Project Wedding Blog

Wow.. it’s really that time. As we usher in 2012, we thought we’d reminisce about all the incredible real weddings we featured this year on Project Wedding.  We’re so proud of every hand-selected wedding published each week, but these ones just happen to be our favorites! Enjoy the encores by clicking on the links to the full features.  Here goes… on to the countdown!

10. {Vibrant Latin-Asian Fusion Wedding} by onelove photography

9. {A Pink Wedding and a Patisserie} by Gideon Photography

8. {Intimate, Luxury Vineyard Wedding} by Briana Marie Photography

7. {Vintage Garden Party} by Natalie Neal

6. {1920’s Shanghai Nightclub} by Robert Suckrachand

5. {East Meets West in a Garden} by Meg Perotti

4. {East Coast Elegance} by Karen Hill

3. {Lush Botanical Wedding} by Braedon Photography

2. {Fun and Playful Wedding on a Farm} by Jose Villa

and no. 1… {An Elegant Old World Party in Austin} by Q Weddings!

whew! That’s enough to keep a bride busy for a while…

Thanks to all the amazing wedding pros who keep our love and inspiration stash filled!

Want to be featured in 2012? Find out more about making a submission {here}.

Have a safe + happy New Year!

xoxo.

Tags: best of 2011.

Today, a little handmade prettiness from the heartland.

Josh and Heather married in Oakland, Iowa this past October.  It’s not often that we feature weddings from Iowa… Not for any reason of course, we just don’t hear much from the Iowan folks… so it’s such a treat to have come across this gem of a wedding, photographed by our friends Jonny and Michelle of Paper Antler.

The bride is an artist and she created nearly all of the cute little details and things shown below!  She-so kindly- sent over all of her DIY instructions too, so that you can see how she pieced everything together!

DIY Whimsical Signs
Supplies: Old wood (both flat & in stick form), paint, wood glue.
Paint a white background almost to edges on flat wood. When dry, add letters (J + H) or words
(Wedding with an arrow or Just Married or Mr. & Mrs.) using a bright color (I used teal). Glue stick to
sign with wood glue and allow it to dry. Dig hole and secure in ground or nail signs to trees.

DIY Invitations
Supplies: Card stock, bird punch, edge punch, silver thread, computer, RSVP template, glue stick.
Print invitation information on card stock for RSVP cards and wedding invites. Punch edges to give them a classy, professional look (I used Martha Steward brand for edges and the birds). Punch out 2 birds on
invites. Wrap thread around top of invites. Add a fun scrapbook paper under the bird cutout using a glue stick. I made postal stamps using my artwork (bird-themed) at Zazzle.com- easy and affordable.

DIY Happy Tears Table
Supplies: Old table, old picture frame, paper, hankies, sweet little bin, spray paint.
Find an old table, sand it down and spray paint it a color you like (I used robin’s egg blue). Make a sign
that says, “Happy Tears, Please Take One” and frame it. Arranged old and new hankies in a bin you
enjoy and place on table for guests to use during the ceremony.

DIY Treats Table
Supplies: Old-fashioned or favorite candies and treats, vintage bowls, decorative take-away bags, cloth.
Collect candy and treats (I made white/dark chocolate covered apples) and arrange them neatly in vintage, decorative dishes. Cover table with a vibrant cloth. Have guests take away candy using fun bags. If you
desire, make a fun sign to hang above table (mine said, ‘sweets’  and I used leftover paper and glue).

How lucky we are to get a peek into this DIY maven’s planning process.. Thanks, Heather!

All the best to You and Josh!

Photographs by Paper Antler Photography

Ceremony & Reception Site: Big Grove Country Inn

Paper Goods & Décor by the bride- Heather McDonald- of Wildflowers & Grace

See her etsy shop too!

From the Bride: Riding home on the airplane from San Juan, Puerto Rico, I was elated after accepting Josh’s sweet proposal to me in a garita at Castillo de San Cristóbal, a fortress built by the Spanish in 1783. We opened up my journal that I take everywhere and penned our autumn, vintage-themed wedding, “Elegantly Antique.”

We excitedly planned October 8th, 2011 and hoped this wedding would be enchanting- boy was it ever! We wanted to showcase who we are as people while making everyone who would attend feel relaxed and at home.  Joshua is a brilliant writer and I am an artist who finds creating to be my therapy, so much so that I am studying to be an art therapist; we had ideas aplenty. We put our love-struck minds together and let our creative energies flow in hopes of making the vision of our dream wedding a reality. We scoured many antique shops in Wisconsin, where I am from and in Nebraska, where Josh is from, collecting trinkets and unique finds until we ran out of space to store them. I was busy designing wedding invitations, wedding programs and much of the décor that would grace the wedding site.

We stumbled upon an adorably perfect, four acre, rustic Iowan wedding site which included a Bed and Breakfast, a 100 year old chapel, a one-room school, a quaint reception hall, horseshoes and a merry-go-round, and an outdoor patio with a fire pit and scenic cornfields as far as these excited eyes could see.

Being a lover of nature, I found myself drawn to white birch trees, whimsical birds and various shades of goldenrod and aqua. I envisioned a palate of these colors on my bridesmaids and groomsmen as they stood in the charming country chapel.

Josh’s sister was busy making yellow antique rosettes for my maids’ hair and one for me made out of a blue antique flower pin and fabric from Josh’s grandmother’s wedding dress. We gathered old-fashioned candy for our loved ones to nibble on and mason jars to make hanging lanterns out of. The summer flew by as we made paper and pom-pom garland. I printed beautiful framed 4”x6” prints of my artwork to hang from twine with clothespins that would be parting gifts for our guests- to take a small piece of us with them when they went.

The wedding plans started to come together and finally the day arrived. Everything was lovely and even the weather decided to cooperate. My favorite part of the day was the beauty of love bringing all this together, that and, after the ceremony, a vibrant rainbow appeared in the sky over the Iowa corn and we ran out in the misting rain to capture shots of the glorious moment.

Tags: autumn, country, DIY, fall, gold, Iowa, teal, vintage.

By: Victoria Hudgins

These leather key chains are easy to make, affordable and fun! We recommend creating heart shapes for the ladies, while stylish leather tabs will have the guys loving this simple thank you gift.

One. To create the leather key chains you will need to find scrap leather to work with. Craft stores sell scrap leather very cheap (plan to pay about $2 for 3-4 strips of it), or perhaps you could find an out-of- date leather jacket to cut apart?!

Two. Use an exacto knife to design the leather. Give medium pressure to it to create indentions in the leather, like the heart on our tab. This is a nice way to mark the key chains with a heart, monogram or the date. Three. Use a pair of good fabric scissors to cut out your keychains. Hearts for the gals and a simple tab design for the guys is a great combo. You can use a template or just freehand it for an organic look.
Four. Attach the leather pieces to key chain rings (another craft store staple). You can bend the tabs right over and glue into place using hot glue or fabric glue. For the hearts, a small strip of velvet ribbon adds a burst of color.

Make simple tags for the key chains by printing out our merry thank you version, or handwriting your own. Punch a small hole at the top and thread a string to attach your key chain rings.

Project concept and photography by Victoria Hudgins

Tags: DIY, leather keychain favors.

Our facebook feeds are just buzzing with holiday engagements… oh what a fun time of year!  Wedding planning is about to be in full swing.  Perhaps you’re newly engaged?  We’ve had our eye out for super stylin’ engagement sessions; here’s a portrait session by Jonathan Canlas that delighted us entirely.

Meet Mara.

… And Danny…

Their city hipster wardrobe is quite enviable (and perfectly unique for an engagement session).  Take note of the primary colors (looking so beautiful in film) and the very clever pattern matching.

We love how the photos showcase them.  Just them.  Proof that you don’t need to play with tons of props to get a completely memorable engagement album. Their style, their love of the city, and the sweetness between the two of them are utterly apparent, making for personal, vibrant, perfect portraits.

Thanks sooooo much to Jonathan Canlas for sharing these with us! Check out more from his ‘Film is Not Dead’ series over here!

Tags: engagement photos, film photography, hipster, jonathan canlas, NYC.

We just have to gush a little bit about this week’s Real Wedding…

The couple, Erin and Alan, just radiates warmth and love, and their goal was to plan a charming, inviting celebration for their guests.

They married on a rustic estate outside of San Francisco… it was an incredible venue.

Sara of onelove photography documented their vintage style and priceless moments.  (Her work is amazing)!

The palette was red, yellow, and white, and it couldn’t have been more perfect!The bridesmaids were glammed up in golden frocks by BHLDN and accessories by Stella and Dot.  Erin wore those cute rosy patent leather flats by Steve Madden. The day was filled with tons of stylish details like paper goods by megtab designs, mums for tossing, pennant flags, and handmade accessories for the flower girls.  A spacious setting, elegant landscaping, and Italian string lights set the stage for the reception.  The couple sourced tons of vintage décor from the Alameda Antique Show; Alan’s mom collected over 400 mason jars to use as vases and drinking glasses!

The evening ended with dancing and ice cream sandwiches!

There’s tons more to see, so check out the full feature {here}.

Photographs by onelove photography

Venue: A Private Estate

Bride’s Hair by Jenna Dyer

Bridal Gown by Trudy’s Brides

Shoes by Steve Madden

Florals by Jory’s Flowers

Bridesmaid’s Dresses by BHLDN

Paper Goods by megtab designs

Officiant: Chris Atwell of Portico Church

Lighting by LightHeaded Designs

Catering by Classic Catering

Ice Cream Sandwiches by C.R.E.A.M.

And one lovely video by Cloudless…

Erin & Alan {Walnut Creek, CA} from Cloudless on Vimeo.

From the Bride: Our wedding coordinator asked us to decide on three words for our wedding so that we could focus on making decisions for our big day around those three words. We decided we wanted to have a wedding that was intimate, charming and fun.

INTIMATE: We were so excited to have our family and friends all together in one place and we wanted them to feel completely a part of our big day rather than just sitting on the sidelines.

CHARMING: We didn’t want a wedding that was formal or stuffy. We wanted it to be warm and welcoming….CHARMING!  We love the rustic, elegant look….sort of like Anthropologie… we ran with that with the old milk bottles, pepsi crates, milk tins, burlap, garden flowers, type writers and more!

FUN: We really wanted the wedding to display our personalities and not be too uptight because our goal was just to have a fun celebration with all the people we love. When things started to get stressful, we tried to ask ourselves ‘are we having fun? Will this make the wedding more fun or does it really matter?’

Favorite things/moments:

The venue is a family friend’s home and she was SO gracious to open her home to us for our wedding. We are in love with the place and feel so honored.

My cousin Stacie made the flower girl belts and baskets, ring bearer boutonniere & pillow, and my garter. SHE IS AMAZING!

I love that our guests threw mums down the aisle at us after we were announced husband and wife.

We collected a lot of the décor from the Alameda Antique Show. There were so many vintage things there. One item was an old easel that we hung all the seating assignments on and wrote “Please take a seat.”

My Grammie and Mom made all of our burlap runners and my Grammie made all of our pennant flags : )

My boss’s dad is a bee keeper and provided all the honey favors. We made tags for the honey that said “Meant to bee.”

I loved our sparkler exit. We found them in our friend’s garage and it was all very last minute, but am sooo glad we used them!

One of our favorite parts was the ice cream sandwiches for dessert. A place in Berkeley was more than willing to fulfill this vision of having ice cream sandwiches rather than cake. We were their first wedding which was super fun and they did GREAT! Our guests loved them!

I got most of my ideas from Pinterest. I ordered some things from Etsy too - - the guy’s bowties, socks, ring bearer bowtie, guestbook, and more!

Tags: BHLDN, charming, erin and alan, lighting, onelove photography, outdoor, red, vintage, white, yellow.

WIshing you a weekend that is merry + bright….

…Filled with good friends, family + tons of love.

xo,

Katelin - Sr. Editor Project Wedding

{Photo by Kate Harrison Photography}

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Holiday weddings are just so romantic…. and so fun to share during this festive season!  Today we’ve got a classic wedding by one of our fave duos- Paper Antler (photographers and philanthropists extraordinaire). Kristen and Matt wed in Auburn, Alabama, where they met in college. The day was coordinated in navy, fuchsia, and black against a backdrop of wreaths and Christmas lights.

The church was a picturesque setting with poinsettias, Christmas trees, and garland adding to the already majestic altar.  According to their photographers, Kristen and Matt were laughing, having fun, and just purely enjoying each other’s company the entire day.  At the reception, there were classic fabrics and candelabras gussying up the space, but more than anything it was a celebration of love and fun.  Two of the highlights: an amazing macaroni and cheese bar and wild salsa dancing on the dance floor!

… And at the end, Kristen and Matt’s exit was accompanied by a gorgeous sparkler send-off!

Photographs by Paper Antler

Ceremony Site: Auburn First Baptist Church

Reception Music by A-Town A-List

Tags: Christmas, holiday, Navy, Southern, sparklers.

By: Victoria Hudgins

This project is really very simple…but picture the wood stained to a rich dark color… the nighttime… and the candlelight, and it’s a very inexpensive way to create instant ambiance at your reception! Five or so candles of varying heights will make a romantic centerpiece at a circular table. A huge set would look amazing interspersed with gorgeous flowers centering a long banquet table. They add that perfect natural and organic feel; here’s the simple how-to!

You’ll need 4 x 4 x 8 pieces of wood, purchased at your local hardware store. While you are in the store you can ask them to cut down the pieces (many stores will do it for free). Cut your pieces in varying sizes from 4-7 inches long. You’ll also need a very large drill bit to center out the candles (purchase one for about $10 at the hardware store). As an added bonus, you will get a great bicep workout making these candles!Start by drilling four separate holes next to each other at the center of one end of the wood. Then drill down the middle to center out the wood. You only need to drill about an inch or so into the wood- just enough for the candle to twist in. Make sure all the tapers fit into the holes. If needed, trim the ends in, using a sharp kitchen knife.

The candles should fit snugly and securely into the wood to ensure they stay upright and safe.  At this point you can remove the candles and stain or paint the wood to get the desired coloring.

Tip* If you have any concern that the candles might tip- simply dab a bit of hot glue to the bottoms for added stability, before placing inside the holder.

Light and enjoy!

Photos and Project Styling by Victoria Hudgins

Tags: candle holder DIY, candlelight, DIY lighting, tapers.

Jessica Lorren is one of those photographers who makes everything she captures look just utterly gorgeous.  Add in a houseboat on the coast and one beautiful couple and the scene was set.  It’s our total pleasure to share Jared and Natalie’s intimate engagement session, photographed in southern Florida.

Jessica describes Jared and Natalie as incredibly sweet and so much fun. They actually lived on this houseboat together for two years and named it the Three Little Birds after themselves and their pup Jobi. Jared is a dive boat captain and Natalie works with him. Their May wedding will have a nautical theme so the boat was just the right place for their engagement shoot.

Sigh… there’s just nothing like good film work…

Congratulations Jared + Natalie!

Photographs by Jessica Lorren Organic Photography

Tags: engagement photos, Film, Florida, nautical.

With the holidays less than a week away, we thought we’d celebrate with Emily and Chase’s cozy winter wedding in Atlanta.  The space and décor elements were styled reminiscent of time Emily spent as a child in her grandparent’s cabin in the Northwoods.  Earthy and organic accents added rustic beauty, while the chocolate, mocha and ivory palette was warm and inviting.  Special thanks to Nadia D. Photography for sharing these absolutely exquisite photographs with us!

See the full album in our Real Wedding Gallery…

Photos by Nadia D. Photography

Event Coordination by Peachtree Weddings & Events

Bridal Gown by Winnie Couture

Flowers by The Flower Post

Venue: King Plow Arts Center

Cake by Frosted Pumpkin

Music by The Symphony Crack Orchestra

From the Bride: Throughout the planning process, our goal was to have fun, keep it simple and focus on the important things, like family, friends and faith. Even though the wedding was not at a church, we wanted it to be centered on our faith and the beginning of our life together. I think weddings are an opportunity to celebrate a new beginning and the focus needs to be on the couple making a life-long commitment to each other. Not to say the details aren’t fun and important too, but in the end, no matter what happens at the wedding, the marriage is what is significant.

Chase and I love winter weather and being outside. We wanted the wedding to feel warm and inviting while capturing elements of our favorite style, something we started calling “rustic elegance”. Both of our families are down-to-earth, outdoorsy types so we wanted the wedding to reflect that. I grew up in the midwest playing at my grandparents’ cabin in the Northwoods and farm in Ohio so there were lots of elements drawn from those places… the farm table and flower box on the alter, the old antique bottles and the cake stand that was actually made by my grandfather from an old tree at their cabin. It made the 20 hour trip to Atlanta just for the wedding!

My gown was nothing like what I had originally said I wanted, but when I tried it on it was as if it was made just for me. It was by Winnie Couture and had Swarvoski crystal beading- like I had never seen before- all around the top and along the train. The best part about it was that it matched my family’s heirloom veil perfectly. I was the 12th bride to wear the 80 year old chapel length veil and all twelve of those marriages were, or are, “till death do us part”. We had pictures of all twelve brides at a table on display and four of the brides were at the wedding.

We did a lot of DIY: The invitations, the centerpieces, the save-the-dates, the programs, and the cake stand, among a few other things. My mom and I had the time of our lives planning this wedding together and we had so many wonderful friends who pitched in to help us. It was amazing because we were like, “Oh, we have a friend who does this, and one that does that, and can help with this…” so it was a team effort. We were very blessed in that respect.

Looking back, there is not one thing I would change about our wedding day. The things that didn’t go exactly to plan made the night memorable and added to the fun, and the things that did go right were better than I could have ever hoped for. It was the perfect party for celebrating with my family and friends. I wasn’t nervous at all until right before my dad and I started to get ready to walk down the aisle and it all felt real. During the ceremony, our two pastors, Kevin and Russ, asked both my grandfathers to stand and give a few words of advice. Both sets of my grandparents have been happily married for more than 50 years and are an incredible testament to a marriage founded in faith and love of God. It was a total surprise and it was the only time throughout the whole ceremony that I cried. Looking at them and knowing some of what they had been through together, knowing how much they still loved each other, it reminded me of what marriage was really all about and helped to put our vows into perspective.

Another unforgettable moment was when our pastor left out “you may now kiss the bride” and we didn’t know what to do so we started walking down the aisle when Chase’s aunt yelled “KISS HER” and others joined in. He planted one on me right in the middle of the aisle amongst cheers and cat calls. It’s the unexpected moments that make it memorable!

For the food, we tried to re-create a meal that Chase and I had when we were at a vineyard in Chianti wine country in Tuscany. We had Italian meats, cheeses, roasted vegetables and homemade breadsticks in a big Mediterranean display in the center of the cocktail hour room. Then the guests moved in to the reception room where we had stations set up with made-to-order pasta and Italian roast beef, salad and mashed potatoes. For dessert we had a coffee and hot chocolate bar with homemade Italian biscotti, and wedding cake, of course!

Our entertainment was incredibly unique and talented. They are such gifted musicians and played classical piano, violin and guitar for the ceremony, transitioned to the electric violin, guitar, and keyboard to re-mix popular songs for the cocktail hour, then deejayed our favorites during the reception. I had so much fun on the dance floor with my family and friends and Nadia, our photographer, got lots of pictures to prove it.

At the end of the evening, guests saw us off with bubbles and sparklers and Chase and I rode off in his big old red truck, a throw back from when we first fell in love in college.

Tags: chocolate, Christmas, cozy, holiday, mocha, rustic, winter.