spotlight on kelly + john: real wedding

hello friends! today we're heading to the frisco bay, napa to be exact, to showcase kelly & john's stunning wedding. these two blondes are beyond photogenic as you'll see in the amazing shots captured by shanni weilert of what shanni saw. this wedding is the perfect blend of rustic + modern with shades of grey and wonderful hints of sunshine yellow. the durham ranch provided glorious backdrops for some of the most fantastic wedding photos i've seen in awhile. all brides look gorgeous on their wedding day, but this little lady looks like a model. seriously, look at the shot with the veil in front of her face. vogue. and don't even get me started on their bridal party. the flowy bridesmaid dresses are to die and the chuck taylors on the groomsmen are the bee's knees. enough talk, it's time to let the images do the talking. they say love is in the details. if that's true, this day is overflowing. enjoy!

john proposed last december at my parent's house in tahoe. it was an incredibly snowy weekend and i kinda knew something was up when he insisted we take the scary drive up there by ourselves. he was acting super weird on saturday asking all types of deep questions and i was starting to think he was going to break up with me! instead, he was stressing out about how to propose since his master plan of doing it on the hike we do every time we're up there wasn't going to work because we were snowed in. last minute he found a string in my mom's laundry room and tied it around our dog's neck. it really was a perfect proposal. (gag).

i found durham ranch on style me pretty. i was cruising through the site looking for locations in napa and fell in love with the place. i always knew i wanted to get married in a barn and in napa and john just wanted something that was architecturally unique (because he is an architect). durham ranch had both. it was the second place we looked at and right away we knew this was the place we were supposed to get married.

perfect mr & mrs bench that i would love in my home

there are so many favorite parts of the day! it really does go by so fast! john and i made a point to sneak away by ourselves for 10 minutes and soak it all in. we sat up on the lawn looking over the whole place just in awe of the amount of people that were there to support and love us. all of our favorite people in one place. you really do feel like the luckiest person in the world that day!

framer

my best friend melissa gave me the best advice right before i walked down the aisle. she pulled me aside and said "soak in every second because this will never happen again. just remember it is just you and john up there." that little piece of advice helped me so much because i was so nervous! especially because john and i decided to write out own vows which i knew would be difficult for me to get through!

another thing i would say is you have to remember to stay true to who you guys are as a couple. everybody has different taste and as long as you love your wedding that is all that matters. you cannot please everyone!

and lastly, boring but very practical. have a large tupperware that you keep all the important items in: marriage license, wedding bands, wedding jewelry. having all that important stuff in one place saved the day for us!!

muchas muchas gracias to kelly and john for sharing their absolutely amazing wedding day with us. you guys are the best. much love.

vendors:

photographer: shanni weilert

wedding planner: rosemary special events

venue manager & caterer: paula leduc

spotlight on allyson + peter: real wedding

it's time for another real wedding and today's gorgeous fall affair took place in the quaint little state of rhode island. i don't know about you, but it's near impossible for me to look at a couple's wedding photographs and not wish i had done something they had done. this wedding is certainly no exception! peter and allyson were wed in the evening at a lush botanical garden under gorgeous lighting. they continued on down to a lively jazz club to kick off the reception festivities. these two lovebirds were lucky with rain on their wedding day and captured my favorite: umbrella shots! prepare to be dazzled. enjoy!

smiling in the rain drops

our ceremony was at the roger williams botanical center at roger williams park in providence, ri and our reception was at the hi-hat in davol square in providence. we chose the botanical center for the ceremony because we were looking for a unique ceremony venue. we fell in love with the botanical center because we were surrounded by gorgeous flowers and gardens in the middle of november—it gave the feeling of being outside without actually having to go outside because it is literally a huge greenhouse. we also picked it because our wedding was at night and the botanical center is GORGEOUS when it is lit up. there are a million spot lights along the glass ceiling so it was really pretty after dark.

beautiful train

red shoes = fab

the groom & his mama

in love with this color palette

precious moment

candids are my favorite

how gorgeous is this setting?!

the couple in the beautiful botanical garden

smooch

the real deal

the happy couple

one of my favorite backdrops: rain

the couple & their party

fantastic fall bouquets

love the color of this boutonniere

such a pretty hair accessory

for our reception, we really did not want anything traditional. we wanted our wedding to be more of a huge party with all of our favorite people as opposed to people having to stop and watch some of the traditional things that are nice, but sometimes take away from the dancing. we went to the hi-hat and it was the second place we looked at for reception venues. it is a big jazz club in downtown providence, which was EXACTLY what we were looking for. we wanted to have completely open seating for our guests so everyone could sit wherever they wanted and the jazz club had high tops, round banquettes, different-sized tables and two large bars (key!). there was also a large stage for our band and since it is a jazz club, the acoustics were great.

frameable

this might be my favorite

candy bar, please!

the post-dinner party at our reception was my favorite. we really had such a great time at the hi-hat. our goal was to be able to enjoy the wedding as though we were guests and we really did. we had the world premier band for our band and although they were a bit more money that we originally wanted to spend, they were worth every penny. we still have people come up to us and rave about our band.

i love a bride that can get down

i could go through all the little details that didn’t go perfectly, but i’m incredibly anal and i wouldn’t want to scare brides! the major thing that went wrong was that i really kept my fingers crossed for a nice november evening so we could take lots of pictures in downtown providence. the remnants of hurricane ida didn’t care though! it POURED on our wedding day and i was pretty devastated worrying about it all week leading up to the wedding. after it was all said and done, we ended up taking pictures outside in the rain anyways and our pictures came out incredible. i was soaking wet and my dress ended up drenched, but it was worth it! after seeing our pictures, i ended up being glad that it rained because everything had so much more character.

on your wedding day, take a breath and enjoy your day. not everything can go exactly as planned, and no one will ever know the difference if things go a little wrong.

and, if it rains and you had planned on taking pictures outside, grab and umbrella and suck it up. maybe leave your bridal party inside with cocktails so they don’t have to suffer through it, but your groom can handle a little rain… it will be worth it!

thank you so much to allyson & peter for sharing their amazing wedding photographs with us! you two look so happy and really planned a beautiful day. best of luck & love!

vendors:

pictures: kristin spencer
flowers: flowers by semia
ceremony: roger williams botanical center
reception (including food): the hi-hat
bridal hair accessory: bridal finery
hair and makeup: salon bianco
band: world premier band
transportation: newport trolley
candy bar: candyland warehouse