Outdoor Fall Wedding at Cedar Lake Cellars
High school best friends who lost touch and found each other again the day their team won the world series. It's the makings of a particularly cute rom-com and the finale would most definitely be this casual chic wedding from D Squared Designs!
From the stunning bride... We actually met in 2003, during my freshman year and Chad’s sophomore year of high school. We quickly became the best of friends and were involved in a lot of school activities together. Unfortunately, we lost touch during our college years. But, we were reunited after the 2011, final World Series game, while celebrating our beloved St. Louis Cardinals’ victory. Chad and I literally ran into each other. Call it fate or a God thing. But, from that moment on, we were practically inseparable.
Chad was quite the traveler and I was not too surprised when he suggested taking a cruise “in a couple of weeks”. We left for our cruise on Friday February 15th. Looking back now, I realize he had dropped a HUGE hint on Valentine’s Day by giving me two wife cards. I just thought he was being super cute like always! Day 2 of our cruise, we arrived at the Isle of Rotan, Honduras. We went snorkeling around a 7 acre private island. After snorkeling, Chad insisted we take a walk around the island and we stopped at a place with this amazing view! Chad put his arms around me and told me how much he loved me. When I turned around to give him a hug, he went down on one knee and with the ring in his hand, he asked me to marry him. I pulled him off of his knee, wrapped my arms around him, and with many happy tears said YES!
Chad and I did not want a long engagement, and we both wanted an outside ceremony at our favorite winery, Cedar Lake Cellars. We decided on a fall wedding. The next order of business was my dress, which was more special than I ever imagined! And I did not choose anything to traditional. My dress was a beautiful shade of buff which we “redesigned”. This requires very skilled seamstresses! We planned a 400 guest wedding, with 19 of our closest friends and family members as attendants, in just 7 months! We really wanted our wedding to represent both of us. The theme became romantic, rustic and chic, with a touch of vintage, which basically means “all of our favorite things”. The romance and chic represented me, and the rustic represented Chad. We also chose colors that we both already loved, shades of white and ivory, teal blue, and brown. These are the same colors we used to decorate our home. Our colors, style, and theme were represented in every detail of the wedding, from our “paper products” (save the dates and invitations) to our cake table, brides’ maids’ dresses and babies’ breath bouquets! Our beautiful, buttercream rose covered cake sat on a tree stump (Chad), and the table was draped in lace (me). Even during cocktail hour, our favorite “appetizers” were represented… IMOS pizza and White Castles (Chad’s favorites) were brought in, and some of my favorite vegetarian foods, vegetables, assorted flavors of hummus, cheeses, crackers, and grapes were served, of course on big, old vintage doors, wine barrels and wooden crates.
The personal touches…For our center pieces, we wanted babies’ breath topiaries, wine bottles, wood, and candles. My mother spray painted 50 wine bottles a buttery shade of ivory and stenciled each with teal blue birds and branches. She made sure to “age” them to give them that vintage touch. Ivory painted frames held everything from chalkboard menus to black and white wedding photos of our family, from parents to “great-great” grandparents and were placed throughout for all to see. My very creative father, constructed, stained and painted beautiful rustic wooden signs, from old wooden pallets, with our favorite love quotes and Bible verses, which were placed about for our guests to read. They turned out amazing! Chad’s aunt made us a rustic clock from a large, wooden, spool which we displayed during the ceremony and celebration. “Time to Get Married” was painted on the clock face. We now have it displayed in our home. We were SO blessed to be able to have sweet, personal touches displayed all throughout our wedding venue!
We topped off our “romantic, rustic, chic, with a touch of vintage” themed wedding with candles, tree stumps & discs and baby’s breath EVERYWHERE! I was lucky enough to have an abundant supply of free wood as my husband’s family owns a tree service and environmental service company. And let me tell you, I took full advantage of it!
I can honestly say that for us, we had the most perfect day and wedding celebration! It took a lot of planning and crafting, but it was all absolutely worth it! And some of my absolute favorite moments of our special day, were the things we did not plan, like the most gorgeous “sky blue pink” sunset I have ever seen, the ring around the moon, and the white swans that decided to swim in the pond during our celebration.
My advice to any bride, is to plan a wedding that truly represents both she and her fiancé, and to enjoy and cherish every moment during this wonderful time in their lives… because it is truly wonderful!
Our wedding was truly a labor love! I cannot thank my amazing parents, family, and friends enough for everything they did to help us have the most perfect wedding day! And, I cannot thank God enough for letting me meet and marry the love of my life and my best friend! I am truly blessed!
Chad was quite the traveler and I was not too surprised when he suggested taking a cruise “in a couple of weeks”. We left for our cruise on Friday February 15th. Looking back now, I realize he had dropped a HUGE hint on Valentine’s Day by giving me two wife cards. I just thought he was being super cute like always! Day 2 of our cruise, we arrived at the Isle of Rotan, Honduras. We went snorkeling around a 7 acre private island. After snorkeling, Chad insisted we take a walk around the island and we stopped at a place with this amazing view! Chad put his arms around me and told me how much he loved me. When I turned around to give him a hug, he went down on one knee and with the ring in his hand, he asked me to marry him. I pulled him off of his knee, wrapped my arms around him, and with many happy tears said YES!
Chad and I did not want a long engagement, and we both wanted an outside ceremony at our favorite winery, Cedar Lake Cellars. We decided on a fall wedding. The next order of business was my dress, which was more special than I ever imagined! And I did not choose anything to traditional. My dress was a beautiful shade of buff which we “redesigned”. This requires very skilled seamstresses! We planned a 400 guest wedding, with 19 of our closest friends and family members as attendants, in just 7 months! We really wanted our wedding to represent both of us. The theme became romantic, rustic and chic, with a touch of vintage, which basically means “all of our favorite things”. The romance and chic represented me, and the rustic represented Chad. We also chose colors that we both already loved, shades of white and ivory, teal blue, and brown. These are the same colors we used to decorate our home. Our colors, style, and theme were represented in every detail of the wedding, from our “paper products” (save the dates and invitations) to our cake table, brides’ maids’ dresses and babies’ breath bouquets! Our beautiful, buttercream rose covered cake sat on a tree stump (Chad), and the table was draped in lace (me). Even during cocktail hour, our favorite “appetizers” were represented… IMOS pizza and White Castles (Chad’s favorites) were brought in, and some of my favorite vegetarian foods, vegetables, assorted flavors of hummus, cheeses, crackers, and grapes were served, of course on big, old vintage doors, wine barrels and wooden crates.
The personal touches…For our center pieces, we wanted babies’ breath topiaries, wine bottles, wood, and candles. My mother spray painted 50 wine bottles a buttery shade of ivory and stenciled each with teal blue birds and branches. She made sure to “age” them to give them that vintage touch. Ivory painted frames held everything from chalkboard menus to black and white wedding photos of our family, from parents to “great-great” grandparents and were placed throughout for all to see. My very creative father, constructed, stained and painted beautiful rustic wooden signs, from old wooden pallets, with our favorite love quotes and Bible verses, which were placed about for our guests to read. They turned out amazing! Chad’s aunt made us a rustic clock from a large, wooden, spool which we displayed during the ceremony and celebration. “Time to Get Married” was painted on the clock face. We now have it displayed in our home. We were SO blessed to be able to have sweet, personal touches displayed all throughout our wedding venue!
We topped off our “romantic, rustic, chic, with a touch of vintage” themed wedding with candles, tree stumps & discs and baby’s breath EVERYWHERE! I was lucky enough to have an abundant supply of free wood as my husband’s family owns a tree service and environmental service company. And let me tell you, I took full advantage of it!
I can honestly say that for us, we had the most perfect day and wedding celebration! It took a lot of planning and crafting, but it was all absolutely worth it! And some of my absolute favorite moments of our special day, were the things we did not plan, like the most gorgeous “sky blue pink” sunset I have ever seen, the ring around the moon, and the white swans that decided to swim in the pond during our celebration.
My advice to any bride, is to plan a wedding that truly represents both she and her fiancé, and to enjoy and cherish every moment during this wonderful time in their lives… because it is truly wonderful!
Our wedding was truly a labor love! I cannot thank my amazing parents, family, and friends enough for everything they did to help us have the most perfect wedding day! And, I cannot thank God enough for letting me meet and marry the love of my life and my best friend! I am truly blessed!