because we wanted our wedding day to represent who we are," Sarah told me. "Having the wedding ceremony and reception take place in a non traditional atmosphere also helped to sort of describe where we were coming from, a subculture scene of punk music and tattoos. One of the most important things that we wanted to come from our wedding day was to have a celebration with the people who we love the most. We have a very close group of friends that we respect and hold close and we wanted them to feel like it wasn't just 'Jake and Sarah's Day' but rather a party for all of us. Immediately after the ceremony, which was fairly short, there was just a big party."Read more...
February 13, 2012
Kirsta & Alec's Arizona wedding had a Mexican art theme. Being married in an arts centre and with a mutual love of travel and other cultures (they met while working in an orphanage in Kenya) the idea of having this vibe for their wedding just felt right. "We met working at an orphanage in rural Kenya," Kirsta told me. "Luck would have it that both our loves of travel and adventure lead us to being in the same remote place at the same time. We just happened to be placed as roommates and the rest is history! We fell in love over working with kids, farming projects, and other development work. After moving back to the States to live in Seattle for a year, we got the itch to live abroad again and moved to South Korea so that I could teach. We had a series of serious discussions (neither of us really 'proposed') and decided that we wanted to make it official. In April, we had an awesome little Embassy wedding in Seoul totally by ourselves. We knew we'd be going back to the US for the holidays, so it felt like a natural time to have a bigger ceremony with our families and friends. The whole idea behind having a second wedding was simply to have a big party to celebrate with those people that we love and miss so much while we are off adventuring."Read more...
February 2, 2012
When I grow up I want to be as cool as Britta & Oscar please. They not only got married at their own home in Dunmanway, Ireland but they put the whole wedding together themselves including building their own marquee! "We built the structure with ash poles and tied tarpaulin to the poles with zip ties and lots of rope," Britta explained." It would not have been possible without the help of our friends especially Will Dukes who pretty much did most of the hard work as Oscar had broken his leg a few weeks before the wedding.... convenient you might say!"Read more...
February 2, 2012
Without wanting to start off this blog post by sounding inappropriate...How smokin' hot does Gwen look her her Fairy Goth Mother corset and skirt combo? VERY is the answer to that. Have you seen her teeny tiny little waist!? Anyway, enough perving...let's get along with the formalities shall we? Gwen & Ali wanted a unique and personal wedding, and to achieve this they chose to hire tents from Beautiful World Tents which they erected on the grounds of Knepp Castle in West Grinstead. "After looking online at lots of venues and land hire this place looked perfect," Gwen told me. "This was actually the only venue we went to see and the decision was made! Woodland, a lake, less than an hour from Brighton where we live, full kitchen facilities and more importantly stunning! The other added benefit was free roaming animal, pigs, deer and much more besides. It was incredibly beautiful and also very reasonable on costs. We found the location through the tent company and added bonus this being their headquarters which meant no delivery costs to get the tents to the venue. On the land we had 2 giant hat tents joined together facing down to the lake. You hire the land and facilities for the whole weekend, really handy for set-up and take down."Read more...
January 30, 2012
How utterly beautiful is today's real wedding? This is the kind of wedding that makes my heart sing - no fuss, no details, no over-the-top-bridezilla-stresses - just the most important thing...love. The bride, Daniela, told me all about their special day. "There were only the two of us at the ceremony, the lady who married us, the lady who owned the land and our photographer. The ceremony itself lasted about 1.5 hrs and consisted of several parts: lighting the fire, being cleansed with special leaves and incense, hearing the 20 nahuales of the Mayan Calendar being read out, telling each other our love and exchanging our rings, being wrapped in a green shawl which represented Gaia. We began and ended the ceremony with chocolate, a block of which was also burned in the fire. Chocolate is sacred in Mayan culture."Read more...
January 30, 2012
Hold the phones! This might be one of the cutest engagement shoots I've ever seen. No joke! Theo & Lisa are rockers at heart who love charity shop and vintage shopping, hip hop music and hanging out...and that's exactly what they wanted for their engagement session - a simple shoot that shows the real them. I flippin' love it.Read more...
January 25, 2012
If you're a long-time reader of this 'lil wedding blog of mine, you'll be well aware that I'm a huge fan of the rainbow wedding trend. I even modeled in an 'Over the Rainbow' themed shoot last October. So you can imagine my glee when Jennifer & Jon's wedding landed on my desk. The couple wanted a huge party, and with 200 guests and only a $10,000 budget they were determined to not spent a fortune to do so. "We honestly would never have been able to pull of any wedding without our friends and family," Jennifer told me. "It was truly a DIY wedding with everyone helping out days beforehand by shoveling, raking and baking in the hot sun to make my friend's ranch into a kick ass outdoor wedding venue. Caitlin & Michael Burns, owners of Rebar Ranch were gracious enough to make our vision come true (or turn our lack of vision into something amazing!)"Read more...
January 18, 2012
"A weekend of celebration" was how Jen & Rob described their festival wedding to me, and that couldn't have been a more perfect description. Stokes Barn, specialising in self-catering group accommodation, in the Shropshire hills played host. "We knew we wanted something different," explained the bride. "We wanted to celebrate with the special people who enrich our lives and who share and understand our values and beliefs. We had the idea of a festival type celebration where we could create a magical, memorable and warm weekend (whatever the weather!) of celebration, relaxation, much merriment, Peace and Love!"Read more...
January 18, 2012
Bethany & Eric's carnival-themed wedding was held at their home, Antebellum Farmhouse in Granville, Ohio. "The inspiration for our wedding really started with our pre-civil war home", Bethany told me. "When Eric and I first saw our house with our realtor we both stood on the front porch with tears in our eyes. We had not even walked through the front door but we knew this was our home. Eric looked at me and said 'we could be married here.' He then carried me across the threshold. Sounds like a fairy tale.... But so real." The theme may have started with their home but over time 'a day and night at the fair' became their manifesto. Royal Steamline provided the perfect stationery to fit the idea. "We wanted to create a vintage carnival feeling for all ages of guests to enjoy," the bride continued. "I have an antique and interior design business named after our home, so I incorporated many antique and vintage items, furniture and props to create the scene. I searched auctions and estate sales for real vintage goblets, punch cups and plates for our guests to enjoy. I used vintage furniture outside to create a living room area that was a fabulous photo booth for all of our guests as well as the bridal party."Read more...
January 17, 2012
For their December wedding, Janelle & Liam wanted an aspect of heritage and an element of the handmade. They chose Eryldene Historic House and Garden in Gordon (Sydney, Australia) as the place to host their celebration. "Most of our wedding was handmade - assembled and painted by bridal party," the couple explained. "We made our own vintage fabric bunting and table cloths as well as hand made fabric napkins. We sourced over 100 vintage plates from op shops and collected jam jars from family and friends. For favours we had home made seed pouches and home made orange flavoured lolly pops. The seating chart was a window from an old home in Epping and some fence posts. We wrote on the window panes so people knew where to sit."Read more...
January 10, 2012
Describing your wedding to me as 'vintage tech' automatically gets my attention. But when I actually laid eyes on the Star Wars figurines and helmets, the 80's VHS', the tennis rackets, the splashes of neon paint and the 80's cassette players...all nestled nicely into the bohemian chic setting...well I might have let out a little squeal of joy. The two juxtaposing ideas shouldn't work, but they do - perfectly.Read more...
January 5, 2012
Genevieve & Andy were married at Smokey Glen Farm, Washington. A simply styled day, the couple put a lot of importance on their friends and family being involved and having a good time. "Early on, we decided which things were most important to us. We wanted it to be a fun party, to be simple, and to be uniquely us - everything else we tried not to sweat too much. As a result, we simplified our approach and only spent a lot of time and attention on a few key things. The venue supplied great BBQ, beautiful scenery, and a lot of fun games for our guests. And we rented a ping pong table. That was key."Read more...