We have a Bride right here after our own hearts. Not only does her love for all things SMP go beyond words, but she’s also a florist herself so it’s no surprise that these are some of the prettiest bouquets we’ve seen in awhile. They’re the icing on the cake to an already gorgeous gathering, where neutrals shone almost as much as the smiles. Twah Dougherty captured both and these pics are too good not to share.
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From the beautiful Bride… I literally can’t explain how obsessed I’ve been with Style Me Pretty since before I even had a boyfriend. I work in wedding flowers, and it always gave me the freshest ideas and inspirations and was exactly my taste. Every. Single. Thing. And it was the start of my wedding obsessed self. Every day, the first thing I do when I get to work is log into my email, and open a new tab to Style Me Pretty. I love that there is something new on the front page every day, and the way it categorizes colors, locations, and tags. I love the way it brings together so many different styles, from modern to vintage, big weddings to small weddings, and all the DIY and personalized touches you can’t find anywhere else. Basically it was life changing for me, and I knew that one day when I got married, I wanted a “Style Me Pretty” type of wedding.
Mike and I dated for a short time before knowing we wanted to spend our lives together. He proposed in December on a snowy night, and we picked November 1, 2014 (the following year) as our wedding date, by default because that’s what the venue had available as far as Saturday nights go. The reception venue is owned by my step-grandfather, and our gift from him was to have the wedding there. Even though this wasn’t our dream venue… we were on a tight budget, and having the venue taken care of was beyond the best gift we could ever ask for, and probably the smartest decision we ever made.
Planning was easy and stress free for Mike and I. I knew what I wanted, am super decisive, and had the best fiancé (now husband) who agreed to anything he knew I loved. Being on a budget you learn fast how to prioritize, and everyone does it differently. We chose to have a DJ instead of a band and instead of invitations with lots of detail, we went simple. All the visions I had originally had to be adjusted, but it was important that we stuck to the style that was true to us, and at the end of the day, portray the wedding of our dreams, not for anyone else but ourselves. We didn’t want to look back with should haves, but for me, if I couldn’t have something the way I wanted it, I didn’t want it all. Mike and I are big believers in quality things, and unfortunately have expensive taste like most people do. It was important that we have the few nice things we knew we wanted that would help execute our vision, and agreed to balance out the other parts of the wedding we felt like we could save on and at the end of it all, we couldn’t have had a better more memorable day with delicious food and lots of fun and dancing for us and all of our guests.
All I wanted was an understated beautiful affair, to best represent us as a couple. We wanted a simple, classy wedding, with vintage touches, modern touches, a whimsical garden feel with tons of texture… a mix of it all, just like us. We felt like we didn’t need to have only one word to describe our wedding, and that if we picked all things we loved… it would all come together. We effortlessly chose all neutral tones… taupe as the main color accented by navy in the guys’ suits and tons of natural pretty green, champagne, ivory in my flowers. I knew I wanted photos outdoors, which to me are the most beautiful photos anyone could have …I have no reason behind it, it’s just what I love and always have loved. Since our venue didn’t have outdoor space for photos, we made sure no matter the weather, we would stop at a park after the church to get the photos we wanted, that were so beyond important to us.
Photography was the number one priority on my list and thanks to Style Me Pretty, as well as the recommendation of a friend, I found Twah Dougherty. There are no words for what that woman can do with photos, and especially working with someone like me, who is completely awkward taking photos and taking myself serious. When I tell you I am NOT gracious by any means, I mean it. Twah made all my photo dreams to come true. She had to remind me for EVERY SINGLE photo she took to put my shoulders down because I was all scrunched up because of the cold weather. She’s a doll, super comfortable to be around, and easy to love. I can’t thank her enough for everything she did for me. My guests kept calling her a ninja, because she was all over the place, quick, quiet, and amazing. We even heard her saying how she wished she could have climbed a tree at the park to get a certain angle… it doesn’t get more devoted than that. She captured my vision with ease (or so I think), and I feel like we were meant to be. Twah and us. Mike and I.
As a busy bee working in the wedding world, I knew all the DIY stuff I wanted to do wasn’t all going to happen, but did want something personalized and unique. For favors, we filled mason jars with hot cocoa powder and mini marshmallows. Not only do Mike and I love hot cocoa, but love the rustic accent that was brought in from the mason jar. We tied on a taupe ribbon to match our wedding colors and got kraft paper stickers to put on top. We also ordered hand carved wood table numbers, and painted them in a light taupe color to bring in some more color on the tables. It’s crazy how a detail so small and often overlooked made the table for me.
My ivory lace dress had a cocoa underlay and was almost exactly what I thought I was going to end up with. It was the second dress I tried on, bought it, and never looked back. It did come strapless but I chose to have sleeves made, and a custom veil custom that my aunt/godmother bought me. I had my something blue sewn into the bodice of my dress, which was a piece of my grandmother’s apron.
My something old was my late grandmother’s chain, with a blessed mother charm, which she wore every day. She was very important to me, so it was important that I had something that I felt was a part of her with me, and to include my other grandmother as well, since we are close too! My something borrowed was a pair of pearl/diamond stud earrings from a co-worker I have grown very close to over the past couple years. The earrings fit my look perfectly, and were that much better because they were from someone so special.
My family owns a florist shop and I do other bride’s wedding flowers for a living, so needless to say, flowers were kind of a big deal. I had a certain style, but wasn’t super picky on exactly every single stem that went in, it was more about achieving an overall feel. I’ve always loved a neutral palette and knew the whites and creams were going to be a main flower color but we added in quicksand roses along with a variety of beautiful greenery to deepen the colors a bit and give more dimension. I am huge on texture, and thankfully my list of favorite flowers is endless, so we brought together most of them for my bouquets and centerpieces, including tulips, peonies, stock, ranunculus, lily of the valley, veronica, roses, astrantia, thistle, hypericum berries, delphinium, scabiosa, spray roses, amaryllis, dusty miller… and the list goes on. The greens we used were also important, as I wanted different shades, different shapes, different styles… they’re so underappreciated! I also decided to have hand-tied pieces of willow eucalyptus laying on each guest’s plate. I had always dreamed of a flower arch to get married under. My original vision took place outside but since we decided to get married in a Catholic church, which was big and beautiful, we put the arch outside the front doors for a dramatic entrance, which would then be a great place for family photos.
Overall I have to say that wedding planning for us was fairly easy. We knew what we wanted, and stuck to it. I didn’t want to become obsessive and unrealistic, so we did what we could… and let the day happen. I refused to let anything stop Mike and I from having a gorgeous wedding, not even the freezing cold, misty rain. I wanted to be happy, remember it as a happy day, and I could not have better advice for future brides. Hiccups happen for everyone but letting go a little bit, and letting the day happen so you can truly appreciate every minute.
Photography: Twah Dougherty | Floral Design: Metropolitan Plant Exchange | Wedding Dress: Anne Barge | Ceremony Venue: St. Catherine Of Siena | Reception Venue: Galloping Hill | Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Amsale | Makeup: Ten Hair & Makeup | Groom's Shoes: Cole Haan | Music: Gemini Productions | Robes: Plum Pretty Sugar | Wedding Rings: D'Amore Jewelers
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