Pennsylvania Estate Wedding by Morrissey Photo

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There were so many endearing homemade details in this wedding, it was truly the work of the entire family. The groom reupholstered chairs, built the bar and even their amazing sweetheart table that features the iron frame of an old Singer sewing machine table. (I have one of those as well, so I was delighted to see this awesome detail!) Morrissey Photo really rocked this one!

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Our theme was based around “Our Love Story”. We had been together for six years and through those years created an amazing life together. I loved the rustic/antique look, and after finding our venue, we began to plan the details of our wedding that were most important to us.

We were planning a fall wedding so we incorporated teal and a deep orange color into our flowers and décor. I loved the look of blue ball jars and clear glass vases outside for cocktail hour, and inside the tent we kept it elegant with antique mercury glass vases and bottles for candles, votives and flowers on the tables that were a similar blue color, with greens and shades of white.

My dress was an elegant gown of hand-placed French Corded Lace designed by Christos named Femme for Neiman Marcus. The thoughtful placement of the lace created a chevron pattern throughout the gown. The fit-to-flare silhouette was accented by a sculpted bodice featuring delicate lace eyelashes along the neckline and a soft sweep train added a touch of unexpected drama. We decided to add a Swarovski belt and covered buttons down the back where the zipper was.

Paul has worked in catering and he knew that he wanted to bring an amazing catering company in that would work with us on each element of the catering and décor. Brulee Catering was the company that we chose for our reception.

Furniture was refurbished by Paul & his father to be placed on the lawn or in the tent. This furniture was planned to later be used in our future home. Paul personally made the bar from barn wood and fabric panels. He also made the sweet heart table with wood & a singer sewing table iron base and carved our initials in along with our wedding date, his & her chairs, old windows with guests names for table arrangements, personalized hor dourves trays made by Paul that included elements of our life together, lanterns, antique lace table cloths, and home made seat cushions for all the outdoor furniture.

Venue: Applewood Estate Photographer:  Morrissey Photo Musicians: Party Wave Band Caterer: Brulee Catering Hair Stylist: Jolie Salon & Spa Cake Designer: The Masters Baker Floral Designer: The Rhoads Garden

 

I'm Getting Married!

 

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I can't believe this week is finally here! After a year and three months of planning, we leave for our wedding weekend today! I'm so excited for it all to come together and have my family and friends in one place for an entire weekend.

Here are some of the images that have inspired me and shaped our wedding over the past year...

f7a3cdcef946d7d5a74725ce80a6ad28 Groom-Style1Source: top, bottom three

 Steph&ScotWedding-185Source

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Last E&I Post!2Sources: top left, top right, lower left, lower right

Last E&I Post!3Sources: left, right

Last E&I Post!Source: left, right

It's been so much fun being a part of the E&I community! Thank you for following along on my journey to the alter. Cheers!

Rachel

Williamsburg Elopment by Michael and Carina Photography

I think it takes a lot of guts to elope. I just love the idea of eloping and today we have a super one good one here on the blog. The couple sought out Michael and Carina Photography  to shoot some photos and Storybook Events to officiant their ceremony. 

From The Photographer: "Pilar and Jarad eloped last December. They decided it was time to tie the knot after 7 years. They wanted to ring in the new year as a married couple - and surprise their friends and family with the news on Christmas day. As they have close ties to William and Mary, they decided to elope near the William and Mary Campus in Colonial Williamsburg. Only the officiant and the photographers joined them on the warm December afternoon. They wanted their big day to be simple and all about them. They are perfect together, so laid-back and fun."

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Wedding Shower Wears

My bridal shower is this weekend! I know that seems crazy because I'm not getting married until April. But in Seattle, when you really only get 2 months of solid sunshine, you want to take advantage of it. This will likely be my only outdoor wedding event, so we figured why not have it early and just prolong the celebrating. My girls have put together what I'm sure will be an amazing afternoon - I can't wait to share. Since they haven't let me lift a finger, the main thing I've been focused on is finding a cute dress to wear for the occasion. Originally I was leaning toward finding a pretty white or ivory dress, because I figure this is the one time in your life you can unabashedly wear white. After sifting through a few options, though, i just wasn't thrilled with anything. I went back to the drawing board and noticed that there are a ton of styles right now to choose from in our colors. So, instead of traditional bridal white I'm looking to pick up a summer frock that mimics the motifs in the pattern we had designed.

Here are a few of the favorite affordable options I've found and loved:

Summer Bridal ShowerSources (Clockwise from top left): One, Two, Three, Four, Five

Whats your shower style? Does it have to be formal bridal white, or can you get into the theme of the big day a bit?

Vine Hill House Wedding by Bright Room Studio + Ken Kienow

vine-hill-house-1 I'm excited to share one of our blogger bride's weddings with you today. Kim & Dan were married at the Vine Hill House in Northern California on a beautiful day with an even more beautiful sunset. Kim designed her own wedding invites and various paper products all around. After her wedding she opened up a Graphic Design studio and specializes in wedding invitations.

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Wedding Photography: Ken Kienow Wedding Photography | Wedding Venue: Vine Hill House in Sebastopol, California | Floral Design: BV Florals | Catering: Park Avenue Catering | Wedding Cupcakes: Foxy Cupcakes | DJ: AMS Entertainment | Wedding Stationery: Bright Room Studio | Wedding Dress: Ivy & Aster | Bride’s Shoes: Elie Tahari | Bridesmaids’ Attire: Asos | Groom’s Attire: Joseph Abboud | Groomsmen Attire: Calvin Klein 

Cheers! {signature cocktails}

Signature cocktails are a little more work, but aren't they just so fun? Choosing a his & her drink selection is a fun way to get guests in the mood right away. And of course, there are plenty of fun things you can do with the design. Straws, personalized napkins, fresh fruit, and of course an awesome sign. The options are endless, choose whatever drink you want!

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A Bubbly Bridal Brunch

IMG_2035-001 A few weeks ago my girlfriends and I threw a rooftop brunch for our friend who is getting married in August. One of the hosts has an amazing spot in San Francisco's SOMA neighborhood, so the backdrop was taken care of.

*Note the bus/boat going into the water in the background. We got to watch it drive right into the water about every hour. :-)

Lindsey's Bubbly Brunch3

Inspired by our bride-to-be's french roots, we served dishes like quiche,  and, of course, kept the champagne flowing. Fresh peach and strawberry purees (courtesy of my new Vitamix!) made for colorful bellinis. It was a hot day so we also served french press coffee on ice.

Lindsey's Bubbly Brunch2

Homemade quiche, apple french toast, cheeses, fruit, and fresh beignets. Delish.

Lindsey's Bubbly Brunch

We decorated with pictures of the bride and groom-to-be. We also had guests bring a few pictures of themselves with the bride so she could go home with a little keepsake. In our world of digital pictures, it's fun to have a good, old-fashioned photo book!

Lindsey's Bubbly Brunch1

One of our guests got married last month and had collected assorted china and goblets for her big day, which we were lucky enough to use for the brunch. My friend whose rooftop it is is also a hobby florist and arranged this awesome centerpiece. We tied the napkins with lavender and billy ball sprigs.

It made for a really fun day in celebration of a great friend tying the knot with her sweetie next month!

I can't believe I'll be leaving for my wedding weekend in a week from today. It has really flown by. See you all here next week for my final post before the wedding!

Success at a sample sale

Oregon Trip 2013 027

 Source: Friend of the Bride 

Well, I've found a dress! And in an unlikely place (I think) - at a Charity Sample Gown Sale. I don't remember exactly where I first heard about this particular sale, Brides Against Breast Cancer, but I remember thinking how fun it would be to make an event out of it even if I didn't find a dress. I reached out to a group of my friends, and my mom, and it turned out a bunch of us could all make the 3 hour trek down to Portland the weekend of the sale, so we decided to make a little trip out of it.

Approaching the weekend of the sale, I was excited and optimistic about finding a gown. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have been. The sale was popular, and I'm not a teeny size, so my selections were more scarce than other girls. There were a lot of gowns, but some of them were pre-owned and not in great shape, so the options that were still pristine were even fewer. However, with a few tips, I found a gown I love that just needs a bit of seamstress alterations to make it perfect for me. I would totally recommend at least trying one of these sales because you can score an amazing deal. Here is what I would recommend:

- Go shopping ahead of time. This was so so important because it let me figure out not only what styles I liked, but also what looked good on me. As many brides experience, the style that you see pinned and LOVE may not be the best for your body type. Shopping at a couple salons gave me the chance to get some of my "dream dresses" out of my system and to realize that something else may be perfect fo rme.

- Make a cheat sheet. If you have friends and/or family shopping with you, create a cheat sheet of styles, fabrics, colors, etc to help them know which options to pull for you. This gave everyone a great start to know what I was looking for, even though I ended up trying on many many dresses and not every one stuck exactly to my guide. But, it also helped eliminate some dresses I knew weren't me at all.

- Go back one last time. I was about to throw in the towel on my search at the sale when we all decided to walk through the racks one more time. And I'm so glad I did, because after having seen a few good contenders, one caught my eye that I hadn't seen before. I don't know if another girl had been trying it on and it had just been put back on the rack, but it was just different enough to be perfect for me. I'm so glad I made that last lap.

I can't wait to share more about my wedding day look, but for now I'll share some of my favorite inspiration gowns from my Bridal Attire pinboard. They all have a romantic silhouette, sweetheart necklines, off-white color options, and architectural detailing that I love.

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Source: Brides - Dress Nouvelle Amsale for Nordstrom

Junio Yushuoaka

Source: Junko Yoshioka

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Source: Paper & Pearls

You can always read more about my wedding journey at my personal blog, The Ravenna Girls.

 

Intimate Engagement Dinner Party

I just love the idea behind this shoot. An intimate get together with the members of your bridal party to get them acquainted  before the wedding day. And who doesn't love a good excuse to entertain? The idea behind this shoot was to give the most important people in the bride & groom's lives a chance to get to know each other and have a good time before their big day. Honey-Dinner-1Honey-Dinner-26Honey-Dinner-10Honey-Dinner-23Honey-Dinner-21Honey-Dinner-13

We teamed up to create a very intimate engagement dinner party. We know that when a couple gets engaged and they choose their bridal party, it sometimes consists of people that have never met. Most of the time, the bridal party doesn't meet until the rehearsal dinner. So, we created a dinner party to introduce the whole gang!

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We were inspired by the classic black and white theme and added a sweet touch of honey! Vases were filled with honey and hand painted gold honey jars held informal posies. A ruffled cake added a modern touch, while still being very classic. The wedding party also got a chance to practice posing and getting comfortable in front of the camera.

 

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Coordination and Florals: PEPLUM events&design Table Styling and Vintage Rentals: Dishie Rentals Photography: Jessica Bennett Photography Invitation: Rifle Paper Co Menu: Lalita Paperie+Design Cake: Buttercream and Roses Women's Wardrobe: Other People's Property Women's Styling: Dana Roquemore Men's Wardrobe & Styling: Josh Owen Hair & Make Up: Sarah Willis Models: Dan Risen | George Rutsyamuka | Josh Owen | Toya Ashayla | Courtney Hill | Dana Marie Roquemore