Wedding Story
**A huge thank you to Style Me Pretty for featuring our wedding today!!! Check it out here**
It’s hard to know where to begin with today’s wedding…because it’s mine! Ben and I were married on July 31st (hard to believe it’s already been 3 months!) Since then, I have been dying to share all the details here on Love & Lavender. First off, I have to give a big shout-out to our amazing photographers, Mark and Rosie of Simply Rosie Photography. They road-tripped all the way down to Seattle from Winnipeg, Canada to shoot our wedding…and they were so great! Not only did they capture everything perfectly, but they helped us with lots of day-of details like a last-minute rehearsal and the cake cutting.
Ben and I were on a budget for our wedding which really forced us to get creative. For example, I love designer dresses but I knew they were way out of my budget. So I designed my dress and had it custom-made from China. It turned out well (luckily!) and fit me without any alterations.
My bridesmaids wore dresses from Anthropologie–and I’ve seen them wearing these dresses since, so I know they were actually re-wearable! Yay.
I had two pairs of shoes! I bought the ruffly ones for the wedding, but they were a little short so I wore a pair of yellow wedges I already owned for the ceremony.
My bridesmaid Sarah did my hair and makeup. She did an amazing job!
That’s my husband Ben! He’s so handsome 🙂
We did bridal party pictures before the ceremony, which was a great way to relax, taking advantage of the croquet area that we’d set up.
We had the guys wear suspenders instead of suits or tuxes to save money. Although they were a little skeptical at first, I think it turned out well.
We made the boutonnieres out of little paper pinwheels (which were a recurring theme in our wedding). We also DIY’d all the flowers the day before the wedding. Huge thank you’s to my mom and my bridesmaids for helping with that. We used white garden roses, pink ranunculus, and billy balls for the bouquets. Then we wrapped the stems with twine and glued little pinwheels on them too!
Check back tomorrow for part two: the ceremony and reception!
P.S. that’s Ellen in the above photo. Her husband Josh (Ben’s brother) is kissing her on the head.
What a beautiful fun family wedding. Perfect in every way!
Wow. Looks awesome. I am newly engaged and this is so inspirational. : ) Please tell me how you did your cake topper! what paint and material was used?
I just wanted to say, I loved your wedding. You inspired me in so many ways. Thank you for sharing your special day and inspiring brides all over.
Congrats on your love
I wish nothing but a long life of happiness.
Jenny
I can’t believe I missed these posts for so long! I was about to have a baby and not doing much blog reading at that time 🙂 What a gorgeous wedding you had! And I love all of the details. Both you and Ellen are adorable too!
I think I would’ve been so stressed out ordering a custom dress from out of the country, but I have to says that yours turned out BEAUTIFULLY! I love, love, love how the scalloped lace peeks out from the bottom! The bridesmaids dresses are perfect (it’s hard not to be perfect if it comes from Anthropologie though, right?)! And I think the suspenders are really cute! Thanks for sharing!
What a beautiful wedding! Congratulations! where did you get your flowers from?? I’m looking at DIY flowers at growersbox.com but they do not have pink ranunculus. Help! 🙂
I am getting married at Beau Lodge July 2011 any tips or things about the venue that you would change or do differently?
Hi Aileen,
Your wedding was beautiful!!! I was wondering if you could let me know how you made your pin wheels?
Thanks 🙂
This is just gorgeous. What a fantastic job you’ve done; I love all of the personalized, DIY details.
Congratulations!!
you are gorgeous, and i love all of your details! [and i have loved simply rosie’s work for a long time! so cool that you had her shoot your wedding!]
Aileen , Your wedding was amazing & I love looking at all the pictures!
looks so amazing….again a belated congrats!
Oh my goodness, what an amazing wedding! The photos are stunning, and I cannot WAIT to see more! You look beautiful, the dress is dreamy…it’s heaven!
Hi! I just found your blog on Style Me Pretty, and I’m smitten! Your wedding is gorgeous! Congratulations!
Wow, what a beautiful wedding! I love the pinwheel boutonnieres and details. You look so happy 🙂 Congrats!
Congratulations! What a fun and sweet wedding!! Loving those shoes and Anthro dresses, and what cute fun with croquet. Looks like the wedding was a blast. Looking forward to part II.
-Savannah
The French Bouquet
OM…You are gorgeous! I LOVE your dress and your shoes. I can’t wait to see the second-amazing-part tomorrow 🙂 Hugs, Marianna:*
PS: Congratulation to you both!