Rustic romance meets the sea in this DIY wedding from Courtney Bowlden Photography. This couple perfectly blended their styles: one loving the sea, one loving the mountains, into this dreamy event filled to the brim with handmade details. The bride’s mother even made the cake!
Peter wanted to sail away from the wedding, and grew up by the ocean. Erika had always lived on mountains and in places surrounded by nature. We are passionate about the outdoors, and styled the wedding as a rustic, romantic, and slightly wild- with small details of lace, herbs, vines, hand painted signs and billowing sheers draped and styled throughout the venue. The colors drifted between navy, green and a floral accented peach wrapped in cream and gold. A pallet inspired by the Forest and Sea. By the ocean, and above the ocean.
Erika wanted the outfits to be balanced between stylish and casual. Think navy maxis, simple dress lines, rolled up sleeves, leather suspenders…rosemary boutonnieres and wildflower like bouquets. We wanted people to be comfortable and feel like they had a say in what they could bring to the table, style wise.
The most important thing for us was the people. The people were our biggest joy in planning the wedding. We had 300 RSVP’s and a little less in actual attendance. So it was a large affair to put together in 3.5 months. We wanted to honor the old, embrace the new, and add our personal spin.
Our entire wedding was DIY, hand made centerpieces, floral arrangements, my mother and father’s old chandelier, woven with greenery, our hand made chuppah/arbor, styled by my mother and her best friend, Anne. I loved the idea of lanterns and globe lights creating the ceiling, with lots of soft drapery in the background. Think, glamping under the stars by the ocean. Our flowers were wild, romantic, cascading. Styled similarly to the outfits, all unique in their own way, but still put together. Greenery was king.
My mother spent about 75 hours, multiple cake trials, tastings and decoration brainstorming sessions with to create the perfect, hand made, organic, raspberry dark chocolate buttercream cake. The sentimental value of tasting your wedding cake to be in your Mom’s kitchen, after picking wildflowers together from her garden was priceless. Avellino Coffehouse in Bellingham, WA was the baker for the raspberry filled, chocolate buttercream cupcakes that made people swoon.
Our fondest memories together, were the secret, shared moments prior to the ceremony, and the dances during the reception. We snuck away with our photographer to have photos done by ourselves, away from the chaos. We looked into each other’s eyes and promised forever before the official eyes were watching.
Photography | Courtney Bowlden Photography | Venue | Anacortes Transit Shed | Florals | Boxx Berry Farm | Videography | Cineprose | Dress | BHLDN | Shoes | Badgley Mischka | Bridesmaid Dresses | Lulu’s | Hair & Makeup | Kat Green | Groom’s Attire | Alicia’s & The Formal House | Submitted via Matchology
