Handcrafted Mismatched Backyard Wedding

Lea and Fabian describe their wedding day as “classic elegance with a touch of vintage whimsy,” and I couldn’t possibly imagine a more fitting explanation. Rachel Solomon Photography and Carte Blanche worked wonders here, taking the couple’s vision of mismatched eclecticism and making sure all the Is and Ts were dotted and crossed.

From the bride, Lea: Our wedding day was absolutely beautiful. My overall theme I identified as classic elegance with a touch of vintage whimsy and I drew inspiration from old English gardens and garden parties. I wanted family style wooden tables without linen with green, white, and ivory flowers lining the centers of the tables with bistro lights swinging sweetly above. I wanted to get married under the tree that I used to climb to read a book or to pick mulberries to give my miniature horse. I decorated the tree with all kinds of lanterns; one of the lanterns was my grandpa’s old railroad lantern.

I knew I didn’t want to walk from the house and be seen by all of my guests, so I needed a way to hide myself until the moment I began to walk down the aisle. I loved the idea of some sort of curtain hanging from a tree. I had seen a paper flower curtain on Pinterest and had incidentally found a large heart paper punch at the craft store, so I began to cut out paper hearts on floral patterned green paper and my cousin sewed them together in 8 foot long strands. We hung the 8×8 creation from a pecan tree and my dad and stepdad parted it down the middle to reveal me, the bride, to the guests and my groom. After the ceremony, the heart curtain doubled as the backdrop for the photo booth.

I saw a drawing in Martha Stewart Wedding Magazine of people reading a large vintage newspaper for a wedding program. My mom and stepdad used to own and produce a small newspaper so I knew it was meant to be! We collected pictures, I wrote small stories, we even created a crossword puzzle, and we created a beautiful vintage newspaper. I found some customizable vintage library cards on Etsy that I purchased and displayed on a vintage card catalogue that my mom owned for the seating chart.

Monogram Magic In This Textural & Earthy Wedding With Elevated North Carolina Flair

We hunted for the perfect tables and only one company in town, Classic Party Rentals, had precisely what I wanted. I am a bit of a collector of randomness and decided each table should have its own theme, and thus began the hunt for the perfect containers for each of the 16 tables. I began by looking in my mother’s, my grandmothers, and my own cabinets for flower vases or any other antique type containers that would hold water. For approximately one year I scoured thrift stores and yard sales seeking out the perfect containers. The themed tables were quite the project, but I cried tears of joy when I saw how perfect Carte Blanche Floral Designs had captured what I had been dreaming of. The table themes were: green glass, clear glass, cut glass, wooden containers, pink/orange depression glass, tins, milk glass, books, brass, silver, pewter, mercury glass, teacups, terrariums, antique medicine bottles (I’m a nurse), and pitchers. The cocktail hour tables also had a garden theme.