I hate to break it to ya’ but for a good portion of the U.S., it’s becoming time to bundle up. But that doesn’t mean that all the pretty is taking a break; winter holds the opportunity for some super romantic weddings and Jordan Brittley has a gem of a shoot right here. With her talent behind the lens and Social Graces setting the scene, it’s a snowy celebration to get comfy with. More in the Vault right this way!
From Jordan Brittley… This inspiration shoot is full of beautiful blooms, candles and some mother-of-the-bride inspiration!! It’s the perfect blend of warmth and winter! You can read more from our planner below…
From Alli Pool Of Social Graces… I wanted to bring cozy winter luxuries that you find inside, outdoors. Warm apple cider with cinnamon sticks, intimate conversation and richly textured furs. I wanted to create a space that made the nip in the air enhance the experience. Weddings are the ultimate romantic celebration, this outdoor space was built to create a romantic experience.
When you have a winter wedding outdoors it important that it not only look fabulous but feel fabulous to your guests. Backing each chair with a faux fur throw does just that. Whether it be throws, warm drinks, or a fire pit, it is always a good idea to create opportunities for guests to feel as comfortable as possible. Nestling reception tables in cozy wooded outdoor areas can also help create a more warm intimate experience for guests.
I would also be sure and note in your invitation that the celebration will be held outdoors. Guests are always more comfortable when they can come prepared and dress appropriately!
Alternate title: Get lost in a gallerySO heart-fluttering gorgeous you’ll forget you’re on your couch. Alternate title #2: Pinch me please, it’s just that pretty, or how about Alternate title #3: Take my word for it, it just doesn’t get any better than Cassidy Brooke and this garden affair. It’s the type of pretty that deserves three titles and we’ve got it all waiting for YOU in THE VAULT!
From Cassidy Brooke…Shelby and Jared’s wedding day had so many sentimental pieces woven throughout the day. It started in the morning with her mother gifting her of a special journal with letters to her daughter, inside a pressed flower from a special time in their lives. Jared and Shelby’s First Look took place right outside of a cottage that Shelby’s parents had built for her. Inside was beautiful wood floors and windows streaming lovely light. From there Jared led Shelby through a field of wildflowers that her mother hand planted, it was lovely. So many colors and textures, and Shelby’s mother oozed with pride as they walked through and we photographed.
The ceremony took place at an estate in Springfield which was the perfect blend of classy and natural. The Estate itself was breathtaking and the outside features of trees and a family barn added so much. The ceremony decor was also made special, with the isle pieces consisting of buckets of wildflowers that the bride and her mother planted especially for the wedding. Shelby rode into the ceremony on a horse drawn carriage, it was something out of a fairytale. Their ceremony was intimate and emotional, many tears from guests.
The reception went off with a bang when Shelby and jared surprised their guests with a gorgeous classically choreographed first dance. And the evening ended with three wonderful things. The couple and their guests sent off lanterns into the night sky, followed with fireworks and a sparkler exit!
This is what e-sessions are all about. One adorable duo, a day spent frolicking through fields of flowers and a romantic kiss in the foggy weather. Throw in the talented Jordan Brittley to capture every moment and it’s awesomeness times a million with some of the prettiest images you’ll ever see. See them all here.
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From the Bride… The scenery at Shaw Nature Reserve is unlike any other! We absolutely love the Missouri Botanical Garden, so when we visited Shaw for a festival for the first time, we loved it just as much (if not more)! What is so unique about Shaw is the effortless beauty – untouched wildflower fields, a gorgeous lake, and an old house with an amazing porch that overlooks it all. Add in the fog and soft light of the early morning sunrise, and it is even more magical. There is something very special about a place that has the ability to exert so many emotions in a person – it took all of our breaths away see the fields lit up so early in the morning, with no one else around.Shaw Nature Reserve is calm, cozy, and sweet… we love it!
I loved the easy-going nature of the whole thing! Jordan encouraged us to just be ourselves and have fun! It is not every day you get to frolick through a field of flowers, shoe-less, with your favorite person (literally). We also loved cozying up together on the bridge over the lake, which was the last place we visited. It was the perfect way to end our time at Shaw!
You know what’s better than one fabulous engagement session from the talented Jordan Brittley? Two fabulous engagement sessions. A lovely wildflower + fog-filled day followed by this stunner of a shoot on the lake. That’s right, TWO adorable duos and TWO galleries filled to the brim with heartwarming moments and a whole lot of pretty. Check out even more right here.
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From The Bride… We picked the lake for our engagement session, because it has been a huge part of our relationship. When I met Jake he was very into wakeboarding. He loved to show off his skills and take me out to the lake with him. For me that is why I fell in love with him, because he was this person I wanted to be. He was so adventurous and full of life! So we spent many days and nights during the earlier part of our relationship on the lake. We love to go to the lake often whether it be to sit on the dock and watch the sunset or go for an adventure and hammock. I feel like no matter what life throws at us when we end up at the lake life seems so peaceful.
Our favorite part of the shoot was being on the boat. I loved the lanterns even though I almost burnt myself (who would have thought they got so hot), but we got some good laughs. What I love most are the times with many smiles and laughter. Those are the times I remember.
Somehow this wedding was able to combine all of my favorite design elements into one big, beautiful day while infusing it with a breath of fresh air, ensuring that it was both stunning and timeless. The vintage charm was complimented by rustic details and the entire wedding was veiled in the prettiest, most colorful palette I’ve seen in a while. The gallery from Climer Photography is one you absolutely won’t want to miss!
From Climer Photography… This was a true old-fashioned, spring, garden wedding, right in the heart of Old Southern Hills subdivision in the Missouri Ozarks. The Australian Groom and Ozarkian Bride had lived on two separate continents for the better part of two years, and on the Groom’s last trip home, merely 30 days prior to the wedding, the two decided to tie the knot! With the help of the Bride’s family, with event and day of planner Rebekah Covay of Seamless Events (Chicago, IL), and day of coordinating from Stephanie Weiss of Ella Weiss (Springfield, MO), a flawless, Aussie-Ozarkian garden party, complete with a special feast with smoker, trailered in by the Mother of the Bride’s Cousin, from West Virginia, set the southern-vintage-chic backyard-BBQ.
Handpicked florals assembled by a local florist, Ron, from The Thicket, adorned vintage dressed tables with mismatched china thrifted and collected by the Bride, which complimented the hand painted table numbers from local St. Louis artist, Karen Bult, while trailing tree moss sprawled the vintage pieces, holding photographic memories and goodies alike. The bridal path was lined with specially crafted wood columns, selected, chopped and sized by the Groom, held candle luminaries for the romantic evening wedding, while honeysuckle and fresh flowers were in full bloom around the property.
A lone white swan circled the lake as the guests witnessed the Aussie Groom and Ozark’s bride say their intimate, heart-felt, hand written vows, as the Bride’s ordained father officiated the ceremony. On lookers sipped fruit infused water from mason jars and the small congregation of guests on the Bride’s parent’s lake front lawn dabbed teary eyes to the couple’s romantic ceremony. As the sun dipped below the tall trees and guests made their way past the vintage truck (found at a local tire shop), with it’s bed filled with several fruit infused waters and gifts for the couple, they made their way to the tent under the stars. The day was perfectly soundtracked with two separate bands serenading the party, local talents, Bella Donna and Triple Play, made the festivities playlist with original gypsy jazz and Beatle’s favorites, which set the tune for the clear big top party that lasted into the night and wee hours of the morning. At the event’s conclusion, guests left with beautifully assembled favors of mexican wedding cakes, made with love from the Bride’s family friend.
From Jordan Brittley… I am so thrilled to share this inspiration shoot with you! From the mustard color mixed with sequins to the lovely gown that the bride wears. But then there is the cake, which seems to tie in the whole shoot!
From Abby Mitchell Event Planning & Design… My inspiration came as I was watching Olympic figure skating this winter. I fell in love with a chartreuse shimmer costume and knew that it was time to take a fun little risk with color. I love mixing lights with darks so after seeing Rifle Paper Co. and Garance Dore partner up creating lovely blush, black, and chartreuse stationery I was sold on a color palette. I hope to inspire brides to seek creative vendors and to allow their creativity to blossom. My wish for them is also to allow their minds to be inspired by out of the box things and then have the courage to pursue them.
My favorite memory of a shoot is always right when I am able to see someone understand the vision after it is all set up together. I love watching vendors arrive and see how their little piece of the puzzle fits and makes all of our ideas stand out.
This shoot was intended to have a free spirited and feminine feel with touches of spunk! Details like a fashion portrait on the cake, high gloss black chargers, and a bold chartreuse overlay brought the funky vibe while blush florals, grey chiffon bridesmaids, and natural-dyed tulle details gave it a soft edge. Some of my favorite elements were the sheer and crystal pennants over the beverage cart chalkboard, the hand sewn linen napkins with blush edges, the monogrammed flower girl sash, and the ribbon tied corsages en lieu of bouquets for the bridesmaids! OH and that stunning bridal gown back! You can’t go wrong with lace applique on an illusion back – gorgeous.
There is nothing I love more than a perfect mix of styles. When rustic elements are paired with more modern details, it makes for quite the gorgeous wedding and a killer pair of heels never hurts either. This Springfield wedding has all of the above plus beautiful images by Edyta Szyszlo Photography and it’s even boasting its own WEDDING BEER! It definitely doesn’t get better than that. See more from the day here!
From Edyta Szyszlo Photography…Amanda and Joel married May 28, 2011 in Springfield, MO. I was the photographer for the super sweet day! I flew in from San Francisco during the week of extremely unsteady weather (Joplin had just been hit with deadly tornadoes) so my fingers were crossed that mother nature would give us a break. Turns out she did! They had what I like to call a rustic vintage meets hints of modern wedding. Joel is an architect that was part of the designing team of their reception space. So they knew as soon as the plans were drawn for the space to be renovated that they would host their celebration at the Savoy. From that moment on, they sourced their favorite finds, handmade their goodies and threw a “different” kinda wedding for the area they live in.
From the Bride…As soon as I started looking at wedding blogs, I was instantly drawn to the more organic, rustic styles. Joel and I also wanted a reception venue that had an outdoor space. Since Joel did the Savoy renovation, he had been taking me there from the time they started construction, and it took us almost no time to put our deposit down. With the space having such a vintage feel, I wanted to tie my original ideas with some vintage touches (insert thrift store/vintage shop purchases here!). And the “vintage, rustic” theme was born. Also, I was lucky because Joel and I have very similar taste, so any idea’s I brought to him, he loved.
My best piece of advice for other brides, be true to yourself. If I had a dollar for every weird look I got when people asked me what color’s I was using and I said, “um…we really don’t have a color,” or every time my coordinator called our theme “country” we probably could have paid for our wedding two times over. But, that didn’t detur us, we knew we wanted something that was outside the box (at least for our area), and completely non-traditional. We stuck to our guns and ended up with our perfect day! Also, you don’t have to spend a ton to have your “dream” wedding. If you give yourself enough time, and prioritize what is important to you (both) you can have your dream without breaking the bank. Don’t skimp on the important items (for us photographer, entertainment, venue(s), and food), and get creative with the things that are lower priority (for us cake and flowers). Another tip is to use city owned venue’s, very affordable! Art Gallery’s are bonus because you have to do little to no decorating!
For anyone that knows, loves or stalks the fabulous Elsie Larson from A Beautiful Mess, you have officially hit the wedding jackpot. Because the lovely, oh-so-lovely, crazy talented doll of a blogger has offered to share her recent wedding with us here on SMP. Yep. She chose Style Me Pretty to show off her beautiful, messy, take your breath away wedding and I couldn’t be more thrilled. And with Arrow & Apple behind the lens, it’s like a blogger’s dream come true with one pic after another that is sure to turn Pinterest into an all out feeding frenzie. So you have to PROMISE me that you’ll check out the gallery, where there is so much more handmade Elsie goodness and check back in a bit because Elsie helped us craft the PERFECT Buying Guide!
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And if those magical photographs weren’t enough…please, take a peek at this baby by Goodwin Films…
From the crazy talented bride… When Jeremy and I envisioned our wedding day, we wanted it to be really personal. I’m a designer and he’s a song writer, so we spent a lot of time and energy on pretty visuals and our music selection. I own a boutique and we chose to host our ceremony on the third floor of our building, above my shop. The space is open with huge windows and peeling wallpaper. The ceilings are partially exposed. It’s a really amazing old building. We loved the idea of holding our ceremony here because we knew we’d be the first couple ever to get married in that spot! Our aisle was covered in white feathers and the flower girls threw colored feathers as they walked down the aisle.
My sister walked down the aisle with her puppy. That was our “something borrowed” from a friend’s wedding last year. Our family has a love for pugs (we have three) so I’m happy that one of them got to walk down the aisle!
For the dresses I chose vintage lace inspired dresses with bright jewel toned tights. The girls had amazing beehives and looked like they came straight out of a 50s movie! My dress was by Orla Kiely. She’s my all time favorite designer, so it only seemed right.
After our rehearsal dinner we had a bouquet making party. All of the girls made their own bouquet. I loved how each one was different. We made velvet flowers and mixed them with roses, daisies and feathers. I made all the boutonnieres with pretty feathers I found on Etsy. They were really fun to make and even cuter than flowers, I thought. I made my grandmothers’ corsages with feathers and vintage brooches and our mothers’ bouquets with feather birds.
Our reception was styled with vintage lamps, lace and jewel tones. My favorite details were the raspberry cupcakes and the hand painted holga cameras on the tables. We chose signature cocktails and my favorite was the raspberry mojito. For dinner, we chose heart shaped pancakes.
My favorite memory from the reception was when we were dancing. I told Jeremy that I was so happy and he said, “I’m sad it’s almost over.” I thought that was cute. Always a good thing to hear from your husband after so many long months of wedding planning!
In our memories the day has a warm glow about it. We loved every moment!
This is such a cute love story, seriously killing me with the adorableness. This bride and groom met on…are you ready for this…eHarmony. Love it. And their sweet as pie courtship ended with a fabulous DIY wedding in the Midwest. Photographed by Katie Day, with styling by Sharon Taylor Designs, this is a study in all things bright and lovely. DIY brides, be sure to take notes and hop over to the gallery for lots, lots more.
Jeremy had been hinting he had a surprise for me, but would not give any hints as to what it was. We were about to ride our bicycles to the Ozark Empire Fair, when Jeremy told me to close my eyes and not open them until he told me to. When he said to open them, he was down on one knee holding a ring and asked me to marry him. While very sweet, his simple proposal seemed odd to me because he usually likes to do things in a big way. When I asked him why he had not planned a more elaborate proposal, he said, “Because when I finally received the ring, I just couldn’t wait any longer and just wanted to hear you say ‘yes.’
From Sharon Taylor:
Nicole designed the invitations and stationery based on “historic forms of communication,” including using a postcard, telegram, and train ticket style for the save the date, invitation, and program. This theme was then carried out throughout the wedding, using old telephones, rubber stamps photo holders, and old radios as décor. Nicole enjoys history, old buildings, and antiques and the groom is a history teacher, so the historic feel of the stationery and wedding was right up their alley.
Photography: Katie Day / Design and Coordination: Sharon Taylor Designs / Venue: The Historic Firehouse, Springfield, MO / Bridal Bouquets: The Orchid Lady / Bouts: Sharon Taylor Designs + Bride collaboration / Floral Centerpieces and Art Direction: Kendra Skinner / Catered by: Buckingham BBQ / Cakes: Linda Rhine {Bride’s aunt} / Videographer: Nichole Lemmon Productions / String Quartet: Joyful Sounds / Live Band: Matt Harp Trio / Dress: Norman’s Bridal / Bridesmaid Dresses: J Crew / Tuxes: Jim’s Formal Wear / Service Ware: RSVP
