Good morning,

Has anyone else turned on their heaters yet?! Maybe it's because I'm just back from a sunny holiday but I'm feeling a distinct chill in the air. This sweet and summery wedding should warm us right up!

Katie and Alex had a rustic, homespun, intimate wedding in the woods of Alex's parent's house. It was a family affair from start to finish with handpicked flowers arranged by the bride and her friends, a wooden sculpture for the reception tent created by the groom's brother and charming homemade soap favours by their aunt. Katie looks like a beautiful wooland nymph in her whimsical flower headpiece and they both look so blissfully happy!

There was no particular colour scheme, no ‘pomp and ceremony' for the sake of it ~ it was all about love. Their guests described their wedding as a ‘huge love fest'. Perfect.

From Katie, the bride: We didn’t follow any of the traditional methods of planning a wedding, like picking a color or a certain theme. Instead, our goal was to create a wedding that simply was a reflection and representation of our relationship and our closeness and love with our family and friends. We followed wedding tradition only when it was consistent with that goal and made deliberate decisions about which aspects to keep and which to forgo.

For example, we exchanged rings but one ring was a family heirloom and we wrote the exchange. In addition, one of our closest friends married us, we wrote every word of the ceremony {with the exception of three readings we selected and an introduction written by our officiant}, Alex’s sister wrote and performed an amazing, original song with his Dad, and almost every aspect of the wedding and reception {with the exception of the tent and food} was made by the us or our family.

However, to us, more important than any of the aesthetics was the intimacy and honest sentiment expressed that day. As many of our guests have commented since, it was a huge lovefest.

I found Katie's write up really refreshing. It's so easy to get swept up in the whirlwind of wedding planning and carried away with the aesthetics of it all. But it's important to consider not just what you want your wedding to look like but what you want your wedding to feel like too. Don't you think?

Thanks to Keira Lemonis for sharing these lovely photos, wishing Katie and Alex a life filled with love and happiness.

Bride's Dress: BCBG | Hairpiece: Mignonne Handmade Groom’s Suit: Hugo Boss | Shoes: Fluevog | Photographer Keira Lemonis | Videographer: Friend, time lapse of ceremony on groom’s brother’s iPhone | Venue: Alex’s parents’ house, Cooperstown, New York, USA | Caterer: Something Wonderful Catering | Flowers: picked from property of wedding site and arranged by bride and friends | Cake: Groom’s aunt made all wedding cakes | Favours: homemade soap made by groom’s step-mother | Paper Goods: All paper goods, including invitations, escort cards, signs, and soap labels were created by groom and bride’s younger sisters | Décor: Groom’s brother, Jeremy Holmes, made an original wooden sculpture for the reception tent.