There are so many charming DIY details in today’s garden wedding from Tamara Jaros. I love the cute ‘please be seeded’ seed packet escort cards! And how stunning is the bride’s blush gown? It goes so perfectly with her summery floral filled wedding.
We wanted it to be pretty and romantic without being fussy.We love the outdoors and garden a ton so we knew we wanted it to be outside and focus on beautiful floral arrangements. The location came as a suggestion from a customer of my father in law. Once we saw it we were in love, we saw that it had great potential, plus it was in our area and it was reasonably priced. Being in the summer we wanted a lighter color palette, hence the grey and pinks. I stumbled upon that beautiful Soledad gown by Watters and that was that! All bridal party in grey with hints of pink and floral everywhere.
We did include many family heirlooms, unfortunately my mother passed away quite some time ago so we wanted to include her in our special day. I had sewn a piece of blue fabric from one of my mom’s dresses in the shape of a heart in the lining of my gown to represent something old, borrowed and blue! Plus I inherited my mom’s pearl so I wore the necklace and the earrings. I was named after my mom’s mom so I wore a ring that was passed down to her and then to me.
We did EVERYTHING ourselves for the most part! Our families and friends were so amazing and helped in every way they could. We had weekly family wedding craft nights! The boutineers, escort cards, flower girl basket, candles, programs, hanging tealights, chalkboards signs (courtesy of our wonderfully artistic friend Kate Jones),dried flower arrangements, ceremony entrance along with the styling of the head table (Created by our kind neighbor Debbie Boyle). We were also lucky to have our friend Ed Nettleton loan us the antiques used throughout our event to make it warm and inviting. Everyone was on the look out for cool unique ideas for us. The groom made all of the table runners and pillows for the picnic tables! He was very hands on and made the planning process that easier to tackle. My sister Helen Kennedy was very instrumental she helped to guide me along the way with a positive and optimistic mindset! Without Helen and her three children, Ravan, Kennedy and Keana there is no way all of my ideas would have come to fruition.
The most important aspect of our wedding was that we have good and enough food!! We love to eat and too often have been disappointed on the serving sizes and choices at previous weddings that we’ve attended, so we reached out to some of our wonderful friends. We are blessed to know the talented Chef Peter Archos, and although he doesn’t cater events he was kind enough to created the most beautiful appetizer buffet and delicious dinner menu, we’re still getting compliments about all of his dishes. Our proteins, smoked brisket and pork, were provided by my husband’s long time family friends, Dave Werrner and Chris Sherman. Smoking meat has become a passion of theirs and they have won many smoking completions in our area.
Sharing our love with the people we love most in the world was the favorite part of our day. We couldn’t have had a better day, the weather, the atmosphere, the food, the music! I forgot the music! Our ceremony music was provided by my husband’s family, his Uncle Jeff Staebell, he directed all of the ceremony music, and sang Forever by Ben Harper for the bridal procession. His three nephews Kai, Chase, and Bobby Carpenter did such a great job playing over the rainbow by Iz Kamakawiwo as the bridal party processional. Then our DJ JD Mason from Delta Disc Jockeys played You and Me by Dave Matthews Band for our recessional. We had the best DJ too, we LITERALLY destroyed our dance floor because we danced all night!
Photography | Tamara Jaros Photography | Venue | Steier Club von Chicago | Cake | The Baking Institute | Rentals | Taylor Rental Party Plus | Florist | Megan Koenig from JH Events | Paper Goods | Inviting Moments | Entertainment | Delta Disc Jockeys | Dress | Watters from Bijou Bridal | Bridesmaid Dresses | J.Crew | Hair | Artistry by Annalise | Makeup | Cari Rason | Groomswear | Black Tie Formalwear
