Elegant Woodsy Wedding

My daughter is married! She married a wonderful guy in a lovely ceremony two weeks ago and it was such a happy day for all of us.

Shortly after the proposal, my daughter began pinning photos and ideas for the big day, but it wasn’t until she selected her wedding dress that a clear direction for the style of the wedding developed. Having an appreciation for the history, art, literature, and music of the Middle Ages, one particular dress with a subtle Medieval flare caught her eye! With additional nods to the groom’s Scottish roots and the bride’s Irish lineage (we actually have some of everything in our family–Irish, English, French, Cherokee, etc.–so she had her pick!), the wedding began to take on vibes of what my daughter originally described as “Enchanted Forest” but later dubbed ” Cottagecore”–a new term to me! But whatever one chooses to call it, it was just beautiful.

The wedding ceremony and reception took place at the church where the bride and groom met, which is where my sister’s family attends because my brother-in-law is the college minister there. In fact, my BIL officiated their wedding! Oh, and my nephew was the one who introduced them because he was roommates with the groom and thought they’d make a great couple. He was correct.

The groom’s cousin played the piano, and her friend played the violin and they both performed splendidly, setting the wedding tone with some Irish pieces which the bride and groom had selected. The wedding party, parents, and grandparents walked down to the old Irish tune “Give Me Your Hand”. Then my husband and daughter walked down to another sweet Irish tune called “Inisheer”. After saying their vows, the bride and groom and wedding party walked back out to “Flaming Red Hair”, Bilbao’s birthday feast song from The Lord of the Rings movie, which was a fun, lighthearted tune to lead our guests to our “mini” wedding feast. I just can’t even tell you how beautiful the music was! We had the best musicians. I still tear up when I hear it.

The wedding party consisted of six bridesmaids and six groomsmen. My younger daughter was the maid of honor and the groom’s cousin was best man. My son was the ring bearer. We had two sister friends who my daughter used to babysit that were flower girls, and my niece was also a flower girl.

Ok, so let me pause here and add that when my younger sister got married 17 years ago, my daughter (now the bride) was my sister’s flower girl. So, when my daughter got engaged, she asked my sister’s little girl to be one of her flower girls!

My daughter’s colors were sage green and champagne and they were so pretty together! The bridesmaids wore champagne dresses, and the groomsmen wore blue suits with champagne bowties. The flower girls wore white dresses with sage green sashes. The flowers were whites, creams, and greens.

My friend, Nikki, was our talented florist and wedding director. I’ve known Nikki since we were in preschool together in Birmingham, then our families both moved away but later ended up in another town again, went to church and high school together, and worked at the same store through college. We kind of lost touch for several years but then reconnected on social media where I saw that she had become a florist. So, as soon as my daughter was engaged, I contacted her to book her for the wedding. We had so much fun catching up and working together. Her flowers were gorgeous! Below is my MOTB bouquet which is a smaller version of the bridesmaids’ and bride’s bouquets and I loved it! If you’re local and need a florist, wedding/event coordinator, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Nikki.

Nikki also helped get the reception area decorated. We each pooled our supplies and then rented the rest (chairs, tables, and big curtain) which transformed this room from church fellowship hall to an enchanted wedding venue!

Nikki brought her gold lanterns and placed the sweetest bud vase arrangements in each.

I brought my collection of wood slices because my daughter wanted to incorporate some wood into the decor for a bit of enchanted forest feel (I don’t know what it is but our family loves wood!) and we alternated the wood slices with the gold lanterns. So, some tables got lanterns, and some got wood slices and we loved the balance of woodsy elegance. I snapped these photos quickly about an hour before the wedding, so the battery-operated candles were still out and waiting to be turned on and popped into the votives.

With a midafternoon wedding, we didn’t need to feed our guest a full meal, however we did still want to offer some tasties to celebrate. We had a simple but elegant buffet style table and a cake table. I’ll post more on the food tomorrow, but here’s a sneak peek!

I made the wedding cake–my daughter’s favorite–and Nikki added soft cream roses cascading down the side.

My friend, Rivers, who was a professional photographer in another season of life not too long ago, took several of these photos and I can’t get over this next one she snapped of the cake.

The groom’s cousin, a very talented artist, painted the Irish wedding vows pictured below which reads, “On this day, my hand is yours to hold, my heart forever yours to keep.” Such a special touch at the reception and now a keepsake for their home.

In addition to the cake, other goodies served were charcuterie cups, fruit, assorted chocolates, cheese straws, iced tea, fruit water, and hot tea. I ordered the plates, napkins, forks, and cups from Amazon. Again, more details on the food and special helping hands tomorrow.

You might be noticing some similarities to my daughter’s piano recital reception that I posted about in late spring. As I said in that post, the recital was my practice run for the wedding reception. Not exactly the same, but many repeats here.

An added surprise we didn’t plan for was having a live artist paint the wedding! My daughter’s friend works at a boutique, and she had mentioned to another lady working there that she was going to be in a wedding. The lady is starting a business painting weddings and other special occasions, and she said she’d like to meet the bride and ask to paint her wedding to get some practice! We cannot wait to see the finished product, but as you can see in the photo below, she’s quite gifted and this painting was already beautiful even before she finished. If you’re local and interested in her services, I can definitely get you in touch with her.

We thoroughly enjoyed visiting with everyone at the reception! It was so good to see friends and family, and it meant so much that they came to celebrate with us. It truly was a happy time! Before we knew it, it was time for the bride and groom to make their departure. Sadly, I didn’t get photos of all the tables, signs, and decor in the foyer, but here is a sign for the bubble send-off. My daughter ordered miniature bottles of bubbles and a bubble machine to ramp up the bubble volume.

And there they go!

In my next post, I’ll share more about the reception food and wonderful help, followed by a post with behind-the-scenes photos and additional wedding stories. And when the professional photos are available, I’ll share some of those and some info about our wonderful photographer as well. So, stay tuned because we’re not done yet!