I absolutely LOVE to hear when couples take on a wedding as something they can create together. It just seems like the most romantic way to approach your big day. And that is just how this stylish pair tackled their detail-filled love fest. Every little detail of this pretty fête by Jennifer Eileen Photography had oh so much meaning, and the wood and lace theme was a complete labor of love from the bride, groom and their families. It all made for a perfect wedding and probably even more perfect memories, and you can see even more in the full gallery!
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From the Bride...Josh and I wanted our wedding to be beautiful, of course, as any bride and groom does, but we especially wanted our guests to have a sense of us, through all the extra details. We wanted everything to have a personal meaning and we wanted our family and friends to be able to feel, not only our love for each other, but also many of our passions. The overall theme behind our wedding was wood and lace. We really wanted to combine the masculine elements of wood with the femininity and vintage elements of lace. We wanted to capture the purity and the organic features of both these elements. It began with our invitation. We really wanted to make them ourselves and we wanted to use wood. We purchased wood veneer strips at a local wood store, which Josh cut into paper sized pieces. We found stamps and paint to match the colors we were wanting to use and hand-stamped them and added the extra lace pieces.
Josh loves woodworking. He is a musician who builds his own drums. My dad is a general contractor so, I had grown up around sawdust and building projects. Both of us love wood and we spend countless hours dreaming of things we would someday like to create together, so it was especially important to us that this showed in our wedding. Josh and my dad built almost everything we used. I have always had a love for antiques and garage sales. Josh and I spent many weekends treasure hunting and collecting items for the wedding. All of the silver trays and platters, the side tables, mason jars, the old windows, and little antiques were found at garage sales or consignment shops. We also had Josh's mom collecting items for us down in Florida. All of the lace and doilies that were draped from the chuppa and used as decor throughout are heirloom pieces from Josh's family. Some of the pieces are over 100 years old. It was very special to be able to use his families mementos in such a meaningful way. My dad made all the cedar hearts that were scattered and hung around the venue, as well as each of the hearts we used as table names.
We wanted to use something creative so we hand painted the biblical Fruits of the Spirits as table names and hung the guests names from an old window. Josh built all of fences we used as accent pieces. My favorite was the one we used as our guest book. We had guests write us a little message and hang it on the fence. My love for fabric, and all things handmade was evident on our day. We collected different varieties and colors of fabric and used them anywhere and everywhere that we could.
Other extra fun details:The ring bearer carried a very dear box to us, since it was the box josh had built and used to propose to me with. He antiqued it to match a table I had showed him I wanted, and when he proposed he promised that someday he would build me a table to match. My family makes jam and jelly so we loved the idea of making jam for our favor. We picked jalapeno jelly and spent the weekend making it as a family. It was great bonding time and we introduced Josh to a family tradition. We had them displayed on an antique pie rack we had purchased at a garage sale. My grandmother's house had always had a cookie drawer and I wanted to give her a special place at the wedding. We designated a display for"Grandma Rosie's Cookies" and she baked them all. They were a huge hit! Everyone knows Josh loves cupcakes and so we knew we would use them instead of cake. We even had his favorite flavor (funfetti) as one of the flavors. These were all displayed on an antiqued wooden box crate that Josh and my dad built just for the wedding.
All these little details, together, created the PERFECT day that was a true representation of us and our love for DIY projects. We had such a great time wedding planning and making things together, and more than that made the best memories while working on wedding projects.
Wedding Photography: Jennifer Eileen Photography / Flowers: Rae Florae / Event Design: The Bride + Groom / Event Planning: Swann Soirees / Ceremony + Reception Location: Bandy Canyon Ranch / Invitations: The Bride + Groom / DJ: JDMusik / Cake Designer: Miss Dot's Cupcakes