Our Wedding | 8.22.15

I've received a lot of questions about our wedding, and am so happy to finally be able to share our photos and give you all the details! I have the warmest memories from this day...I think Jim and I walked around the entire day with permanent smiles (besides the times I was ugly crying). We were overjoyed to hang out with our closest friends and family, and so relieved that the day went smoothly after months of obsessive preparation. Not to mention the weather was PERFECT, which we are still in awe of — a perfect temperature with zero humidity, in August. It was pretty incredible.

When we started planning, the overall feel we wanted for our wedding was a summery, lakeshore vibe that was stylistically classic with hints of nautical elements. Visually, I wanted to steer clear of anything too literally nautical — we didn't want stripes and preppy elements — so I used hints of iconography and elevated it with a palette of vanilla, peach, chambray, and copper/rose gold. The resulting look was more romantic and whimsical than graphic, and suited that warm end-of-summer feel that we wanted. 

Being a designer/handyman duo, I knew the wedding would be full of DIY projects — we just had to prioritize. Anything that couldn't be found out in the marketplace, we made. I had a hard time sourcing the type of wedding arch we wanted, so Jim and I built the birch archway ourselves. It was a challenge, to say the least! It came out really nicely though and we enjoyed making it together. We also made our wood 'welcome' sign for our ceremony, and I made all of the decorative elements: table numbers, drink stirrers, signage, and our stationery. It was overwhelming at times, it felt like we had so much to do, but we tried to space things out in the months leading up to the wedding. 

The jeweler who designed my engagement ring created a custom two-tone band for Jim, in brushed white gold with a high-polish rose gold interior. We felt it was a sweet and secret way to incorporate the metal of my rings in with his, and it also matched the colors of our wedding day.

My bouquet was an eclectic mix of cafe au lait dahlias, garden roses, ranunculus, astilbe, olive branch, rosemary, and navy privet berries (to name a few)! Twig Florals really knocked it out of the park — I gasped out loud when I saw the flowers. We had so many planning meetings to discuss the styling for the day, and it was so exciting to see what she came up with! Even the guys' boutonnieres were to die for.

I anticipated being a ball of nerves when our wedding day came, but I woke up feeling strangely relaxed. I think the weeks leading up to it were far more stressful, and at this point, everything I had been planning and organizing was out of my control. I let go, and let things unfold as they would. We had a minor snag during setup (the wrong chair covers were being used) but luckily we caught it and even luckier — the correct ones were also on the truck. Crisis averted. 

I tried on a range of dress styles when I was shopping, but when I put this one on, I felt like I was floating. Every dress after it was incomparable. I was always open to wearing a non-white dress (champagne, blush...) and I loved that this dress gave me a hint of that with the silky bronze slip and nude illusion bodice. It was classic with a bohemian sensibility and totally felt like me. I could definitely prance around on the beach in this thing. Bonus: it was light as air and super comfortable! 

We opted to do a first look and I'm really, really glad we did it. It just seemed silly to spend the whole day hiding from each other, when I would rather be enjoying the day by his side. It was amazing to have this moment and to be able to react naturally, instead of holding in our words and emotions at the altar. 

I completely lost it when he turned around. Thank god for waterproof makeup.

I spent a lot of time anticipating his reaction to my dress — it was hard to keep it a secret. He loved it. Yay!

I love the look of mix-and-match bridesmaids dresses, but it was a bit of challenge to plan! I wanted to give each girl a couple of choices, so I had to plan for a harmonious combination no matter what they decided on. Thankfully, the staff at Bella Bridesmaids were patient with me as I put together every combination of textures and colors until I figured it out! The girls looked so beautiful in their dresses and it was totally worth the extra effort. 

For Jim's look, we steered clear of the tuxedo/wedding suit combo and kept it summery with a chambray linen jacket and navy pants. The groomsmen wore navy suits with chambray ties to round out the group. 

Lake Erie was a beautiful blue for us that day :)

I walked down the aisle to "Sweet Thing" by Van Morrison — he is basically my dad's idol and I grew up listening to his music. It's a beautiful, bohemian love song. Hearing it start as I began to walk was super emotional and I thought I was just going to sob my way down the aisle. Thankfully, my dad made me laugh and I was able to recover!

Our ceremony felt magical to the two of us — a surreal and special moment. Standing under these tall trees and the arch we built together, with a breeze coming off the lake — I soaked it all up and will never forget it. It's amazing how you can forget that 90 people are staring at you when you're so wrapped up in the moment. 

After the ceremony ended, we went right into the club for some private time and a quick glass of champagne. Our venue coordinator suggested this when we built our timeline, and it ended up being GENIUS. We were so happy/emotional/excited that this gave us a minute to hug and cry and say "OMG WE'RE MARRIED" before joining our cocktail hour. They had a bottle of champagne and a tray of hors d'oeuvres waiting for us, and we went out onto the third floor balcony and observed the party going on below. 

Lobster rolls were a must for the menu — we served a few other seasonal favorites like crab cakes and stuffed peppadews. Our signature cocktail was a blueberry Moscow mule that was as beautiful as it was tasty.

We had our first dance out on the patio, to a remix of Minus the Bear's "Pachuca Sunrise." We are both longtime fans of the band and wanted to dance to something personal and unexpected. 

Kim from Hummingbird Bake Shop nailed the color and styling of our whimsical copper cake. It was a vanilla cake with salted caramel filling covered in all buttercream — I am still dreaming about the taste! I couldn't seem to make a decision about a cake topper, so I made the little cotton 'K' flag a few days before the wedding and we made the call that day to put it on. I actually love it and I'm glad we didn't leave it off!

I'd be lying if I said the dessert table wasn't at the top of my priority list — in fact it was one of the first things I started planning. We featured some of our favorite bake shops, along with both of our favorite Great Scott's cupcake flavors (his: red velvet, hers: carrot cake). Whenever it's been a rough week or we have something to celebrate, one of us always knows to pick up a two pack, one of each flavor ;) 

Coquette Patisserie created our macarons in two flavors: salted caramel (I'm sensing a theme here) and peach bellini — which had pop rocks that fizzle in the filling! We also had sugar cookies (with the anchor from our stationery), butter pecan thumbprints, peanut butter ganache brownies, pecan tarts, wrapped caramels, and cake pops rolled in edible glitter.

The mini key lime tarts were a nod to our engagement in Key West, and were also made by Hummingbird Bake Shop.

We snuck out for a few minutes during dinner to hit the beach during prime sunset time — I don't think anyone noticed and it was totally worth it. We danced and laughed and watched the sun go down on our beautiful day. 

Our whole day was the most joyful, tearful, love-filled experience and I'm so grateful to all of our friends and family who were there with us, and to those who sent us love from afar. I have to also give a huge thanks to all of the vendors who came into our lives — they are such talented and special people, and our time collaborating together was an absolute highlight for me. Jim and I were on the craziest cloud nine the entire day and fell even harder in love, which I did not think was possible. Over the past six years, Jim has gone from being my neighbor, to my drinking buddy and friend, to partner, and now husband. He is the gem of my life — the dearest, most jubilant person and I'm so happy we belong to each other. <3

Photography: Kayla Coleman Photography, Cinematography: JFray Productions, Event Coordinator: At Last Event Planning, Floral Design: Twig Florals, Cake: Hummingbird Bake Shop, DJ: A Bride's DJ, Officiant: Bliss Weddings, Venue: The Clifton Club, Stationery and Signage: Shore Society, Event, Rentals: Borrow Rentals, Makeup: Ashley Matho, Hair: Lather, a Salon Dress: Santina by Watters from Something White, Groom's Suit: Nordstrom, Shoes: Valentino, Rings: Lauren B, Bride's Accessories: Alexis Bittar, Loren Hope, Santi