From The Bride:
Sunday was really a day for our guests, again they were greeted by an amazing breakfast spread prepared by my parents and everyone spent the day swing from the rope swing, swimming or sharing drinks on the beach and relaxing for the day. Steve’s family prepared a classic camping all-time favorite for lunch! That evening guest hung out by the fire on the lake’s beach and spent the night catching up with old friends and enjoying the company of new ones.
Inspiration for our wedding? We wanted simple, cozy and relaxing. We wanted our guests to feel like they were packing for a weekend retreat in Maine, not for a wedding. We wanted to host the ultimate camping weekend that just happen to have a wedding mixed in the weekend agenda right next to catching fish and roasting smoors. I wanted the weekend to merge Steve and I’s personalities but also to reflect us as individuals. Steve is a Man’s man, adores his keg beers, builds with his hands, can make anyone laugh and would spend all day outside if his wife didn’t miss him so much while he was gone. I am a lover and admire of all handmade goodies and vintage finds. Is often described as sweet as the pies she bakes, who appreciates a good wine and a book by the fire. We wanted the weekend to be full of thoughtful details that we didn’t think our guests hadn’t seen at weddings before.
Rather than table numbers guests were instructed to match their fabric yoyo pin to their napkin at their dinner table in order to find their seats. Each table was designated by a different napkin color and or pattern. Before the ceremony Steve and I wrote letters secretly to each other describing our reasons for marriage and invited our parents during the ceremony to seal the unread letters in an old vintage tool box with a bottle of wine that we will share with each other in 5 years.
While “crafting” our wedding we kept a few things in mind
”Can I make that?” “If I can’t, who can?”
”Will we use it again?”
Before the karaoke evening a small handful of family and close friends came and help Steve and I create the wedding we had been crafting and dreaming of for 12 months. We are filled with joy and overcome with happiness as they made our dreams and ideas come to life. I wanted the full on wedding experience of crafting, setting up and planning, we would not have been able to do this without our family and friends. Grandparents arranged flowers that had been grown at a friend’s house. The men hung bunting banners and arranged furniture; siblings were tasked with fluffing tissue paper pom poms and setting up the dessert table. Everyone was armed with a task and made a day of fun and a couple of new friends.
Everything was either crafted by us, our family and friends or sourced from Etsy. We had no color theme, if it was deemed pretty /vintage/charming or down right fun we used it! We wanted guests to feel like they were invited to a weekend get away!
