Handmade New York Wedding

“I’ll eat you up, I love you so!” Who doesn’t immediately smile when remembering this line from Maurice Sendak’s book, “Where the Wild Things Are”? Jess and Greg used this line and the catchphrase “Love Wins” to guide their wedding planning process, which resulted in a day filled with color, whimsy, and, yes, love! Our thanks goes out to Kristin Rogers for beautifully capturing their wedding day.

From the bride, Jess: We wanted the style to really reflect us as a couple. We wanted people to feel as if they had literally stepped into another world, our world. A world of whimsy color and vintage collections, earthy influence and of course where love is the center of everything.

We could describe our day with handmade, magic, whimsical, home, and LOVE WINS! Our wedding was one big DIY project. We made almost EVERYTHING, including: the invitations, hundreds (literally) of paper cranes we folded, Greg built our trellis, bar, and pie stands, our wedding favor was jam that we made and canned ourselves, we collected vintage linens, Greg built the cornhole boards and I sewed the bean bags, the buntings were all sewed by me, centerpieces, hand painted signs, painted the yellow door and handmade all the place cards, personally collected 150 settings of vintage Corelle, RIBBON STICKS:), programs, and our handmade guest book by my friend Lisa.

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? Never sacrifice who you are for others wants (even if they are your family). I know, I know its hard. The small details are easy to overlook in wedding stress but they are really the things that make the day reflect who you are as a couple. I think my family thought I was crazy for most of our wedding planning but they trusted us enough to never stomp on our creative weirdness:) Watching all our loved ones come together to pick flowers, tie ribbons, and make pies made me want to fall to tears. It takes a village to have a wedding, I am so thankful for mine.

See Also

A Vibrant Destination Wedding on Kona Beach in Blue & Gold

Wedding Music:
Bride’s Processional: Since I was 15 I wanted my brother to walk me down the aisle to “Hoppipolla,” Sigur Ros, and it was everything I always dreamed.
Brother/Bride Dance: “Free Falling,” Tom Petty
Mother/Son Dance: “In My Life,” The Beatles
We danced to everything from Grouplove to Feist to The Beatles. Our music was basically the playlist of our lives. Buddy was fantastic.

Wedding Location: North Chili, NY / Wedding Photographer: Kristin Rogers / Wedding Location: Starr Barn / Wedding Flowers: Deb Mondy / Bride’s Hair and Makeup: Alicia Jacques and Tori Bowles / Jewelry: Marisa of Interstellar Love Craft / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Sohomode by Louise Hedley / Wedding Music: Buddy Budinski ([email protected]) / Wedding Caterer: Forest Hill Catering / Coffee: Leaf and Bean / Desserts: Homemade pies by friends and family / Wedding Invitations: Bride and Groom