There is a crazy kind of love happening on this side of the computer screen. Sean Walker Photography froze this rainy day wedding with an air of brilliance – perfectly capturing the warmth and cozy-ness of this beautiful day. Couture Events brought the couples vision of rustic vintage elegance to life with ease, and when paired with the rain, the result is magical. Grab your umbrella and meet me in the gallery for the rest!
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Our wedding was something that I had secretly been envisioning for years. I knew that we wanted our wedding to be an intimate occasion with only the people that were the most important to us. Having our family and our closest friends there was honestly the first thing that we talked about; especially with the losses we had both endured we knew that we didn’t want our wedding to be just about us but about the union of our families coming together as well. We wanted to incorporate as many little things we could into our wedding day that reminded us of our family who we had lost and those who were still with us.
One of the major decisions was where our wedding was going to take place. We knew that with the intimate wedding we were striving for we needed a venue that was going to be cozy, inviting, and would be conducive to the theme of rustic elegance I was going for. After looking at just a few photos of The Pine Hills Lodge and finding out that it was originally built as a romantic hideaway in 1912 I knew that we had to check it out. Inside, the lodge the walls are lined with pinewood that gave it the warm and cozy feeling I was going for and with a floor to ceiling stone fireplace we could get married in front of. Not only did this venue fit our criteria perfectly but it also had enough cabins on the property for our immediate family and bridal party to have a place to stay.
The inspiration for our wedding décor came about by mixing the themes that I loved the most, a nice little combination of rustic, vintage, with a little touch of elegance. I knew that I wanted most of our colors to be cream and white with just a pop of plum for an accent color. I chose to have my flowers reflect the color scheme of light colors so I chose to have creams, whites, and soft pink flowers with a touch of greenery. I wanted my flowers to have a soft feel about them and also wanted to have a little bit of a wildflower look to them as well to tie into the rustic theme. The one thing I was adamant about incorporating into my flowers was the Dusty Miller (a plant with lacy, silvery-green foliage) because it reminded me of my grandmother, if I couldn’t have her there with me on my wedding day I wanted to be reminded of her when I looked at my flowers.
The thing that I loved most about our wedding was the décor that was handmade by either one of my family members or by myself. I can’t thank my brother enough for the beautiful ‘Save the Date’ cards and invitations that he designed from scratch. The burlap and lace table runners were a labor of love that my sister-in-law helped me with, along with showing me how to sew lace pieces together so they would perfectly fit over the glass vases we were using for our flowers. One of my favorite items was the pair of love birds that I hand sewn together to make for our cake topper. I laugh when I look at the birds because not knowingly I made them to resemble myself and Kris, one with short little legs and the other with tall legs. The other handmade item that I love and now have hanging in my house is the “Hein” sign that my brother-in-law made. He used old reclaimed wood to make the sign and then used rope to spell our last name. We hung it above our sweetheart table and it was the perfect addition to the décor.
There are a lot of little moments that I still vividly remember that make me smile. One of them being the little adventure Kris and I took along with our photographer’s right before the wedding. It had been raining the whole day and most of our pictures had been either inside or under the awnings outside. Our photographer had the brilliant idea to jump in his car and drive to the spots he had been thinking about. So that is exactly what we did. Prepared with an umbrella for Kris and myself the four of us hopped in his car then hopped out when we found a perfect spot and took many pictures outside in the pouring rain. I still remember laughing at how drenched our poor photographers got because of this adventure. That was such a fun and surreal moment for us because there we were standing in the middle of the road in the pouring rain taking our wedding pictures. You would think that I would have been nervous about getting my make-up or hair ruined but I didn’t care because I knew that these pictures were going to turn out amazing.
Another special moment that I can vividly remember is getting this overwhelming feeling of love and joy as Kris and I stood there holding hands just listening to our officiant and then getting that giddy little feeling again just before he pronounced us as husband and wife. I just remember looking at Kris and thinking “this is the moment I have been waiting for my entire life.” I couldn’t imagine saying those special vows with anyone but Kris and in front of our loved ones was just an amazing moment I will never forget.
Photographer: Sean Walker Photography / Coordination & Styling: Couture Events / DJ: Sound Prodigy / Flowers: Allen’s Flowers / Hair: Hair by Kendra / Makeup: Katie Joyner / Venue: Pine Hills Lodge / Invitation Designer: Jordan Cordova / Cake + Desserts: Flour Power / Wedding Gown Designer: Demetrios / Bridesmaid’s Dress Designer: Bill Levkoff / Officiant: Craig Knudsen