Some of you might have picked up by now that the bride behind this GORGEOUS affair is also the wonderfully talented Holly Burns behind Nothing But Bonfires. Holly is all charm…witty without trying, lovely without knowing it, surprising, fresh and completely captivating. And her wedding was just the same.
Photographed by Erin and Courtney of Erin Hearts Court, this wedding is total perfection.
From Holly…
All the little details are things I brainstormed for ten months — I had a notebook of ideas! — and then gradually set into motion, with a LOT of help from Sean, and from my lovely brother and sister, Luke and Susie, who were 19 and home for the summer and bored out of their minds, so really willing to help! I made the sign for the vintage hankies, which we put outside the church (I collected the hankies from the Alameda Flea Market and from ebay for a few weeks), and the Wedding sign myself. Sean and I made all the programs, which had six small maps on the front, each one with a date and a place — a sort of visual timeline of our courtship.
My brother Tom (who still lives in Singapore) brought over a whole bunch of pashminas in varying colors, which my maid of honor and I rolled up, tied with a shipping label which I wrote on, and put in a vintage suitcase, with instructions for people to take one if they got cold. My mum really wanted to do this and I was kind of lukewarm about it, but it ended up being a HUGE hit — the night wasn’t even chilly at all, but they were all gone so quickly! The silhouettes on the backs of our chairs I found for $8 at the Alameda Flea Market (it’s a real treasure trove!), along with the old Coke crate, which had glass bottles of Coke in it.
It was definitely a family affair, which was really important to me — and also appropriate, since the reception took place at my parents’ house! I didn’t realize this at the time, but our wedding date was actually my paternal grandfather’s birthday — he would have been 96!
The organist in the church played for the entrance of the bridal party and the mothers, but when it was time for me and my dad to walk down the aisle, my little brother Luke played Canon in D on his acoustic guitar, which was so beautiful. My dad and my brother also played the song for the first dance — God Only Knows, by the Beach Boys. It was one of my favorite moments of the wedding, dancing with my new husband under the stars in my parents’ backyard with everyone I loved in the world watching, while my dad and my brother played their guitars and sang (and Luke also played the tambourine with his foot!)
Also, as you came in, we had an old steamer trunk belonging to my parents, with tons of old wedding photos from both sides of the family on it, going back a few generations. Continuing the “everyone from the family pitches in and helps!” motif, my mother actually made the wedding cake herself (I know!) and it was incredible — three layers: one was chocolate and Baileys buttercream, one was carrot and cream cheese, and one was vanilla and raspberry. The wedding topper was from 1947 (the same year my maternal grandparents got married).
Oh I made the Just Married sign from little heart-shaped doilies I found!