Nicole and Shaun's gorgeous DIY wedding features everything I love about weddings all wrapped up in one pretty package!
Timeless style, a laid back, intimate vibe, thoughtful DIY details, romantic, emotive photography courtesy of the uber talented Anita Martin Photography – and a whole lot of love.
Prepare to be inspired by the navy and soft, peach colour palette, the stripes and super stylish groom, the adorable flower girls sporting navy bows and carrying fabric pomanders (handmade by the bride), the rustic lemonade bar and the classically beautiful bride.
Nicole wore a fitted Mori Lee wedding dress, teamed with a dreamy fingertip veil and one of my favourite bridal hairstyles – glamorous Veronica Lake waves.
And just wait till you see all the creative crafting she got up to!
The Bridal Attire
I wore a very fitted, corset- back, fit and flare gown by Mori Lee that I absolutely loved. Although, it was fitted the material still read as very soft. So, I contrasted that with more tailored and hard fabric for the bridesmaids dresses by Alfred Sung, that had a retro look. Each bridesmaid picked their own style from the tea length collection.
The Flowers
My bouquet was made up of white hydrangea, peach juliet roses, peach hypericum berries, white ranunculus, and ivory majolica spray rose. I made the bridesmaids bouquets using baby's breath and the groom, groomsmen's bouts and our centrepieces were a mix of peach Juliet roses, peach hypericum berries and baby's breath.
The flower girls carried fabric ball bouquets that I made.
The Colour Palette
There wasn't a set theme, but I love navy and white stripes. I didn't want it to necessarily be nautical, so I balanced the hard navy stripes of the table runners with soft, peach flowers and vintage touches (vintage books on the tables, milk glass vases). The main colors used were navy, off-white, peach/blush, silver (for the metals) and tan (used in the twine).
I basically decorated my wedding how I would decorate my house! With a mix and match of old & new, hard (stripes) & soft (colors). Chalkboards also played a major role in the design, I like the playfulness of them!
The Ceremony
For the ceremony, I had mason jars filled with baby's breath hung on shepherds hooks along the aisle, ivory roses petals scattered along the isle, white chairs, a program and mini bag of confetti on each chair, and pictures of Shaun and I hung on the tree next to the ceremony site.
Groom's father started off the ceremony with a sweet message on the foundation of marriage, there were two bible verse readings (Matthew 7:24-25 & Romans 12:9-13) read by bride's brother in law and by bride's family friend, and the ceremony was performed by the groom's brother.
The Photography
I booked Anita without ever meeting her because I was planning my wedding from St. Louis, but I knew I wanted her to photograph my wedding because when you look through her work it is clear that she has the gift of capturing emotion. You can feel how much a couple is in love when you look at her photos. I could tell that she would capture the love and the playfulness of mine and Shaun's relationship. I, also, knew that I was going to be putting a lot of my personal effort into the details of mine and Shaun's wedding day and I love how she captures details.
Shaun and I were so happy to find, when we finally met her for our engagement shoot that she was the sweetest and most laidback person; she put us at ease and only directed us when she needed to making it very comfortable and allowing the images to show true emotion and be real.
Décor & Details
For the reception we hung lanterns from the trees and had bigger lanterns as the centrepieces stacked on top of vintage books and a striped table runner. The tables also had a bud vase for the flowers and a milk glass vase that had the table number tied to it. The favors were a donation to a foundation in El Salvador that is near to our hearts in lieu of a take home favor. We explained the reason chose this foundation and typed it up and designed it to match the rest of the paper goods and tied it with twine and homemade “s” charm.
The seating chart was written out on a window pane with white paint marker and names written on kraft paper tags wrapped around the napkins on the table settings.
DIY Projects
– We had a DIY photo booth – we used a mini Fujifilm instax camera for the guest to take one and leave one and they hung their picture on a string of twine next to the photo booth.
– I designed all our paper goods and the guestbook
– hand stamped a canvas with the words to our song
– made the flower girl's fabric bouquets
– made the “s” charms for favors with homemade dough and a stamp
– spray painted frames with chalkboard paint to make chalkboard signs
– hung a sheet from a rented stand to make a backdrop for DIY photo booth
– wrapped a wooden “S” entirely with twine for decor
– stamped tags for table numbers
– made hair bows for the flower girls
– made conversation-starter books that had questions on the front like “what should we do on our 10 year anniversary?”
– made kids activity/coloring books
The Refreshments
Formal sit down meal catered by the restaurant; choice of steak, salmon or chicken (it was sooo good). Our wedding cake was 3 flavors (one for each layer), triple chocolate, white chocolate strawberry, & red velvet. We, also, had a groom's cake that was funetti – his all time favorite cake flavor!
The Music
Processional – Planetarium Suite by Chris Lennertz
Recessional – Home by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
Our First Dance – Shama Lama Ding Dong- by Otis Day and the Knights
Father Daughter Dance – I Loved her First by Heartland
Mother Son dance – It's Your Song by Garth Brooks & Never Alone by Lady Antebellum
Favourite Moments
My favorite moments were during the ceremony. It was so incredibly special to have family members speak and lead the entire thing. It was so personal and touching, you could definitely feel the love.
I loved looking around and seeing everything little thing that I had worked on come together. What was so special and unique to me was that my family and friends were willing to do anything and everything to take stress off of my shoulders; running errands, waking up super early to set up and making sure everything was perfect (including the groom and groomsmen). It was amazing, it meant so much to me and allowed me to relax and enjoy the biggest and most special day of my life.
Advice For Other Couples
As far as design: don't stray from your personality when designing your wedding! If I had a glitzy wedding, it would not have been Shaun and I. If you are a DIY person, and need to stay on budget, look around your house and see what you can use! I used several of my own frames, mirrors, and vases from my house.
Congratulations Nicole and Shaun! Thank you for sharing your beautiful wedding with us.
ps. If you loved the combination of navy stripes and soft peach flowers, you'll adore this wedding inspiration shoot too! (It's one of my faves.)
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