Parking Garage Wedding by Hannah Bergman
First of all, let me start by saying, I love this wedding in a big way no matter the venue, but when I found out it was in a parking garage, I literally almost fell out of my chair. It is the PERFECT example of how just a bit of creativity can transform the most unlikely sites into someone’s dream. Lacey shares more below as to how the location came to be, but first let’s just revel in the glorious details caught in action by the too talented for words, Hannah Bergman, of Steve Steinhardt Photography. –xoxo, Beth Helmstetter
{click here to see the full wedding}
More from the bride, Lacey…
When Jared and I met over three years ago I just knew we were a match made in heaven. Especially after hearing he was in school to become a multimedia developer, the perfect compliment to a photographer and graphic designer. He got my father’s blessing and surprised me with a 4th of July proposal. We were at the park on a sunny afternoon sitting on our special bench. The same bench where he first spoke those three little words “I love you”. We stood up to start a game of crochet with our friends when I noticed he was down on one knee and had pulled a little box from his pocket. After he popped the question, a few moments of shock and a few tearful “YESSES!” our crazy planning began.
We wanted to be married in the fall and even though that didn’t give us a lot of time, we had a huge support team including both our families and great friends. Being a wedding photographer myself I’ve picked up ideas and have made priority lists in my head for years. Number one on the list, of course, was our photographer. I booked the very talented Hannah Bergman only a few days after I was engaged. It was a wonderful decision. Not only did I feel that she just “got us”, she was a pleasure to work with. The images still move me to tears and we simply love them.
Next on the list was location. I wanted to have a rooftop wedding but options were limited here in Spokane. After seeing a huge three story parking garage newly constructed behind my workplace, inspiration struck, this would be perfect for my “roof top wedding”. I shared my vision with Jared and he totally loved it! When I got brave enough to ask the owner about using the garage, he looked at me like I was crazy, and said it was the “darndest thing” he’s ever been asked but that I could use it for free! The garage set the stage for a modern wedding look so I made sure to add a lot of vintage and warm touches so it wouldn’t feel too cold or stark.
I’ve always pictured myself in something very feminine and sweet. With that in mind I started looking for a dress the very next week. I found a few I liked that ranged from $800.00 to $1200.00. But leaving the bridal boutique, a dress on the sale rack caught my eye. It was being discontinued and was on sale for $199.99. I was able to see past the reasons I knew it was on the sale rack and saw what it could be. I bought it! I had it altered to fit me, removed the train and the horrible floral/butterfly beading around the waist. I found a western rhinestone belt, at Audrey’s a Boutique here in Spokane, removed the black leather buckle and used the gorgeous rhinestone belting to replace the beading around the waistband. After checking several fabric stores for a pretty sheer material to soften the look, I ended up using a pair of old sheer curtains that my mom had on hand to create the bodice and ruffle cap sleeves. The bodice was put together by my seamstress but my mom was the one who really put the finishing touches on it including attaching it to the dress. I got my shoes at Piperlime.com and my earrings are vintage.
Our flowers were designed by Loretta Etchison of Retro Blooms. So many of the flowers I originally wanted were not available in October but she achieved the feel I was going for by using what she could find. I loved my flowers!
Jared and I designed and made our own invites, programs and developed our very own wedding website. We used Photoshop to design both and made every one of those little blue envelopes by hand. I downloaded free fonts from www.dafont.com including, “Spranq Eco Sans” for some of the text inside the invite and “The King and Queen” to address the envelopes. We borrowed the idea for custom coffee jacket sleeves for the cups we served the hot cider, cocoa and Russian tea in, from Utterly Engaged E-zine. We followed our chandelier theme by printing different styles of chandeliers along with neckties, necklaces, shades and deer antlers to make it fun. Our ceremony aisle was lined with glass cylinders filled with orange berries, from a gracious neighbor’s yard. We hollowed enough room for three cream, taper candles tied with twine. We borrowed three large stage panels from our church to define the front of the ceremony that we covered in vintage sheet music and hung poster frames with chandelier decals to continue the theme. The orange paper balls were purchased at the local party store. We cut them in half to make half spheres and added them to the panel for a pop of color.
The DIY project I’m proudest of was our bubble chandeliers that hung above the reception tables. Buying glass globes at $1 each we used craft store wired to circle the lip and hung them at different heights to achieve a grape cluster effect. We tied them off on a simple ‘s’ hook. Each globe had a cream votive candle. They were simply stunning all lit up and were worth the hard work. For our favors, I ordered custom pins from Etsy and was able to use my own designs. We pinned pretty ribbons to brown paper lunch bags filled with chocolate truffles and signed them with a special hand written thank you.
Jared and I wrote letters to each other the night before the wedding and gave them to each other the morning of the big day. His letter to me was the most precious thing I’ve ever received and I will treasure it forever. All of our nieces and nephews rang bells to announce the bride instead of the traditional flower petals. It added lots of jolly noise and was one of my favorite parts. Our ceremony was so beautiful, we each wrote our vows and it was very moving seeing my husband tear up, he’s definitely not the crying type. Everything that could go wrong went wrong, but if you ask Jared or I about our wedding day we’ll both say “it was perfect”. It truly was the most wonderful day of our lives. We were so happy to start our story together that nothing else mattered.
Photography: Hannah Bergman of Steve Steinhardt Photography / Florals: Loretta of Retro Blooms 509.624.3457 / Paper Goods: Paper and Thread / Bride’s Hair: Laura Warren / Bride’s Makeup: Julie Farley of The Makeup Studio/ Cake: Sweet Dreams Gourmet Bakery 509.747.6900/ Day of Coordinator: Zach Bailey / Pianist: Lamont Miles / Catering: Tomato Street
84 Comments about “Parking Garage Wedding by Hannah Bergman”
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Does anyone know where the flower girl dresses are from? I am having an orange wedding too and those dresses not only match the color, they match the pattern on my save the dates!!! I need them! Thanks for the help!
Love her ability to "step outside the box" and go with her creative gut...Also, I love the way she describes her big day in such a realistic and heart-felt way...Thank you for sharing!
I love what the little girls are wearing.
The SHOES!! Wow.
That dress is absolutely perfect!
That is absolutely amazing...of course now I'm racking my brain for parking garages around here! so beautiful!
where are those orange tissue paper decorations on the wall from? i only know where to get bells and balls - did you cut them yourself for the walls?
Lacey~ I loved your wedding. My fav pic is you kissing your daddy~ Ken.... your a wonderful father~ I have shown your photos to my friend that is getting married and she loved the little boys hats. What a perfect day!!!!!
I've been looking at wedding programs- that one takes the cake! *pun intended!*
love everything about this wedding from the fact that they used such a unique venue to the bridesmaid attire to how bright it was to her GORGEOUS shoes!
Love the orange, bridesmaids outfits, and the dress. Simple and cute.
I love that the briade found a dress for $200 and made it her own. It looked so beautiful!
This wedding is SO creative! Love that she thought out of the box with the parking garage! Just goes to show you what can be done with the most unlikely location! I'd love to see a photo of the bubble chandeliers she made. They sounds super creative also. Congrats Lacey!
Beautiful! I love everything about it - colors, style, quirky little touches! And can you beat a free rooftop venue?? Thanks so much for sharing! XOXO Cindi
Wow! Thanks everyone!
Katie, The flowergirls dresses were from Gap Kids I got them at the beginning of fall '09 so they're gone now. I've seen a few sell on ebay here and there though so you might check there.
Daisy, Yes, they're just those paper balls you can find at a party store, cut in half.
lace_lace_30@hotmail.com
This is amazing! Gorgeous & unique!
Gorgeous! Add another flower girl dress fan to the list! :)
Awwww the bride's dress is so pretty pretty pretty
here's the link to see the bubble chandeliers.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=30452072&id=1430856345&fbid=1208548500451
Wow, talk about vision. Very inspiring post.
so inspiring! :) one of my fave posts to date! oh, and if only all of my clients were this creative and colorful i'd be in wedding photography heaven!
Wow, so unexpected and so cool! I love the color palette, too. Fantastic post!
Lacey--- that dress is absolutley amazing. As soon as I opened this post I started to swoon. It is stunning!
The orange shoes are beautiful and unique. This is the coolest wedding I've ever seen. It's so unique...a parking garage. Who would have thought. It is so relaxed and fun. The couple is so cool and fun.
Ooohhhh... I love the orange details of this wedding!! Great idea for the wedding party outfits and I LOOOOOVE the bride's dress!
So fresh and original!
I love EVERYTHING about it from the dress to the photo area, table settings all of it!
The DRESS! The SHOES! Omg, I love this bride! So, so lovely.
SWOON! I love this :D PS. I also love the updated site design. I feel like I've missed out because I keep up with SMP on my Google Reader. It's beautiful!
I love those shoes, i love the bridesmaids outfits very different (and very mad men) but most importantly i love the dress story, I make clothes and soft interiors but hate alterations because they are soooo boring, but if someone come to me with a project like that wedding dress i would relish it, sounds like marvelous fun.
p.s. congratulations to lacey
this wedding is positively adorable. great job on all the diy details! i love how fresh it is...very jonathan adler!
Holy cow!!! This is just a feast of inspiration....totally and utterly incredible!
I *love* the baby in his little brown suit and bonnet! HA! Sooo precious!
Lovely bride, and so nice to see a bride in something other than a strapless dress.
You're beautiful from head to toe, Lacey!
Many warm congratulations to you, and your new hubby :)
Coolest wedding ever.
Absolutely stunning. I loved every detail. WOW. I loved reading the bride's recap at the end! Thanks for sharing!
This is really nice and cute. And I particularly love the flower girls dress. Different, and so not "wedding" meringue looking. A great choice and style!
Orange. ORANGE!!!!
I LOVE the orange. I LOVE the parking garage concept. I LOVE the dress!!! NOT strapless - yay! There is just so much joy and warmth in these photos; looks like it was a totally fun wedding.
I TOTALLY heart orange! How would have guessed such a location! I love it!
Kim @ http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com
party inspiration
Oh my goodness! This is seriously the kind of wedding I would have had if I didn't have the one I did (which I also loved) haha
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, and how fabulous are those shoes??
I *LOVE* the orange. I *LOVE* the letters. And I *LOVE* the pumpkins. Very, very well done Steve!!!
Holy moly! I fa-reakin LOVE the color scheme of this wedding! The details are off the chart! Great job!
This wedding is amazing! I love the bridesmaids' ensembles, I love the orange, I love the paper goods. Pretty sure I love it all!
This is hands down my favorite wedding ever featured on SMP! So creative!
I would've never thought that one can make a dreary place such as parking garage into a thing of beauty. The creativity of this couple is absolutely amazing and shows in every single detail of their gorgeous wedding.
Fabulous wedding Style Me Pretty!
Never have I loved orange as much as this!
The link to the photographers website is actually www.stevesteinhardt.com Thats where you will find Hannah and Steve
Your wedding was magnificent and beautifully done! it was just so impressive
Amazing, just stunning. Thank you for sharing your story Lacey, you & your husband both obviously have incredible gifts of creativity. Just one question... did it rain?
Holy amazing, this wedding is awesome. Are those carnations in the vases on the table? I was thinking of using carnations in a similar way but I was afraid it would look cheap but it doesn't, it looks incredible. Thanks for sharing your fantastic ideas!
As usual, great post, wonderfully captured moments. I'm loving all the orange. And I love the shoes. I never thought of thinking orange shoes for a wedding. Over all, I think the orange theme added to the sweetness. It's an amazing talent you have for thinking outside the box. Thank you for sharing your story, and congratz to the two of you. May you both live a long happy life together.
This wedding is perfection. Ridiculously, imperfectly perfect! One of my top favorites of all time, fabulous job!!
Lovely wedding... couldn't even tell that it was at a parking garage! Absolutely gorgeous!
veeeery sweet. love the dress and the shoes! her dad looks overwhelmed-that is a great pic!
Unique + Cute! Love the orange touches :-)
Wow, I can't believe this is a real wedding ---- it is so awesome it looks like an inspiration shoot. I LOVE the chandeliers and the programs. What a beautiful dress too!
Good stuff!
This weddings is absolutely gorgeous!! There just isn't any other word for it, well except intimate. I love every detail in it. :) Congratulations!!
This wedding is ridiculously gorgeous. I love every last thing about it. Thanks so much for posting!
WOW!!! I love that she had the guts to think outside of the box but still get the effect she dreamed of. So many cool things about this wedding, love what she did to the dress {would love a before/after} and very awesome job on the design details!
I love this wedding, absolutely wonderful. Where are those amazing orange shoes from?
I love how personal and creative this wedding is! And you look like such a sweet couple!
May I ask who the shoes are by? They are no longer available on piperlime (at least as far as I could see) but I may be able to find them from another source...they would be perfect with my favorite orange summer dress ;-)
That dress is FANTASTIC! so beautiful. I'm almost a little bummed that you DIY'd the dress - which means it's not out there for ME! Lovely, so lovely to see a dress option that isn't uniform strapless.
What a breath of fresh air! We love love love this wedding with all of it's poppy orange and beautiful people... Happiness is something unexpected!
OMG!! I cant believe this is a *real* wedding... the bride looks like straight out of a magzine..LOVE her poses!! Love her look in the dress...WOW!!!!
What a beautiful wedding! I love that it looks like you took your initials and used them as a "guest book" where were you able to find those? Its such a clever idea. Something to hang in your home. Congratulations to you and your new husband!
This is the most darling wedding ever! The colors are perfect and we are in love with all of the details! Every last one of them!
My heart skipped a beat when I saw the bubble chandeliers! I'm head over bright-orange heels in love with this wedding! The garage was such a wonderful choice. Can you imagine getting married 40 years ago when a couples choices were almost entirely limited to their local church? We are blessed to be a part of such a creative generation.
I love this wedding! THe orange is so fun, the bride is gorgeous and the bridesmaids outfits are so neat! Everything together, all of the little touches made a very neat wedding!
Dang...I guess the bride's practice as a photographer paid off because she is damn. good. at posing for the camera! I was about to ask if she had significant modeling experience because she really knows what she's doing (not to mention she's gorgeous!).
... wow! and i thought my fiance and i were the only people who would ever consider a parking garage as a wedding venue and yet here on a major wedding blog is this very idea. we literally have been talking about a parking garage wedding as a statement for how mundance spaces can be turned into something sacred and magical simply with the addition of a little love and creativity. i guess we were right! it's fun to know that we were not that crazy after all. he's going to flip when he sees this. there really are no original ideas. wonderfully done!
beautiful details. We're LOVING ALL OF THE ORANGE!!! great palette! beautifully tied together -the Perfect Palette.
What a beautiful wedding! I really like your bridal party outfits. Can you tell me where you found the skirts?
What is the brand name of those shoes? I am dying to get them! I checked piperlime.com and I couldn't find them anywhere.
Still not sure where the shoes are from, but here is a somewhat similar pair on endless: http://www.endless.com/s/ref=topnav_sk__s/178-3387155-6837012/?onsale=&showDesigner=&node=242169011&keywords=Cimmy+Sandal&x=14&y=6
They're Pierre Dumas.
Thanks Elaine!
Just desire to say what a great blog you got here! I’ve been around for quite lots of time, but now decided to show my appreciation of your work!
Well done, and all the best!
Kind regards
I've known this girl since we were children, and she has always been THIS creative, beautiful, and dedicated to everything she wills into her life.
Lacey, your wedding really was amazing! You're an inspiration, and your wedding was... you!!
The colors of the neckties seem fabulous in the photos. But are they same as they look?