I may have mentioned a time or two that I am completely obsessed with all things British, but now feels like the perfect opportunity to repeat the sentiments. Because this, my friends, is an English garden-inspired masterpiece planned to perfection by It Takes Two Events with colorful DIY details, an extra dash of romance courtesy of a little drizzle and a beyond beautiful Cator Woolford Gardens setting. See it all captured by The Long Farewell right here in the full gallery.
From the Bride… We are known by our group of friends to throw dinner parties and get-togethers, and this was the ultimate dinner party for me. I’m a DIY’er by heart (my friends call me Asian Martha Stewart), so I knew I wanted our wedding to reflect both my DIY aesthetic and Richard’s English heritage because I, too, am an Anglophile. To incorporate this vision, we had an America versus England corn hole game that Richard built and I painted by hand, created fun directional signage that showed everywhere our out of country guest were traveling from and how far they had come, painted chalkboard signage for our signature drinks – Mine a Pimm’s Cup and His a Myerita, and of course we had rain, pure English, but not handmade by me. I dyed our ombre linen napkins, painting our gold dipped wine glasses, assembling our tissue photobooth backdrop, creating our pinwheel desert table art installation, cutting and stringing together our bunting and poms, making our save the dates and wedding invites and hand stamping the seating chart. If it was at our wedding, I probably created some part of it and that makes me smile.
I got my amazing MARISA dress (another unique brand that I knew no one else would have and at the time they didn’t even show their dresses on their website, so no one saw my dress until the day of) from Bridals by Lori. My dress was a full lace mermaid gown, perfect for an English garden wedding. The cream Chantilly lace was vintage inspired with a cafe underlay, buttons down the back that lead to a French kick pleat. My aunt sewed my belt. When I tried on my dress, Montie “jacked me up” as they say with a gorgeous Lazaro belt that was above what we budgeted for the dress, so I started my search for the perfect belt. After a trip to another country and countless hours on Pinterest, I finally came across an appliqué on Etsy and purchased some ribbon from a local paperie store – Samflax, my aunt sewed them together and voila! My veil was Italian lace and came from Korea along with my fascinator that I wore at the reception… I know, Italian lace from Korea, what? But it was beautiful and ended up being my favorite piece. And with the perfect dress, perfect belt and favorite veil, I needed THE shoes, right? Well, I didn’t get my shoes until the week before the wedding.
Our wedding was inspired by a vintage English Garden. Although it rained, no poured, we were still able to create the perfect English aesthetic with our garden florals and potted table seating herbs (pronounce the H if you’re English), clean white table settings, bunting, and a Union Jack here and there. Everything at our wedding had a purpose, every little detail related to a point or part of Richard’s and my relationship, whether it was evident to our guests or not, we were able to take in, enjoy, and smile because we knew.
Our vendors were AMAZING. Since I was the last one of my friends to get married, I was determined to use vendors that no one else had… I wanted our wedding to be unique, special and create an atmosphere that no one else had experienced before. We carefully handpicked our vendors and had a connection with each of them. For example: our videographer’s wife is Korean and has the same name as my aunt; one of our photographer’s is half Korean too; Richard saw our acoustic guitarist play once with friends years before and I could go on and on with the connections, but the main point is that we were connected to these vendors as they were a part of our family and friends and we loved that and hope we made as much of an impact on them as they did us.
Photography: The Long Farewell | Videographer: Iris Films | Event Planning: It Takes Two Events | Wedding Dress: Marisa Bridals | Catering: Sun In My Belly | DJ: DJ MadFlip | Ceremony Music: The Armonico String Ensemble | Transportation: The Trolley Guy | Bridal Boutique: Bridals By Lori | Ceremony and Reception: Cator Woolford Gardens | Cocktail Hour Music: Todd Wells | Floral: Candler Park Flowers