You know we love special handmade details here at Glamour & Grace and today’s wedding from Megan Lee Photography is everything! The groom is from Germany, so the couple decided on a whimsical travel theme that included cute little paper map airplanes (how cute is that boutonniere?) and lots of other special touches you are bound to love!
Our wedding vision started as a wonderful lush enchanted forest feel. Unfortunately, finding a venue for you May wedding Northern Illinois to fulfill that vision is quite difficult. As we searched our vision shifted into a light, bright, floral, and whimsical feel. We really loved that deep olive shade with the accompanying petal pink. Our venue was the perfect fit for us, situated on 30+ acres of trees, ponds, and natural areas. The arching trees over the ceremony site were the special touches that we were yearning for. The reception hall had such a “homey” feel to it. We knew it was the right choice after all the decorations and special touches were added.
I wore a few pieces of heirloom jewelry. On one hand was my maternal great grandmothers ring and the opposite hand was the ring my maternal grandmother wore during her wedding ceremony. My bouquet had a couple small Lego pieces from my young cousin who passed away from cancer, and there was also a head up penny found at my best friend’s uncle’s funeral from my Maid of Honor that she used as a good luck piece. My veil had an homage bead on it that was used on my mother veil. The gem feel off of my mother’s veil right before she was to walk down the aisle. When I removed my veil, the gem was missing as well. Fate!
It was so important for me and my husband to have a day that really screamed “us”. We wanted to feel in total control of the look and the feel of the day, and we didn’t want it to be too over the top. Finding the balance between upscale and Do-It-Yourself was a constant conversation topic.
We decided to have a “first look” and this was one of my favorites. To have those 15 minutes to ourselves with nobody else around was absolutely wonderful. Being able to see his face for the first time with nobody around made it easy for the emotions to flow and not feel silly. I also loved the moment we had finished our father daughter, and mother son dances. My younger brother asked me if we could dance together as well. It made my heart swell so much! With my husband being from Germany he had many family members and friends that could not make the big day. His Best Man was able to have all of his “missing” guests create a short video and he strung them all together and played their well wishes to us at the wedding reception during speeches. It was such a touching moment.
I loved having my hand in small special touches like the handmade table numbers, to the hand potted succulents and flowers. It was also very important for us to honor my husbands heritage, as he is from Germany; notice the small map, atlas, and travel accents around the day.
My table numbers were handmade from an old atlas that was my paternal grandparents. This atlas was always in the car during our road trips! I used modge podge and glitter to create the table numbers. I used this same atlas for the paper airplanes in my bouquet, for the groom’s boutonniere as well as the groomsmen’s boutonnieres. I also made a banner of ribbons to rope off the seating section of the ceremony until seating began. I made various little signs to point people in the right direction, like our “ceremony” sign that was a galvanized arrow. I also spent 1.5 years collecting tea cups from garage sales and resale shops to hand plant succulents and flowers as wedding favors. Our wedding ceremony consisted of a union piece where we planted a tree together that will be planted at our first home.
Photography | Megan Lee Photography | Venue | The Shores Of Turtle Creek | Florals | Locker’s Flowers | Catering | The Picnic Basket | Invitations | Minted | Dress | Symphony Bridal from Complete Bridal | Ring | Helzberg | Bridesmaid Dresses | David’s Bridal | Groomswear | Men’s Warehouse | Hair | Melanie Taylor from 3 Dimensions Salon | Makeup | Megan DeMeyer
