It’s been my experience that when I fall in love with a wedding gown, I fall in love in a big, big way. (Think screen savers galore and days upon days of never-ending pinning.) So, the moment I saw this uber-gorgeous bride rockin’ the Jenny Packham “Eden” gown, I was absolutely smitten. Because, not only is this dress what I would call a wedding gown masterpiece, it also happens to be the oh-so-perfect compliment to a day that is literally overflowing with beauty. Glass Jar Photography snapped up every magical moment and it’s making for one amazing day in the gallery. Join me there for more.
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From the Bride… In planning our wedding, I wanted to invite the people we love into a fantasy land with us for one day. I wanted them to feel as though they literally stepped into another world – a world from a much simpler time, where the beauty of nature itself would trump any grandiose attempts of man. I described my vision to my photographer as something like “the shire” but with a lot of little personal touches.
As we love wine, my husband and I originally set out to find a vineyard where we would be married. We live in NJ, but far more reasonable prices brought us to the Finger Lakes wine country in upstate New York to look for a venue. Initially, we did book a local winery up there, but due to conflicts with the owner, we ended up moving our wedding to Seneca Springs Resort, a B&B with 100 acres of incredible grounds overlooking the wineries and Seneca Lake. In addition to the abundance of natural beauty, they also had a solid wood barn-like structure up on the hill where we could hold the reception. I knew that I wanted the décor to be mostly DIY pieces mixed with random vintage items. I collected about 20 hand-picked vintage bottles over six months to put flowers in. I saw no need for a traditional florist, so we went with a one-woman show (Plenty of Posies) out of the Ithaca Farmer’s Market — her choices of wild flowers were stunning. She even created the flower halos my nieces wore. We also splurged on solid wood farm tables to really drive home that rustic, lost-in-time feel.
The more I learned about what I needed to be done, the more I wanted to do myself. I designed and printed my own invitations, menu cards and programs. The venue was bare bones, so absolutely everything had to brought in (including water and electricity). This turned out to be a bit of a challenge for a lot of logistical/functional items, but at the same time it was a blank canvas, which was so exciting for me to work with. I became enchanted by old doors and keys, and I ended up using antique door knobs and barn wood to create table numbers. I also made all the escort tags and attached each to a unique vintage skeleton key, which served as favors for all the guests. Just so there was no confusion on what to do with the keys, I wrote a poem about them which I put in the display box that held all the keys. (I completely fell in love with the process of bringing this all to life, and as a result, actually ended up opening my own Etsy store after my wedding!) My husband and I love blue grass and folk music, which also went with the theme, so we hired a local band we knew from Astoria, NY (2/3 Goat) to come up and play our wedding. We also had a DJ for a couple hours to do the more traditional dancing. We may like the country, but we take our food every bit as seriously as any sophisticated city-folk. We ended up having an authentic Viennese-Austrian restaurant called Dano’s cater the wedding, serving foodie-approved delights made with all local ingredients. When the day finally came, it turned out to be everything I had hoped for, and we felt so blessed to get to share our love, and our dreams brought to life, with all our closest family and friends!
Wedding Photography: Glass Jar Photography / Wedding Venue: Seneca Springs Resort in Hector, New York / Wedding Planning: Lovewell Celebration Design / Floral Design: Plenty of Posies / Wedding Design + Decor: Doorknobs & Broomsticks (Owned by the Bride) / Catering: Dano’s Heuriger on Seneca / Band: 2/3 Goat / Rentals: McCarthy Tents & Events / Wedding Dress: Jenny Packham “Eden”