"We're all about good food, good memories, and sweet time spent with those closest to us. From the beginning, we wanted our day to reflect that. As we planned the wedding, we tried not to focus so much on theatrics, and opted instead to put energy into details that would make our guests feel loved and appreciated.
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From the beginning, I wanted our wedding to feel romantic, nostalgic, and heartfelt. Because of the small group, I was able to devote more time to each person both during my planning and the weekend. I was in love with our venue, which made decorating easier, since we did everything ourselves. Instead of a theme or color scheme, I decided on several elements that I liked and incorporated them throughout the entire day: from invites to favors. Not only was this cost effective, but it made figuring out each element of the day a little easier, since I had a template to choose from. One of my inspirations was a line from one of our favorite songs, "I love you like the stars above, I love you til I die." Drawing from this, I incorporated silver stars throughout the weekend. We never spelled this out for guests though, so it felt like a little private love song was woven throughout the day, just for us."
I've thought long and hard about this blog post. In fact, I've been sitting and staring at the screen for about ten minutes, starting and then deleting everything I wrote because my words don't seem good enough.
To say this wedding was "special" or "pretty" would be a gross understatement of how beautiful this weekend was.
When I got the text message a year or so ago from Kelci telling me that Matt proposed, I remember instantly starting to cry out of total joy. You see, Kelci and Matt have been together since our junior year of high school, and Kelci and I have been best friends for 15, 16 years now. I can truly say that I know maybe two other couples who love each other as passionately as Kelci and Matt do.
I don't want to write up some huge story about the weekend and the details- that's for another post. Maybe.
I've included an excerpt from Kelci's write-up at the top of the post that's going to be featured in a few days on stylemepretty because only she can truly convey into words what the rest of us felt.
I was reading Jonas Peterson's blog post (see here) about minimalism and weddings, I found myself agreeing. I love feathers and mason jars and antique couches as much as the next girl, but weddings are rarely focused solely on the union of the couple. More and more wedding photographers and brides alike are getting caught up the production of a wedding, versus the intimate details of the day.
Will we remember who made Kelci's dress, or her shoes? Will we remember how much they spent on the wedding, or the the adornments of the vast space they paid ridiculous amounts for? Probably not (mainly because that's hypothetical). But I WILL remember the plane ride to New York with two of the six of my other best friends (we all met around the same time in grade school and have maintained close friendships since), and feeling the excitement in the air when we got off the subway to meet Kelci, Matt and the rest of the guests on the Brooklyn side of the bridge at the ice cream factory where they treated us with a scoop of our choice. I'll remember bowling in Brooklyn and eating cupcakes and pizza with 40 other people for the "rehearsal dinner".. I'll also remember Megan, Kelci, Casey and I staying up until midnight the night before her wedding, talking about a smash journal from 8th grade with clips of old AIM conversations, giggling (cliche, I know) with wet hair and (not really) sleeping.. only to wake up on our best friend's wedding day with her.
I'll remember asking Matt if he's nervous, and seeing that slow smile spread across his face, knowing that he couldn't have been more ready for anything in his entire life. The ceremony, the prayers, the love that reverberated off the walls.. the homemade touches of vintage NYC postcards wrapped with red and white twine, dedicated to each guest, loving us for being a part of their day. And on a more personal note (why not?) the one part of the day that will *forever* be engrained in my mind? The slow beginning of "Flume" by Bon Iver (my favorite band, a song they say reminds them of me)- beginning to play lightly in the background, with candlelight and low murmurs of conversation- where I found myself looking up and catching Matt and Kelci's eyes, only long enough to acknowledge this quick, special moment between the three of us.
It's the special, intimate moments that really make a wedding and when Kelci asked me to be her photographer, I couldn't have been more nervous or excited to be the one to help them capture and remember this beautiful day for the rest of their lives. They are an affirmation of why I do what I do.
So, here are some images from that special day. The stylemepretty article will be posted live on Dec 26th, but I wanted to get my personal post out here for you before then, so you can understand why I am so floored for this feature. I hope you feel the love that we all felt that entire weekend.
