Jessica and Caleb's sweet woodland wedding is just so dang pretty.
With the leaves just beginning to turn in Boise Idaho, their late summer wedding was a blend of the seasons. Summer's dewy wildflowers and beach-combing treasures, met with fall's rustic features, like a hand-made ceremony backdrop and carved wooden centrepieces.
With every charming detail captured by Stephanie Mballo, if you're looking to get back to nature with your nuptials, prepare to be inspired…
The Theme
We really wanted a sweet romantic feel, hence the pastels.
Rather than going with the typical fall palette, we liked something that was more reminiscent of late summer, when the lighting is warm and the landscape’s a little greener.
Our Wedding in Three Words
Romantic, Rustic, Whimsical
The Flowers
The bridal bouquet was a mixture of roses, dusty miller, scabiosa pods, seeded eucalyptus, lavender (which as a side note, was totally fake! Not in season. But having lavender was essential to me for some reason), and other good stuff.
I literally went to the florist and said “I want lots of flowers that look like they could also be weeds.” She brought my vision to life! Bouquets were all wrapped in burlap.
The boutonnieres were white roses with a sprig of (fake) lavender, dusty miller, and scabiosa pods.
The centrepieces were all silk flowers! My mom and I couponed craft stores for over six months gathering all the flowers we wanted, and my mom personally put them together by hand (and also re – assembled them 3249875 times when I wanted something different – thanks Mom!)
They were a combination of white roses, lavender, and other faux wildflowers that probably don’t exist in nature.
Our Favourite Moment
Having all our family and friends there!
After spending months and months on the decor, the only thing I honestly remember is the way Caleb looked at me while I walked down the aisle, and the feeling of love and support from all our family and friends.
The Photography
Stephanie Mballo is absolutely the kindest, most down to earth person I’ve ever met – She was not just a wedding photographer, but on that crazy whirlwind of a day, she kept me grounded.
The Music
The Processional was “Friday I’m In Love” by Dean and Bitta. I mean, we got married on a Friday. It would’ve been silly not to! The Recessional was “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo’ole. And for our First Dance, “Sea of love” by Cat Power.
The Decor
The table décor consisted of white table cloths with burlap table runners, tree cross sections, vintage mason jars, silk flower arrangements and glass fishing floats Caleb and I found while beach combing in Alaska.
We hand tied all the silverware with burlap and a sprig of lavender- definitely the most time consuming DIY project of them all.
We also made two different chalk boards from thrifted mirrors and paint.
My favorite touch: the archway that we stood underneath during the ceremony was hand built by my dad using trees from the property that I grew up on.
The Refreshments
Our signature cocktail was a candied apple cocktail. We also served Blue Moon (my favorite) and Alaskan Amber (his favorite).
Dinner was prepared by a close family friend who owns a restaurant in Boise, Idaho. We had a choice of wild alaskan salmon or halibut (all of which were personally caught by Caleb’s parents – they commercial fish in Alaska), with sides of rice pilaf, risotto, or steamed vegetables.
The cake was prepared by Greg Marsh, and had a variety of flavours.
Our Advice for Other Couples
Pinterest is a great source of inspiration, but don’t over-do it.
Make a budget, and stick to it. Prioritise your expenses by importance – would you rather have the crazy expensive dress, or the dream photographer? Side note: I’d recommend the photographer!
More than anything else, this is you and your partner’s day! Try not to stress the details too much, because you probably won’t remember them anyways!
Isn't it all so lovely? There's so man touching pieces in there, I just love to hear of families coming together to provide for a couples' day, from the fish to the flowers everything came from the nature around Jessica and Caleb's family homes.
The tree-planting during the ceremony is an especially poignant touch.
Thanks so much to Jessica and Caleb for sharing your beautiful DIY wedding day with us, here's to you guys growing old together under that tree!
For more woodland wedding inspiration, see our Rustic + DIY Real Weddings.
