Who said everyone in the wedding party has to match? It certainly wasn’t us! We love that every couple is unique and therefore every wedding is different. It is a distinctively personal occasion, one that allows a couple to show their personality and incorporate the many meaningful things that make them who they are. So we don’t see any reason why the friends in our lives, who are also truly unique and individual, shouldn’t be able to express that too! We love the idea of letting bridesmaids express their personal style and with the ever-growing list of retailers who offer wider varieties of wedding attire, we welcome this trend with open arms! Eric and Melanie did such a great job of incorporating personal and unique ideas into their day and setting their bridesmaids apart from one another was just one way they were able to do that. We are very excited to share their day and to celebrate this modern approach with beautiful images by Third Avenue Photography and a stunning Kansas City, MO backdrop.
Ideas We Love: Fabric and Feather Wedding Flowers
We see a lot of weddings here at MOTM, but this event definitely caught our eye. What stood out about it? The beautiful personal flower and decor pieces, all of them made out of fabric and feathers. In the words of their photographer Dana Ann Photography, “Every detail of the wedding from the bride’s bouquet to the beautifully crafted arch they delivered their vows to one another under, was designed and put together for the couple by the hands that love them most.” We think this quote sums their day up perfectly, and makes these elements all the more special. Thanks so much for sharing Dana!
Floral Friday: Burgundy Dahlias, and Blush Astible
Sigh. That’s the most fitting way to start this post off, because when I look at the amazing florals for today’s Floral Friday, that’s the first thing I do, sigh with happiness. Deep dark burgundies, soft blush pinks, and beautiful light ivory’s all combine together, in a a beautifully unexpected way. I think the flowers perfectly capture the feeling of summer, but could also make an amazing non-traditional fall palette as well, with the burgundy dahlias, and soft blush astible. There’s really nothing I don’t love about this lovely event, with floral design by Blue Bouquet, and beautiful pictures captured by Alea Lovely. Thanks so much for sharing Alea!
Real Wedding: Jennie and Jordan, St. Louis, MO
Wow. And we could end this post with that. But we’ll go on because there is just so much to say about Jennie and Jordan’s wedding. The images, from Bound By, give such an up close and personal encounter of the day, it’s almost like we were right there with them! Every moment beautifully captured and the love Jennie and Jordan have, documented in detail.
We absolutely love the rustic backdrop of the barn paired with the elegance of Jennie’s gorgeous vintage, lace gown. Plus, her floral halo is simply divine! Not to mention all the super sweet DIY projects they took on. Their love is one that took on space and time to fully develop into all the beauty we have to show you today. Cue the angels, this celebration is heavenly!
Who, What, Where ~ Photographer: Bound By. Dress & Veil: Vintage family heirlooms. Bride’s Hairpiece: Whichgoose. Venue: Thornhill Mansion at Faust Park. Catering: HollyBerry Catering. Cake: The Cake Lady, Ballwin, MO. Flowers: DIY. Bridesmaids Dresses: Urban Outfitters, Francesca’s Boutique & Free People. Groom’s boots: Aldo’s
From the Bride, Jennie….
Our story starts with a little bit of breaking the rules, a little bit of a tropical, hemorrhagic fever contracted in South East Asia, a few years of friends, a few months of more than friends, a break up, a reunion, and (duh) a proposal.
Jordan was the staff person sent to pick me up from the airport in Hawaii where I had flown to spend the better part of the year with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a non-denominational international missions organization. I’ll go ahead and say here that I am not a romantic person. I mean, I’m far too practical and too independent to swoon. But, as long as I live, I’ll never forget the fact that as I walked out of the airport and shook hands with him, now only a stranger, the incurably romantic thought ran across my mind: You’re going to need to remember this moment. So, I did.
Jordan was the supporting staff on my missions team, and though dating between students and leaders was a no-no (and though I STILL insist I was not really interested in him romantically then), our relationship grew and not inconspicuously so. I began to notice his attention to me – and so did everyone else. While in Indonesia together, I began noticing the sweet connection between us, but there was a massive detour when I found myself hospitalized with Dengue Fever. Cue Jennie flying back to the States.
But, undaunted by rules and needless miles between us, Jordan found time and means to manage to be “just passing through” my city when he was back in the States as well. Little by little, we found ourselves as best friends who wanted so many similar things in life. We wanted to travel; we wanted to serve Jesus Christ in missions; we wanted to laugh at ridiculous YouTube videos like the Dramatic Chipmunk.
Taking the advice of his friends that “space is for aliens” (once declared to him by the infamous Brandom Dahm as he shared with friends that I had asked for “time and space”), I flew up to visit him and remove the space between us. It was that trip that I had the thought, “I could marry this boy.”
The thought slightly alarmed me, but I went with it. He made me feel ok with myself and then like someone else entirely – someone more lovely, more valuable – at the same time. It was a little like magic. Fast forward months of dating long distance, he decided last December 30th to propose.
And so, we’re getting hitched this summer.
We’ve seen each other at our worst (me, near-death in hideous pajama pants in a hospital in Indonesia). We’ve traveled the world on crazy adventures. We’ve sat for hours quietly under a tree in a park reading Jane Austen. We’ve laughed ourselves out of stupid fights about nonsense. And I, for one, am ready to walk forward to new and crazy adventures.
Real Wedding: Chelsea and Kevin, St. Louis, MO
Is there anything more intimate than a backyard wedding? Surrounded by the people you love and the memories of your youth, we can’t think of a more charming way to begin the next chapter of your life. For Chelsea, her grandparents’ backyard proved to be the perfect spot to say “I do” to her soulmate, Kevin. There, under the twinkle lights her mom and dad strung up, surrounded by the flowers their friends spent much of the day arranging, these two loves birds were right at home.
Who, What, Where ~~ Ceremony & Reception: Chelsea’s Grandparents’ Home.
Photography: Jason Domingues Photography. Dress: Bridal Extraordinaire.
Catering: Gregory’s Creative Cuisine. Cake: Dolce Baking Co. Stationery: Tie That Binds Weddings. Kevin’s Wood Ring: Stout Woodworks.
From The Bride, Chelsea…
After the first few months of dating, Kevin and I each knew we had found what we had always been looking for. Our souls had met their match, and so naturally, I became infatuated with wedding planning. We sat down and made a list of what truly mattered to us regarding our wedding day. The list included intimate family, my grandfather as the minister, and holding the wedding on our anniversary, July 2nd.
Following those goals, we decided to have the wedding in my grandparent’s small but lovely backyard where I had played so often as a child. The French language has importance to us because I speak French fluently and Kevin proposed to me in French (so that even in a crowd of family and friends only I knew the special words he was asking me.) So, we decided to infuse the details with a vintage french flea market feel. The dessert table featured macarons, palmiers and a banner reading “patisserie”. We also included songs from Carla Bruni and Edith Piaf on our post-ceremony playlist.
To keep the wedding budget-friendly, I hand-crafted most of the decor. We hunted through our favorite antique stores for pretty plates and candlesticks. I purchased and cut the burlap table runners, glued together the table numbers, hand painted the wedding signs and hot-glued moss to our initials.
Being from a very closely-knit family also meant that their incorporation was very important to us. While we did not have a traditional processession, my two little sisters walked before me as my flower girls (the youngest held a sign reading “Here Comes the Bride”,) and my father walked me down the aisle, which was one of the most meaningful walks of my life. My grandmother’s cameo brooch decorated my bouquet as my “something old”, and I wore my other grandmother’s pearl necklace as my “something borrowed.” My “something blue” was our initials and wedding date hand-stitched by my grandmother into my dress, and my something new was my wedding gown, which my mother and I found and purchased together, a moment I will always cherish.
What happened on the day of the wedding was simply a blur of love. As soon as the day began friends and family were helping left and right. My parents were stringing twinkle lights through the trees, my grandfather was practicing his sermon, and all of the women were busy making our famous pies for dessert. The day was filled with surprises that I did not know about: beginning with Kevin passing out lyrics to our first dance song so that when we began dancing we were surrounded with a chorus of family singing to us, and ending with my grandfather passing out sparklers to everyone to light as we cut our cake. Where I thought there wouldn’t be room for dancing, my family kicked off their shoes, turned up the music and made that little garden feel like the greatest celebration I had ever attended.
That summer night, under stars and sparklers, the wedding process came to an end. But what Kevin and I knew as the guests began to trickle out and the caterers cleaned up the tables was that while our wedding was only the beginning of our life together, that day showed us what love for family is all about– and we are thrilled to be continuing that tradition of love through our marriage.
