Today on the blog we're sharing a wedding that's so gorgeous and glamorous, I don't even want to talk about it, I just want you to scroll down and see for yourself!
Steven & Aidelni got married with a beautiful outdoor ceremony and courtyard wedding reception at The Stillwell House in Tucson, Arizona.
Their day, filled with pretty decor and personal touches, was captured by Laura K. Moore of LKM Studios in her signature candid and romantic style.
With a stunning strapless gown with tiered mermaid-style skirt and side-swept waves, Aidelni looked every inch a Hollywood star as she walked down the aisle (just wait until you see Steven's face!)
With a pretty garden setting, the decor was kept chic and sweet, with floral centrepieces, chalkboard table numbers, honeypot favours and a fingerprint guestbook.
So, get the kettle on, maybe grab some chocolate, and enjoy this Friday treat of a real wedding…
Wedding Day Snapshot
Our Love Story
Steven and Aidelni met at a local restaurant/bar called Union.
Steven was there wishing some friends goodbye and Aidelni had arrived with her friend to enjoy her evening. Aidelni and her friend took the last two remaining seats at the bar and Steven’s friend switched seats with him so that he could be next to this beautiful woman.
Steven really blew it with his first comment asking her if her meal was any good because the fish smelled awful. Aidelni wanted to move but she also found something endearing and safe about his honesty.
When he told her that he had rode his bike to the bar she asked if it had pegs so he could cruise her around town.
Hours of conversation later they were sold that there was something more to this relationship and exchanged numbers. Steven could not leave of course without showing her that indeed the bike was real but unfortunately there were no pegs.
A fitting end to the first evening of a wonderful love story.
The Inspiration
Hollywood Vintage with a rustic style, our colours were blush petal and sage green.
Our wedding in three words? Intimate, Romantic, Vintage.
The Ceremony
We had a close friend of Steven’s perform the ceremony with a traditional Christian theme.
When we walked out of the wedding and we had a harpist and violin play “Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay.
We included our daughters in the sand ceremony, pouring as a symbol of uniting our family while “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” was played by violin and harp.
The Photography
Laura was recommended by a friend and so we met with her one evening at Starbucks to discuss our wedding and her work.
Her energy and positivity were inspiring from the moment we sat down. We noted her kindness and her desire to know our story.
She made us feel like it was her honor to perform our wedding and she never made us feel like she was trying to sell herself only that she would love to be the one who told our story through photographs.
Her work by itself was enough to make her the obvious choice but working with her was a true blessing from start to finish.
We could easily say she never felt like a vendor and always felt like a true friend who was telling the story of one of the most important days of our life.
Advice for Other Couples
Steven would say the biggest piece of advice is to be completely supportive of your future wife and understand that no matter how involved you are, the wedding is a really stressful season for the bride.
Aidelni really utilized Pinterest to hunt for ideas that would put her ideas to life. We both found that by talking with already selected vendors we were able to find just the right complimentary pieces.
We made sure to meet with all vendors before selection and we really trusted our gut on who just felt like they could best enhance our wedding.
Our idea was to use the best vendors we could find and if we were going to cut costs it was going to be by not using a service at all rather than going with the cheapest price.
The Venue
This venue has it’s own unique style in a downtown desert city.
The wedding event was all contained within one place which was so great for out of town guests and local guests as well. They took care of the catering and their on site staff helped every step of the way.
There was enough freedom to customize the wedding and yet we never felt overwhelmed with decisions.
The Decor & Details
We ordered 1.5 oz filled honey jars off Etsy from the Occasion House and wooden dippers.
A Fine Line produced the tags for us and we tied those and the wooden dippers and had the table names on top of the jars as a unique gift and table seating idea.
The venue was decorated with the help of Posh Petals and we used vintage green glass mason jars for the center pieces on top of circular wood pieces. Linens were provided by the venue.
We utilized a finger print tree from Etsy for each guest to leave their thumbprint and sign.
The Refreshments
We had a Prickly Pear Margarita, formal sit down dinner hosted by the venue, and a three tiered cake with one layer of chocolate fudge, one layer rose Champagne and one layer lemon cake with strawberry filling.
The Budget
We initially looked at more rustic venues that were outside the city but found a lot of value not only in cost but in terms of our guests in having everything held in one place.
We were able to find some savings by choosing a Friday instead of a Saturday as most of our guests were arriving from out of town a few days early anyway.
We did not choose a videographer and felt the photos more than captured the finer parts of the wedding.
The Music
Procession: ‘Wedding March'
Sand Ceremony: ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow'
Recessional: ‘Sky Full of Stars'
First Dance: ‘Like I’m Gonna Lose You' by Megan Trainor and John Legend
The Honeymoon
We ended up taking our honeymoon a few months after our wedding.
Guests from out of town were here the day after the wedding so were able to have them over to the house and have an informal BBQ.
We went to Hawaii for our honeymoon and had a wonderful time and would recommend both.
Such a beautiful wedding, right? I just love their faces during the ceremony (isn't Aidelni's dress beautiful?). A sand ceremony is a really cool idea too, especially lovely for Aidelni & Steven to include their daughters.
Thanks so much to Laura K. Moore of LKM Studios and of course, Aidelni & Steven for sharing their romantic Tucson wedding with us!
Be inspired by more amazing real weddings.
