Welcome to another wonderful, wedding Wednesday here at SMP. And boy, do we have quite the line up in store for you. From a fantastic Chicago 1920’s inspired reception to a spectacular outdoor-sy, west coast wedding, we are certainly bringing the beauty today! No doubt you’ll be feverishly checking in with us every 1.5 hours when we unveil the next little bucketful of inspiration.
I don’t know what I love more about this first wedding: the amazing photos from Ampersand Studios or the heartfelt, brings-tears-to-your-eyes type of description from the bride. This wedding is certainly a lesson in how to make each and every detail personal. This cute couple got married in the bride’s childhood chapel, drank communion wine from grapes that her late grandmother grew and crushed, and hosted a reception at an adorable lake lodge where the groom’s grandmother worked back in the 1940’s! The entire day was a perfect union of past, present and future! See all the meaningful, DIY details in the gallery!
Click here for entire image gallery!
On September 4, 2010, the old hymn “Come to the Church in the Wildwood” welcomed our guests as they entered the little rustic church of my childhood tucked away in the mountains of Idaho. It was in that very church on those very steps that Jeffrey asked me to marry him and it was to those very steps that we returned to finally fulfill our promise and become Brittany & Jeffrey Deininger! Our ceremony was steeped with the stories and history of this beautiful place and we chose to surround ourselves with the symbolism of where we had come from. The communion wine was made by my grandmother, who before her passing, grew the grapes and crushed them into wine, tucking the bottles in the basement for safe keeping. The window behind us was from the original church I grew up in listening to my grandfather’s sermons and the same bells he rang each Sunday, rang out during our first kiss. Every detail and word was authored with purpose. While our chapel ceremony brought the outdoors in, our reception brought the elegant indoors out into the rustic beauty of Redfish Lake at the base of the Sawtooth Mountain range in Stanley, Idaho. Chandeliers hung from the white tent at the edge of the lake where my family spent summers fishing, hiking and boating. Jeffrey’s grandmother worked at the lodge in 1941 and spent her summers looking out at that same crisp lake and rugged mountains. Jazz from her era played underneath the laughter and good conversation as our guests were welcomed to dinner with a view of our favorite place on earth. After Idaho Trout, summer greens, loving words and a few dances it was over in a flash. At the end of the evening, we had our guests line the dock and send us off clapping and singing as we boarded a boat and floated off into the sunset, the lakes last gift to us on our wedding day. Much of this wedding was Do It Yourself: We handmade the accordion programs, made the décor and arranged all the flowers, designed and printed our own invitations, and drew the tree guestbook. I even did my own hair and makeup, but no matter how much we did ourselves, this was a community event. Our wedding vow was not something we assumed alone, and that day would not have been complete without the help, and celebration of our community of friends and family who traveled from all over the country into the wilderness to take part in a sacred day in a sacred space.
Wedding Venue: Lowman Community Church / Reception Venue, Rentals and Catering: Redfish Lake Lodge / Photography: Ampersand Studios / Dress: Pronovias / Shoes: Vaneli di note / Ketubah: Matt Terich / Wedding Cake and Cupcakes: Greg Marsh Designer Cakes / Music: DJ Dave’s Mobile Disc Jockey / Flowers, Décor, Programs, Guestbook: Bride
