Erin Heart’s Court is a place of total wedding heaven. Their work is just about as gorgeous as it gets and they manage to find only the most style savvy, completely charming couples to work with…lucky, maybe. Talented, definitely. So whenever you are in need of a little wedding pick-me-up, spend some time poring over the seemingly unending picture perfect weddings on their site. You’ll be glad you did.
A HUGE thank you to Holly Burns and her now husband, Sean, for sharing their incredible day with us. Holly’s blog Nothing But Bonfires is such a fun read and is filled to the brim with inspirations and ideas from this very wedding. Here are a few more photos and details from Erin Hearts Court and the lovely Holly…
From Holly…
For cocktail hour, we had Singapore Slings — my family lived in Singapore for eight years (and Sean and I spent a few months there) so it was really fitting. Sean made all the swizzle sticks for the drinks. Everyone mingled around the pool while a guitarist played 1950s and 60s pop and we had some fun hors d’oeuvres, including mini cones of French fries with dijon basil aoili. During cocktail hour, during that great 6 o’clock light, there was a hot air balloon in the sky above my parents’ backyard, which was so fun and unexpected!
For the seating card display, I had this great idea that I’d make it like a map with pins stuck in it, to continue the travel idea. I bought a map in an art store, mounted it on foam core, then cut out flags in dark grey paper and wrote everyone’s names on one side and their table number on the other, and stuck them at random in the map, which I held up on my sister’s easel! Sean made a sign that went above it that said “Where in the world are you sitting?” and people came over, found their flag in the map, pulled it out and saw what table they were sitting at, then went to find their seat.
For place cards, I bought old vintage envelopes from the 50s and 60s on ebay, wrote everyone’s name on a shipping label and tied it around the envelope and set it in their place. When you got to your place, the envelope was there, acting as your seating card, and you opened it to find your menu inside, which Sean made — we had four courses and we named each course as though you were on a plane: the amuse bouche was “Check-In,” then the salad was “Take-Off” then the entree was “Airborne” and the dessert was “Touchdown.”
For favors, I made an ENORMOUS batch of salted caramels — actually, more like eight batches! — and we wrapped them in wax paper to give them that old-time sweetshop feel, then put them in clear bags, and sealed them with labels Sean designed and printed that said “Holly and Sean’s Famous Salted Caramels: Established September 5, 2009.”
I did all the flowers myself — which is to say, I bought tons of mason jars and tons of white hydrangeas, and my brothers (who will kill me if they know I’ve revealed this to the Internet!) helped me arrange them on the morning of the wedding. My friend in Detroit offered to make me this amazing hand-made banner — I sent her some white eyelet lace and turquoise material of my mother’s, and she sewed it into this incredible fabric banner that read “Holly & Sean.” We hung it in the trees and it looked so pretty — everyone asked about it.
We both worked so hard on this wedding — my whole family did — and it turned out so wonderfully; it was exactly what I wanted, just everyone I loved most in the world getting together for a big party. I didn’t want it to be “weddingy” at all — I just wanted it to be a big celebration, with lots of food, drink, dancing, heartfelt speeches, love in the air, and special touches that were totally us. And that’s exactly how it turned out — we had a blast!