Erich McVey Photography gets a golden star for sending us today’s number. Not only does the man know how to take one amazing image after another but the style savvy details are jam-packed in this beauty. It’s an Oregon tale of Bride and Groom meet a gorgeous yellow-hued wedding and celebrate the night a way under the stars. Sounds fab, right? And might I just add the SMP office is a buzz over the Bride’s choice of lippy. Our smackers are green with envy over that perfect red hue. You can catch every last pretty detail from this soiree in the full wedding gallery.
Click here to see the entire gallery of images!
From the Bride…Brent and I have been friends since 7th grade, where we met somewhere between AOL instant messaging and middle school dances. In high school we continued to stay friends as my best friends (the “Sprague girls”) would always hang out with his best friends (the “South boys”) on the weekends, seeing how neither of us were content with hanging out with any members of the opposite sexes at our own schools. Between multiple dances, dates and relationships within various people in our crowds, the “Brent-Liz love story” never happened… until nine years into our friendship. Every summer, winter break, and spring break into the college years called for the usual hangouts at our friends Ben’s house, also Brent’s best friend. Throughout high school and college we all grew accustomed to hanging out in Ben’s kitchen whenever we were all home. That July [2009] was no exception. Ben was home for a short period of time from California; Liz’s BFF Abby was home for the weekend from Seattle; and “the South-Sprague gang” got together to hang out in Ben’s kitchen. Just like the good old times. The evening progressed and Brent and I struck up a friendly, heartfelt and humorous conversation at the kitchen table. And from there history was made! After two weeks of wooing on Brent’s part (the planner in Liz wasn’t sure if it would work out, and dating a good friend could ruin the whole nine-year friendship AND the “South-Sprague” dynamics if something turned for the worst), Liz was pretty much head over heels. Fast forward to February 2010… Brent told me he loved me (First girl Brent loved. First boy I loved… and last for both of us). Then came December 2010 and we were engaged and planning away!
The people. We are blessed with amazing friends and family, and without those lovely little faces there, the wedding wouldn’t have been as perfect and memorable. Along with that, the thought and care that went into planning the Sara-table meant a lot to me. Sara is one of my best friends, roommates and bridesmaids that passed away two months before the wedding due to cancer. That led to my favorite, yet sincere, “I don’t care” phrase. It’s hard to care about silly linen colors or arrangements of flowers when you are just trying to focus on being happy. And I was okay with not caring because Brent took over. He truly is the best guy in the world. Back to the Sara-table, it was one of the ways I wanted to honor Sara since she was watching from above, but not physically at our wedding. We used an old green chest from the apartment that Sara and I had lived together in, and dedicated the table to her. It was filled with pictures of her, pictures of Sara and I, and pictures of Sara, Brent and I. Along with that, there were several pictures she had painted for me while kicking chemos butt. And to save the best for last, we had a jar full of Oreos there, as they were Sara’s favorite cookie and her post-chemo diet. Her family was at the wedding and were able to take her bouquet home, which meant a lot to me as well.
One of my favorite DIY projects were the memory chalkboards. Brent and I chose food that was perfect and “Brent and Liz-esque” in every way. We chose “food with a memory.” To help our guests understand a sense of what the food meant to us, we made mini chalkboards and placed them next to particular foods. For example, next to the tea sandwiches we had a board that explained my connection to tea parties, because my grandmother, mom and I would go to a tea parlor growing up and I was allowed tea with only one lump of sugar, but as many cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches as I wanted. One of Brent’s chalkboards was at the gelato food cart. It told about his second lover: coffee. We had the selection of coffee gelato because of his extreme love for quality coffee (a love that I sadly do not share, which makes this relationship with coffee even that much more important). It was food that represented us, and food that we had made memories with.
Wedding Photography: Erich McVey Photography / Wedding Dress: Watters / Flowers: Jodi Beals / Wedding Videography: Nate Baston Videography / Venue: Green Villa Gardens / Planning: The Bride (Liz is an event planner at Class Act Events) / Day of Event Planner: Ginger Lushenko from Green Villa Gardens / Music: Kevin Venables from NW Mobile DJ Service / Grooms Suit: J.Crew / Bridesmaid Dresses: ASOS / Hair + Make-up: Helena Albanese / Bride’s yellow necklace: Nordstrom / Bridesmaid Shoes: Urban Outfitters/ Bride’s Veil: AniA’s Bridal / Wedding Newspaper: fivepluszero design / Headbands: Oh!Baby Designs, Salem OR