Today’s wedding is so full of sweet heirloom and handmade details, you can’t help but fall in love! Courtney Bowlden Photography is sharing this charming summer mansion wedding with us. Grooms: you have a lot to live up to because this groom went above and beyond creating amazing details for their wedding day, including an amazing wreath swing as a surprise for his wife to be!
Our vision for the wedding was for it to have a classic romantic feel to it, and so we wanted something that had a sort of European garden theme. We decided on Lairmont Manor because it not only met what we hoped for, but it was also nestled right inside the Fairhaven District of Bellingham, a little community where our story began. We decided the main colors would be grey and a mauve/rose color. Cecil wore a navy suit and stood out a little more as the groom, while Elizabeth wore and ivory dress, with a lot of lace of course. We hoped the attire and overall setting would set the scene for a romantic and quaint feeling in a beautiful garden.
What was most important to us, was the overall feel of the wedding. We had family members that traveled quite far and we wanted to not only get them caught up in the romantic feel of our wedding, but enjoy what Washington has to offer. Lairmont manor delivered on this in every way. We decided to splurge by having a violinist for our ceremony, and hiring a pianist for the social hour prior to the dinner. We also decided that despite the added cost, we wanted to have a videographer to help further capture the day.
Cecil went above and beyond to add personal details that made our day that much more special. He built the arbor used for our ceremony, and currently it is in our backyard. He also made the wood coasters that were used on the tables, as well as the wood boxes that housed the floral center pieces for each of the tables. He also had three surprises for me, I was completely unaware of any of them until our wedding day. He made a wreath swing, it was gorgeous and our florist did an amazing job decorating it. It felt like a fairytale!
I didn’t have any heirlooms of my own, but I wanted us to have one that we could start passing down, so as soon as I decided I wanted to marry Elizabeth, I got to work. I decided that I was going to have an engagement ring made for her. First I got started on the band, by getting gold from both of our families. Liz’s mom offered gold pieces that she gave permission to melt, they once belonged to Liz’s mom and grandmother. From my side, I used a gold nugget I had panned as a child when I visited family from Alaska. A friend then connected me with a “diamond guy” who hand picked a raw one imported from Da Beers and had it cut. I then had a gold smith put it all together with a design I knew she would love. In the end I had an engagement ring that connected both of our families and was uniquely designed for her.
I made coasters for our guests to use and have, made out of log rounds that I branded with our names and wedding date. We also had a candy bar with goodie bags for people to fill with their favorites.
Cecil also practiced for several months with a mutual friend of ours and was able to prepare a toast to me in Spanish, which was very special because I had a lot of Spanish speaking relatives there that day, one even traveled from Mexico. It warmed my heart to know he would go above and beyond to make me feel so incredibly loved. Finally, we began our first dance to the words from Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect,” only I realized it was a cover and after a few shared looks, Cecil confirmed that it was his him! I learned later on that he took lessons and recorded this song for us. I’ll cherish that recording forever.
Photography | Courtney Bowlden Photography | Venue | Lairmont Manor | Florals | Pozie by Natalie | Videography | Sound Originals | Cake | Xtra Special Cakes | Hair & Makeup | Salon Tryst | Catering | Danielle’s Backeast BBQ | Dress | Stella York | Submitted via Matchology
