Winter Art Gallery Wedding

Rachele has spent the past two years working with photography and floral design powerhouse Sweet Root Village, so it was a bit of a no-brainer that they would be an integral part of her wedding day. The day was filled to the brim with inspiring details like agate table numbers, beautiful greenery accents, and a bright fuchsia bouquet to contrast the white floral arrangements for the reception. We can’t get enough!

From the bride, Rachele: If there is anything Josh and I have to say about our wedding day is that we wish we could go back and relive the day, and that we would have danced more than we got to! We knew we wanted to have a small wedding with close family friends and we knew we wanted to mix earthy elements with pops of glam along with personal touches from me and Josh. We DIYed lots of leather tassels to bring in the earthy accents as well as adding ferns to our paper goods (we got engaged on a fern covered patio) and used plexiglass to create complementing acrylic signs to match our candelabras and chairs. We also knew that we couldn’t go wrong working with my closest friends and co-workers at Sweet Root Village who really made the vision come together and kept the day running smoothly.

Naturally, working in the wedding world I had heaps of inspiration about what our wedding day could look and feel like! I originally had dreamed of a winter wedding full of fur, velvet, a dash of Shakespearean class, and deep rich tones. When Josh and I got engaged, we planned for a February wedding, hoping for a snowy wonderland, but after two weeks of being engaged, we decided to move our wedding to November! As much as we both loved the holiday season, we did want to be careful to ensure that our wedding didn’t feel holiday inspired, so we kept the love for rich tones in my bouquet (which I LOVED!) and opted for gorgeous white and green flowers and a palette of grey, gold, navy, and white for the rest of the wedding. The main inspiration for the day came from the venue. As soon as I walked in, I dreamed of bringing a touch of glam and earthy accents to match the stone walls and marble fire places!

Rachele’s Favorite Memory: Our first look! Josh looked so handsome and we were so excited to see each other and we really enjoyed spending time together before the guests arrived. Joshua’s Favorite Memory: After the ceremony was finished, we (Rachele and I) snuck away into our reception room where we enjoyed our first few minutes as a married couple. We were so happy that all we could do was hug each other while crying joyful tears.

Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? Invest in a wedding coordinator even if it’s just for the day of the wedding! There is no better feeling on your wedding day knowing that there is someone keeping everything on track and taking care of the various problems that inevitably arise on a wedding day!

View all images from this wedding in the gallery

Wedding Music:
Processional: “My Love,” Dustin Kensrue
Bride’s Processional: Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Recessional: “Divine Romance,” Phil Wickham
First Dance: “City and Colour,” Northern Wind

From the photographers and florists, Sweet Root Village: Rachele has worked for us at Sweet Root Village for two years now and not only is she a bundle of light, energy, and humor in the studio during the day-to-day, but she’s also an amazing friend to us and we’ve had the pleasure of watching her relationship with Josh from the very beginning! Josh involved us in his proposal and we got to plan Rach a rocking bridal shower. We were beyond honored to help her pull together an amazing look for her wedding as well as capture the amazing day with her closest friends and family! Rachele and Josh selected an awesome venue in the heart of their hometown of Warren, Pennsylvania. This was the second wedding to ever take place at the Crary Art Gallery and it was a dream! Rachele and Josh put together so many personal details for their day. Josh is a graphic designer and took care of designing the invitations suite, menu, and other paper goods! Rachele painted the escort display canvas and crafted heaps of details like the cocktail stir sticks for the guests at the bar as well as leather and velvet tassels securing a bundle of honey stick at each place setting. They also worked together to create a photo booth backdrop inspired by their venue choice of famous paintings strung between velvet curtains! Something that the guests enjoyed immensely! Rachele also created the acrylic signage elements on the bar and side tables. The couple surprised their bridal party with curated gifts and Rachele’s maid of honor, her sister, received a rocking oversized raw crystal ring she found on Etsy! Rachele was immensely in love with ghost chairs and a lot of details for the rest of the day ended up matching perfectly. We included crystal candelabras, lots of clear glass candle elements, crystal cake cutting tools, the acrylic signage, and glass roof of the ceremony space! For flowers, we got to pack the tables with wintery blush blooms and drape the ceremony space in vines. The greens felt almost as if they were already growing in the space! We used the same vines to accent a lot of other areas like the escort display, bar, and cake bar cart. Rachele wanted a very neutral palette for her wedding but had her heart set on one super bomb blast of bold red in her bouquet! We packed it full of every one of our favorite red flowers, including: amaryllis, garden roses, peonies, orchids, ranunculus, cosmos, tulips, and more! It was a dream to design and one massively heavy armful of goodness. We worked with lots of ferns elements throughout the day in all the centerpieces, the cake, and in the bridesmaid bouquets! Josh and Rachele’s ceremony was one of the most emotional events we’ve had the opportunity to photograph. We were crying and laughing and singing and smiling so hard throughout the entire time! Josh was an emotional mess as Rachele walked down the aisle. Heck, we were all an emotional mess! There was plenty of fun and high fives and a shower of red roses petals over their first kiss as husband and wife!