You know how some wedding photos just stop you in your tracks?
Even if you've never met the people in the photo before, you feel like you get a little glimpse into their life and their love.
Well, these photos by With Love And Embers stopped me in my tracks over and over again.
There are so many beautiful, sweet and fun moments captured at Lauren and Todd's intimate garden wedding, it's been exceptionally difficult to narrow them down for this feature.
Not to mention, I'm an absolute sucker for a grey and yellow colour palette, short n' chic wedding dresses and vintage red lippie!
From The Bride…
I would say our wedding had the look of a fancy, vintage garden party, but the feel of a backyard barbecue. We knew we wanted to get married right in the city, and we were lucky enough to find a space that still felt tucked away and private.
Our main color palette was yellow and grey, but we couldn't resist pops of other colors in there as well.
Retro, Colourful Bridal Style
I'm kind of a '50s girl at heart, so I knew from the time my husband and I got engaged that I wanted a short dress. I saw my dress on a bridal website and immediately knew it was the one. And if I was wearing a short dress, I knew I had to wear a fun colorful pair of shoes. Finally, I topped it off with the perfect red lipstick – Mac's Ruby Woo.
My bridesmaids each picked out their own charcoal coloured cocktail dresses – from 300 miles apart – and they complimented each other perfectly! They too wore some killer yellow shoes.
The Flowers
My bouquet featured white roses, garden roses, craspedia (or “billy balls” which are so great!), ranunculus and dusty miller. I found an eco-friendly florist in the city, who used in-season and local flowers.
The Ceremony
Our ceremony was kept pretty short and sweet. We wrote our own vows and we joked to my parents that we had a hard time writing “non-religious, feminist, non-heteronormative ones” and just focused on promises on our marriage.
Decor, Details & Refreshments
We were lucky enough to find a space that didn't need a lot of decoration, so we focused on little details. We made handmade paper flags in varying patterns as our escort cards, and paper lanterns hanging in the garden. A friend of mine is a bookmaker, so I called in a favor and had her make our guest book.
We had a signature cocktail – ‘gingerbread lemonade', made with a gingerbread liquor made here in Philadelphia by Art in the Age. For food, we had a lot of comfort food – mac and cheese, sliders, grilled beef and turkey.
The Wedding Music
My dad loves Van Morrison, so I walked down the aisle with him to Sweet Thing. For our father-daughter dance, we danced to Tupelo Honey. My childhood nickname was Bee because of this song – my dad got it from the line “She's as sweet as Tupelo Honey,” so it was really special.
We wanted to get everyone dancing, so we had our DJ play Motown- my husband's aunt told me it had been 20 years since she and her husband had danced!
The Wedding Photographers
The LOVELY Jillian and Ryan McGrath of With Love and Embers. We can't say enough of their work, and they were a blast to work with.
I love what Lauren had to say about their ceremony vows – this is something Zee and I struggled with as well, traditional wedding vows just aren't well suited to today's modern couples! Also how much fun are those break dancing shots?!
Congratulations Lauren and Todd! Thanks for sharing your awesome day with us and a huge thank you to With Love and Embers ~ it's been such a pleasure to feature these incredibly beautiful and emotive photos.
– Find more retro chic wedding inspiration in The Photo Gallery –
