Planning a Wedding in Rome? You’ll LOVE This Radiant Wedding at Norwegian Embassy in Rome
‘Make A Wish’ – The Beautiful Hand Made Wedding of Stephanie & Evan
We love a good wedding that has personal and handmade touches to it (as you know!) and when the beautiful wedding of Stephanie & Evan landed in our inbox we were so touched about every part of it! After all, what’s more personal than getting married at your parent’s home? Well, we’ll tell you, getting married at your parents house when your sister got married there too. Both sisters said their vows under the same tree and what’s even sweeter is that they both made beautiful plaques to be displayed on that very tree!
The theme of Stephanie & Evan’s wedding was “Make a Wish” and there were many DIY elements to their special day! Including hundreds of origami cranes that embellished the ceremony site and reception tent! Stephanie’s dress was also very unique and really fit this whimsical, magical wedding theme. At the reception, Evan had an old school Nintendo gaming corner as well as a Big Lebowski dude room/chill spot to smoke cigars and hang out!! And it didn’t stop there, their “guest book” was a blank canvas with paint brushes meant for the guests to dream up a collaborative painting where everyone who signs adds to the piece of art.
This truly is a Bespoke Bride wedding at it’s best and to make top it all off the whole day was photographed by the uber talented Procopio Photography who said “Stephanie and Evan are as beautiful on the inside as they are in these photos! We really enjoyed working with them.”
I’ll hand it over to Stephanie to tell you more…
Details Of The Day…
Throughout our lives we have always made a habit of wishing. One summer we both visited Rome and threw pennies into the Treve Fountain. Later, Evan told me that it was me that he had wished for. I had wished for Evan a long time before that – before we had even started dating. Wishes are a big part of our lives and therefore it only seemed right that “Make a Wish” was the theme for our wedding.
Evan folded a thousand cranes to hang around the tent so that couples could make a wish, we had dreamcatchers artwork by Laidaisi as the centrepieces, with a quote in each that related someway to wishing, luck, or love and there was a big jar of pennies by the pool, so that guests could throw pennies in and make a wish. The programs were “pocket programs”, I chose this style after the saying “a pocket full of wishes” and we even named the bar – the “The Wishing Well”.
The wedding invitations, were custom drawn animations of us, I am blowing a dandelion – a “wish” at Evan. The dandelions were mirrored at the wedding on the favor bags – each bag was stamped with dandelions!
The venue was the backyard of my parent’s house in Accomac Virginia, about 20 minutes away from Chincoteague Island. We had looked at renting a venue, but The McGill’s house had a lot of sentimental connection for us (it’s where we both felt we got to first know each other) and the property is absolutely beautiful. The house is a beautiful yellow with a spacious backyard.
We also had a video game station set up. Evan is a big gamer, and a lot of his friends there were gamers too. For the wedding, we bought a nintendo 64, so that guests could play all the classic games – such as Mario!
We knew we wanted an evening wedding, and a photographer who specialized in evening photographs & lighting. We loved Cicely and Jason from the first time we met them. When looking online, we first contacted them because we loved the unique artistry in photos they took. Every engagement or wedding shoot was unique to the couple, and you could tell a lot of thought and time had been put into shooting. We loved their creativity and boldness, they were amazing to work with, listening to what we wanted, but also bringing their own ideas and vision to the picture. We still say – and will always say- how fortunate we were to find them, and how we can’t believe how amazing our wedding photos are.
The Dresses and The Suits…
My dress was from designer Va Et Vien. I knew it was “the one”, it was exactly what I had envisioned in my mind! I wanted something casual that I would be comfortable in and I have always adored that neckline. The dress said ‘effortlessly gorgeous’ and that’s just what I wanted.
I wore my hair in a messy updo and my makeup naturally, with was enough to give it that special glow. I wanted my whole outfit to represent me, someone who likes to have fun, and likes to look effortlessly pretty (like the dress).
The main two colors of the wedding were peach and turquoise, I wanted something that would pop. I wore bright turquoise che mihara shoes with chunky heels. They were super comfy, especially since we were having an outdoor wedding. I also wore a chunky turquoise and pearl necklace, that mirrored my neckline, and gave the “pop” I needed at the top of the dress. I wore small bits of babiesbreath in my hair, to add to the carefree, messy feel.
Evan bought his vest, shirt and pants from Jcrew. He knew he wanted a light color for his suit, and something relaxed and casual. The wedding was in July, so we expected it to be hot, and he didn’t want to wear a full suit.
The bridesmaids picked out their own dresses from Anthropologie, as their bridesmaid gifts. The idea was that they each could have a summery dress they could wear more than once. The only stipulation was the colors had to somewhat coordinate with the wedding colors. The groomsmen wore light khaki pants and white collared shirts, with matching ties from jcrew.com.
Cakes, Favours & Food…
Our cake was amazing! It was designed by Shockley’s Sweet shop! The design was incredible, with a host of metallic turquoise and peach flowers from the bottom to the top, which faded in color as the flowers reached the top. We looked to pinterest for inspiration. It was absolutely stunning.
Our wedding favours were two plays that we had both seen and read together. One was “Almost Maine” – a love story, and the other John Logan’s “Red” – a story about art. We chose these favours because one of our favourite things to do together is to go see plays – and even more than that – we love sharing plays with our friends and loved ones!
For the food, we served them fabulous seafood (buffet style), lemonade, Ice tea and desserts from Bigs restaurant! For cocktails, Stephanie’s brother, Robbie, served as bartender!
Favourite Moments & Advice…
What made the day so special was the relaxed atmosphere and the love of our friends and family. The morning of the wedding it was supposed to rain, but we were determined not to worry about it – because rain or shine, we were getting married!
Our favourite moment was our first look (captured perfectly by Procopio Photography!). I was really really excited to show Evan my outfit, which I had been planning for months. We love surprises and gifts, and the first look was like one big surprise and the best gift in one moment!
What really inspired our big day was the people who came. We had a small wedding (70 people attended) and we wanted the focus to be spending time with our friends and family, and giving them a memorable, fun day of celebration. For inspiration, we looked at a lot at different wedding blogs that focused on how to make a FUN day.
Our advice to future couples getting married would be don’t focus on having a perfect wedding. Focus on having a happy, fun wedding – and then you’re wedding will be perfect!
Suppliers: Wedding Dress: BHLDN / Hair: Studio Helen Inc / Makeup: Jordan K. Winn & Co. / Shoes: Chie Mihara / Necklace: Goddess & Co / Groom Suit: J. Crew /Bridesmaid Dresses: Anthropologie / Groomsmen Suits: J. Crew /Picture Centre Piece: Ladaisi Illustrations /Cake: Shockley’s Sweet Shop / Nintendo 64: Amazon /Favours: Amazon /Invitations: Puddle Jumpin Cards /Food: Big’s Place /
Much Bespoke Love
Jess x
