Real Weddings

An Elegant Backyard Affair

Notes from the Bride, Audie: Q: Tell us about your wedding! What was the inspiration behind your day? Did you have a specific theme, style or color palette? Did you incorporate any cultural or religious traditions in any part of your day? A: Our wedding day was an elegant backyard affair. We wanted it to be soft and romantic and accent the mountains of Colorado in the background with the beauty of the venue. The color palette was very monochromatic and neutral with soft apricot, sage green and white. The wedding was a christian wedding lead by the brides brother. Q: Let's talk wedding decor. How did you decorate your space for the ceremony and the reception? Was any part of the decor DIY? A: The wedding decor was all about the florals. We used terra-cotta pots for the centerpieces, alternating with a floral arrangement and potted ivy. They filled the center of all the round tables that the guests were seated at. On the head table we had green ivy and foliage down the center of the kings table with the bridal bouquets in glass vases wrapped with a large green leaf. The table assignments were hand written on luggage tags wrapped around a tree outside the reception hall where guests found their name and then knew what table to sit at. The tables were set with beautiful white dotted plates when the guests found their seats and had a Chocolove chocolate bar on each plate with a green sprig of foliage. We made drink menus and a cultural Basque cake memo with beautiful picture frames. Q: What were the florals like in your wedding? Did you use flowers in any of your design elements like the bridal bouquets, centerpieces or ceremony backdrop? Did they play an important part in the overall style of your wedding? A: The flowers were the main decor element in our wedding. The flowers are where the color scheme came from, just being very neutral and monochromatic. The centerpieces were both floral arrangements and potted ivy. Garden roses, ranunculus, mums, wax flowers and all sorts of other unique flowers were used. The most unique part to the bouquets and centerpieces was the use of wild raspberries and mint. There were little bouquets of greenery hanging from every other chair down the aisle and flowers on the welcome sign with pots on the ground below. There were flowers around the cakes and on top of the cake. There were flowers everywhere and that just added to the elegant backyard wedding feel we were going for. I had two broaches on my bouquet stems that my mom's mom wore on her dress at my moms wedding. It was sweet to honor my grandmother at my wedding, because I never met her in real life, but we share our first names. I love that I got to carry her with me on my special day. Q: Did you personalize the day in any way (food trucks, guest entertainment etc.)? What were some of your favorite parts of your wedding? A: We personalized our wedding by having the brides brother conduct the ceremony. We live in California so we knew we were not going to be able to save our cake top, so we made an anniversary box instead. Earlier in the day, before the ceremony, we both wrote letters to each other to put in a small white box that we will read to each other on our first anniversary. We wanted to capture how we were feeling, what we wanted to remember and how excited we were in the letters so we could relive our day on our first anniversary. We placed the letters in our anniversary box during the ceremony while one of the bridesmaids sang a beautiful song. We also had the grooms sister, who was also a bridesmaid, read a poem during the ceremony as well. We wanted our wedding to feel very family oriented, because our families mean the world to us. We also personalized it by using items from Colorado, California and France. We used local beers and Chocolove from Colorado. We used local beer and wine from California, and wine from France. Colorado is important because that is where I am from and where the wedding was held. California is important because that is where Nick is from and where we live together now. France is important because of Nicks familys heritage and where we got engaged. Q: Let's talk fashion. How did you choose your wedding day look? How did the groom? Describe both looks in detail. A: I knew that I wanted the boys to be in Navy from the beginning. I think that was the first detail I decided about the wedding. From there I just picked things that would compliment a soft color palette for the rest. When looking for my dress I knew I wanted an off white color, and I ended up with a champagne color that was perfect. The dress that I wore on my wedding day went through some alterations that made it the perfect dress. It was originally a drop waist, that we raised to a natural waist, and we added the horse hem to the bottom to give it such beautiful dimension. I fell in love with the horse hem as I was trying on dresses, I knew that it had to be a part of my dress. I love that my dress was simple, yet totally unique because of the alterations. I wanted the bridesmaid dresses to be soft and have a pattern, the ivory with the subtle floral pattern fit the look I was going for so well. Q: How did you meet? Tell us about the proposal. A: We meet while playing lacrosse in college at Boise State University. We went to a hockey game for our first date on a Saturday night, then we went clay pigeon shooting on Sunday and then we went to this famous spot in Boise, Table Rock, on Monday. It was pretty much history after those 3 days of "dates" because we never stopped hanging out. The Proposal: While on a family vacation in the Basque Country, a territory in Southern France, we were walking back to the house we were staying in after a walk to the post office one morning. Nick was insisting on us walking to this cute bridge in the center of town, but I kept telling him it was silly to go to the bridge because we would have to pass our house. After Nick continued to insist I finally gave in and went with him to the bridge. When we got to the bridge we walked to the top, it was just the two of us, I was looking down at the water and when I looked up Nick was down on one knee in front of me. To say that I was shocked would be a huge understatement. I had convinced myself that Nick would not want to carry a ring all the way to France so I had just never put a scenario of a proposal in my mind. I met Nick on my knees when I saw him down on one knee, he said a few sweet words and then asked me to marry him. Of course I said YES. We were crying and hugging on top of that little bridge just soaking in the moment. It was private and romantic and exactly perfect for us. We walked back to the house we were staying in and shared the good news with Nicks whole family by simply raising my hand in the air and then hugging and crying again with everyone else! We had to wait till we found WiFi and for it not to be in the middle of the night to Face-Time with my family back in Colorado. We called my parents and they of course knew why they were getting this call, but they were more than ecstatic to hear the news! The rest of the trip was even more magical spending it with my Fiance. Q: What was the most anticipated or special moment of your wedding day? A: We chose not to do first looks, so the walk down the aisle was the most anticipated. We were so excited to see each other for the first time walking down the aisle. It was so sweet to see Nick's reaction when he saw me. I think the most special moment was sharing our own vows. Neither of us really like talking in front of crowds, but we knew we wanted to write and share our own vows with each other. It was so sweet to hear what each others vows were standing at the alter. Q: Do you have any wedding planning or marriage advice that you'd like to share with other couples planning their day? A: My advice is to find your wedding dress early, and get your alteration appointments on the books as soon as you can. Also I would say stick to your gut and vision while you are planning. When planning there are so many beautiful wedding examples to look at, but you have to find what is most important for you. Let yourself shine through the wedding details, because thats what makes it your special day. If you do that then you will love your wedding day so much and want to do it over and over again just like we do!