There are about a million and one reasons that I believe camping is the most awesome thing ever, so hand me a weekend with a crazy gorgeous glamping-inspired affair and I am about as happy as you’ll ever see me. Especially when that affair is chock-full of vibrant blooms from That Time Events and a gallery of beautiful images from Tory Williams Photography. See them all right here in the full gallery.
From the Bride… We are couple that was East Coast born and raised, that now resides in California; we really wanted to capture our roots. Both of us (as typical East coast Jews) attended summer camp for years. We always have been outdoorsy and love camp activities. Our ultimate goal was to have a destination feel wedding without asking too much of our guests. If we were traveling for our own wedding, we wanted it to last longer then one night, we wanted an entire weekend that was affordable for all. Cedar Lakes Estate was the perfect venue to capture that getaway feeling while only having majority of our guests travel about an hour. The rustic yet chic cabins, activities and grounds inspired us to tap into our camp attitude and approach our wedding with a “Glamping” feel (Glamorous Camping). Glamorous being the venue and decor-adding hand made dream-catchers throughout the venues, handmade decor from every member of our family and the Camping was the sleeping accommodations in addition to the weekend long activities of Zip lining & Blobbing all weekend long .
In California I made life size dream catchers to fill the barn. I also wrapped 20 bottles with twine, showed my mom and she had “Twine wrapping parties” in NJ so we would save on shipping and time. After three parties of her friends coming to help, we had over 200+ recycled bottles beautifully wrapped in twine we used for the reception tables. Another favorite detail was our painting guest canvas – rather then a signing book, we now have a piece of art from everyone who painted on a canvas.
We stood on a beautiful Persian rug that was a gift from my Sister and Brother-in-Law. Underneath the rug are our vows. The most special gift we received.
Rather then having a first dance where people awkwardly watch you slow dance, we decided we wanted to be dancing when people arrived to the reception. As you walk into this massive lit up barn, we were already dancing as people started to arrive from Cocktail hour. It was a great moment to watch every single friend and family enter. Everyone immediately felt the energy and began dancing with us as we first danced with everyone and began the rest of the night dancing until 2am. It was amazing to get to see every guest as they walked in and began dancing. This was a unique first dance we can’t ever forget.
Something always goes wrong and that’s something I KNEW I had to accept. A few things did, aside from raining 30 minutes before I walked down the aisle, the men’s suits not only arrived the DAY OF the wedding, but none fit. When the suits arrived, none of them fit. No jackets could close and no belt was needed. However, we embraced it and laughed at the fact that “slim was in” for guys.
Photographer: Tory Williams Photography | Caterer: Cedar Lakes Estate | Makeup: Jessa Blades | DJ: Lifetime Entertainments | Band: Live Wire | Venue: Cedar Lakes Estate | Floral: That Time Events