a desert fete

I was so over the moon for all of the wedding planning goodies that Angela of Various Projects had up her sleeve, that I did something I have never done (even when this was strictly a wedding blog)- emailed and asked her if she wanted to share photos. And lucky us! She obliged.

Here are some photos and words from Angela that show us all the very cool elements she & her husband Grant used for their celebration...... From Angela;

- we got legally married in a civil ceremony in nyc (& had a bar gathering with friends to celebrate!), but it was important for us to have a ceremony in front of family & our closest friends. we have lived in ny for over 7 years, but that meant going back "home" to oklahoma for the wedding. that also meant most everything was made & finalized in the two frenzied weeks leading up to the wedding. lots of plans & ideas were chucked in those two weeks, but some beautiful accidents came out of it as well. i really wanted our family & friends involved, so my goal was to be open and allow for support (instead of getting stressed out by trying to create my "perfect" vision).

- it was very important to me that the entire wedding reflected our values & aesthetic (handcrafted, but still modern). we were on a super tight budget, so it made sense to do as much as we could ourselves. and if we couldn't do it ourselves, i wanted to patronize sustainable and/or independent companies that i respected... the entire effort is really a testament to our family & friends - almost everything was made or supplied by them. we are so lucky to be surrounded by such capable & creative people.

- various family grew most of the flowers we used, an aunt did all of the beautiful bouquets & arranging, a ny photo friend took photos. my family, friends & i made all of the decorations, i made candles for favors, my sister & mom made the flower girls' dresses, family made cakes/cookies/pies. my mom & i tie-dyed a large swath of cotton and used it for table linens & streamers. i designed all of the printed matter, had it printed locally, and designed the mountain fabric from that.
- we wrote the ceremony ourselves, my cousin officiated, our family members did readings (including my sweet nieces), and grant's grandfather gave the blessing. we included music we love: ceremony by new order (processional) & ring of fire by johnny cash (recessional). :)

- we sourced out a few things: the calligraphy on the printed matter was done by the amazing betsy dunlap, we ordered the appetizers (from our fave mediterranean spot) & the garland over the welcome table was custom made by confetti system . tables were from ikea ($8/each!). white honeycomb garlands in windows (martha stewart is a genius!) were from "bulk party supplies" online.
- i used japanese washi tape to put up a photo wall of us throughout our lives - one side was me, one side was grant, and the middle reflected our lives together, mostly in ny.

- for the guestbook, we set up a fuji instax cam in front of fabric. my 17-year old cousin manned the camera & everyone taped their pic on the wall. i plan to scan & compile all of the fuji pics into a proper book soon.

- please do note my beautiful, drapey dries van noten dress was from my friend's nyc east village shop "change of season". my mother hemmed it from long to short. all of our jewelry was from independent ny designers (chakra necklace from caitlin mociun, earrings from aesa, & our wedding rings from st. kilda & erie basin).

- most photos were by chris vernale and colin peterson.

Soooo lovely and resourceful you guys. Thanks again, for sharing. And a huge congratulations.. PS, you like those driftwood mobiles? That mountain fabric? Those candles? This girl knows how to not just recycle, but re use, check it out.