Elegant + Quirky Dog Themed Garden Wedding

Michelle Hoover
February 18, 2016
Categories: Real Weddings, Whimsical

And just like that my heart exploded into a million shiny little pieces – all thanks to the adorable captures from Jennifer Tai Photo Artistry. For this is the type of gallery that should come with an advisory because trust me, once you see all the adorable elements (hello, pup inspired details) you’ll explode with squeals. Don’t say we didn’t warn you and get ready to see it all firsthand in The Vault!

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From Jennifer Tai Photo Artistry… Kathryn and Max, with wedding planner extraordinaire Lisa Chambers of Chambers & Co, created an elegant yet quirky evening of celebration featuring their beloved dog, Douglas (or Dug)!

Held at the beautiful Dunn Gardens, the wedding felt like a private backyard affair. At the center was a flag-cloth tent from Cort Rentals, which at the time was the only company that had the service of renting and installing. Lisa, her team and the ladies from Lola Creative did an amazing job with the florals with paper flowers at the ceremony, and arrangements of coral and teal at the reception.

Herban Feast welcomed Kathryn and Max’s guests with a festive and colorful mimosa bar before the ceremony. Dinner was a creative showcase of bento boxes created with the bride and groom’s faves and dessert an ice cream buffet bar – all of which Doug hovered over protectively.

The highlight of the evening, among other things, was the unique karaoke DJ, helmed by the lovely Chrissy Williams. Everyone loves a good karaoke session with a spot of dancing mixed in from time to time.

It was a beautiful wedding to document from start to finish, laid back yet intricate, just as a backyard wedding should be. The best part was that Dug was the star of it all!

From the Couple… Max and I are huge nerds. We met online while playing a role-playing video game. We battled digital monsters and quested for rare treasures for about six months before deciding to meet in person. The designated location? A Japanese anime convention…dressed in costumes as our favorite characters. (Nerd alert!) When we met, he was relieved that I turned out to be an actual girl. I was relieved that he had a decent face.

Many years later we decided to tie the knot. We got an adorable dog named Douglas somewhere along the way. He was the inspiration for our wedding. Mainly because we couldn’t figure out how to incorporate both of our nerdy hobbies into the wedding, in a way that we wouldn’t regret in the future (Think: Full-blown Star Trek themed wedding complete with phasers instead of bouquets). Also because our lives revolve around that 110 pound mutt. He is many breeds, including: St. Bernard, Husky, German Shepherd, and Mastiff. Including Douglas in the wedding was easy. I have to give a lot of credit to our amazing wedding planner Lisa Chambers from Chambers and Co. She was such an enabler in the planning process–even inviting Douglas to all the planning sessions! It was no wonder he became such a (literally) huge part of our big day. First, he was assigned the role of ring-bearer. Next, our stationery designer Sheryl of Paper Moxie included him in our invitations. Then, the place cards turned into his silhouette. Our floral designers Emily and Flick from Lola Creative got in on the fun and added him to many parts of the decor, such as the decorative pillows for the seating as well. We tried to sprinkle some subtle details with Douglas throughout our wedding too (e.g. Max’s lapel pin, bar menu holders).

The actual wedding day was a whirlwind of fun and festivities–at the end of the day I couldn’t believe that it flew by so quickly! We enjoyed being with our small, tight-knit group of friends and family. Good food and drinks, dancing, karaoke, ice cream for dessert, and our cuddly pup right there with us the whole time–we wouldn’t have had it any other way.

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