If You Want an Intimate Ceremony but Your Guest List Is Too Big – Here’s What You Should Do.

Lauren Megerdichian
November 2, 2019
Categories: Real Weddings, Romantic, Rustic, The Blog, Traditional Elegance

Dreaming of tying the knot in an intimate ceremony in front of just a small group of your closest people but your guest list just won’t allow it – this couple just thought of a genius way to fix that! They decided to exchange vows with just a few friends and family in their parent’s backyard, then celebrated their newlywed status at a huge reception under a gorgeous tent… yup, genius. They truly got the best of both worlds! Simply By Tamara Nicole made their timeless wedding dreams a reality while Blue Rose Photography captured every moment they would never want to forget. See it all at the full gallery!

From the Bride… Ash and I met 5 years ago in Seattle, where he was living and I grew up. I was finishing law school when Ash proposed at my parent’s beach house, so we decided we would until the end of the following summer to be married. Because we had about a year and a half to plan our wedding, I felt like we were able to take our time and pick the best vendors to work with. Choosing Tamara of Simply Tamara Nicole as our wedding planner was definitely the easiest and best decision of our entire planning process! She knew so many amazing vendors for us to work with, was so easy to communicate with, and totally understood the style we were going for. Ash and I really wanted the entire wedding to feel timeless and classic – I wanted to be able to look back at our photos in 10, 20, and 50 years without feeling like our wedding had been too ’trendy’ at any one point in time. Tamara helped us nail down the style that we wanted and even did all our florals for us including ceremony and reception decor, as well as the bouquets and boutonnieres. We chose neutral colors – greens and whites for the florals with pops of blue everywhere. Tamara did such an incredible job of helping all our visions come to life!

The morning of our wedding, I got ready with my bridesmaids, my mom, and my mother-in-law. While we were getting ready, Ash had little surprise gifts that he had instructed my bridesmaids to give me throughout the morning. He gave me a pair of slippers that said Bride on them, a book filled with photos of our dog Nala, a pair of white sandals to change into if my feet started hurting that night, and we each wrote each other a letter that we read before the ceremony. He also gave me a pair of white Ray-Bans with Jen Higgins and 8.24.19 written on them – he gave a matching pair of black Ray Bans to each of his groomsmen with their names on them.

Ash and I had our wedding ceremony in the side yard of my parent’s house where I grew up. We decided to do a smaller more intimate ceremony and a larger reception. We had a close family friend and artist John Grade create our wedding altar that now lives permanently in my parent’s yard. The wood from our altar, old-growth Alaskan Yellow Cedar, was the same wood used in another art piece by John Grade that is installed in Ash’s home town of Sun Valley, Idaho. Ash and I chose not to do a first look, so the first time we saw each other that day was when I walked down the aisle. Because we decided to do a smaller more intimate ceremony, neither of us was very nervous and we felt completely at ease standing in my parent’s yard saying the traditional vows we had chosen. We also loved that we were able to have our dog, Nala, there with us during the ceremony.

Ash and I both grew up boating and it is one of our favorite activities to do together in Seattle so we decided to arrive with our wedding party to our reception, which was on Lake Washington, on an old wooden boat, Gallant Lady. It was so much fun to be with our closest friends and have a moment to enjoy each other’s company between the ceremony and reception.

Our reception was at the Seattle Tennis Club, which is on Lake Washington and near my parent’s house. I have spent many summer days at that club so it was a very special place to have our reception. We had dinner on the tented lawn by the water, followed by dessert and dancing inside the ballroom. For dinner we served classic Pacific Northwest food – salmon, steak, or veggies with pesto. We also served special wine with dinner that my dad had been saving for over 20 years for this occasion. After dinner and speeches we moved inside. Our band, Michael Benson Band, kept the dance floor packed all night. We also had a photo booth by Hello There You that was very popular. We served late night food and had an espresso cart by Espresso Elegance to keep everyone energized throughout the night. At the end of the night Ash and I did a special sparkler send-off into a vintage Rolls Royce.

Our vendors were all amazing and I’m so glad that we booked them as early as we did! Libby Tipton, our calligrapher, was able to customize and make everything for us including our invitations, ceremony programs, signage, napkins, escort board, and place settings with Fran’s chocolate! We worked with Carla at Honey Crumb to design our delicious and beautiful cake that matched our theme perfectly. Our wedding rings and my engagement ring were custom made for us by Madison Park Jewelers. Bridal Beauty Agency did an amazing job with all the bridesmaids and my hair and makeup that lasted perfectly through the whole night.

My wedding dress was Tara LaTour and I found it at A & Be Bridal Shop in Seattle. I loved how simple and timeless my dress felt on its own because it allowed me to play around with different accessories throughout the day and night. I wore a tulle veil with horsehair trim by Sara Gabriel for the ceremony. After the ceremony I changed into a fun short cape by Made with Love that I wore when we arrived at our reception. Because we did a smaller ceremony I wanted to wear something reminiscent of a veil to the larger reception. The cape also felt like my chance to wear something a little more modern and different. For dancing a put on a thin silver and white belt by Sara Gabriel. Finally, when we did our sparkler send-off I wore an antique fur scarf that belonged to my Great-Grandmother. My jewelry was also all connected to my family – I borrowed my mother’s earrings, wore a necklace given to me by my grandmother, and a diamond tennis bracelet given to me by my dad.

I could not recommend Brittany and Joe of Blue Rose Photography enough. We did engagement and other photo shoots with them before the wedding so we felt very comfortable around them! From the first time we me they were always so easy to work with and so talented. They captured our perfect wedding day for us so well and I can’t wait to look back on all the photos for years to come.

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