In all honesty, this feature took me far too long to put together. Why? Because it’s impossible not to be completely captivated by this gallery from CLY BY MATTHEW, it’s just soooo pretty. And can we talk about the Bride’s insanely gorgeous Sarah Seven dress from Lovely Bride? I need this dress in my life. Toss on a little seafoam, a little teal, one super adorable vintage red truck and it’s wedding perfection.
From the beautiful Bride…I have never been one to believe in romantic movies and ideas that are prevalent in them like…FATE. I slept through Love Actually to the horror of my now husband who has watched Love Actually more times than he can count and knows lines by heart. As corny as it sounds and even though it goes against every practical, non-romantic bone in my body, I have to say that marrying Ray was fate. We have never lived in the same area and yet kept crossing paths throughout our lives (starting from elementary school). Eventually, when we crossed paths as young adults, sparks flew on one side but not reciprocated by the other. We barely got to know each other before we went our separate ways again and I never expected us to ever cross paths again. But 2 years later, January 2010 somehow brought us to be in the same place at the same time and this time, sparks flew on BOTH sides. Or it could be that I just opened my eyes finally to what was meant to be. And so began a love story 21 years in the making.
3 years later, we were engaged and started to plan what we referred to as “the greatest party of our lives.” We wanted a wedding that would be have a comfortable and relaxing vibe that would allow our guests to mingle and just have a good time without being restricted to a stuffy ballroom. I had seen Crossed Keys Inn in a magazine a few years ago and fell in love with the big white tent and basically everything else it offered. So naturally, I convinced Ray to drive an hour in the middle of January, a few weeks after our engagement, to see the venue in person. We both fell in love and could see ourselves having the perfect wedding here, even when it was freezing and covered in snow everywhere. Without even seeing any other venues, we immediately signed with Crossed Keys and began our long 18 month journey of wedding planning. In search for inspiration for the perfect romantic, vintage wedding that I envisioned, I spent countless hours poring over SMP and Pinterest. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I spent almost every single free minute I had looking through these 2 amazing resources. Obviously, I ended up getting overwhelmed with the endless choices and if it weren’t for my sane, reasonable fiancé and friends bringing me back to reality, I would have ended up planning way more than I can handle. In the end, our wedding day was the perfect amount of detail which I owe to our awesome, talented vendors, bridesmaids who made an amazing team, and the most thoughtful and caring fiancé in the world. Ray and I made nearly every decision together no matter how small of a detail without a single fight. The fact that I could look back at the pictures and videos and see both of our special touches everywhere (like the candle he brought so the girls can get ready in a beautifully scented room) made the day that much more special. Throughout wedding planning, Ray would say he wanted me to be able to look back 10, 20 years down the road and say I had the wedding of my dreams. This alone made our wedding day the wedding of my dreams already and everything else was just icing on the cake.
Photography: CLY BY MATTHEW | Videography: Kiss The Bride Films | Floral Design: Event Designs by Katherine | Wedding Dress: Lovely Bridal Shop | Wedding Bands: Love Rocks | Bridesmaid's Dresses: Ivy And Aster | Catering: Crossed Keys Estate | Hair And Make Up: VickyC5 | DJ: Gemini Productions | Groom's Attire: Bonobos | Wedding Venue: Crossed Keys Estate | Photo Booth: Big Cheese Booth