As I begin to finalize my own wedding, I’ll definitely be using this Bride’s sage advice as reference. Staying true to their relationship and vision, this darling duo planned a spectacular affair close to their hearts. An artistic day overflowing with bohemian glamour and rustic touches straight from the lens of Brooke Images, their garden affair is certainly one to share.
From the beautiful Bride… From the get-go we never wanted to lose sight of what our wedding was all about: us as a couple, our love and the life long journey we are sharing together. While I coordinated with most of the vendors, Alain and I worked together to really make our dream a reality. He gave me his input on a lot of things and we did some soul searching to really understand what we wanted our day to be. As Alain calls it “Rustic Bohemian Magic” shared with our closest family and friends. Deciding on a “destination wedding” to St Augustine (being on the other coast of FL) solidified the vibe we were going for…. a magical bohemian feel in a charming little city. From there everything fell into place. Our vendors were nothing short of amazing, and often work together so I knew we were in good hands. Most of our vendors have even become friends, making our day that much more special.
We incorporated sweet little sayings and inside jokes into our vows, made signs that were placed around the reception that had meaning to us, Alain created our hilarious hashtag, #aboutJAMtime, referencing the fact that we have been dating for 8 years, we had artsy, bohemian pieces and lush greenery that just screamed j+a, and a cake table that was literally the “icing on the cake” to our special day.
Being an offbeat, laid-back couple, we wanted to do something different for the unity part of the ceremony so being lovers of graffiti, we painted a canvas. We outlined a heart with tape and blended our wedding colors together, symbolizing the start of a new journey together. Our friend who married us explained it perfectly during the ceremony: As two people join together in marriage, their souls become one. Much like when blending colors together, they are unable to be separated, bound for life. We peeled off the tape and now this work of art sits in our living room as a beautiful reminder of our magical day.
Tying in the artsy side of us, we did a lot of DIY projects and had friends design our save the dates and invitations. I even created our own wedding website using Sqaurespace. Since I work on creating websites for a living, it just made sense to have our site stand out. We wanted every part to be uniquely us. The DIY was a lot of fun because we both enjoyed working on projects together. Alain jokes that I took over his hobby of spray painting because I would be spray painting things almost every weekend for the last couple of months up until the wedding. But it was a fun memory and something we enjoyed doing together while planning our special day.
The whole day was like a magical dream… high on the love that surrounded us, we had to step back and just live in the moment while taking it all in. The day just radiated love. It was such an intense feeling of happiness and joy and everyone who attended could feel it and shared it. We we’re both blown away at how everything came together. It was more than we could have ever imagined thanks to the amazing people we worked with. There are so many moments that rush into my head when I think of sweet memories of our day…. I loved taking the bride + groom photos together, because it was our time together, exploring the streets of St Augustine with my love before the most important walk of our lives. Some of my other favorite moments included my first look with my dad, as I’m a total daddy’s girl. We both cried our eyes out with happy tears. The special moments with family and friends, especially when we did our bridal party photos… we had some big laughs doing those! Another moment and maybe the most special, was our first kiss as husband and wife, we sweetly kissed and the chorus of “Best Day Of My Life” started playing. The emotions were in full swing and I was just the happiest little girl in the world. The whole day, I just feel like we were just beaming with happiness.
The details is what makes it YOUR wedding, not A wedding and that’s what we wanted to focus on. We knew we wanted to look back on the day and say that was OUR wedding, with OUR friends and family. The moments captured by Brooke Images were amazing and I can still feel the emotions when I look at the photos.
Photography: Brooke Images | Wedding Dress: Malindy Elene | Invitations: Gallantandsuch | Ceremony Venue: The Llambias House | Reception Venue: The White Room | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Bella Bridesmaid | DJ: McGee Entertainment | Benches: Luxe Party Rentals | Cake And Dessert: Sweet 'n' Flour | Flowers and Table Rentals: The Conservatorie Floral & Event Design | Makeup/ Hair: Hopcraft Collective | Photobooth : Smiley Face Photo Booth | Veil: Melinda Rose Design