Jachen & Monica’s Travel Themed, Whimsical Woodland-Inspired Wedding

July 5, 2011

Oh where oh where do I begin with telling you about Jachen & Monica’s woodland-inspired wedding? The images and video of their wedding are such a visual feast that I almost don’t know where to start. The day had a sort of travel/woodland theme which reflected the fact that the couple met in Switzerland. Monica explains, “A year ago I was living in Switzerland as an Au pair when I met my now husband. I was only there for 3 months, but just long enough to have met him the last month I was there. We were both in the right place at the right time, the only time I would have been able to meet him. It is amazing how you can look back on all the events that led up to that moment and how evident it was that I was supposed to be in Switzerland to find him. After I met him we had one more month until I had to return to my home in Seattle. We continued skyping, emailing and a few times he came to me and I went back to beautiful Switzerland to be with him where we became engaged. Sometimes everything just falls into place and we were lucky enough to have that happen to us.”

“I have vintage, eclectic-ness, whimsy, creativeness, woodland creatures flowing within me. So of course I knew that my inspiration was going to be from what I already loved and was. As I met my husband while traveling in Europe (as well as him being from Switzerland) there was a small travel theme as well. Those combined was my inspiration and what made me excited for working on every aspect of the wedding.”

So how about the actual wedding? Well first off I just want to share some love for Monica’s outfit – I’m utterly loving her cute lace dress and leopard print faux fur jacket!

“I found my lace vintage style wedding dress on a whim from Kiyonna and got my fur coat from Macy’s,” the bride told me. “My shoes were from Urban Outfitters, my necklace as from For Love, my aquamarine engagement ring from Garnet Girl Designs on Etsy and my heart wedding band from Catbird. I had been searching for a fur coat for weeks but had no luck, but then I walked into Macy’s and there sitting on a hanger was THE fur coat. I love my wedding rings. My aquamarine ring is so so beautiful. I have always known I didn’t want a “traditional” wedding ring. I found the lovely aquamarine ring and knew it was for me. Aquamarine is the stone of March which is the month I met my husband, as well as one of my favorite colors. It was perfect.”

Instead of a traditional bouquet, the bride carried flowers which were made from paper. She bought the ‘flowers’ from from Dragonflies on Etsy and constructed the bouquet herself. Additional paper flowers were also used at the reception on the tables alongside some wild flowers. “At first my idea was to only have hand made flowers throughout the reception,” Monica said. “While trying to make a few I scratched that idea. Luckily, we gave up on all handmade flowers because I am so happy with the wild and real flowers that were used. We went with simple, but pretty flowers. We stuck with white mostly with some pink and green accents.”

The pageboys and flowergirls wore some of the cutest outfits I’ve ever seen too! The boys wore mini bowties to match the adult men (made by the bride and her Mum) and the girls wore pink bow skirts (made by family members), heart tee-shirts (made by the bride) and bow headbands (to match the bride) from For Love.

“There were some themes throughout the outfits,” continued Monica. “Bows mainly. Myself, my sisters, my mother and nieces all wore silk bow headbands. The men all wore chocolate brown, velvet bow ties. My sisters and mother wore matching cardigans. I had no bridesmaids nor did we have groomsmen…that just isn’t our thing. The bows and cardigans are as matchy as we got.”

But back to the overall theme of the day…”There was the most evident theme of woodland animals,” Monica writes. “Our engagement photos were taken in the woods of Switzerland and our announcement had a deer on them so from the beginning to the end the theme was present. On top of the woodland theme it was the vintage theme. Actually, you know what my very original inspiration was? It was vintage green glass. I knew my reception would be filled with all sorts of vintage glass. I love vintage glass and so much, so much was collected to use throughout the wedding. That was one of my favorite parts of preparing for the wedding…buying of all the glass.”

“On top of the woodland and vintage theme was our travel theme. There was a travel room where the guests could read about how we met, see some skype images and there was a scratch map so they could share where in the world they had been. The room was full of globes, maps, cameras and travel books. We had a lot of garlands because I am a garland lover. If it wasn’t out of control to fill my home with garlands, I would do it. All garlands were handmade by my sister and I except for the “Keep Calm and Party On” which was from Urban Outfitters and we also purchased two cute circle felt garlands from Etsy.”

“Also, there were hearts, glitter, and books used throughout the reception. My husband is a reader so I wanted that book element added so there were book page garlands, my bouquet with book page flowers, and actual books to give height in our centerpieces. We tried to stick with a certain style of vintage and used darker greens, amber, pink, gold and a lot of white as our main colors. Honestly, there was a lot going on, however if you do it right it will flow together, make sense and everything will look like it fits and belongs. You can read more about the wedding inspiration and preparation at my wedding blog as well!”

The food the served was also very important to the couple. Not only did it help to add to the overall theme of the wedding, but people need something nice to eat right?! Monica explained, “I am always wondering what weddings on websites and blogs do for their food, but a lot of the times that never is shown. I think food can be a pretty big part of the wedding…the food itself and the presentation of it. The food was a pretty big aspect of our celebration and is in need of being mentioned. I love sandwiches, they are my favorite thing to eat. My husband LOVES Jalapeno Pringles that he first tried on his first time in America and wishes was sold in Switzerland…so those two things inspired our menu.”

“We had a variety of gourmet sandwiches, couscous, a fruit salad, and a spinach salad. There were also kettle chips, multigrain chips and Jalapeno Pringles. The desserts were all homemade by friends and family. One friend made our lime coconut cupcakes, one friend made all the mini cheesecakes and chocolate sea salt caramels {he is for hire}, my Aunt made the cayenne gingersnaps and sea salt chocolate chip cookies, Natalie and I made the peanut butter cups. Allison Nelson made 4 out of the 5 cakes which were all beautifully frosted different with white frosting, and were different widths and heights. My cousin Meredith made a family favorite for the 5th cake…Chocolate Cherry Cake which was disguised in white frosting as well. And of course there were my favorite San Pellegrino Limonata in glass bottles and other tasty drinks from Trader Joes.”

“There was also a “Sweetserland” table filled with amazing Swiss chocolate and European Haribo candy. The food was another personalized element because everything on the menu was food we loved. It was a delicious way to celebrate. Nothing beats delicious homemade food, I say. If you can get family and friends, who hopefully are bakers and cooks, to help I would highly suggest it. Another aspect worth mentioning was my bridal shower. It was confetti themed in celebration of the upcoming wedding. I made confetti/pom poms into jewelry, headbands and hair clips for the guests to wear during the bridal shower. My sister Natalie made cute “confetti” garlands. Instead of “traditional” bridal shower games, we had crafts. The lovely ladies who came helped work on some small crafts for the wedding. It was so fun. You can see what I mean and see more in detail on my blog over here.”

Phew, I think that’s all folks. Awesome wedding huh? Yep…I’m dying over it all too!

Oooh..and don’t forget about the video!

Huge congratulations to Jachen & Monica and thank you so much for sharing your incredible wedding with us today.

Photography Credit: Kristen Thorne Photography
Videographer Credit: Rob Nyland
Ceremony Venue: Seattle LDS Temple
Reception Venue: Floral Hall, in Everett Washington
Bride’s Dress:  Kiyonna
Bride’s Jacket: Macy’s
Bride’s Shoes: Urban Outfitters
Bride’s Headpiece: For Love
Groom’s Outfit: Urban Outfitters & DIY (bowtie)
Cake: DIY (Friends) and Allison Nelson
Flowers: Stadium Flowers
Paper Flowers: Dragonflies on Etsy