Lisa Rigby just made my day. Like, filled it with so much LOVE and joy, I can barely find the words to describe all of the pretty. So, if I appear to be a bumbling mess, I seriously apologize… but once you get lost in the bright pink hues, stop-you-in-your-tracks vintage details and downright happiness flowing from each and every glorious image, trust me, you’ll feel the exact same way. It’s a Summertime masterpiece with a bundles of beautiful blooms by Petalena, the perfect dose of sweetness and a gallery chock-full of lovely. Join me there for more.
Click here for the FULL wedding!
From the Bride… I was going for happy, vintage, American summertime! When I was a teenager, I used to watch Trading Spaces, and I remember one bit of advice from an interior designer on that show. She said something along the lines of you don’t have to try to force everything to match because chances are, if you pick things that you truly like, those things just have a way of looking great together. So, I was never stressed out about trying to match everything. I always liked the idea of a happy-go-lucky, vintage wedding, so that was the inspiration. I didn’t care if “vintage” was overdone — it’s just what we like! We’re not city people, but we happen to live in a city, so the BBQ dinner, cowboy boots and vintage-craziness were a small tip of the hat to the more rural life we’re hoping to have someday.
I hand-stamped the seating cards with gold ink, and tied a skeleton key to each one with burlap string. I got the skeleton key idea from seeing it on lots of Pinterest boards. The keys were collected from Ebay and Etsy. Joe punched out the corners on the all the seating tags once I started to get blisters doing it. What a guy! The favors were hanging glass crystals etched with silver designs, hung on ivory and aqua bakers’ twine. They were Christmas ornaments from Sundance. Joe asked me to marry him at Christmas time, and I thought it would be sort of a cute hint at his proposal. I, with help from my mom, dad and sister, hand-covered each favor box with printed paper, wrapped each box with mismatching but similarly-colored washi tape and tied little thank you tags (hand-stamped) to the boxes with the same twine. I first saw some paper boutonnieres on Martha Stewart’s website and thought it was a cute idea. All of the corsage and boutonniere designs were my own — each one was different depending on the person it were being made for! I also designed and made the invitations. The envelopes and envelope liners were bought at Paper Source. The ivory paper was thick watercolor paper. After making the invitation suite designs on my computer, I sent the files to Anna-Mae of Village Impressions, who converted them into clear cling stamps. I hand-painted the peach and turquoise lantern “glow” on each invitation and reception card, and then stamped each one with clear embossing powder. They were each embossed with ultra-fine black embossing powder using a heat gun, then each was glued with pH-neutral bookmaking glue to the backing paper. The designs had to be stamped and embossed separately from the text. Once they were glued and the paper bands were made, my mom hand-addressed the inner and outer envelopes, we stuffed and sealed them and sent them off! It was a lot more work than I’d anticipated, and if I could go back in time, this is the one thing I’d never want to do again. Between the designing and the actual constructing of the invitations, it took about two months to finish, and it was just as expensive as if I’d had them printed.
The tables, gold chairs, and ivory place settings were rented from Taylor Rental in Haverhill. I designed the tables myself. The ivory linens were from Smarty Had a Party. The burlap runners were custom made by Teresa White of Straightstitch. During the year before the wedding, I collected lots of antique hand-embroidered tablecloths and mismatching tea-saucers from about 100 Etsy and Ebay sellers. The gold, pink, and turquoise mercury glass votive holders were bought all over the place. Some of the milk bottles and glass jars used for the Petalena’s table arrangements were literally found on the sidewalk near our apartment. We placed them back on the sidewalk after the wedding, and they were gone within hours.
Photography: Lisa Rigby Photography / Ceremony: MIT Chapel in Cambridge, Massachusetts / Reception: Commander’s Mansion in Watertown, Massachusetts / Floral Design: Petalena / Boutonnieres: DIY / Boutonniere Supplies: 32NorthSupplies + FreshlyFallenDesigns / Wedding Invitations: DIY / Envelopes + Liners: Paper Source / Custom Invitation Stamp for Embossing: Village Impressions / Christmas Ornament Favors: Sundance / Favor Boxes: DIY / Tables, Chairs + Place Settings: Taylor Rental / Linens: Smarty Had a Party / Table Runners: StraightStitch / Lanterns: Paper Lantern Store + Luna Bazaar / Lantern Set-Up: Sandy + Len of DesignLight / Wedding Dress: Christos “Julianna” / Bride’s Boots: Frye “Carson” via Amazon / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: J.Crew “Evie” / Bridesmaids’ Necklaces: Ballandchain / Bride’s + Bridesmaids’ Clutches: MlleBagatelles / Groom’s Suit: Banana Republic / Groom’s Shirt: Calvin Klein / Groom’s Shoes: Bostonian via Macy’s / Engagement Ring + Groom’s Wedding Ring: DeScenza Diamonds / Bride’s Wedding Ring: Vintage via eBay