Gorgeous doesn’t even begin to describe today’s wedding feature! This vintage handmade wedding from Sarah Bray is just filled with great personalized details. I’m kind of obsessed! And the groom’s face as he first sets his eyes on his bride? Priceless! Don’t forget to check out the amazing film from Imprint Cinema (which you will probably need a tissue for)!
I would describe our wedding as DIY vintage lacey shabby chic…wow that is a mouth full! Our wedding was at the historic Dr. Phillips House in downtown Orlando, FL which we immediately knew was perfect for our wedding style as soon as we saw the wall of vintage teapots displayed in the reception room. My husband, Chris, and my number one priority for our wedding was that we wrote our own vows. We both wanted to have a very intimate wedding ceremony that was personalized for us. From the very beginning of planning both of us felt this way, that we wanted the ceremony to be a moment for the two of us and vowing all of those very personal things that are so important while the reception we wanted to be a fun party for our guests.
One of my favorite details of our wedding that turned into something incredibly special to me was my bouquet. I handmade each of the flowers out of burnt silk, lace, and Rachel Ashwell cotton fabric and incorporated several brooches that had meaning to me. Most importantly, the handle of my bouquet was wrapped with the pocket of my grandfather’s favorite plaid shirt. I was very close with my grandpa who passed away 4 months before our wedding so it meant a lot to me to have his beloved old shirt incorporated into my bouquet so it was like he was holding my hand down the aisle as well.
My absolute favorite part of the day was seeing my husband for the first time. Moments before the ceremony everyone had gone down stairs to begin the processional and I was walking down a large staircase alone so this was the first and only moment of the entire day that I was alone for a few minutes…and I was freaking out. I could hear all of the processional music that I had thoughtfully chosen myself playing and I was standing next to a mirror where I could see myself as a bride so the moment was so incredibly surreal I was about to just burst out crying. At that moment one of our amazing cinematographers from Imprint Cinema, Alex, saw me from outside and came in to give me directions or a pep talk or something, I’m not quite sure because all I was doing was trying not to start crying or throw up. I believe Alex saw that I was about to lose it and he had earplugs in that were connected to Chris’ microphone and he said he could hear Chris talking with his groomsmen downstairs so asked if I would like to hear my groom. I took the earpiece under the veil over my face and as soon as I heard Chris’ voice every bit of anxiety and the surrealness of it all disappeared and all I felt was incandescently happy that I was about to marry the man of my dreams. Chris’ face when he saw me is so priceless and precious and I will remember it for the rest of my life…which having an amazing photographer in Sarah Bray that captured it definitely helps!
My priority was definitely DIY-ing as much as I possibly could. Crafting is something that I thoroughly enjoy and I wanted to be involved in as many aspects of our wedding as I could so I handmade pretty much EVERYTHING (expect the food and my dress of course ;). This included all of the bouquets, boutonnieres, paper items, and most of the decor. Personalization was a big priority when planning so this was another reason I did want to make as much as I could as well as incorporating as much as I could about our relationship as a couple. I really wanted our guests to learn more about our love for each other and how it has grown after watching us vow to share this love forever. So I made a chalk board out of this old (very heavy) mirror I found thrifting and “aged” the wood frame myself and displayed our love story, in summary, at our ceremony.
Chris’ priorities for wedding planning on the other hand were very simple: keeping me sane. As you can imagine, having over 50 crafting projects for a wedding can be incredibly daunting at moments so he was not only there as an encourager when I was frustrated but he was very hands on and helped we as much as he could. Chris handmade our beautiful cakestand, cut burlap ribbons for the chairs, cut bottles for decor, I definitely could not have done all of it without him!
Photography | Sarah Bray Photography | Film | Imprint Cinema | Venue | The Courtyard at Lake Lucerne | Planner | 2Birds Events | Gown | Solutions Bridal Designer House | Caterer | Meiner’s Catering
