A few months ago I shared with you Jen + Eric’s engagement shoot by the super talented Micah Dahlberg, and now I’m to share their wedding! Jen gives all the details below…
US: Our story is a little like a classic Romantic Comedy, which is seemingly appropriate considering our addiction to film. We met in college, I was studying Musical Theater and he Acting. We saw each other in the Green Room quite often and while we were there became good friends. Each of us was harboring a crush on the other, but we both graduated without a date night ever taking place. After college we went our separate ways, but came into contact a year later via that old classic MySpace. We began chatting again and finally went on that first date…..a month before he was leaving to live in England. We were as you say, “hooked on each other” by that point and spoke everyday for the next 5 ½ months. I flew out to England the week of Valentine’s Day and we spent 2 weeks romping through London and the English countryside. Eric decided to move back to California and 4 months after we returned we moved in together. The rest as they say…is history.
The Wedding: It all seems like a blur now, but when we first started planning we both agreed that we were NOT having an over-blown wedding. So imagine our excitement when his family offered us their gorgeous backyard for our big day! We wanted a simple, relaxed and classy garden wedding….but it’s funny how all those tiny details conspire together to make a giant mess. Some ideas fell by the wayside, but in the end we had a gorgeous wedding, with perfect weather and all our family and friends there to share our happiest moment.
The Attire: They say once you find the dress the rest falls into place. When I put my dress on for the first time I knew the hunt was over. It was just so free flowing, not puffy or pretentious, it suited who I was perfectly. The wedding party attire followed in the same vein, we wanted our attendants to be comfy and not over-dressed. I absolutely love the way the suspenders and Chuck Taylor’s looked with the clean lines of the girl’s dresses. Eric looked so handsome in his classic suit, it was as if he walked right out of a Cary Grant movie.
Food and Flowers: A good party for us means delicious food, great drinks and fantastic music. BBQ is one of Eric’s favorite foods so once we tasted Wood Ranch we knew we had found our caterer. Playing off of the old-time theme, we ordered old-fashioned sodas and put them in hand-painted painted tubs and wheelbarrows.
Luckily the backyard already had so many gorgeous and vibrant flowerbeds we didn’t have to use too many extra flowers. My favorite flower, the hydrangea, inspired the blue that was used throughout the wedding. It also served as the flower of choice for my bouquet. I chose Gerber daises to accompany the hydrangeas and as the primary flower for the bridesmaid’s bouquets and the centerpieces. The fantastic St. Germain’s flower shop did all of our stunning floral arrangements.
Neither of us have ever been a big fan of wedding cake; therefore we opted to have a dessert table instead. This way people could have a choice and it gave us an opportunity to use our favorite bakery, Crumbs. My wonderful mom also baked her famous Cheesecakes. The cake topper was completed the night before when my first idea fell through, Eric’s Aunt helped me with the idea. Glad I had so many childhood photos of us lying around!
Tables and Toys: I am a very crafty person and even though I told myself I wouldn’t get over my head with projects… I did. 😉 I further incorporated the old-time feeling by layering paisley and hydrangea blue cardstock with hand-stamped numbers, finished off with a raffia bow. Raffia was also used for the bows on the centerpieces, place cards, hand-painted signs and to tie the bouquets. The kid’s toys were made to satisfy my crocheting addiction. Once I learned how to make these little animals I wanted everyone to have one, but I limited it to the children, although I would have made 100 of them if I’d had the time.
Lights: The evening light was very important to us, we wanted the kind of light you would see on an old Main Street at night. We cleared stores shelves of twinkle lights and lanterns. Our parents and siblings hung lights for what seemed like days, but the final effect still remains so beautiful in my mind and in photos.
Our wedding was everything we could have dreamed of and more. It was full of love, laughter and beautiful memories thanks to all the help of our family and friends. We are so thankful we had the amazingly talented Micah and Megan Dahlberg there to capture every second with their cameras. We hope you enjoy the photos as much as we do!
[images from Micah Dahlberg Photography]