Good morning, lovelies. We are starting off this hot, humid morning with the sweetest wedding a girl has ever seen. One that is sure to make you appreciate those long and lazy Summer days. If I’m being honest, it’s literally the cake alone that sold me on this wedding. But then when I dug deeper, I saw the gorgeous Oak tree where the couple said their I-Do’s, the totally laid back but sophisticated vibe, all of the details that the bride and her family hand crafted. And the dress, oh the dress. Photographed by Daniel Usenko, this a wedding built for SMP and one that I know you are going to fall in love with. Click here to see the full gallery and make sure to check out the bride’s super cute blog.
click here to see the full wedding!
We began planning our wedding immediately after our engagement in September 2009. As most newly-engaged couples, we imagined every grand and dreamy scenario, but eventually decided on a simple and very realistic church wedding with our loved ones. Nothing more. Nothing less.
We had heard horror stories from our friends of wedding procrastination and we decided we would not fall into that category of couples. Sure enough, by December, our wedding was almost entirely planned. Venues booked. Dress ordered (may I add, in less than an hour). Italian honeymoon arranged. We were ecstatic.
In February, three months before our wedding we got news that our ceremony location had double-booked us. Our caterer also. We would have to find another place, which, after numerous phone calls and e-mails was not looking good. We were frantic. We thought we had done everything right. We thought we were responsible.
The next week we went on a walk, as we often do, at the Fort Vancouver Historic Reserve. We talked to one of the park rangers about wedding locations around the area and he pointed us to a 100 year old oak tree on the edge of the reserve. We almost couldn’t believe how perfect it was. We didn’t want to say it out loud, but this was one aspect of our dreamy wedding scenario from when we first began talking about our wedding. Finding a perfect old oak tree was not realistic, but here we were, standing before a fantastic oak tree in the middle of a field. Like it or not, we were being forced into have our dream wedding.
After the oak tree was discovered, the rest of the planning was easy. We didn’t want anything extravagant, just a chandelier hanging from its large branches.We bought our chandelier on e-bay for $150. It came in a big box, in a million different pieces and took nearly six hours to assemble. The deck was built by my father-in-law and my fiance.
Every aspect of our wedding was a tribute to our relationship. The wedding cake was from our favorite restaurant, the same place we went the day before my fiance proposed. The harpist at the ceremony played Moon River as I walked down the aisle, a song we had hummed a hundred times during our courtship. We even created a salad on the menu after a crepe we would order at our favorite coffee shop.
For our reception we wanted a very relaxed and cozy atmosphere. My mom and I had collected 600 glass jars since my engagement, recruiting help from everyone, including friends, co-workers even our hairdressers. The desserts were hand-made by aunts and sister-in-laws, the centerpieces and stationery by dear friends. It was such a joy to see the outpouring of love from every single person involved.
In the Pacific Northwest, an outdoor wedding is never a good idea. It rained until the day before our wedding, then miraculously stopped until the day after our wedding and it hasn’t stopped raining since! For the most part weddings do not always go as we plan, but in our case, as I’m sure in many others, that is a very good thing indeed.
Photography: Daniel Usenko / Wedding Stationery: Anastasia Marie / Flowers: Flowerbelle / Cake: Papa Haydn / Catering: Svetlana Kopmar / Bride’s Gown: Pronovias / Bridesmaids Dresses: Anthropologie