I love when people in the industry tie the knot. Their weddings never fail to wow, and that’s just what happened when this beauty (who also happens to be the talent behind West House Photography) said I do to her handsome beau. It’s a DIY dream wedding captured beautifully by The Reason, and you can see every fabulous moment right here.
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From the Bride… Being a wedding photographer myself (West House Photography), I knew from the moment Ben proposed that I wanted a long engagement (a year and three months is what happened and it was perfect) to enjoy every second of our engagement and to take on all the DIY projects I would be doing. I knew my priority was going to be photography that would tell a story and our wedding would be very detail oriented to represent us. I made everything from our wooden people cake topper (that was made to look just like us on our wedding day, down to the camera in my hand and the soccer ball at his feet), the guys boutonnieres, photo booth props, numerous signage, tags for the candy buffet, each little jar of apple butter as a favor, smores kit favors, the hanger my dress hung on, my hair piece, monogrammed wine glasses for my bridesmaids, the mr. & mrs chair signs, hand cut/painted directional signs for the different elements of the wedding including all the states people traveled from and how far… and so much more. Family, friends and I all worked on: The doorknob table numbers, each handwritten key place card tied with keys, four long wooden tables were hand built by my father in law for the reception, the huge chandelier that was repainted and had crystals hung from it at our ceremony along with the other chandeliers hung at our reception, hunting down tree trunks for the ceremony aisle, a real tree slice for the cake stand, the hand painted/custom silhouette corn hole boards, incorporating tons of vintage pieces and furniture in the decor for an inside – outside feel. We were hands on with SO MUCH and I loved every second of it. So much love from everyone we knew went into our wedding. So many contributed their time and talents to make this happen.
We saved money on two big things without sacrificing quality: Flowers and food. We were fortunate enough to be able to order all the specific flowers I wanted to incorporate in our wedding, from a local wholesaler and then have my mother in law do all the bouquets (which turned out more gorgeous than I could have hoped). Our centerpieces were old books with the covers torn off and tied together and a mix of various mason jars and vintage bottles filled with flowers. We also did heirloom teacups and pieces from Ben’s family filled with succulents, moss and flowers. My in laws and their friends had been in the catering business and are amazing cooks to boot so we had our food all homemade with love by our family and friends. Our guests could not believe everything was homemade and raved about how delicious it was. My mother in law had all of these amazing vintage silver chaffing dishes and serving platters. It was perfect. We knew we wanted a rustic chic outdoors wedding under the stars with elements that had an eclectic feel.
Our ceremony was under a huge tree surrounded by the people we love most. It couldn’t have been a more gorgeous day weather wise and the light was stunning and made my inner photographer heart (and bride self) so happy! I wanted our guests to have a blast and always have something to do… whether it was eating, dancing, playing corn hole or our photo booth set up in a big gazebo. I wanted them to leave our wedding and say they not only had the time of their life but also know that this was “so Ben and Krystal”.
Working in the wedding industry myself… finding amazing vendors who would bring our day together wasn’t hard. Most of our vendors were people I work with for weddings I shoot and I knew exactly who I wanted to be a part of our wedding day because of their talent and amazing personalities. I don’t have enough words to describe how amazing all of our vendors/friends were for our wedding day. They helped make my vision come to life as I surrendered being a wedding photographer for the day and was just a bride marrying the love of my life. I am forever grateful to them and all of our friends and family. We feel so blessed and it truly was the best day of our lives and the wedding of our dreams!
Photography: West House Photography | Photography: The Reason | Cinematography: Visual Power Cinema | Coordinator: Dairing Events - Adair Currie | Cake: Contemporary Cakery | Makeup: Makeup Paulina Perez - Paulina + Catherine | Hair: Christian Griffin | DJ: Skip Kelly Productions | Suits: JCPenney | Wedding Venue: The Glen Venue | Bar: Oliv'r Twist | Birdcage Viel: KAK Bridal | Bouquets: Dana Halvorsen | Centerpieces: Adair Currie | Cuff Links: The Beauty Spot | Dog's Attire: Happy Dapper Dogs | Dresses: J.Crew | Paper Goods: Jessie Preza with Nesting Shoppe | Second Photographer: Caroline Fontenot Photographer