An Elegant Green Winter Wedding

This week is double wedding week! So instead of getting one fab wedding, you’ll get two gorgeous and unique weddings to be inspired by!

First up is a romantic and sweet winter wedding. I am in love with this couple’s inspiration (read more below!), it created such an intimate and unique wedding. The venue is amazing and I am in love with the greenery bouquets! This is such an elegant and understated take on a winter wedding!

The stunning bride Ashley shares the details:

Our wedding was themed around a poem I read a while back by W.H Auden called “September 1, 1939.” It was written on the eve of WWII, when all was grim and dark in the world. Yet, he managed to find hope in that darkness. The most important line to us is: “Yet, dotted everywhere/ Ironic points of light/ Flash out wherever the Just/ Exchange their messages.” Our wedding was on New Years Eve, so it was dark and cold, yet our family and friends came together to light up the darkest season in response to our love for one another.

In planning it was also important to us to not bee too ostentatious. All of our ‘flowers’ were really a series of evergreens and plants that were in season at the time of our wedding. It made sense to us to fit our wedding with the season we were in: winter. We wanted dark rooms with warm lighting, candles, evergreens, and sparkly garland. We also wanted the design of our wedding to be classic, something we can return to in photos in the future and not be aghast at our fashion choices. For that reason, I chose a 40’s lace open-backed dress and Patrick wore a three-piece grey suit.

One of my favorite parts of the day was the ceremony. It was so amazing to be up in front of all of our favorite people, getting their blessing in our new life together. Our ceremony wasn’t religious, so we had our cousins covering some of our favorite songs from artists like Feist and Bruce Springsteen. We also had our siblings choose surprise readings for us, so it was so fun to hear what they chose to read with us in mind.

We planned around this ‘out of the darkness and into the light theme,’ so it was important to have spaces that looked fabulous in dark lighting. We found two gorgeous spaces for the ceremony and the reception at the University of Chicago, my alma mater. Both spaces are gothic and regal without being too imposing. Our ceremony was at Bond Chapel which is lined with stained glass windows and stone archways. At the ceremony, we lit candles and guests walked with their lit candles to the reception. The reception was at The Reynold’s Club where we set up three long tables which were just lined with hundreds of candles — the effect was gorgeous.

I think the speeches were also really a fun part of the day. My sister and Patrick’s brother are so close to us, so it was wonderful to be a part of a sweet and lovely toast given by them in front of all of our friends and family. Finally, there was a moment right before the bridal party and Patrick and I were announced at the reception where I initiated a group hug between my sister, Patrick’s brother, Patrick and I. It was so fun to be there with them at that moment in our lives — there was so much joy, celebration, and love in all of us at that moment. Then we were announced to Animal Collective’s “My Girls;” the feeling was just ecstatic.