The moodiness of Lime Green Photography‘s work is stunning. It really puts a lump in your throat, whether you know the beautiful couple or not. I don’t personally know these two (though, based on their amazing wedding I think we would totally hit it off) but I had to fight back the tears the entire time I was looking through the gallery!
From the beautiful bride… Nick and I are incredibly lucky in that we have extremely similar styles. (Well, we’re lucky for lots of other reasons too, but like-minded design sense is great for wedding planning!) We wanted a wedding venue that would let our guests venture inside and outside, with a design sensibility that was rustic yet elegant. Laurita Winery fit the bill perfectly, especially because my family has made our own wine for more than a decade. It was the first venue we looked at, and we signed the contract within a day of getting engaged.
We spent the next ten months putting it all together, and the day went perfectly. For the ceremony our 125 guests packed the little chapel, which was built in the 1800s. It was as small a wedding as we could have had, given that we both have large families, and it was fantastic to look around and see our closest friends and family members. We kept the ceremony largely traditional, but we threw in a string arrangement of The Pixies’ “Here Comes Your Man” for the processional — a nice foil to “Here Comes the Bride”!
For the reception, we wanted to provide lots of ways for our guests to have a good time. Our DJ Mike kept the dance floor full for the entire reception, which was a great mix of oldies to Top 40 to Kelis’ “Milkshake” for the bouquet toss. A separate room included lots of activities for people who wanted to take a break. My father put together a whiskey tasting, complete with homemade shot cards and personalized glasses he had made without our knowing. The photobooth line was almost out the door.
On decor, the only thing I was crazy-specific about was the exact shade of extremely pale green for our bridesmaids dresses and groomsmen’s ties. The celadon carried over into our flowers, which included pops of peach as well as lavender and rosemary herb accents that Nick loved. We put burlap runners on the tables, with bronzed table number tags looped over wine bottles. We’re not crafty people at all, so we made a few things that simply took hard work: cork placecard holders, wooden boxes for the floral centerpieces, our programs that we cut and scored, etc.
I would certainly recommend hiring vendors you admire and trust completely — at least for the major things. We never worried our DJ would play a bad song, the venue staff would forget something, our flowers wouldn’t be beautiful, our photos would come out anything less than wonderful. Finally, we made sure to create lots of day-of schedules, contact lists, and final check-ins with our vendors and bridal party. We both felt relaxed the morning of, because we knew that even if something went wrong, it would be something out of our control.
Although the wedding is about the two of you, you really do all that planning and detail-obsessing so your guests will have a good time. I almost teared up when several people told us it was one of the most fun weddings they’d ever been to — success! I would love to live in that day forever…but married life is pretty great too!
Photographer: Lime Green Photography | Videographer: A.J. Chavar | Florist: Twisted Willow Flowers | Reception Venue: Laurita Winery | Bridesmaid dresses: Dessy Collection By Vivian Diamond | Caterer: Conroy Catering | DJ: Remixologists | Suits: J.Crew | Cake/Dessert: Conroy Catering | Ceremony Site: Church of the Assumption Chapel | Dress designer: JLM Couture, Inc | Second shooter: Abbi O'Leary