Music-Inspired Philadelphia Wedding

A wedding celebration with a parade to boot? Count me in. Newly-married couple Leaya and Chris prove that wedding inspiration can come from anywhere. They based their wedding design on their favorite music video, Elephant Gun by Beirut. Carina and Amanda of Love Me Do captured every colorful detail of this gorgeous Philly affair designed by Styled Creative and stationery by Loveleigh Invitations, so be sure to check them out in the gallery.

From the bride, Leaya: We really wanted the wedding to reflect who we were as a couple. Our first piece of inspiration was actually the video for one of our favorite songs, Elephant Gun by Beirut. It has this eccentric, bohemian, circus-y style that we love. From there, we just tried to incorporate everything we liked, including my obsession with color, stripes, paper products, and Japanese toys (domo and labbits) and Chris’s love for superheros and UFOs.

What are some adjectives that best describe the look of your wedding? Colorful, fun, quirky, vintage yet modern, and very personal. There was no overall theme except trying to incorporate everything we loved in all the details. Chris and I both love the DIY-look, but neither of us is very crafty, so etsy was a great resource. Kimberly Fink (our stylist/planner) was also an amazingly talented crafting genius who made all the awesome paper flowers and our striped ceremony backdrop, among other things, and really made all our wedding dreams come to life.

We knew we wanted a city wedding and a venue that wasn’t a hotel or a ballroom. When we walked into PAFA, we just knew right away that it was special. Since it’s an art school and museum and has both a historic and a modern building, it was the perfect venue for us, style-wise – we used the historic building for the ceremony and the modern one for the reception

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? Just to enjoy the planning process as much as possible and to stay true to who you are and not feel pressure to have things just because it’s tradition. We didn’t feel like we needed a wedding cake since we like other sweets better, so we had a dessert bar instead – things like that. And also to pick vendors whose work you admire. We really lucked out by having such talented vendors who were so easy to work with.

Love Me Do captured every colorful detail of this gorgeous Philly affair designed by Styled Creative and stationery by Loveleigh Invitations, so be sure to check them out in View all images from this wedding in the gallery

Wedding Songs:
Parents and groom’s processional: “Scenic World,” Beirut
Wedding party’s processional: “God Only Knows,” the Beach Boys
Bride’s processional: “Elephant Gun,” Beirut
Recessional: “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” Gipsy Kings
First dance: “The Book of Love,” the Magnetic Fields

Below is the music video that inspired them + the song that Leaya walked down the aisle to:

Wedding Vendors (Philadelphia, PA):

Ceremony and reception venue: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts / Event Designer: Kimberly Fink at Styled Creative / Florist: Margaux St. Ledger at Fleur De Lis Floral / Wedding photographer: Carina and Amanda of Love Me Do / Wedding Dress: Vera Wang “Evelyn” / Headpiece: Lo Boheme / Wedding shoes: BHLDN / Hair and Makeup: Claudia Seyler / Groom’s suit: Hugo Boss / DJ: DJ Prof from Roots and Groove / Caterer: Jimmy Duffy’s / Wedding Dessert: Felix’s Caketeria / Wedding Stationery: Loveleigh Invitations