We’ve been fangirling Alaina Kaczmarski for quite some time now. Co-founder and editor of The Everygirl, she knows a thing or two about style (peek back at her home office tour) and today this bride-to-be is spilling details on her upcoming wedding. Alaina dove straight into The Vault, finding imagery that speaks to the vision for her Sonoma nuptials, and we’ve got her bridal shower reveal up next.
Greetings SMPers, brides-to-be, wedding lovers and planners alike!
The no fuss, non-wedding wedding. That’s what I always wanted when it came to my own big day. The thought of a 200+ guest list and four-tiered cake with all the bells and whistles makes me nervous. Of course now that my fiance Dan and I are less than one month out from the big day, and I have five months of planning under my belt (we got engaged at home this past February), I wholeheartedly understand what everyone meant when they said there’s no such thing as a no fuss wedding! No matter how much I tried to downplay our super long to-do list and not stress and just enjoy the process, truth is it’s been a complete whirlwind and all of the little details quickly blur together.
Fortunately, my wonderful fiance Danny was on board with all the big picture stuff that mattered the most and made planning much easier: destination, intimate, as laid back as possible, not a show about the two of us, more a celebration of all the people there. He, fortunately, didn’t have strong opinions about most of the pretty details like flowers and hand-lettered envelopes. Lucky for me–that’s the part I had the most fun with!
And now that the wedding is right around the corner and I’ve shared a few sneak peeks on my Instagram with our wedding hashtag #MeetTheSchmiedskis, I wanted to explain more of the thought process of how it all came together here on my favorite wedding blog, Style Me Pretty! We didn’t have a wedding planner so the majority of what our wedding will look like is the outcome of me sourcing inspiration on Instagram and Pinterest and diligent online research on the part of Danny and myself. And like most weddings, we began with the location and venue.
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We both always wanted a destination wedding, but it was Dan who chose Sonoma for our October outdoor nuptials. (Amazing. I know.) The perfect spot considering wine country is one of our favorite places on earth–and really, the Bay Area is a place we hope to move one day. We even talked about it on our first date. I was open to going almost anywhere so long as it could be outside and would offer our guests an amazing vacation opportunity–Glacier National Park, New Orleans, Tulum, Banff… but Dan thought we should get married in the place we hope to live one day. I couldn’t agree more.
We were open to any venue so long as the wedding could be outside (fingers crossed for no rain–no really, please cross them). We looked into dozens of vineyards, national and state parks, farms, hotels–you name it–we called them. But one after the other came in above of our budget. Eventually, we started looking into private homes we found on VRBO and AirBNB that allowed large parties, and one of them–I repeat ONE of them–worked out! Had that not happened, I joke we may have just eloped… but it’s perfect! The whole event will take place in the back yard of a house rental complete with a vineyard view at sunset!
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Overall, we hope the vibe is like that of a lovely backyard dinner party! Almost as though we invited everyone over to our own home for dinner and great music (and a wedding ceremony!). I’ve had the pleasure of attending a few outdoor dinners in the Sonoma area for work and I quickly learned it doesn’t take much to make an alfresco meal feel ultra special there. It’s just so beautiful and the overall energy in wine country is so relaxed. So we want the day to reflect that.
My hair and make-up will be simple; the meal will be family-style farm-to-table; the wine will be flowing. All of it will be lit by string lights and votives. Simple and magical.
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Once the location and venue were decided, we (ahem–I) began sorting out the pretty details and vendors (the latter of which was quite easy after spending the past eight years in the blogging and styling business)!
For example, when it came to florals, I knew I wanted to reach out to a friend I had met at the School of Styling two years prior: SF-native, supreme floral wizard, and SMP Real Weddings veteran Natalie Bowen Designs. She’s not only the best, she’s an absolute joy to work with. I sent her a few inspirational images, and that was that!
I knew we weren’t going to do a lot of flowers because fortunately, the venue is so lovely and there is so much greenery with the landscaping and the vineyard that it really doesn’t require much. But I explained to her that the color palette we were going for was simple: muted neutrals. Grey, white, ivory, a whisper of blush pink… so Natalie and team will be creating bouquets for the bridal party, a few small arrangements for tables, and simple but elegant olive branch garlands in lieu of multiple centerpieces. And I have no doubt it will be perfect.
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The part of the planning I probably had the most fun with and put the most time into was actually the invitations. It was more a fun craft project for me than anything else, and there were a million ideas I found online and loved and could have gone in.
My definite wish list included a hand-drawn map of the Sonoma area done by the talented Holly Hollon (I LOVE maps), hand-lettering done by friend and local artist Jenna Blazevich, an assortment of stamps, and having it all sealed with a wax seal. Two more amazing elements that crept in included a floral crest by Arabella June with our monogram (who I discovered on Instagram!) and beautiful letterpress printing courtesy of the awesome team at Minted. I am so beyond thrilled with how these turned out and cannot wait to show you the finished product (but again–you can see some sneak peeks on Instagram).
I used Arabella’s illustration to create a floral pattern that I then had printed at Kinko’s and I cut into envelope liners. 2 glasses of rose and 45 minutes later and we were in business, stuffing the beautifully lined envelopes. I saw a few guests have the map of Sonoma hanging in their homes! It really was all a work of art.
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So oddly enough the bridesmaid dresses took me a while to really hash out a plan, keeping in mind I knew I wanted neutral colors (or at the most, blush). At first, I thought I wanted them all wearing white thinking “ooh how edgy! What a great way to take the focus off me!” Then I randomly clicked on a “Top Wedding Trends of 2016” article and saw that white bridesmaid dresses topped a very short list. Super original, Alaina.
But I still loved the look, so I ended up putting my two maids of honor in white/ivory dresses from BHLDN–they had a ton of great dresses listed in both their bridesmaids and “reception dress” section. It was really important to me that all the girls choose a dress they felt good in–we all have such different body types I know how uncomfortable it can be to have to spend an entire evening wearing something that doesn’t feel good.
As for the other three bridesmaids, I basically suggested grey or taupe/beige colors… I just wanted them all to be different. They all ended up getting J.Crew bridesmaid dresses that went on super sale and were very reasonably priced. I haven’t even seen them in them but I did a little photoshop mock-up of the styles they chose and with the bouquets from Natalie Bowen, I have no doubt it will all look beautiful together!
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So…that’s that! Feel free to ask any questions about planning a wedding on your own, doing a destination wedding, Sonoma tips, etc. Happy to help! And I’m excited to share my bridal show plus more details in my upcoming posts about where we saved and where we splurged for the wedding! Stay tuned, and be sure to follow along at #MeetTheSchmiedskis
xo, Alaina