From the bride, Amelia: Will and I were together for seven years before we decided to get married. By the time we got engaged we were just so thrilled about our momentous decision that we didn’t want to wait too long to tie to knot. We had set a wedding date of about 6 months out, so when we went out looking for venues, most of them were booked already. That said, most venues in the Bay Area didn’t feel exactly perfect for us either. There are some beautiful places to get married for sure, but we felt restricted by time limits and required vendors. We knew we wanted to get married somewhere that felt entirely unique too. Then we thought of Bolinas: the gorgeous, bohemian, beach-bum town about an hour north of San Francisco. We had rented houses there for my 30th birthday and the following Thanksgiving; both trips had been very memorable—there’s a sense of awe and calmness that washes over you when you are in Bolinas, it’s very a very creative and happy place. So we were excited when we found Briarcombe, a property of three houses that look like they belong in The Shire. The houses are an inspired fusion of Arts and Crafts and traditional Japanese architecture. Briarcombe was built by a concert pianist and has a beautiful meadow with a wooden stage where small concerts are sometimes held. It was really the most idyllic spot for our wedding. Will and I rented the homes for a few days leading up to the day so our wedding party and our family could come up and stay with us during that special time.

As for our vision, we knew we wanted to have a casual, picnic-in-the-meadow feel for our wedding. We also wanted to have elegant and nostalgic touches. My dress was a dream: a Lela Rose beauty that I had been been coveting for years after coming across it while helping my best friend search for her own perfect dress. The gown had a fairly old-fashioned flair and it informed much of the fashion, decor, and flowers—it became about melding the dress, the house, and the moon…

View all images in the gallery

Wedding Vendors + Venue (Bolinas + San Francisco, CA):

Venue: Briarcombe / Photography: Melissa of Fresh In Love Photography / Flowers: Meredith of Aria Eco Floral and Event Design (meredithalaw@gmail.com) / Wedding Dress: Lela Rose Ponderosa Gown, Glamour Closet / Suit: Al’s Attire, alsattire.com / Groom’s ring: estate piece from Pave / Decor: Alameda Antiques Faire / Music: Dr. Elmo and Wild Blue / BRIDESMAIDS: J.Crew

Fresh In Love Photography is a member of Blue Label.

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | 11 comments | Posted under: DIY Weddings bohemian, Bolinas, California, Fresh in Love Photography, moon, Northern California, photobooth, vintage props

From the bride, Yuvi. Choosing the church for our ceremony was easy. We chose St Paul the Apostle for our ceremony because it was one that my husband and I have attended weekly for the past few years. Initially, we were looking for outdoor venues, however there were few that met our expectations. We bought our home knowing that it would be a great location to hold our reception. What better place to have our wedding along with our loved ones than at our own home.

When we met with our wedding planner, Jesi Haack, she brainstormed with us ideas for our theme. We told her that we would like to incorporate Honey Bee’s in the wedding since that is the name of our street and mentioned to her that my favorite color is yellow and that we would like a vintage feeling. She tied it up and came up with the concept of “Honey and Lace”. As soon as she said it, we loved it.

I made the corsages, lace flowers for the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom as well as the grandmothers. I also made the lace flower boutonnieres for the men in the wedding party. My husband and I assembled the wedding favors which consisted of small honey jars covered with lace, we dyed the white lace with tea to give it a vintage look. We wired the tea light vases so that they could hang from the trees as well as ran fish wire through the balsa wood flowers to hang.

Nick and I decided that we wanted to implement my Bolivian heritage in the wedding. We took a lesson to learn the “Cueca” which is a traditional courting dance that is danced using handkerchiefs. At the reception Nick and I decided that we were not going to do it because we had not practiced, but our families were encouraging us to do it anyway. Initially we were nervous, but half way through the dance all of our guests used the handkerchiefs that were given out as favors and began to cheer us on by waving them in the air. It was breathtaking for us to see all of our guests participating and showing us their love.

We loved our wedding planner, Jesi Haack. Her creativity made our wedding really come alive. We loved the café lights that were strung over the receptions. We loved the way the hundreds of tea lights glittered throughout the night. We loved our vintage inspired lounge area and the honeycomb photo booth. We absolutely loved the way the whole wedding came together.

View all photos from this wedding

Wedding Vendors (Southern California):

Ceremony Venue: St Paul the Apostle Church / Reception venue: Bride and Groom’s home / Wedding Planner & Design: Jesi Haack / Photographer: Braedon Flynn / Videographer: Nicholas A. Bowser – Crafthouse Productions / DJ: DJ Josh Bliss (no website) / Hair and Makeup: Stephanie Ortiz / Flowers: Mai Hoang of Bunch Studio / Invitations: Kelli Murray / Catering: Simply Elegant / Ceremony Dress: San Patrick / Reception Dress: In Style by Jose Flores

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2011. | Permalink | 15 comments | Posted under: Garden Weddings Braedon Flynn Photography, California, lace, Los Angeles, outdoor weddings, photobooth, yellow

What you’ll need:
- Red and black felt
- Home printer with ink and paper
- White paint
- Red electrical tape
- BBQ skewers
- 3/4 inch natural wooden beads
- White spackle
- Dark, heavy cardstock
- Straight pins
- Glue gun
- Scissors
- Wire cutters or garden clippers

Instructions:
Step 1: Use the template of various shapes, print it out, and cut out each shape. Do this once on white printer paper and once on the dark cardstock.

Step 2: Pin the white paper cutouts to a double layer of felt, and cut around them, using them as a guide. (At the end of this process, you should have TWO of each felt shape.)

Step 3: Clip off the pointy end of the BBQ skewers, then paint each skewer white. While waiting for these to dry, paint the wooden beads white as well.

Step 4: After the skewers dry, cut strips of electrical tape (approx. 1/4 inch wide), and wind the strips around the skewers.

Step 5: Secure one end of the skewers into the wooden beads with a small drop of hot glue.

Step 6: Fill the open hole on the other side of the wooden bead with white spackle. If the whites don’t match well enough, paint over the spackle with your white paint.

Step 6: Hot glue your cardstock shapes to their corresponding felt shape (this is to give the felt a litle stiffness). Lay this piece down, cardstock side up. Hot glue the top end of your skewer to the cardstock, and then hot glue the extra corresponding felt shape on top, to sandwich the skewer in between.

Step 7: Make sure your props are satisfactory by testing them out in the mirror — preferably with a buddy!

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2010. | Permalink | 22 comments | Posted under: DIY Projects DIY contest, photobooth

From the bride: For my wedding I envisioned a backyard wedding filled with old, vintage antiques. Nothing too fancy or formal in any way. A casual setting, that will allow family and friends to have a memory never forgotten.

The little things and details that you think are so important, end up not mattering as much as you think they will in the end. Just enjoy being engaged! It’s not worth getting all worked up, because you will laugh that you were making such a big deal about it later.

Wedding Vendors (Gilbert, AZ):

Wedding planner: Lettie Peterson / Florist: Emily Burton / Photographer: Lang Photographers/ Wedding Dress: Merrily Gibson / Flower crown & veil: Whichgoose / Shoes: Seychelles / Jewelry: Anthropologie / Hair: Suzanne Bell / Bridesmaid Blouses: Forever 21/ Bridesmaid’s accessories: Nordstrom / Groom’s suit: H&M

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2010. | Permalink | 36 comments | Posted under: Garden Weddings, Real Weddings Arizona, blue, Gilbert, Josh Snyder, LDS weddings, photobooth, Sloan Photographers, yellow

Here are some images captured by Josh:

See more images shot by the Sloans here and by Josh Snyder here. We will be sharing their reception next – and you don’t want to miss it!

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2010. | Permalink | 17 comments | Posted under: Garden Weddings, Real Weddings Arizona, blue, cornflower, halo, Josh Snyder, LDS weddings, photobooth, Sloan Photographers, yellow

From Laura:
This was a fantastic way to get my fiance involved. I also would like to mention that neither of us had ever ‘built’ anything before, so this project would definitely be quick and easy for those of you with more experience!

What you’ll need:
- Plywood (all wood and tools from Home Depot)
- (2) 2’x3’ Wood beams
- Sawhorse
- Ruler/Measuring tape
- Hammer and nails
- Wood screws
- Handheld jigsaw
- Handheld drill
- Mod Podge
- Paintbrush
- Waterproof sealant
- Vintage picture frame (I got mine at a thrift store)
- Vintage wallpaper (eBay)
- Floor molding (optional)

Instructions:
Step 1: The plywood usually comes in a 4’x8’ sized sheet. To make it easier, have the store cut the top for you – we asked for a 19” cut to make the final height 6’5”.

Step 2: Lay your plywood flat on the sawhorse. Measure your picture frame. Make sure you start your measurements near the middle of the frame itself – you don’t want the plywood to show on the inside of the frame, nor would you want gaps around the outside of the frame! Decide where you want your frame to be, and draw your measurements on the wood.

Step 3: Use a drill bit large enough to make a hole the width of the jigsaw blade in all corners of your measurements on the plywood. Now use the handheld jigsaw to cut out the entire shape.

Step 4: Stand the plywood upright. Cut each of your beams to about 5’ high. Measure and cut a 70 degree angle off the top of the beam. Hold this up to your wood frame until the angle lies completely flat against the block. Now take a ruler and place it horizontally on the ground, against the bottom of the beam, and use it to draw a line against the wood. Cut with the jigsaw – this will make the bottom of the beam level with the ground. Using the excess wood, cut (2) 10” pieces to use as mounting blocks. On the “back” of the frame, nail a mounting block onto each side. Make sure you hammer the nails through the front, so the heads are flush with the wood. Set the (2) beams aside for later.

Step 5: Lay your frame back onto the sawhorse. Measure and cut your wallpaper to size. Working with one strip at a time, brush your mod podge (what I had on-hand, but if you have wallpaper paste, that would probably work well, too) onto the top third of the wood. Line up and press your wallpaper onto it. Run over the surface with a ruler or other flat object to make sure there are no air pockets. Repeat for the middle and bottom third and all remaining strips of wallpaper until the entire front of the wood is covered. Let dry for at least 24 hours.

Step 6: Brush a thin layer of waterproof sealant over the entire surface of the wallpaper. Let dry for at least 24 hours.

Step 7: Optional: We really wanted to make it look like a piece of an actual wall, so we cut (2) 4’ long pieces of floor molding and attached one to the top and bottom of the wood frame, with Gorilla Glue.

Step 8: Stand the wood frame upright. Take one of the 5’ beams that you cut earlier and line it up against one of the mounting blocks. Drill 2 pilot holes (one on top, one 4 to 6 inches directly below the first hole) through the beam and partly into the mounting block. Next, screw the wood screws into the pilot holes. We used a 2” screw for the top (the thinner part of the beam) and a 2 3/4” screw for the bottom. Repeat for the other side.

Step 9: Mount your picture frame over the hole. Whew, you’re done! Now take your new “photobooth” somewhere pretty and snap away!

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2010. | Permalink | 39 comments | Posted under: DIY Projects DIY, DIY contest, photo station, photobooth, vintage wallpaper

Last night I attended the Urban Wed Event organized by Brooklyn Bride, and what a great party! It was so nice to seeing so many talented NYC wedding vendors under one roof. I could easily spend all day talking about how delicious were the cupcakes from Nine Cakes were, or how ridiculously talented is Bryn from Paperfinger, and everyone else from the Urban Wed Event. I thought some images from the event might give you great ideas for your wedding. How much do you love that table runner made out of old black and white photos?

List of Vendors:
Venue: Nest Event Loft / Catering: Cobblestone Foods / Photography: Jenny Ebert / Day of Coordination: Just About Married / Calligraphy: Paperfinger / Wedding Band: Elan Artists / Event Design: Hatch Creative Studio / Photobooth: Studiobooth / Wedding Gowns: Samuelle / Bridesmaid Dresses: 57 Grand / Wedding Cakes: Nine Cakes / Wine Tasting: Swirl Events and Seven Sisters / Wedding Invitations: Paper + Cup / Makeup: Facetime Beauty Concierge

All photos by Jen Huang Photography

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2010. | Permalink | 21 comments | Posted under: Design Inspiration, Wedding Design anemones, black, moss, New York, photobooth, table runner, vintage, vintage photos, white

Collin and I made the CD – the picture is the same one we used on the front of our wedding invitation, which we designed and had printed at a postcard place. We’re both sci-fi dorks and I use sci fi costumes and plotlines a lot in my artwork. The songs are all songs that Collin and I have made together or separately over the course of the probably 15 years or so that we’ve been making music.


Their wedding rings had each others’ fingerprints on the outsides.

I wear a lot of 60s/70s/80s clothes but was definitely feeling more of a 60s vibe at the time and thought that would be a good visual theme to the way we looked. I thought I would try on a million different wedding dresses, but I saw that one online and just bought it, and that was that. I had it tailored by this awesome woman Ann Hamilton, who specializes in vintage wedding dresses. She was excited that I was keeping the dress’s poofy arms (one of my fave features on a dress), as most of her clients have her remove the arms from their dresses. She took out the lining of the arms and also replaced the lining of the entire dress, which was this really stiff kinda cheap fabric that made a swishy noise when I moved in it. I also retooled my mom’s veil, replacing the lace and tool, and that felt kind of nice.

Cupcakes – we asked some friends and family to contribute one dozen cupcakes each of their choice. We did still have a small cake to cut – it was one that my mother made – my favorite recipe of all time. And we had a few dozen cupcakes made from the same recipe. so the end result was a nice assortment of different familiar flavors in a handy pre-portioned size. No plates needed!


I’m usually a natural light kind of girl, but I’m loving the use of flash on these photos:


For the dresses for the bridesmaids, we went shopping one afternoon at a few vintage/thrift stores I knew carried a lot of 60s/70s clothing and each of them got a dress within a 60sish palette I was looking to use. I tried to convince Collin to wear a wacky/hokey 1960s or 1970s suit but he preferred to rock a more sophisticated modern look. We had a hard time figuring out what to do with the guys, but ended up finding them shirts (at Express) that more or less matched the ladies’ dresses.

As for other stuff relating to the aesthetic – I designed some fabric that we used for the backdrop for our photos at the hotel. I had it printed at spoonflower.com. For centerpieces, we planted various plants in milk glass containers that we collected at various thrift stores and tag sales over the course of the summer – 3 per table. We found some really cool and unique pieces, and people seemed to enjoy bringing those home. Each group of 3 sat on a square of the fabric that I made. We also hung some big white lanterns in the barn to lighten up the space, though the barn itself did have a very excellent warm and homey rustic vibe to it. I also tried to aim for a bouquet that was sort of sixties-esque in that it had a cascade. We also had these cool floral bracelets for the ladies which were a nice touch on the florist’s part.

The band – Collin’s family is very musical – his dad has playing guitar for most of his life, his brother Scott is an awesome drummer, and his brother Kyle played guitar back in the day and picked it back up again for them to play at Scott’s wedding in April 0f 08. Collin makes music and has been in a band and plays the guitar and bass. I sing and make music, and my mom sings in the Hartford Chorale. My dad is a huge music lover and got me interested in a lot of music when I was younger. He bought Nirvana’s Nevermind before me – I think that helps to put it in perspective. Anyway…Collin’s family plays together and my family really doesn’t, so I thought it would be cool to join forces and make a supergroup of members from both sides. I sang on most songs and was joined by Collin, his dad Mel, my mom Elaine and my aunt Missy, who’s also a singer and musician. My dad also sang and played keyboard on Whip It (one of his karaoke faves). We were only able to practice twice but it was great fun and I think we did an awesome job.

This is my favorite part of their wedding story:

Also there is a cool story about our engagement. I wish we could just send you a video clip from the ceremony but we haven’t actually digitized it yet. I’ll just briefly go over what we did. My friend Sarah married us, and we worked with her to develop the ceremony and vows. We more or less wrote our vows the night before, which was kinda stressful, but worked out fine. For the readings, we had friends read poems and song lyrics that we wrote over time about each other, and we also had them talk about and demonstrate the Proposal Box, which Collin used to propose to me. He works with electronics and designed this cute little box to ask me to marry him. There was a “yes” and a “no” button and some LEDs. When the YES button was pushed, the Beatles “The End” started playing – right at the part where it goes “OH YEAH! ALRIGHT!!!” We’ll have to put up a video of that in the near future!

Wedding Vendors: (Wethersfield, Connecticut)

Venue: Webb Barn
Photography: Jacob Pritchard
Florist: Gordon Bonetti
Vintage wedding dress: Vintage Wedding
Vintage Dress alterations: Ann Hamilton (NYC)

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Posted under: Real Weddings, Vintage Weddings 1960's, Connecticut, photobooth, vintage wedding dresses

From Heather of Amorology Weddings:

I was so excited when Kaite came to me to help her plan her wedding and it seemed only fitting to create a vintage Hampton inspired theme for her and Jordan. After meeting at college and spending some time together in Huntington Beach, careers took both Kaite and Jordan to New York where their incredibly romantic relationship really began. Spending time on the beaches in the Hamptons, the pair often had sand in their toes and it was truly “Beside the Seaside” that they fell in love, not only with one another but with the East Coast.

The basketweave vases and hydrangeas combo is so preppy-Hamptons. Love the mix of striped and turquoise tablecloths.

Jordan’s boutonnière consisted of a tiny sea shell, succulent and orchid, which made for the perfect vintage beach bout!

Heather managed to find a crab shaped bread that decorated the reception. So cute!


Kaite’s bouquet consisted of garden roses, orchids and stalk with lace wrapped stems and vintage brooches.

Topsiders for the groomsmen seemed like a natural choice for a classic Hamptons look!

The bridesmaids wore navy blue dresses purchased at Target.




The boat photobooth that Heather from Amorology Weddings designed, with the “Beside the Seaside” logo that Courtney from Brightly Designed. They used vintage umbrellas and custom pillows (from Pin Cushion Princess on Etsy)

Wedding Vendors (San Diego, California)
Wedding Designers and Coordinators: Amorology Weddings
Florist: Twigg Botanicals
Photography: Amelia Lyon
Paper Elements: Brightly Designed
DJ: Hit it Music
Catering: Crown Point Catering
Rentals: Classic Party Rentals
Linens: Wildflower linens
Cake: European Cake Gallery
Hair and Make-Up: Tracy Mathis
Bridesmaids dresses: Target
Men’s suits: Friar Tux
Photobooth photos: Mike Cunningham from http://thedigitalorange.com/#the-digital-orange-photography-f49cd" target="blank">Digital Orange

See more photos from this gorgeous vintage Hamptons inspired wedding on Heather’s blog.

© 2008-2012 Ruffled® , 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Posted under: Real Weddings, Vintage Weddings New York, photobooth, The Hamptons