Flory Photo

First off I want to say Happy Valentines Day to everyone!  Peter and Jessica planned this beautiful wedding while living all the way in Brooklyn NY.  I aboslutely loved the atmosphere surrounding their wedding as it was a great celebration of their love and family and friends.  The Bride and Groom made a perfect match with Jessica in a Melissa Sweet Dress and Peter in a Paul Smith suit.  With all that said, my favorite moment of the day came when Peter and Jessica sang a duet to Gillian Welch’s “My Dear Someone”. While Peter is the professional muscian, I have to say Jessica stole the show (Sorry Peter :).  Be sure to scroll all the way down to the bottom where Jessica shares her thoughts on the day and advice for other brides.

Venue, Date and # of Guests
The Gardens at Heather Farms.  June 13, 2009     110 Guests

What inspired you in planning the wedding?
Inspiration came from Martha Stewart Weddings, blogs, vintage everything, Music, Friends and Family

What were your favorite moments, surprises, traditions from the day?
Favorite moments of the day… there were many.   Seeing each other before the ceremony was definitely one of them.  I’m glad we decided to do the photos before the ceremony.  It made the day feel more special and exciting and seemed to stretch the day out longer.  Everyone says that the day flies by so fast and that you don’t really get to fully enjoy it but I think we both felt that wasn’t true for us.

Singing the Gillian Welch song (my dear someone) together was another highlight.  We had been practicing for months.  Peter’s stage fright was stronger than mine which was funny with him being the musician and all.

Having our family and friends together for the first time was a pretty great thing.  My dad’s best friends were there which was really important to him and they were a lot of fun.

I’m also glad that we decided to write our own vows.  It made the ceremony feel more special and personal and the guests seemed to really enjoy it.

Dress designer, shoes, Jewelry, Etc. Groom’s suit, Bridesmaids, etc.
Dress designer was Melissa Sweet (style was called “Fern”).  Shoes were Boutique 9. Peter’s suit was a sweet three piece Paul Smith number.   His Shoes were Calvin Klein.

Vendors
We did all of the wedding planning ourselves which was pretty intense.  This might be something I would recommend to other brides if you can afford it:  Get a Wedding Planner!  Our florist was amazing, Chong Hatcher at Ultimate Flowers.  She really made every effort to get exactly what I wanted and kept it at a much lower cost than every other florist we met with.  She was even there straightening my gown before I walked down the “aisle”.  There is a bit of a language gap which might worry some brides but trust me, she’s really listening very closely to what you want.  I can’t say enough good things about her.

Menu, Drinks, Dessert, Caterer, Baker, etc.
Caterer was Wild Thyme Catering.  Great team and great food.  The cupcakes were Walnut Creek Baking Company.  Amazing!

DIY elements
DIY elements were the invitations which we made with my print Gocco machine.  These have sadly been discontinued by the company, no idea why because they are amazing.  It’s a kind of screen printing contraption that works really nicely.  We made the design ourselves and had a printing day using the machine together.  It was a lot of fun.  The place cards I made using vintage buttons and cardstock.  I added some extra feathers to my hair piece.  The music took us months to put together since we didn’t hire a DJ and because we are serious music snobs.  We wanted the music to be perfect and to get everyone on the dance floor young and old which I think we totally nailed.   We also made the favors for the guests.  We used the Valentines Day compilation that Peter’s (now former band :-(    which I’m sad to report) Mobius Band put out.  I sang on two of the tracks so we thought it would be a nice touch to give those out as gifts.

Favorite Blogs or Magazines used in planning the wedding
Martha Stewart Weddings.  All of the blogs listed in the resource section.  Theknot.com is a really great resource also.  They have checklists for each month that tell you what you should be doing before the wedding which really, really came in handy for us.

Advice that you’d give to other Brides?
Advice would be to limit the number of do-it-yourself items and get help with the planning where you can to alleviate stress (especially if you are planning a wedding from a different state like us).  Also to just enjoy the wedding day as much as you can.  Things will definitely go wrong but it’s such an exciting day that none of those things really matter.  We had quite a few things go wrong (starting with my limo not showing up and being stranded outside the hotel with my gown draped over my shoulder and my bridesmaids carrying their bags and having the hotel come to our rescue with a mini van to rush us off to the venue.  Peter also had to deal with a Quincenera party invading our photo shoot and our sound system not working for the ceremony) but we were so happy and in the moment there was no time to dwell on any of them.   Just come up with a solution and move on. Besides, it all just makes for good stories afterwards.