A Quaint New England Backyard Wedding

Clearly, since I'm about to blog a July wedding, I am pretty behind. But if you have been following me for a while, you know that I despise blogging. I don't have the time to do it, and I refuse to let someone else do it for me (I want to be my own voice and blah blah blah...) so when I can do it, I'm usually sacrificing something like watching The Office while I take a food break.

So A for effort, right? I'm doing significantly better with this new blog than I have in the past, so I'm calling it a win.

Ok so this wedding. When Alexandra reached out to me to tell me that she wanted to elope but had been swayed to hold a local church wedding, she spoke right to my heart. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I LOVEEEE A) an elopement (because what is more romantic than whisking away either alone or with a tiny group of your closest friends and family and having a wedding?!) and B) a teeny little wedding- even if it's not at destination "away". For the same reasons....a smaller affair is much more intimate, romantic, and most importantly, it eliminates almost all of the stress because you can just focus on togetherness and love. And that's what it's all about in the end. Am I right?

When I spoke to her further, I asked her to describe her wedding vision to me. What did she see, and want when she envisioned her wedding day? And she kept repeating the word "peace" to me throughout the conversation.

So obviously I was sold.

She was getting married in her local church and having a little cocktail reception after, in her childhood home. When her parents were first looking at the home, her mother was pregnant with her. And her father said "if it's a girl, she could get married in this garden."

Her father isn't with us on earth anymore, but his presence was surely felt by everyone all day.

This is one of my favorite weddings that I have been a part of. Just focused on good food, good laughs and so, so much love.

These custom invites by Michelle Mospens featured a water color painting of the bride's childhood home and the gardens where the cocktail reception was held. I was mildly obsessed. (And when I say obsessed, I mean that I also have this painting via the thank you card, hanging on my wall by my desk.)

Below, is one of my favorite moments. The groom asked me to ask the bride which shoes he should wear, and that he had brought two pairs. When I described them to her, she asked, "does the cognac pair have little brass buckles?" and when I said yes, she started crying and said, "those were my father's shoes." So I cried. And he wore those shoes.