Homegrown Wedding

Getting Ready

All the ladies {plus my dad} got ready at the Loft which is above the Equestrian center at Pineland Farms.  It was a gorgeous & huge space for everyone to spread out.  My sister, Jess, & I were up early, but we laid in bed watching random youtube videos {including this ridiculous one}, most likely to easy our nervousness about the day.  My friend & bridesmaid, Deana is a hairstylist & she & her friend arrived early to start on our hair.  We had a breakfast of champagne & pastries, the ladies did their nails, we laughed, shared stories, & relaxed.

My something old was a 4-strand necklace with beads that belonged to my 96 year-old Memere {who was at our wedding with my 95 year-old Pepere!}.  My something new was my dress.  My something borrowed was a watch that belongs to my mother-in-law that was given to her by her mother.  My something blue was my garter given to me by my sister.  Our ring bearer bowl was from Palomas Nest.

I collected vintage handkerchiefs with all of my bridesmaids' & our moms' initials on them & gave them as gifts that morning.

My dress was a BCBG Max Azria.

My sister-in-law, Deb, made all of the necklaces for the bridesmaids, inspired by the amazing necklaces of Elva Fields.

While I was getting my hair done, I had no idea Jess was still writing her maid-of-honor speech!

Deb did my make-up as well!

The bridesmaids' dresses were from David's Bridal.

Our gorgeous flowers were by Minotts Flowers, & I will share many more photos of those beauties in a few posts!

{All images by Fat Orange Cat Studio} 

Paper Details

Hello!  Today I am sharing more paper details from our wedding on my studio blog.  Last week completely escaped me, but this week = photos!  Promise.

{Image by Fat Orange Cat Studio}

A Feather in my Veil

{Image via Brides}

Dear Gretchen Bleiler:

I wish I could shred like you. Your wedding was beautiful!  Um...would you mind telling me where you fantastically fabulous veil & ostrich feather is from?  Because it is kind of awesome.

Eskimo kisses!

Sarah

Ribbon Walls

{Images: top by Amy Squires via My Sweet & Saucy; bottom via Once Wed}

I am loving the walls of ribbon in these photos.  This may be my answer to an easy to move, set-up, & take down display.  I would need to build a simple frame that could stand by itself, that is slightly longer than the table, & I could easily hang ribbons from.  Perhaps this is how I will incorporate some birch bark details.  How cute are the couples' names hanging in front of the wall too?  Such a great detail.

Red Light Studio Cake Toppers

{Images via Red Light Studio}

These cake toppers by Red Light Studio are adorable! Each piece is hand sculpted with paperclay, an all natural, non-toxic, & biodegradable material, so they are eco-friendly as well.  The birds, or owls, are hand painted & customized to your specifications.  I love the beautiful flowers on birdie bride & the little boutonnieres on the grooms.  So cute!  If you are like me, & not having a cake, these would be perfect next to your dessert of choice! 

Decorating with Gourds

{Images via MS Living} 

Pumpkins, squash, & gourds...it's Autumn!  With an Autumn wedding in Maine, I would love to have some of these quintessential items of the season deocrating the ceremony, cocktail, & reception sites.  However, I do not want just an orange pumpkin plunked down on the ground.   I am loving these creative ways to pretty-up & decorate with grourds.  There is something so elegant & vintage about the lace-patterned pumpkins & the toadstool pumkins are completely adorable for a woodlands-inspired wedding.  Continuing with my garland love, these simply strung gourds add a touch of rustic charm & are super simple to make.  The gourd lights would be perfect for a tented or outdoor wedding.  I better invest in some carving tools!

Find Your Seat

 
{Images by Orchard Cove Photography via Ruffled}

Once we decided on using record album covers as our table numbers, I began to wonder how we would convey this simply & creatively on the escort cards.  We could just write the name of the album along with the guests' names, but some albums may be less obvious than others.  We will be selecting albums that are familiar to {most} guests & trying to sit guests at an album they will recognize {aunts at Johnny Cash, cousins at Michael Jackson, friends at Bob Marley, & so on...}.  But then I saw these perfectly perfect escort cards today & I think this is it!  I love tags & twine!  Combined with photos of the album covers & pretty calligraphy, guests will surely find their way to their tables.  

Middleburg Folk Art Cake Toppers

{Images via Middleburg Folk Art Studio} 
  
I am not even sure how I happened upon Middleburg Folk Art Studio's shop, but my goodness everything is adorable!  I think it has been decided we are not having a cake...BUT, we are having a croquembouche, a groom's cake, cupcakes upon cupcakes, & other yummy deserts, all to be baked & styled by my sister.  So, suffice to say there will be a large table for all these delights, which calls for decoration. Middleburg has the cutest bird cake toppers which would work perfectly well set on the dessert table.  The Love Birds & Blue Birds are two of my favorites, however if we were going with a squirrel theme, I would get this pair in a heartbeat!  Of course the front of the table needs to be embellished as well & the dogwood garland or magnolia garland would be just lovely.  I love dogwoods & magnolias, but they are not in season in September so this would be a perfect way to include them, & I know just where to put these after the wedding - my studio!

Paloma's Nest

{Image by Snapshots by Clare}

While we do not have a ring bearer at the moment, {I am not sure if we will even have one...} I do know we will have a ring bearer bowl from Paloma's Nest.  Caroline's work is simple, quiet, & beautiful.  I believe I have been so drawn to her work because we have a similiar aesthetic & artistic process.  Each piece is hand cut, free form, with no pattern, giving each piece its own variation in the size, shape, & layout of the text.  I love that you can see her hand in each piece, making each one unique. 

{Custom golden dove ring bearer bowl} 

The top photo is of my sister's custom ring bearer bowl which had "We are in this together" along with their wedding date stamped on it.  I love the golden dove {above} with the phrase "Birds of a Feather" along with our names & wedding date.  I am also smitten with the tiny dove tokens, which are perfect favors for a small wedding or as a thank you to your bridesmaids.