There is something truly enchanting about lakes — They’re so peaceful, so beautiful, and so perfect for the backdrop of a wedding! This couple DIY dominated their affair with homemade, well, just about everything! Table runners, favors, flower arrangements, and the list goes on. My personal favorite? The origami escort cards! What a super cute, extra creative idea! Kristy May Photography captures all the homemade, lakeside magic right here in the full gallery of photos.
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From the Bride… Our wedding took place beside a lake in my hometown, where my husband and I spend a lot of time. Because the location was rustic, we aimed to keep things simple and classic while incorporating as much of ourselves and our families as possible. We chose the colors lavender, gray, and cream to have a clean, soft palette to work with. We had our bridal party meet at the location the day before, and we set up the tables, ironed linens, hung paper lanterns above the dance floor and arranged all the flowers. We also self-catered our rehearsal dinner, so we got a lot of help from friends and family to pull it all off! The day before the wedding, we arrived to find that the lake had been dredged that morning, leaving a huge mound of wet sand piled high on the beach. Our amazing friends jumped right in with rakes and shovels and had it smoothed out across the beach in record time — at one point we had nine people on top of the pile!
We did all the paper pieces of the wedding ourselves. Because I’m a designer, I couldn’t imagine not doing the invitations myself. We started with those, then we added personalized menus at each place and escort cards with cranes my husband folded. For favors, each guest received a white box with two chocolate truffles. Each box was tied with a handmade tag containing a Moroccan proverb from a public radio show that my husband’s family listened to when he was young. As each tag was different, it was a surprise what each guest would get. My aunt whitewashed wooden buckets and then filled them with white and lavender flowers. These created a focal point along the edge of the dock where we stood. We did all the flowers ourselves, and I carried a bouquet that included calla lilies, the same flower my mother carried when she got married. It was wrapped in lavender ribbon, and then covered in a piece of cream lace left over from my late grandfather’s fabric store. None of my family from Kansas were able to fly out for the wedding, so it was important to me to have something from that side of my family with me that day. My father walked me down a short aisle to the sound of a single guitar playing “Moon River.”
The most important DIY element of our wedding was the ceremony. We were married by the friend that introduced us — she is also the only person that has known both of us for over ten years, so it was very important to us that she officiate. We also wrote our own vows, which was one of the hardest things that we took on and also the most worthwhile. We wrote drafts separately and then worked on the vows together, so that the end result was really a mix of our voices. After the ceremony, we had cocktail hour on the dock, then moved upstairs for a seated dinner and dancing. We laid out the tables in long rows, and I sewed table runners out of gray fabric to lay across the simple white linens. We chose two types of bouquets: metal, milk pail-style buckets for white hydrangea with an accent of lavender spider anemonae and mason jars with tight, low clusters of white roses. Interspersed were low candles in clusters of three.
My favorite moment of the wedding was standing at the head table during dinner, looking down the two rows of our closest friends and family and feeling so lucky to have them all in one room. Secondly, we were thrilled to have the dance floor packed all night! All generations got up to dance — it was wonderful to look around and see everyone having a great time. We worked so hard to pull the day together, and we were so pleased to watch everyone having fun!
Wedding Photography: Kristy May Photography / Wedding Venue: Cream Hill Lake Association in Cornwall, Connecticut / Floral Design: Blooms by the Box / Wedding Coordination: Kate Rosado Events / Wedding Cinematography: beIMAGED Photography / Catering + Wedding Cake: The Pantry (860-868-0258) / Band: Tangled Vine / Getting Ready Accommodations: Breadloaf Mountain Lodge / Wedding Dress: David’s Bridal / Bride’s Garter: Her Mother’s / Bride’s Gold Bracelet: From Her Great-Grandmother