Romantic Woodland Wedding Under a Canopy of Trees
Planning an al fresco wedding can be nerve-racking. You'll have ALL the weather apps downloaded on your phone and basically be glued to the weather channel non-stop. #realweddingfears But when it pays off, it pays off sooo good. This woodland wedding soaked in sunshine is all the proof you need. the vondys. captured each and every glowing moment of which you can find warming up The Vault with love.
From the vondys.... As photographers, every now and then, you meet a couple like Maddie & Aaron, who you know are just meant to be together. These two have a special connection and understand that marriage takes love, hard work, and sometimes a little self-less sacrifice. These two are always there to support each other through anything that life has thrown their way. We had an absolutely amazing time capturing their private, woodland wedding!
From the Bride... Prior to planning I envisioned my wedding to be outdoors and decorated with a romantic, rustic look. I wanted to focus on the amazing features of the Pacific Northwest, where we both were born and raised, but add some special touches to make it our own. I envisioned the event to be special but something that felt like our personalities and somewhere where everyone would be comfortable. While the day is about celebrating our marriage, I wanted everyone to feel like they could have a good time.
Keeping with a romantic rustic theme, I envisioned burgundy and pale pink as the main colors with touches of greenery and wood accents. I created the chalkboard signs as well as the wine label graphics. The unique elements we included were all the one off glass vases that the venue had. The head table had no two of the same vases. Terri (the owner of the venue) has collected and found each one of those pieces herself and did an amazing job putting the table together the day of. We kept with the same color pallet as the rest of the wedding, but created a romantic and unique design that turned out amazing.
My favorite moment was being at the alter with my best friend and standing in front of our closest family and friends, promising to love each other for the rest of our lives. My second favorite moment was toward the end of the night when 30-50 of our friends and family members stayed on the dance floor until they shut the venue down. It was so amazing to look across the dance floor and see every wonderful memory of our lives put together in one big celebration.
My dress: I walked until the bridal shop with too many pictures and not a clear vision on what I wanted. While the lady at Ania Collection went through every single picture with me and spent the time to understand what I liked, she already had a dress in mind. Based on my body type and the style I was going for, she came out with Pippin. This was not one of the many pictures saved on my phone but at the end of the day it was the one I couldn’t live without. Pippin is a modern sweetheart with some vintage flare. The dress is accented with a geometric lace pattern with beaded detail. I chose the ivory lace with the rose gold lining. I not only felt comfortable in the dress, but it was a clear reflection of my style and personality.
Flowers: The venue was located in a woodland area with lots of greenery, so there was not a lot of floral décor needed. I wanted to accent the greenery in with a soft romantic touch without looking out of place. I chose deep red and pale pink roses with accents of a couple different kinds of eucalyptus. Kim did an amazing job helping me pick the greenery and the right color roses that I wanted for my vision. Kim created the most amazing garland for the ceremony. The arbor was a wood structure and I envisioned a garland with mostly greenery and accents of roses would be the perfect way to combine the romantic rustic look. I didn’t see the garland until I was walking down the aisle, and I was not disappointed. Kim created something that was even more amazing than what we had envisioned. We added a chandelier in the middle to complete the look. It was too perfect.
Cake: My favorite kind of cake comes from Chuck’s Produce and Street Market. For years the only birthday cake Aaron and I have had is the almond poppy seed cake with raspberry filling and cream cheese frosting. It is to die for. Naturally, we found a way to make this our wedding cake. We kept the design simple and added a few of our amazing flowers as decoration.
One piece of advice that I would give brides-to-be would be to try to enjoy every piece of the wedding and planning. As cliché as it sounds, it goes by fast and it is over before you know it. Some of the planning details can be stressful but treat each moment, each decision as its own separate event and enjoy the decision that you make together towards a celebration that you will remember for the rest of your lives. Don’t sweat the small stuff because at the end of the day, it wont matter that your napkins are not the right shade of pink or that you one decoration didn’t turn out the way that you planned. What matters is that you got married to your best friends and you had your favorite people in the world standing with you while you did it.
From the Bride... Prior to planning I envisioned my wedding to be outdoors and decorated with a romantic, rustic look. I wanted to focus on the amazing features of the Pacific Northwest, where we both were born and raised, but add some special touches to make it our own. I envisioned the event to be special but something that felt like our personalities and somewhere where everyone would be comfortable. While the day is about celebrating our marriage, I wanted everyone to feel like they could have a good time.
Keeping with a romantic rustic theme, I envisioned burgundy and pale pink as the main colors with touches of greenery and wood accents. I created the chalkboard signs as well as the wine label graphics. The unique elements we included were all the one off glass vases that the venue had. The head table had no two of the same vases. Terri (the owner of the venue) has collected and found each one of those pieces herself and did an amazing job putting the table together the day of. We kept with the same color pallet as the rest of the wedding, but created a romantic and unique design that turned out amazing.
My favorite moment was being at the alter with my best friend and standing in front of our closest family and friends, promising to love each other for the rest of our lives. My second favorite moment was toward the end of the night when 30-50 of our friends and family members stayed on the dance floor until they shut the venue down. It was so amazing to look across the dance floor and see every wonderful memory of our lives put together in one big celebration.
My dress: I walked until the bridal shop with too many pictures and not a clear vision on what I wanted. While the lady at Ania Collection went through every single picture with me and spent the time to understand what I liked, she already had a dress in mind. Based on my body type and the style I was going for, she came out with Pippin. This was not one of the many pictures saved on my phone but at the end of the day it was the one I couldn’t live without. Pippin is a modern sweetheart with some vintage flare. The dress is accented with a geometric lace pattern with beaded detail. I chose the ivory lace with the rose gold lining. I not only felt comfortable in the dress, but it was a clear reflection of my style and personality.
Flowers: The venue was located in a woodland area with lots of greenery, so there was not a lot of floral décor needed. I wanted to accent the greenery in with a soft romantic touch without looking out of place. I chose deep red and pale pink roses with accents of a couple different kinds of eucalyptus. Kim did an amazing job helping me pick the greenery and the right color roses that I wanted for my vision. Kim created the most amazing garland for the ceremony. The arbor was a wood structure and I envisioned a garland with mostly greenery and accents of roses would be the perfect way to combine the romantic rustic look. I didn’t see the garland until I was walking down the aisle, and I was not disappointed. Kim created something that was even more amazing than what we had envisioned. We added a chandelier in the middle to complete the look. It was too perfect.
Cake: My favorite kind of cake comes from Chuck’s Produce and Street Market. For years the only birthday cake Aaron and I have had is the almond poppy seed cake with raspberry filling and cream cheese frosting. It is to die for. Naturally, we found a way to make this our wedding cake. We kept the design simple and added a few of our amazing flowers as decoration.
One piece of advice that I would give brides-to-be would be to try to enjoy every piece of the wedding and planning. As cliché as it sounds, it goes by fast and it is over before you know it. Some of the planning details can be stressful but treat each moment, each decision as its own separate event and enjoy the decision that you make together towards a celebration that you will remember for the rest of your lives. Don’t sweat the small stuff because at the end of the day, it wont matter that your napkins are not the right shade of pink or that you one decoration didn’t turn out the way that you planned. What matters is that you got married to your best friends and you had your favorite people in the world standing with you while you did it.