Real Wedding: April and Michael

This wedding has so many handmade and adorable details, there is just too much to love! The paper goods, all created by the bride, are just amazing! Even sweeter, it was shot by Kristina Hill, sister of the bride!

The talented bride April shares:

Our wedding took place on October 22, 2010.  We got married at the Stroudsmoor Country Inn, in Stroudsburg Pennslvania in the Fall.  The ceremony was held at Woodland Chapel, an outdoor ceremony site, surrounded by lots of nature, tall trees, and freshly fallen leaves.  Our reception took place indoors at Woodsgate, and old rustic mill at the Stroudsmoor.  After we settled on our location and date, our theme quickly fell into place for us – Fall, nature, trees, leaves, recycled, rustic, handmade and love.

The most important thing for us during the planning was to work on it together. We would gather ideas, thoughts, notes throughout the week. Then we would have a meeting over coffee and snacks every weekend, where we shared our ideas, thoughts, and dreams. Then we’d make a list and divide up the tasks! It was a great way to get things done, to spend time together and to ensure that both of us had a say in the planning, and it allowed for both of our visions to become a reality.

Most of our wedding details were DIY, and the entire wedding suite – save the dates, invites, programs, journal place card favors, menus, bird seed packets, guestbook tree, thank yous… were designed by me, and crafted together by the bride and groom and their closest family and friends. Our invitations were silkscreened to vintage hankies purchased from eBay. They were folded and combined with the RSVP card and direction card and mailed in recycled Kraft Paper envelopes. Programs were small booklets featuring order of ceremony, small bios of the bridal party, a poem that Michael wrote that was read at the ceremony, a thank you, a memorial dedication and back cover with schedule of events for the day. Programs and bird seed packets were stitched together by the groom’s mom… as was the ‘Just Married’ sign, made from vintage hankie leftovers!

Journal place card favors were place cards that doubled as favors. Journals were purchased from Anthropologie. Custom covers were designed by me – the spine featured guests name, table number was stamped to the front, and a thank you message was written on the back!  Menus were spinning wheels – Michael cut out over 200 circles! Our guest book was a tree trunk, guests stamped their fingerprint and signed their name.  The finished product – a tree full of fall leaves – hangs in our living room! Our last wedding DIY project was our Thank You Card Mix CD. We got compliments on our music selection and our deejays throughout our wedding day and after. So we decided to select our favorite songs from the wedding to send to our guests with a thank you note, to remind them of our day.  Thank You Cards consisted of a CD meant to look like a vinyl record, a record sleeve with personalized thank you note, and cover with track listing. They were packaged in recycled Kraft envelopes, as well.

The entire day was nothing short of perfect… Some of our favorite parts: Me walking down the aisle after the Muppets song ‘Somebody’s Getting Married’ played, and seeing Michael dancing to it, up at the alter. Being on the dance floor with all of our favorite people, dancing to our favorite (and very eclectic) mix of songs. Seeing each other at the first look. Pulling off our first dance after countless Waltz lessons. All of our details coming together so perfectly. Sharing our love for one another with all of our family and friends. The groom dancing with his Grandma. The Maid of Honor and Best Man Speeches. The Day After photo shoot – time to spend together, without any stress – Kristina captured some beautiful moments that day.

Photographer | Kristina Hill Photography

Reception and Ceremony Venue | Stroudsmoor Country Inn

Ring Bearer Bowl | Paloma’s Nest

Veil | Twigs & Honey

Bride’s Dress | J. Crew

Bridesmaids | twobirds

Cake Topper |  Astulabee

Tuxedo and Mens Attire | Ciuccio