Real Wedding: Kelly & David

Today's pretty backyard barbecue wedding comes to us from photographer Kate Osborne. The bride, Kelly, stopped by to tell us a bit about the day:

Most of the decisions we made for our wedding were based on what was least expensive and what I thought would be the easiest and most fun. We wanted people to be able to have a good time. As far as location goes, I love, love, love, my mom and step-dad's backyard in West Bountiful, Utah and I wanted people to come out and see how pretty it was. I had a suspicion that my step-dad (who loves parties) wanted to utilize their nice space by one day having a wedding there and also I thought it would be cheaper and easier than renting a venue. Our reception was on Thursday, July 9th and I'm not positive, but I think we had 200-250 guests show up.

Pretty much everything about our wedding was do-it-yourself. I designed and printed our announcements; my mom and I designed and made my dress; my sister got a crew of us to make the pinwheel decorations, which cost a total of about $48, including ribbons, and which we hung them ourselves; my cousin made the beautiful flower arrangements; we made a couple of play lists and our friend managed the sound system.














Guests enjoyed lawn games such as badminton, horseshoes, and bocce ball.







Happy wishes to you, Kelly and David! See more of their lovely wedding celebration over on Kate Osborne's blog.

Board #495: Champagne and Cake

The other day, I was revisiting one of my very favorite blogs, Faye & Greer. It was one of the first blogs I read, and it was one of the reasons I decided to start Snippet & Ink. Though it's been "out of service" for nearly three years, I still find ideas and inspiration there when I stop by and browse the archives. On this visit, I came across an inspiration board they made for a champagne and cake wedding, and I thought I'd expand on that look and idea for today's post.

Having a champagne and cake reception is such a sweet and sophisticated way of saving money on your wedding. Though I imagined a venue with a rustic feel to it, this type of wedding could easily translate to a garden setting, church hall, or historic building. Splurge on two or several gorgeous (and delicious) cakes, and buy champagne in bulk (some places will even let you return unopened bottles). Fabric rosettes appear on the bride's dress and the table linens, lending a feminine and romantic touch. Not that good wedding cake needs improvement, but vintage forks with mother-of-pearl handles are a glamorous detail. Send guests home with pretty packages of chocolate truffles.

Mood: romantic and warm (with just a touch of rustic and vintage)
Palette: champagne, sugar, rosé

{click image to enlarge}

Top row from left: rustic ceremony photo at Mankas by Thayer Allyson Gowdy, wedding dress with rosettes from Rebecca Thuss, photo of peach ranunculus by Aaron Delesie, vintage-inspired wedding cake with sugar anemones by April Reed
Row 2: coconut cake slices from Rebecca Thuss, photo of peach and gold dresses by Cherry Blossom Girl via Dress Design Decor
Row 3: chocolate truffle wedding cake by April Reed, photo of champagne bridesmaid dresses by Aaron Delesie, classic pink stationery by Sugar Paper, mother-of-pearl flatware
Row 4: pink ranunculus centerpiece by Saipua, champagne chocolate truffles from Martha Stewart Weddings, photos of champagne bottles and rosette linens both by Aaron Delesie

Real Wedding: Vannessa & Cayman

Today's wedding is such perfect summer inspiration - a ranch wedding with a fun and relaxed vibe. Vannessa and Cayman found the Holman Ranch in Carmel on the first day they went to look at venues: "We knew right away it was the perfect place. We loved the all-American, California ranch feel, and the views were incredible! We knew it would be a unique place for us and our guests."




Vannessa's favorite part of the day: "I loved saying our vows to one another. I was so focused on Cayman that I completely forgot we had an audience! And the kiss... the kiss was like slow motion. I had been looking forward to that moment since we got engaged, and it was absolutely perfect!"




Cayman loves games and trivia and wanted to incorporate this into the wedding, so planner Shannon Leahy came up with the idea of writing clues that would lead guests to find their tables and Hello Lucky created the adorable escort cards (guests slid their cards out of the envelopes to reveal the clues to their table). Guests got into the spirit of the game, and spent the first 15 minutes of dinner visiting every table to see all of the clues.






Dinner reflected the laid back atmosphere of the wedding, complete with cornbread and biscuits, macaroni and cheese, and fried chicken.




In keeping with the sense of fun and games, guests took home personalized decks of playing cards.



Photographer: Emily Merrill, EmmyJeanne Photography

Venue: Holman Ranch in Carmel, California

Planner: Shannon Leahy

Stationery / printed items: Hello!Lucky

Bride's dress / shoes: Amy Kuschel / Manolo Blahnik

Bridesmaid dresses: J.Crew

Groom's suit: Ermenegildo Zegna

Flowers: Erica Rose Design

Catering: Paradise Catering

Funk band: The Joint Chiefs

Furniture / linen rentals: Classic Party Rentals / La Tavola

Don't you just love this wedding, from the beautiful venue in Carmel down to the lucky horseshoe motif? So fun! A big thanks to Vannessa and Cayman, as well as to planner Shannon Leahy and photographer Emily Merrill for sharing this beautiful wedding with us.

Hello!Lucky is a sponsor of Snippet & Ink.

Real Wedding: Alice & Nick

There's something really special about summer weddings - relaxed, out of doors, sunshiny. Though they live in New York, Alice and Nick were married in June, at the groom's family's farm in Virginia, and it's full of all those wonderful summer things - even a barbecue dinner! Working with a tight budget, they created a day that was laid back and beautiful by getting creative, doing a lot of things themselves, and employing the help of talented friends and family. Alice shares some of the DIY projects they took on:

My mother sewed table runners, arranged flowers, baked pies, made jam for favors and even had her college typewriter tuned up for a guest book! I did my own hair, one of my bridesmaids is a makeup artist, the whole family helped set up everything, and guests brought pies for the dessert buffet. A friend illustrated the invitations. Nick's father made the arch out of a cattle feeder and grapevines found on the farm.


The couple's friend, Nancy Cuervo, designed the invitations, including the mason jar bouquet illustration, and then Alice and Nick letterpressed them at a friend's studio.














Women from Alice's and Nick's families did all of the centerpieces with flowers from their own gardens, supplemented with blooms from a local farmer. Alice's mother scoured every antique store in New England until she found enough blue ball jars!




Guests went home with jars of homemade jam.


Says Alice, "Having the wedding in a place with so much family meaning made us feel like a part of something old and beautiful."

Photography: Sarah Cramer

Venue: Panorama Farms in Earlysville, Virginia

Invitation design: Nancy Cuervo

Bride's dress: J.Crew

Groom's suit: Brooks Brothers

Tent rental: Skyline Tents

Cake: Albemarle Baking Co.

Bunny-head cake topper: Melabo

Alice has another budget tip for you: I'm a photographer, so we splurged on photography, which was worth every penny. We hired Sarah Cramer to shoot getting ready, ceremony and portraits and then saved by asking friends to send us their reception photos.

Thanks so much, Alice and Nick, for sharing your wedding with us!

Real Wedding: Ayesha & Zachary

Dear readers - you have the most beautiful, charming weddings! And I love it when you share them with me! Ayesha and Zachary sent over pics of their lovely DIY wedding (taken by Julia Davis), and wrote about all the details, too. So, without further ado, Ayesha and Zach and their beautiful day...

We knew we wanted a small outdoor wedding with some coverage in a superbly unique setting. I was inspired by a mix of natural elements with things that define us as a couple and individuals. I wanted people to look around and go “Yup, that’s Ayesha & Zach.”




My dress was by Maggie Sottero, which I accented with flowers by Emersonmade. I found my shoes at rue21 of all places for like 8 bucks. They were flats which I knew I wanted and had a small ruffle detail. My honey's suit was a white linen suit he got at Dillard's. We just asked his guys to wear black pants, a white shirts, and we provided the ties for them.














Ayesha and Zachary commissioned watercolor portraits from Etsy artist, Jenny Meilihov, which were used for the invitations, and then displayed at the ceremony.




Zachary is my first, last, and only love. It was a truly magical day that brought together our families in a profound way. One of my favorite moments was when my Uncle (who married us) asked "Who supports this couple in their decision?" and everyone took out noise makers and rattled the Treehouse. We knew we had our friends and family rooting for us!














The menu for the Treehouse was very simple: old fashioned sodas and pretzels. Only the day of the wedding we realized that pretzels we ordered had mold on them! So we went with kettle corn instead.




My mother-in-law and 3 of my bridesmaids were my floral designers. I had scoured the internet for ideas, so we knew exactly what we wanted and the challenge was to recreate it, including growing wheat grass myself. The flowers turned out lovely and we saved a ton of money by doing it ourselves.


DIY projects included miniature paper pennants for the cupcakes, tissue paper pom poms, posters and signs, "instant conversation" menu cards, and CD favors.

Photography: Julia Davis

Venue: Treehouse at the Chattanooga Nature Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee

Wooden guest book: Lacuna (Etsy / flickr)

Bride's dress / fabric flower pins: Maggie Sottero / Emersonmade

Shoes: rue21

Groom's suit: Dillard's

Congratulations Zachary and Ayesha! Wishing you a lifetime of happiness!