From the bride, Letitia: We wanted our day to be intimate and dignified but also loads of FUN! The idea of a large traditional wedding made us feel nervous; we wanted to keep it simple and relaxed. We had our ceremony at a hall in New Farm and enjoyed refreshments with our guests outside afterward. Our Reception was held at Bistrot Bistro, a fantastic French Restaurant in the Woolloongabba Antique District. We had looked at a number of venues that just didn’t move us, Bistrot Bistro had a cellar room that was exactly what we wanted… small with bucket loads of character and atmosphere. We sat with our guests around two long tables, it really made us feel part of the celebration and because we only had about 50 guests we were able to chat to everyone.

I’ve always loved vintage and my entire wardrobe is full of plenty of 2nd hand and vintage bits and pieces sourced through my travels, as well as many ebay/etsy purchases. So I knew that I wanted my weddings dress to represent my love for Vintage things, however I wanted it to be handmade. The Design and ideas were conveyed by means of many words, hand gestures and picture samples to a friend/local dressmaker who brought it all together faultlessly from imagination to reality. I wanted a cream base for my dress, incorporating my love of colour and polka dots with a bit of flair.

Food and music were high on our priority list. It only took one meal at Bistrot Bistro to convince us of the quality and it was in no way lacking on the night. We hired a French gypsy style duo called Paris Dreaming that played most of the night. The party started a lot earlier than expected with everyone dancing amongst the tables before the planned dance music had even started. We had no speeches organised for the night as we didn’t want to put any pressure on anyone, but my sister, bro-in-law and my beautiful little niece put on a surprise performance singing an altered version of “anyone else but you”. It was amazing. The photography was an easy decision with our dear friends Seth and Tenielle from Feather and Stone. We have always loved and admired their unique creativity and couldn’t wait for them to be a part of our day. They were thrilled to do the photos for us. We had such a blast driving around to the different locations with them, it really made a difference knowing them and feeling at ease and relaxed. This really came across in the photography.

We wanted the decorations to be simple and uncluttered but vibrant and happy. I sourced a large amount of Red Polka dot material which my mother tirelessly hand sewed into table runners. We used these runners in both the hall where the ceremony was held and on the tables at the reception venue. My mother also fan folded the material around single stem sunflowers and put them on the end of the chairs in the aisle. My folks and I wrapped some large glass jars in hessian (hot glued) and then finished off with some lace and polka dot ribbon. We filled those jars with some long-stemmed sunflowers. I do stencilling on canvases as a creative hobby, so I created a simple stencil and spray painted it on a canvas saying “Letitia & Kristian” for the entrance of the reception.

We had a refreshments table outside the hall where we were married so that we could mingle with the guests after and any others that had come to share our special day. We covered these tables with gingham table clothes and decorated with fresh flowers. A friend lent us some vintage cake stands which held many home-made treats and also some toffee apples and heart lollipops – which were certainly a hit with the guests.

View all images from this wedding in the gallery

Wedding vendors (Brisbane, Australia):

Reception Venue: Bistrot Bistro / Wedding photographers: Feather and Stone / Wedding music: Paris Dreaming / Fabric for bride’s dress: Gardams / Bride’s petticoat: Straight Razors and Parasols / Bride’s earrings: Crush Jewels / Bride’s shoes: Mollini / Cupcake holders and straws: IsaKay Boutique / “Eat Me” signs: Sweetly Scrapped Art / DIY Decor: Spotlight / Groom’s suit: Hugo Boss / Groom’s shirt and tie: Ben Sherman / Groom’s boutonniere: Bloomin’ Cute

Feather and Stone is currently based in Australia, but Seth is from the U.S so he loves traveling back home. Feather and Stone will be in the U.S in June and July for anyone who is interested in booking them for their wedding!

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | 20 comments | Posted under: Vintage Weddings 1950's, Australia, Feather and Stone Photography, polka dot, red, vintage wedding dresses

View all images from this wedding in the gallery

From Amber Karson Events: Sarah and Joe were married at Dahlgren Chapel on the Georgetown Campus followed by a reception in an old Bumper Car Pavilion at historic Glen Echo Park. Sarah and Joe love to swing dance and often visit the park on Friday nights to dance. It was a perfect choice for their wedding reception. For the bar, ared & white striped tent placed in the corner of the Bumper Car Pavilion served as our festive bar for the evening. A vintage cash register served as a holder for cocktail napkins & straws atop the bar. For the Carnival Alley, guests mingled around the Pavilion and had fun playing a few favorite carnival games including Win A Goldfish, Ring Toss, and Tic Tac Toe. We loved the vintage looking signage made by Gourmet Invitations for each carnival game.

Wedding vendors (Washington, DC):

Ceremony venue: Dahlgren Chapel, Georgetown University / Reception venue: Glen Echo Park / Wedding Planning & Event Design: Amber Karson Events / Wedding photographer: Sam Hughes Photography / Flowers: Elegance & Simplicity / Catering: Main Event Caterers / Dessert: Georgetown Cupcakes / Videographer: Hello Super 8 / Invitations & Paper Goods: Gourmet Invitations / Band: Dr. Zoot / Balloon Artist: Balloon Affairs of Frederick / Tent & Carnival Games: Talk of the Town / Photobooth: Majestic Photobooth / Bride’s dress: Hannelore’s / Bridemaid’s Dresses: Aria / Hair: Hair by Jewels / Make-Up: Kiki D’talien / Transportation: Chariots for Hire

Gourmet Invitations is part of Blue Label, our handy dandy local vendor guide.

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | 18 comments | Posted under: Vintage Weddings 1950's, carnival, red, tea length wedding dresses, teal, Washington DC

From Megan, the bride: We wanted something vintage, country and relaxed. We imagined floral patterns and pastel blues, 50s dresses and ivory lace, country barns and rolling hills. We wanted social food and lots if wine! We wanted a big, gorgeous party.

I wanted a vintage style dress and had appointments booked at various cool vintage shops in London…however, as I was waiting for these appointments I thought I’d pop into a bridal shop in the city I work, Chichester. I saw on their website that they had a dress I had seen, cut out and loved in a bridal magazine. I tried on a few other options while I was there but there was nothing to compare to ‘the one’. I wanted lace and a ballerina length tulle skirt – I didn’t think it actually existed. This dress was exactly what I wanted. It was really different, still had a vintage vibe and was brand shiny new.

We designed and made all our own stationery. Mike created the beautiful vintage rose pattern we used on his computer – I had seen a lot of rose patterns I liked so we designed something that reflected those. We then used recycled manila card to give that rustic, country feel. I order all my card from Eco-Craft. I used pinking shears to cut everything out before I stuck it onto the manila card. For the save the date cards and place names we used parcel tags with twine tied in a bow. We even designed a cool little old fashioned ticket stub as a free drinks token for the evening guests. We carried our rose pattern across everything – the save the date cards, the invites, the table names, the place names, the table plan, the drinks tokens, the reserved signs on the seats and the thank you cards.

Vintage, English country wedding, relaxed describes our wedding perfectly. We themed the wedding around a gorgeous vintage rose pattern that Mike created based on rose patterns I’d seen on various fabrics. He spent a lot of time on his graphic design computer software trying to recreate what I had in my mind. In the end it was perfect – a vintage rose on a pale blue background with white polka dots. We used this pattern across everything and handmade it all – the save the date cards, the invites, the table names, the table plan, the place names, the labels for the favours, drinks tokens and the thank you cards. This pattern became the basis for everything – our theme was based entirely around it. The pale blue background we used influenced the groomsmen’s ties, the flowers (blue hydrangeas), the neck ties the caterers wore etc. We then took the rose theme through to the bridesmaid dresses, my accessories, the table plan board and more. I spent a good few months hitting the flea markets and started collecting vintage tea cups and saucers, as well as vintage vases and jugs – our florist put flowers in these and they formed our table centrepieces. We also collected a load of glass jars, put candles in them and tied twine and floral ribbons around them to decorate the venue.

We’re not religious so churches were out and we wanted to have one venue for the whole day – have the ceremony and the reception all in one place. We were also really keen to have exclusive use. I wanted to have as raucous as party as possible and not annoy anyone. We didn’t want a hotel wedding – you tend to just pick a package and I wanted much more flexibility to do exactly what we wanted to do. Food was also massively important to us – we wanted to have tapas for the wedding breakfast and a huge paella outside in the evening. Most hotels only give you a couple of meat and veg options – we wanted to pick our own caterer and have them produce a Spanish feast. This led us to explore converted barns. We live in Sussex in the UK which has the most gorgeous countryside. There are a few barn venues in the area – some were too rustic (hay still in the back) and some were too slick (more hotel in feel than country barn). Then we found Upwaltham Barns which must be the most beautiful wedding venue in the UK (but I would say that).

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? If you’re going to make the stationery yourself for that lovely homemade touch, start early – it takes ages! In fact…maybe don’t bother at all. It wipes out your evenings for months. And never, ever scrim on the photographer – all you’ll have left after the event is the photos, they need to be perfect. We found Joanna Brown, a photographer we loved – we became massive fans of her work and would admire her photos on a daily basis. She’s an artist and the best money we spent. Everyone is talking about how gorgeous our photos are.

Wedding Songs:
We chose Celtic harp music for the ceremony – Aran Boat Song and music by Turlough O’Carolan. I really wanted something upbeat and happy for the first dance so we went for Jennifer Hudson’s Dressed Up in Love. It’s such a happy song and makes me grin every time I hear it. It’s also impossible not to dance to.

Wedding Vendors (West Sussex, England):

Ceremony and reception locations: Upwaltham Barns / Florist: Barbara Mole of Miss Mole’s Flower Emporium / Photographer: Joanna Brown of Joanna Brown Photography / Wedding Dress, Veil, Shoes and other accessories: Novia D’Art and I bought it from Proposals in Chichester, UK / Birdcage veil: Lilly Lewis / Wedding Shoes: Rachel Simpson/ Earrings: Eclectic Eccentric / Hair: Jean-Yves Aubin / Bridesmaid Dresses: 1950s style circle dresses from Vivien of Holloway / Groom’s suit: three piece suit from Marks and Spencers / Groom’s tie: Topman Band/Musician: During the ceremony and drinks reception we had Lieshja play the harp. My parents are Welsh and Irish so I really wanted some Celtic music at the wedding. Liehsja played the most beautiful Celtic harp music. / Caterer: Buns to Banquets / Wedding cake and dessert: four tiered luxury champagne and strawberry cheesecake from The English Cheesecake Company / Wedding invitations: DIY / Videographer: Jonathan Nicol of Other Finger Films

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | 21 comments | Posted under: Vintage Weddings 1950's, England, Joanna Brown, UK, vintage wedding dresses

From the bride, Sarah: The style and feel we were aiming for was fun, inclusive, relaxed, vintage, with loads of DIY details and surprises! We wanted every choice to truly represent every aspect of our partnership over the past 4 years. Things like our love of cups of tea or background in performing were all included somewhere along the line.

As Justin and I met on the set of a TV show, got engaged in a theatre, and are forever producing shows, we wanted our wedding to be like the biggest production of our lives, yet to still feel simple and from the heart. We chose a celebrant who is also on radio in Melbourne and who we knew would have a natural performers vibe, The Golden Tappers kicked off proceedings and made everyone’s hearts burst with joy at the reception (they’re an all-women tap dance troupe aged over 60 and tap dance like nobody’s business!), and a friend choreographed a flashmob wedding dance which roughly half our guests were secretly asked to participate in. Honestly, seeing the shocked look on partners and family members faces as their loved ones took to the floor and did the dance was PRICELESS. It was a performer’s dream wedding. A good friend of ours joked afterwards “There were so many personal touches, I felt violated!” which was awesome to hear.

Early on, we came up with the dress code “Snazzy Picnic” which basically became the theme of the entire wedding (think Enid Blyton children’s book illustrations meets The Great Gatsby meets the 1950′s). We had a loose colour scheme of peach and navy, but found it easier to stick to the theme rather than colour scheme.

My dress was modelled off a 2009 Giambattista Valli gown that was no longer available despite my best eBay-scouring efforts. Luckily I found the incredible Alice from Alice Haute Couture who literally gasped when I showed her a photo of the dress because “brides never ask me to make these kinds of dresses anymore!”. She was so excited by the design and made the dress from scratch based off a few photographs. The fabric is ivory woollen silk from Valentino, which the fabulous Ruth at La Modiste found for me in Milan!

The whole wedding was DIY. Justin and I were engaged for 16 months, and literally worked for every one of those months to bring it all together. We got married at the very end of the Australian Winter and worried that guests would freeze in our outdoor ceremony, so the first thing we set about doing was collecting 150 (yup, 150!!!) vintage tea sets so every guest could have a warm drink after the ceremony which then doubled as their take home gift. We collected for months, and then finally drove for three days through three states and visited every thrift shop in every town to get our numbers.

My mum, dad and 83 year old grandmother together made 150 of the most amazing bags for guests to safely transport their tea sets home at the end of the night. Justin and I along with a graphic designer friend made teabags with a pretend tea company name and the slogan “The Perfect Blend Since 2007″ which guests loved. The tea component was by far the biggest DIY project we undertook.

The day before the wedding, family and friends banded together and made a mix of 15 AMAZING cakes. Instead of having one wedding cake, we thought it would be way funner if every table had their own. That way when we did the cake cutting, all our guests could cut with us! Justin made the cake stands, and when it was time to cut the cake, 150 knives were handed out and away we went. It was truly awesome with guests table hopping to sample all of the amazing cakes!

Another friend drew our portraits and we made button badges for all our guests. Then there were the groomsmen boutonnieres, flower girl dresses, photo booth, chapel doors, chalkboards…all DIY!

For our ceremony we wanted something with a rustic vibe, that was in Melbourne and with catering on site. A tall order! After months of searching, someone suggested Collingwood Children’s Farm, and from the second we saw it and met Farmer Andrew (who was so excited about us potentially getting married there) we were sold. It’s like a hidden oasis amongst the hustle and bustle of the city. The baby animals are all born in early August and were the perfect icebreaker for guests. It’s right in the heart of the city, just minutes away from our reception venue, is a working farm (meaning there’s animals everywhere and a sheep could easily just wander into your wedding ceremony!) and a friend runs the farm cafe which serve the most delicious, fresh, organic produce. Nothing was a problem and Tom Hay at the farm cafe and Farmer Andrew were a dream team to work with.

View all images from this wedding in the gallery

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? Surround yourself with friends and family who have a “Yes we can!” attitude. Positivity is everything.

If you’re going down the DIY path, people will tell you you’re mad, and you will question your own sanity at various points along the way. Stick with it! Enlist helpers who have strengths in different areas. We were initially adamant not to bother anyone with our preparations, and to just buy anything we couldn’t do ourselves, but then we had people like the mum of our flower girls who is a Home Ec teacher and amazing sewer who really wanted to make her girls their dresses, or another friend who the second we got engaged emailed to say “Who’s doing your AV, because I want to do it!”. You really need to accept the amazing help on offer, and realise that people don’t want to do it for any reason other than because they’re so happy for you and want to put their skills to a great cause! It adds the most personal touch to your day.

Wedding Songs:

They both chose songs for their walk in and march out songs without telling each other and they ended up being the exact same song!

Processional: This Will Be Our Year by The Zombies
Ceremony:Sleepyhead by Chris Pickering performed by Lauren and Keren from Pleasing Anna
Recessional: This Will Be Our Year by the Zombies
First Dance: Be My Baby by the Ronettes

Wedding Vendors and Venue (Victoria, Australia):

Ceremony Location: Collingwood Children’s Farm / Reception Venue: The Regal Ballroom / Photographer: Jonathan Ong / Event designer: Georgie Kay and Erin Lilja from Georgeous Events / Florist: Melanie Stapleton from Cecilia Fox / Wedding Dress: Alice Haute Couture / Blusher Veil: Etsy seller Portobello / Wedding Shoes:’Darla’ from Kate Spade / Gloves: BHLDN / Bracelet: J. Crew / Vintage Sarah Coventry Earrings from Etsy / Custom wedding rings from Chris Parry / Hair by Marie Uva & Giovanni Tedesco at Rokk Ebony South Melbourne / Makeup: Rosemary Walsh / Bridesmaid Dresses: Stop Staring Raileen dresses in navy / Groom’s suit: J. Crew vest, bow tie by xoelle on etsy, Eugenia Kim hat from The Hat Mansion, shirt by French Connection. Groomsmen wore shirts by French Connection, vests by Charles Tyrwhitt, and jeans from Carhartt / Celebrant: Jon Von Goes / DJ: Brendan and Liam at DJ Masters and friends Lauren Glezer and Keren Leizerovitz from Melbourne band Pleasing Anna sang at their ceremony, and Andy McLelland of Mr Mc Clelland’s Finishing School DJ’d their reception / Caterer: Tom Hay at The Farm Cafe did their devonshire tea and catering by The Regal Ballroom / Wedding Dessert: DIY Ice cream Sundae Buffet styled by Georgeous / Wedding invitations: bride’s cousin Caitlin Gahan designed the invitations (caitlingahan@hotmail.com), and the bride and groom designed their brown paper bag envelopes / Videographer: Sarah Walker from Sarah Walker Photography / Transportation: 1938 Diamond T Bus from Vintage Fun Hire Cars

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | 15 comments | Posted under: Vintage Weddings 1950's, Australia, Jonathan Ong, Melbourne, whimsical

From the bride: We wanted our wedding to reflect our sweet, playful love & our fun, artsy and musical families. I imagined a whimsical, home-made and vintage backyard wedding with our families playing the music with coca-cola bottles in hand, and what we came up with was truly a dream come true! Growing up in the Arizona desert the one thing I knew was cactus wasn’t for me! I wanted lush greenery and cooler air and I immediately remembered a sweet yellow school house that I had passed on the way to my Grandmothers house as a little girl. When I was researching it, I found out, lo and behold, they now hold weddings! Once we booked our dream location, Twin Oaks Estates, everything fell into place.

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From Megan Plenge Photography : Aside from their full time jobs, Graham is a member of the Professional Disc Golf Association & Lauren has spent her free time working in theater & 50′s pin up modeling. This wedding was a true representation of their personalities & love. As a definite labor of love, this wedding was full of amazing details including handmade bridesmaids dresses by the brides mom, centerpieces created from antiques collected by relatives, personalized handkerchiefs, candy bar filled w/the couples favorite treats, one-of-a-kind boutonnieres made of embroidered flowers, scrabble letters & antique keys. The venue, Twin Oaks Estate, was the perfect fit for this couple complete with an 1800s schoolhouse for the bride to get ready in & serve as a perfect vintage backdrop. The owners of the Estate had recently purchased a section of a pub bar sent from London to add an old-fashioned feel. Other details included the grooms younger brother singing “I wanna grow old with you” during the ceremony & the band made up of the bride’s grandparents, groom’s father & brother. A completely adorable evening, with a new detail around every corner, was spent with this couple whose vision of a backyard vintage wedding came true!

Wedding Vendors (San Marcos, California):

Venue and Caterer: Twins Oaks Estates / Wedding Photography: Megan Plenge Photography / Florist: Jerry Disney / Hair: Tiffany Monday / Wedding Dress: Blue by Enzoani

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | 8 comments | Posted under: Vintage Weddings 1950's, California, Megan Plenge Photography, tent, Twin Oaks Estates

We’ve been asked why we chose the 1950’s as our wedding theme. To be honest, we’re really not sure. Maybe it was a love of the music, maybe it was a love of the style, or maybe it was Ryan’s love of Back to the Future. It’s hard to say for sure. It just seemed…natural.

Our venue–The Doctor’s House at the Brand Arts and Music Library–was a much more conscious choice. We’d lived in the Burbank/Glendale area for many years and the Brand Arts and Music Library offered us the beautiful outdoor setting we both wanted. It was also the site of the career retrospective of Ryan’s favorite artist, Joseph Mugnaini. And since we’re not the sit-down-to-dinner type, the reception was hosted at the Montrose Bowl. A private bowling alley, the Montrose Bowl has appeared in many television and film productions, including Pleasantville and Teen Wolf. We wanted everyone at the reception to have fun, play games and maybe feel a little nostalgic, and the Montrose Bowl was the picture-perfect venue for it. Along with open bowling lanes and our ‘photo booth,’ games such as Hungry Hungry Hippos and Tiddly Winks were scattered about to coax out everyone’s inner child.

With so many family and friends coming from out of town, we really wanted to share with them a true southern California culinary experience. And what else says southern California like a food truck? In this case it was Seabirds, a gourmet food truck. We chose Seabirds because of their impressive and delicious vegan menu. Seabirds vegan fare was a huge success. One guest even complained that she was “angry [she] couldn’t eat more!”

The wedding also had a green component. The bridesmaid’s bouquets, groomsmen’s boutonnieres, and corsages were made from colorful cut-up clothing catalogues that normally would have found a home in the recycle bin. The bridal bouquet was a blossom of broaches sent by friends from around the world. Realizing that many of our international friends would not be able to attend, I sent out a call for broaches, rings, and pendants. Each piece was symbolic of a cherished memory, a friendship, an absent family member.

Taking full advantage of the bowling theme at the reception, guests signed a bowling pin as opposed to a traditional guest book. And keeping with our desire to make the event both fun and memorable, we thanked each guest with a bowling trophy. The trophies sported either a male or a female bowler and were engraved with our names, the date, and the eye-roll-worthy pun “With Love to Spare”.

View all images from this wedding in the gallery

Wedding Vendors and Venue (Montrose, California):

Ceremony Location: Brand Arts Music Library / Reception Venue: Montrose Bowl / Wedding Photographer: Heidi Ryder / Invitations: Little Hinka / Caterer: Seabirds Truck / Hairstylist: Miss Lowe / Wedding Dress: Dolly Couture / Wedding Cake: Babycakes

Heidi Ryder is a member of Blue Label.

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | 15 comments | Posted under: Vintage Weddings 1950's, bowling, California, Heidi Ryder, tea length wedding dresses

View ALL images from this wedding in the gallery

Wedding Venue + Vendors (Menlo Park, CA):

Ceremony Venue: Menlo Park Presbyterian Church / Reception Venue: Allied Arts Guild / Event Design: Cameron Humphrey / Graphic Design: Mike Humphrey / Photograpy: Ever Whim Photographs / Letterpress: La La Press / Dress: Oscar De La Renta / Bride’s Jewelry: Vintage / Florist: Jose Ibarra/ Apis Floral / Caterer: Cafe Primavera / Cake: Jen’s Cakes / Hair: Monica Foster (Bride), Christian Roche and Liz Tabler (Bridesmaids and MOB) / Band: Simply Jazz / DJ: Mike Ewing

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | 21 comments | Posted under: Vintage Weddings 1950's, aqua, blue, Ca, Ever Whim Photographs, ikat, pink

Vintage silverplated and crystal wedding decor, $500 for the lot; rustic chandelier with crystals, $50; Lace wedding dress, $700

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Posted under: Alerts 1950's, boutonnieres, vintage glam

From the bride, Sara: Color is dominant! Each of my bridesmaids will be wearing dresses in the same gray shade, but they’ll be accessorizing and carrying flowers in their “assigned” color. Each of us accessorized in various shades of our color- monochromatic and layered- not all the same shade of blue, etc. We had multicolored blooms on the table, multi-colored fans for guests, a colorful candy buffet, and much more. As you can tell, I love color… However, I wanted to set the color against crisp white, so the table linens will be white, our cake is white with white sugar flowers, the gift boxes for guests are white with green ribbon. All in all it was a colorful and fun day!

Wedding Vision: Spring in Bloom with Color All Over (with retro details)

Wedding Vendors (New York, New York):

Venue: Brooklyn Botanic Gardens / Photographer: Jen Huang / Wedding Dress: Vineyard Collection, style Morgan / Wedding Shoes: Gwyneth Paulette Pump (dyed two shades of green) / Invitations: Designed by the bride Sara who is a Graphic Designer / Florals: Zuzu’s Petals of Park Slope / Catering: The Palm House / Band: The Gainsborough Trio / DJ: Dj Shakey aka Julie Covello / Cake: Ana Parzych / Groom’s Suit: Brooks Brothers / Bridesmaid Dresses: Shabby Apple

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | 8 comments | Posted under: Garden Weddings 1950's, Brooklyn, NYC, retro

From the bride, Bethany: We love all things vintage & handmade, so we wanted our wedding to reflect that. (especially 1950s & 1960s era!) We love that both vintage & handmade goods are more sustainable than buying things new and it is one of our values to be as sustainable and socially responsible as possible in terms how we shop, or decorate our home, or plan our wedding. Plus, we love the aesthetic. We also have an incredibly talented & close knit community and we wanted our wedding to be a reflection of our community as well. Almost every detail of our wedding was covered in the fingerprints of our friends & family, and that made it feel so much more special.

I love the deep rich colors in peacock feathers so we decided to use a peacock feather as our color inspiration. In terms of DIY projects, we tried to hand make as many elements as we could. Jerod drew our cameos and used them to design our save the dates & programs. He and I also handmade our invitations from tiny glass bottles we collected on a magical beach in Brooklyn. (We also used bottles that we found there as the vessels for the flower arrangements at the reception). As everyone came into the church for the ceremony, they received a tiny flag to wave which had been stamped with “b & j” or “love”, which friends and I made using letters from an antique printing press and a mix of vintage fabrics and scrap fabrics in peacock colors. We used the same fabrics to make the bunting, strung throughout the reception space. The garlands of crocheted yarn, strung from the ceiling of the reception space, were made by my aunt, my brother-in-law, one of my bridesmaids, and me.

As one of my bridesmaid gifts, I made 12 different hair pieces for each of the girls to wear (with help from my mom!). For the guestbook, we had the ribbon on my grandma’s antique typewriter replaced, and the hand-typed notes that we came home with were so special! The incredible boutonnieres for the groomsmen were made by my dear friend, bridesmaid and crafter, Kylie Fife. It was truly a community affair, which made it such an emotional and incredible experience to walk into the reception site for the first time and see all the beauty.

Jerod and I designed the “message in a bottle” invitations and made them using 200 tiny antique bottles we scavenged on a Brooklyn beach. We printed the paper invitation component ourselves on quarter sheets of teal paper, and tied and bottle neck with twine. We attempted to hand deliver as many as we could, but the ones that were mailed even managed to make it to South Africa intact!

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? Accept help! Sometimes this can be difficult to ask for or accept, but once I began delegating and letting people help me, the load felt so much lighter, he the outcome so much more beautiful. Secondly, the wedding is so important, but ultimately, the wedding is a precursor to the marriage, so don’t lose sight of prioritizing that! Throughout our engagement, Jerod and I had at least 1 night a week in which we did not talk about the wedding planning at all, which was really refreshing and important for us.

And everyone says this, but try to really be present on the day of. So many people had told me that their wedding day felt like a blur and it was my desire to really be present, relish in it, and take it all in, especially because we had so many friends in from all over the world that we rarely get to see. After all, when again will you have all the people that you most treasure and love in the same room? I feel like we were really able to do this and it made the memories of the day so sweet and priceless.

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Wedding Songs:
Processional: “Sigh No More,” Mumford & Sons
Recessional: “Forever Young,” Bob Dylan
First dance: “When It Don’t Come Easy,” Patty Griffin

Wedding vendors (New York City, NY):

Ceremony venue: St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn / Reception venue: 320 Studios / Wedding photographer: Tahni of Joyeuse Photography / Wedding flowers: Leeanne Rickey / Wedding dress: designed by bride, made by Heather Anderson / Makeup: Stephanie Wise / Wedding hair: Felicia Nelson / Groom’s suit: Calvin Klein / Wedding music: Jake Armerding, Gregory Essington, Laura Rogers, and Brian Miller / Wedding cake: Laura Huss / Wedding invitations: bride and groom

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | 13 comments | Posted under: Vintage Weddings 1950's, blue, feathers, green, handmade, New York, NYC, peacock, short wedding dresses, teal, vintage