Today's post is one that is long overdue. It involves a
wedding that is very special to all of us at LLC.
We pride ourselves in adding personal touches to all of our
events, but when it came to this one we had to pull out all the stops. This
wedding was especially dear to our hearts because it was for one of our own
girls! We worked with Karolina to bring her visions and great ideas to life.
Thus we thought it was only appropriate that you hear about all the details in
her words:
"As soon as
we got engaged and I started looking for inspiration in planning I knew I
wanted a fall wedding…Fall has always been my favorite season, from the crisp
weather to the beautiful colors of changing leaves. After looking at
wedding blogs for inspiration, I fell in love with the barn wedding idea, but
quickly realized that barns are not easy to come by here in northern New
Jersey. I could not picture our wedding in a traditional ballroom or
restaurant setting, and really lucked out when I came across pictures from a
wedding at Ballyowen Golf Club, only about 30 minutes from our house.
After visiting Ballyowen I knew this picturesque golf course was exactly what I
had been looking for.
Aside from the
season, the only other element that was established from the very beginning was
that I wanted to incorporate plenty of handmade and personal details into our
wedding. I was beyond fortunate to have two truly talented ladies to help
me every step of the way—my sister Marta who loves to DIY and has a great eye,
and my sister-in-law Olga who is an exceptionally gifted artist and
illustrator. The three of us have a great appreciation for the personal
touches that make any party unique. I was confident that with their help I
would be able to make our wedding day truly unforgettable!
Once we booked our venue I still had some trouble nailing down
my exact vision for the day. What I did know was that I wanted the
atmosphere to be relaxed, the décor simple, and the look to draw from the
beautifully natural setting of Ballyowen. Things really fell into place
when I found the linen cardstock for our invitations in the perfect shade of
sunshine yellow. The card stock helped me edit our color scheme yellow
and brown. Olga worked tirelessly to design our invitations, menus, table
numbers and all of the other stationery, always willing to make (endless)
revisions and work with my requests. I printed and assembled the
invitations myself, which allowed me to carry a unified look across all the
paper elements.
Being obsessed with all things burlap, I incorporated the
natural fabric into mason jar candle holders, mini champagne favors and menus
to complement the stationery designs. I even asked our florist to use
some extra pieces I had left over to wrap my bouquet! For our cake
topper, I asked Olga to recreate customized wood dolls I had seen in a bridal
magazine. She painted the dolls I bought to resemble our hair, outfits
and accessories, and included our wedding date on the base. It turned out
even better than I imagined, and was definitely one of my favorite
details!
I
thought I was pushing my luck when I told the girls I wanted to make 1,000
origami paper cranes to create a backdrop behind our sweetheart table, but they
shared in my excitement and were eager to start folding. The relief and
accomplishment of finishing all 1,000 cranes was short lived once I realized
that stringing them would be a project in and of itself, especially with two
very curious cats around, but with the help of my husband we got it done with
only a few days to spare. All the DIY brides out there know how these
projects tend to take forever, but it was definitely worth it at the end!
Along with yellow and white paper lanterns strung from the chocolate brown
ceiling to define the dance floor, the cranes provided just the right
splash of color!
The entire day was captured beautifully by a Connecticut-based couple, Rachel and Brian
Henderson. I once again owe a huge thank you to my sister for
finding this talented team, as we could not be happier with our choice! We felt
so comfortable with Rachel and Brian from the first time we met them, and on
our wedding day they were just like two extra guests, who just happened to take
stunning pictures along the way.
Looking back on our wedding day, I am so grateful for all the help we
received from our family and friends in making the day just right, and totally
us! From the custom, handmade jewelry crafted by my dad, to the acorns
for our wish tree my mother-in-law tracked down on Ebay two days before the
wedding, this was genuinely a team effort. And best and most important of
all, I married my best friend, who put up with me turning our home into
craft-central for months in order to turn all of my ideas into reality!"
Congratulations Karolina and Mike! We wish you a lifetime of
love and happiness!
