Posts Tagged ‘Real Weddings’

Jul 2011

* Kayce (Shiny Pretty Bits) & Matty * Photographer: One Love Photo (Now shooting in Hawaii)* Soundtrack for reading: Explosions in the Sky, “So Long, Lonesome” *

The Info—Venue: Oceanfront Oasis, Hawaii; Dress: Daphne by Melissa Sweet; Suit: The Byard by Paul Smith; Hair Flower: Trulu Couture; Shoes: Pour La Victoire; Photography: One Love Photo (APW Sponsor; Meg’s Photographers, now booking in Hawaii too!)

Other Cool Stuff: Though it eliminated most of the venues we looked at, it was really important to us to have our dog, Bear, there. He walked in with my husband and wore a striped gray bow-tie from American Apparel. Also, we had a gobo made for the pool out of a monogram I had done for our website and stationary. This ended up being our favorite detail of the night and was completely my husband’s idea.

What The Pictures Don’t Tell You: Our wedding was a complete labor of love. Since our budget wasn’t large we had to get creative and look to our community to make things work. We had a lounge-style reception to cut down on the amount of tables we’d have to dress. Our serving ware came from Goodwill and Ross. We shopped for all the food ourselves over the course of the three days leading up to the wedding, and we hired a friend to cater. We served the food on paper plates. My sister in law did everyone’s makeup. Another friend did everyone’s hair. A friend offered to bake our wedding cake using one of my favorite recipes and yet another friend made all of our gorgeous floral arrangements. My husband owns a bar, so our alcohol was donated and the waitstaff and bartenders were our regular staff. Our family graciously did all of the setup and breakdown. If it weren’t for our community we probably would have run off and eloped. I’m glad we didn’t.

Favorite Thing: Our closest friends and family are scattered all around the world. Having them all in one place for a week to celebrate with us was the greatest gift and made all the stress of planning the wedding worth it.

Posted in: Wedding Graduates, Wordless Weddings | 30 Comments »

Jun 2011

Wordless Wedding: Taxidermy Church

* Alison, Comedian, Taxidermy Church * Nick, Editor * Photographer Rich Prugh Photography * Soundtrack for reading, The Penguins’ “Earth Angel“

The Info—The Venues: Ceremony, The Campus Theatre, Lewisburg PA, where Alison’s grandparents had their first date, Reception, Private Home/Converted Church owned by a antiques dealer… nicknamed Taxidermy Church by Alison and Nick; Dress: Mikaella 1239; Ceremony Headwear: Twigs & Honey, Reception Headwear: Ella Gajewska Millinery, Suits: Express; Paper goods including posters: Erica Miller at Thoughtful Day Photographer: Rich Prugh Photography (Hollywood, CA)

One sentence sum up of the wedding vibe: If all your favorite people schemed a very relaxed and good-humored takeover of a flea market and turned up the jams.

Other cool stuff we should know about: Before the ceremony started, we played a silent film about how we met at Syracuse University. One of our extremely talented friends, Ramsey Ess, shot and edited the video. We filmed in a Denny’s in New Jersey. On the way there, we got a flat tire and had to have our car serviced while we were in complete 1930s get-ups. Nick’s fake mustache was falling off the whole time we were talking to the mechanic (the mechanic pretended not to notice).

Favorite thing about the wedding: Our officiant had Nick and I write “secret” letters to each other and then he read them out loud at the ceremony. Best part of the day. We also laughed A LOT on our wedding day. I laughed the moment I woke up (I was staying in my sister’s hotel room and she was talking in her sleep) to the ceremony (lots of laughs, including the sound of 100+ 80-year-old metal chairs springing up at the same time) to the reception (accidentally peeing on my dress — I’ll admit it, whatevs). Most importantly, it served as a great kickoff to our fun and loving marriage. Marrying Nick? Best decision I’ve ever made.

PS: You can read about Alison’s Great Grandmother’s Ceremony in the APW archives. That girl has a historical lock on quirky weddings.

Posted in: Wedding Graduates, Wordless Weddings | 41 Comments »

Mar 2011

On Snippet & Ink: Loving Without Envy

Have I mentioned to you guys that I share an office with Kathryn of Snippet & Ink? Well, I do. And yesterday I walked into the office and she said, “Meg, the wedding I’m posting tomorrow has you written all over it.” And she could not have been more right. When I flipped out over this picture she pointed out that it was basically the same picture taken of me at our wedding. Maybe the bride and I are soul sisters, a little.

The wedding between two London theatre people…. and get this, it took place in an abandoned mansion on North Wales with no electricity, that hadn’t been lived in for 60 years. Because that’s the kind of parties this couple throws. And Kathryn said, wisely (I’m paraphrasing), “The trouble is, we see a wedding like this and we think that we need to throw a wedding in an abandoned mansion. And we don’t. That’s not us. But it is them. So we just need to appreciate what it is.” Which is so exactly it.

That, and the 30-foot wedding cake was a fireworks bonfire. I’m just saying.

So anyway, go see it all, right this second. You’re welcome.

Photographs: Nick Tucker, layouts by Snippet & Ink

Posted in: Manifestos, Meg's Thoughts, Style, Weddings | 26 Comments »

Sep 2010

Wedding Undergraduate/Graduate: Verhext & Vermont

When I went to write an introduction to this post, I actually wrote last week’s DIY/DIT manifesto. Turns out I had a lot to say on the subject. So today I’ll just tell you that today’s Wedding Undergraduate/Graduate post comes from the excellent Tamera of Verhext. Verhext is one of those blogs I stumbled onto through my comment section, and after I found it I felt so, so glad that Tamera was getting married, because it gave me the chance to find her blog. I met her in person at the very first APW meetup, and people, this woman is wise. So this is her whirlwind of thoughts, one month before her wedding in October (Wedding! In October! I can hardly wait to hear about it, sqeeeeee!). And now, the girl herself (that’s her fixin’ up the bride in the picture below….)

True Confessions: Sometimes I read wedding blogs and get a happy-nervous-excited feeling in my belly, like it’s Christmas Eve or my birthday and I’m 8 years old. But the majority of the time, the feeling in my stomach is that of “This is terrible, weddings are the worst thing ever, if I just don’t think about the 32947294278 things that have to happen, they will magically get done, right?” and as the date creeps closer and closer (39 days as I write this) turns to something more resembling full blown panic.

When I have those moments, I try to slow down and remember that in a way, I am already a wedding graduate. What? How is that possible?

About a year ago, Meg was sent a link to my blog (by whom!? I’m curious.) featuring a wedding. She looked at it, thought “No way! That bride is 15!*” and moved on. A year passes, we meet in person, she’s reading my blog and sees this child bride, the lovely Myra. Myra is actually 29, not 15, and has a baby now. Her wedding was truly a huge learning experience for me.

Myra is my sister-in-law’s sister, and feeling overwhelmed, tasked her entire extended family with her wedding. See, there’s no such thing as DIY in Vermont. Before the legions of Vermonters reading A Practical Wedding go running for that comment button, I’ll explain. It’s just what you do. “DIY” should actually be renamed “being a Vermonter.” Not only is self-sufficiency a huge part of the culture, if you can’t do it, you’ll know exactly who can. Need a wedding dress? Ask your grandma/cousin/neighbor/friend. Need something built? Uncle Ted can get that. Need wine? Well, we just made some.

Continue reading Wedding Undergraduate/Graduate: Verhext & Vermont

Posted in: Planning, Wedding Undergraduates | 81 Comments »

Jun 2010

Simple Hungarian Wedding

I thought I’d end the week with a quiet little wedding. Because this week needs a quiet little wedding in it, I think. You guys were so thrilled with Tuesday’s international wedding that the time felt right to show you this wedding I got from Hungary, with this charming email from a Hungarian wedding planner and dress designer who love-loved this wedding. (And the picture of the bride praying with the candle? Just SLAYS me. David, looking over my shoulder, said it was very turn-of-the-century, and yes.)

I’ve been wondering for a long time whether I should write this at all. You must receive so many emails anyway and what would a wedding from the other end of the world interest you and your readers? But then, as I feel so strongly about this particular wedding and also seeing you being the person you are, I’m hoping it would make you happy to know that there are simple weddings filled with love in obscure little countries like Hungary too.

The photographer (one of Hungary’s best wedding photographers, Tamás Szipli) also did an amazing job capturing these images, and it is obvious that he was also touched by the people and as he put it, all the love that you could almost touch. It hasn’t been usual for a while in Hungary to get married in folk costumes (for like a 100 years :)), but the bride and the groom run a folk dance club, so our folk heritage is part of their everyday life and they decided that they want to incorporate that into their wedding. They live in the second biggest city of Hungary, not in a village, not on a farm.

Continue reading Simple Hungarian Wedding

Posted in: Uncategorized | 25 Comments »

May 2010

Sponsored Post: Lauren McGlynn Photography

First of all. I saw you international readers just glaze over when you saw a sponsored post. But if you live in the UK or the EU, sit up straight and pay attention. Also, oddly, Texas, also pay attention. Thank you.

Do I always say I’m excited when I get to introduce a new APW sponsor? It’s quite possible that I do, because like with so many other things about this site, the advertising program has grown into something way, way, way beyond my wildest dreams. There are all these super sharp, super talented, super grounded artists who are really dedicated to working with couples just like you guys. They all represent something I didn’t dare to dream about when we were first planning our wedding.

So, all of that is to say that I’m really, genuinely, super excited to introduce you to Lauren McGlynn Photography. And WAIT FOR IT… Lauren is in the process of relocating from Texas to Aberdeen Scotland, making her our second international wedding elf, EVER. Lauren will be serving the UK, and really, all of Europe. No seriously: she is waving all travel fees for the UK and the EU, for weddings booked in 2010.

Before I blabber on about Lauren a little more, I want to blabber on about the wedding that she particularly wanted to share: Jeany and Mose. Lauren said, “Their wedding was awesome, everything a wedding should be with love, laughter, warmth, kindness, tears, dancing, joy, all of it, and it was the best of all of these things and it was done on a seriously tight budget.” So all these pictures come care of Jeany and Mose and their wedding done right (vegetable garden bouquet, a friend’s band playing the night away). Those are the amazing pictures you’re seeing. Achem. Carrying on.

So. Things you should know about Lauren, other than I like her (and I never just say that, m’kay?) She’s really serious about artistic collaboration with her couples (and who does that?) She’ll email with you a billion times over, discussing shots you love, lighting, props for an engagement shoot, emotion, what makes you feel comfortable, anything. She takes her clients seriously as creative people in their own right, and wants to work with you, not for you. Continue reading Sponsored Post: Lauren McGlynn Photography

Posted in: Sponsored Posts | 11 Comments »