French Inspired Vow Renewal by Corbin Gurkin Photography

As someone who has been married for nearly 6 years (holy cow!) and as someone who sits in front of a computer staring at wedding gorgeousness for sometimes 10 hours a day (again, holy cow!), you would think that I am starting to turn a good shade of green. With envy that is. But the reality is that until today, I kind of assumed that I’d had my last hoorah. Unfortunately for my husband, today is that day that train of reasoning left the building and I am now on the annual vow renewal movement a la Tori & Dean. Okay, that may be extreme, but after seeing this next gorgeous renewal photographed to utter perfection by Corbin Gurkin Photography with flowers by Kate at Flowerwild, I’m pretty sure you girls are going to tie the knot over and over and over again. To the same hubs of course. So brace yourselves for some serious vow renewal pretty. Oh and click here to see even more.

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From the Bride…Andy and I are photographers based out of Jacksonville, Florida, so when we started planning our vow renewal for our five year anniversary, photography was naturally the most important thing to us. We love vintage and fine art photography so we knew we wanted a photographer who fit that style of photography and understood our vision. When I spoke with Corbin on the phone, she really seemed to get what our vow renewal was all about and was excited about our concept. She was wonderful to work with and did an amazing job! Our goal for the renewal was two-fold. We wanted to renew our vows with our own words spoken just for each other. Our renewal was really just for us and was about pulling off the look we wanted in an amazing location with great vendors, so we opted for a “Vow Renewal for Two”. In other words, sans guests. Secondly, we plan to add full styling services to our photography packages and possibly a vintage rental inventory down the road so we wanted to showcase my styling skills as another aspect to the renewal.

Our theme was french country/shabby chic and Saddlerock Ranch with it’s rustic buildings, vineyard covered hills, and sprawling horse ranch fit the bill perfectly for our venue. Our color palate consisted of peach and mint green with accents of gray and silver. I love sweets so in lieu of a traditional dinner we just had a dessert table for two filled with a vanilla bean cake, chocolate cake pops, and french macaroons a la a French Patisserie.  I added a milk glass framed chalk board to the table set up which read “Patisseries Fraiches” (or “fresh pastries”.) Found Vintage Rentals provided a vintage table and to-die-for gray french country chairs which served as the base to our table set up. For the table top I wanted to mix French sophistication with shabby chic charm so I used a mixture of miss-matched vintage silverware, silver chargers, jadeite plates and cake stands, pink depression glass plates and champagne flutes, milk glass compotes, and a set of runners I made myself. The bottom runner was a silver silk shantung and the top runner was made out of peach organza with vintage lace trim. Kate and Megan of Flowerwild created beautiful centerpieces of white peonies, peach Juliet garden roses, sweet pea, queen anne’s lace and more soft blooms in Harney and Sons tea tins. To complete the table and reflect my love of fashion and vintage sewing items, I used clusters of vintage thread spools bearing thread in our colors as bud vases holding poppies. I also found a vintage milk glass chandelier online and repainted it silver to hang from the pretty tree at Saddlerock.

I love doors, especially red doors on southern houses and old beat up ones with cool locks. Therefore I was thrilled when I discovered a vintage double door at Found Vintage Rentals that I used as the “gateway” to our little table set up. Flowerwild made up a garland of greenery and peach garden roses to drape over the door. We also used the garland to drape around a horse’s neck (supposedly the same horse from the movie True Grit!) I had a couple horses growing up and my Brother now trains them so it was fun to interact with the horses for some photos. To add some humor,  I printed chair signs on watercolor paper that read “Hers” and “His . . . still hers”. We pinned them to the backs of the chairs with a single poppy bloom. We also printed a sign that read “Renewed” instead of “Just Married” on watercolor paper. Saddlerock has so many fun props around the property. The vintage Rolls Royce Woody made the perfect backdrop for our “getaway” photo.



Our renewal was so much fun and a great way for us to both remind each other of our love and spend some quality time together. I can’t wait for our 10 year!

Furniture Rentals: Found Vintage Rentals / Photography: Corbin Gurkin Photography / Florist: Flowerwild / Venue: Saddlerock Ranch / Desserts: Cupcakes Couture of Manhattan Beach / Hair + Make-up: Kathryn and Trina from The Studio Agency / Hair Colorist: Adrianna Broadway of Apres Salon Jacksonville / Tabletop: Vintage / Wedding Dress: Modern Trousseau via Belle Couture Bridal / Sash + Alterations: The Tailor Shop / Bride’s Shoes: Christian Louboutin / Jewelry: J.Crew / Hair Piece: Vintage Hat / Clutch: Anthropologie / Cardigan: J.Crew / Pink Dress: Amsale via Bella Bridesmaid / Cardigan + Headband: J.Crew / Green Shoes: Urban Originals / Earrings: Kendra Scott / Groom’s Suit: Vintage Dior / Vest + Shirt: Express / Tie: Etsy / Groom’s Shoes: Johnston and Murphy / Bespoke Guitar Pick Boutonniere: Fritts Rosenow