Elegant Black and White Ashton Hill Wedding

“Romantic” doesn’t even begin to describe how next-level Sadie and Jack’s wedding is. Nestled in the scenic beauty of Galena, Illinois, this Ashton Hill wedding offers an experience like no other. Here, floral elegance takes center stage, transforming each moment into a fragrant, monochromatic masterpiece. This dreamy wedding at Ashton Hill Farm showcases breathtaking floral arrangements crafted by Ellabank Blossoms with a wow ceremony aisle and florals to die for, beautifully captured through the lens of Bethany McNeill Photography.

Sadie and Jack got married at Ashton Hill in Galena, Illinois. It was a day filled with tearful moments between parents and the couple. You could just tell the special bond that Sadie especially has with her parents. The couple included their dogs throughout the day. They were both presently there and also illustrated on their invitation suite as well as on other elements throughout the day. Sadie and Jack went all out on flowers including two full white arches and white flowers all along the path to the ceremony site. They had fun things for their guests at the reception including a paint-by-number for guests to paint throughout the evening, a bounce house, and knotted candles to take home as favors. Sadie’s dress was unique. The long train had ruffles all down it that echoed the small ruffle across the top of the bodice. This was a very relaxed, perfect wedding day!

THE DETAILS

Describe Your Food & Drink:

The Rafters catered our food for the evening. We started with passed appetizers; bacon wrapped dates, bruschetta and prosciutto wrapped asparagus. Our plated dinner had a few options. Those included short rib, salmon or stuffed peppers. You can’t have a wedding without late night snacks and we brought in a nacho and pretzel bar to keep our energy up through the night. Take the Cake made our desserts and they absolutely hit the mark. Everyone in my family has a major sweet tooth and we had to go big. We had individual mini cakes served with dinner as well as a large assortment of cupcakes, pies and shooters that were available all night to snack on. We also had to-go boxes to encourage guests to take some sweet treats home with them. Our actual wedding cake was a simple two tier vanilla almond cake with vanilla buttercream. Jack and I wanted to enjoy it often and instead of eating it at once after our first year married, we had a slice every month. For the bar we had beer, wine, cocktails and two signature drinks. Mine was a cucumber mule and Jack’s was an old fashioned. Jack and I purchased a Don Julio 1942 bottle for the two of us to have celebratory shots out of our custom shot glasses. One shot after the ceremony and again on our one year anniversary. I was pregnant during our anniversary so Jack had to take both. (:

Describe Your Floral & Decor:

Ellabank Blossoms did the floral for our wedding. I showed them a few inspiration photos of what I was looking for. When we had our initial viewing of one of the centerpieces we decided we wanted them much larger and extravagant. They were so excited for the challenge and the opportunity to make this come to life. We had multiple meetings throughout the planning process to make sure we were on the same page and they would order enough to accomplish our vision. The amount of floral was so large that we had to store the flowers at the venue a few days before the wedding and turn the air conditioning down as low as possible and tarp the flowers until it was time to assemble. We had two large arbors, one at the top of the aisle and one at the alter. They were exactly how I envisioned them and just like the inspiration I was going for. We also had flowers running down the aisle on both sides. Every element of our wedding floral was perfect. Our tables, cake, chandeliers and bouquets matched our theme perfectly and the floral was absolutely the show stopper which was exactly what we wanted. We added some simple accents like chargers, napkins and candles. We also incorporated the custom stationary of our dogs into the name cards at the tables. Our pups of course needed to be involved.

Describe Your Readings / Ceremony Music / Reception Songs (optional):

Jack and my first dance was to Loving is Easy by Rex Orange County. Early on in the planning process Jack got COVID and spent days in our basement and came up with the choreography for our dance. We practiced for months in our backyard and I think it absolutely paid off. Our last song was Dance Yrself Clean by LCD Soundsystem and we got every single person on the dance flood where the picked up Jack and I and threw us in the air. Everyone was shouting the words until the very end. It was a perfect way to end the night.

Special Detail or Memory #1 (optional): As crazy dog parents we wanted to incorporate our dogs into our wedding as much as possible. Our custom dog print stationary was used in our wedding invitations, table runners, pillows, pocket squares and anywhere we could place it.

Special Detail or Memory #2 (optional): We had our sister in law’s family play our ceremony music on violins. This was not only an elegant touch to the ceremony but to have our family do it made it even more special.

Special Detail or Memory #3 (optional): Instead of a guest book we got a new set of corn hold boards and had our guests write their love and sentiments on them throughout the night. We then got them epoxied so we can look at them frequently and enjoy the memories. And also for me to kick Jack’s butt in corn hole.

Photos:
https://bethanymcneill.client-gallery.com/gallery/sadie-and-jack-wedding (happy to cull you a set of favorites ASAP if you think it’s a fit – I’m out of the country with limited internet access)

Wedding Vendors:

Photographer: Bethany McNeill Photography

Dress Shop: Alta Moda Bridal

Florist: Ellabank Blossoms

Ceremony & Reception Venue: Ashton Hill Farm

Cake: Take the Cake Desserts

Rentals: Borrow My Vintage

Rentals: 11:11 Event Co

Invitations: Allegra

Favors: Flame and Flicker

Balloons: Poppin Parties

Light-up Sign: Alpha Lit