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Rhode Island Woodsy Wedding

Rhode Island Woodsy Wedding

If you loved this shoot we shared last week with zebra wedding ideas, hold on to your seats. This wedding captured by Fat Orange Cat Studio used animal silhouettes paired with bright colors for one bold, utterly whimsical fete. Gaia and Gerald also did not forget about the kiddos at the reception — all 15 of them! — and had a “kid parade”. Did I mention that they had rub on tattoos for guests too?

Rhode Island woodsy handmade wedding

From the Gaia & Gerald, the bride and groom: we chose Whispering Pines because it’s not only gorgeous but also felt like summer camp. People have mentioned our wedding looked and felt like the ultimate little kid’s birthday party, but our theme was simpler: fun! We wanted people to step into the lodge and know they were in for a fabulous time.

neon giraffe animal wedding ideas

colorful animal wedding ideas

Since we wanted our palette and designs to reflect our theme, we used super-vivid pops of solid color against a neutral grey. Animal silhouettes seemed like fun to us, so we ended up incorporating them — with a buck and doe representing us — in every element of the wedding. Picking a design and color scheme early on ended up making a lot of design decisions later so much easier. We used our colors in everything, from the ties and belts the groomsmen wore (each chose his own signature color to wear under their navy blue suit vests), to the decorations strung across the dining room, to our invitations.

Rhode Island woodsy handmade wedding

colorful animal wedding ideas

Rhode Island woodsy handmade wedding

The decorations were all made by hand, and took a village. The abundant circle pennants and flag food-toppers were all made by Gaia’s mother, a dear friend sewed the pennants, another cut the crepe paper fringe, several arranged flowers, and on and on. The night before, we coerced a group of old friends to actually put it all up (and then thanked them with a fabulous dinner atop Julian’s restaurant’s double decker food bus!

colorful animal wedding ideas

Rhode Island woodsy handmade wedding

Rhode Island woodsy handmade wedding

kid friendly wedding ideas

From the photographer, Li : Invitations were created by Gaia herself, an illustrator and graduate of Pratt Institute where she met Gerald. Every piece of the suite from the main invitation to the RSVP card to the belly band to the stamps were created by Gaia and adhered to the overall design aesthetic. The colors, the animal themes, the use of banners and flags all matched the decor of the rooms. I found the illustrations to be incredibly charming! Gaia also designed the flower seed packets which were used as favors, as well as the various signage through the wedding. (end)

Wedding Songs:
First Dance: “Home” Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Father-Daughter Dance: “You’re the Top” sung by Gaia’s Aunt Pam
Mother-Son Dance: “Simple Man” Lynyrd Skynyrd

View all images from this wedding in the gallery!

Wedding Vendors (Rhode Island):

Venue: Whispering Pines / Photography: Fat Orange Cat Studio / Custom Necklace: Serasi Jewelry / Invitations + Decoration Design: Gaia Cornwall Illustrations / Custom Postage: Zazzle / Bride’s Dress: “Tyler” by Watters / Bridesmaid’s Dress: Butter by Nadia / Groom’s Suit: Banana Republic / Groomsmen’s Vests: Urban Outfitters / Rings: Satomi Kawakita, Tiffany / Flowers: Robin Hollow Farm / DJ: Drew Burrows from Beat Train Productions / Macarons: Moondust Macarons / Food Bus: Julian’s Restaurant: “Omnibus”

View Comments (15)
  • Great bouquet, but what flowers are there beside dahlia, peony, and bells of ireland? I can’t quite make out the purple in it. Is there a protea and stock as well?

    Thanks!

  • Beautiful! I love the bold colors and fun details. And I am absolutely in love with the pennant and crepe paper garland! Thank you for posting and thank you for the inspiration!

  • I’m thinking the purple are sweet peas flowers! The kid parade is a terrific idea that we might have to copy due to our ~20 kid invites!

  • Thanks for the kind words everybody! We had SO much fun making everything and then we just sort of floated around in a happy haze all day. ha.

    Stephen, I’ll check on the purple flowers for you! (Though I think Allyson is right about the Sweet Peas.) My husband is the gardener in this house– I just think they’re pretty.

  • I need to know where you guys got your temporary tattoos made! We have a very similar idea but can’t find a reliable/recommended place.

  • Maid of Honor here!

    I got the Rhode Island flag tattoos custom made at http://www.straytats.com. (Yes, they are temporary 🙂 They were a surprise gift and a big hit!

    Straytats.com does super fast delivery upon request, and the final product was crisp and looked great – came off easily too. Good luck with your custom tattoos, BlueMoonDame, and congratulations on your engagement!

  • So many things to appreciate about this wedding. You guys did an amazing job. Special kudos on the “in honor of” cocktails.

  • I LOVE this wedding so much!! Everything from the invitations to the streamers to the flowers, just gorgeous and amazing attention to detail! Fat Orange Cat Studio captured their wedding beautifully.

  • Great paintings! This is the type of information that should be shared across the web. Disgrace on the search engines for not positioning this publish higher! Come on over and visit my website . Thanks =)

  • Hi, love everything about the wedding! Where can I get those deers figurine may I ask? I’m desperately looking out! Appreciate some help!

  • Meiyin, Gerald and I bought plastic animal toys from various stores (you could also try ebay,) and then spray painted them! Have fun:)

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