A Blush and Gold Springtime Wedding

If you are a peony lover like me, you will fall in love with this wedding! I am swooning over the dreamy blush bouquets and centerpieces! I also love the cute DIY escort cards that bring together the whole peony theme.

The lovely bride Karoline shares:

My husband and I love to travel, and we love exploring cute little towns so we knew that Geneva, IL was the perfect locale for our wedding. The town gave us and our guests a little bit of a “weekend getaway” feel. It was far enough outside of the city, and the historic Victorian homes, antique shops, charming family owned eateries, and river views all majorly shaped our wedding feel and vision.

I found that over time, the vision just came together organically. I realized that I kept gravitating towards the same themes and ultimately, a romantic wedding theme prevailed. Our reception venue was a rustic and historic two story river front building, with exposed stone fireplaces, wood beams and large covered patio. In keeping with the historic feel of the town and the rustic elements of our venue, we chose soft blushes, ivories and golds; lace details in the dress and cake; fresh peony flowers and peony decals carried throughout the invites, escort cards, programs and guest welcome bags; scattered mercury glass votives and vintage mason jars; and accents of baby’s breath and moss.

I loved the moment that hair and makeup was finally done and it was time to slip on my bridal gown. When my sisters zipped me up and worked on the satin buttons. Putting the veil on my head and feeling like a true bride. Seeing my mother in law burst into tears when she saw me for the first time. Inhaling the sweet scent of my peony bouquet. Walking through the Japanese gardens as my dress swooshed at my feet and my veil blew in the wind. Feeling my parents squeeze my arms tight as they escorted me down the aisle. Walking down the aisle as I looked at my husband- the moment that I had waited for since I knew I was going to marry him. Savoring my cousin’s beautiful voice as she sang our favorite hymns, almost bringing me to tears. Feeling my husband hold my hands so tightly as we were saying our vows. Laughing so hard until our bellies ached from the best men/maids of honor speeches. Looking around the room at all these people who loved and supported us. Seeing my parents jumping and dancing on the dance floor as I had never seen them dance before. Taking the bobby pins out and shaking my ‘do out on the dance floor at the end of the night- dancing to our heart’s content as our friends wooped and hollered and cheered us on.

During the stressful at times with the planning, we tried to fully enjoy the experience and I embraced all of the ups and downs. We had a lot of help from our families and really couldn’t have pulled off the wedding without them. We had many DIY embellishments- such as the cake pop favors, the wish tree (which also served as our guest book), “faux-to” booth and all of the props, the escort cards, and many elements in the invitations suite. The best investments in my opinion was a day of coordinator so that we could fully and wholly enjoy the wedding day, fantastic photographers that made us feel so at ease, and our incredible videographers- whom we didn’t even notice were there 98% of the time! After the candles burn down, the flowers wilt, the food is gone… the photos and the video immortalized the memories that we can enjoy for the rest of our lives.