Every couple has their thing, right? For Heather and Micah, their thing is Phantom of the Opera. They went to a show together early on in their courtship, and it has been a shared love of theirs ever since. So naturally their wedding was a Phantom-fest, hosted on Halloween weekend.
The bridesmaids carried lanterns in lieu of bouquets, the guests sported glitter and feathers, and every single person wore a masquerade mask. Heather walked down the aisle to the Phantom theme, and Micah’s brother officiated the non-traditional fantasy-inspired service. Instead of a first dance, the newlyweds sang Phantom’s “All I Ask Of You.”
With a passion for plants, Kelsey and Grant knew there had to be plenty of greenery in their wedding. Grant proposed to Kelsey in their greenhouse, and so plants are very much a part of their story. The couple incorporated greenery wherever they could. They chose a venue with a huge living wall, and their florist included a rooted plant in Kelsey’s bouquet, so she could plant it and continue nurturing it, well after the wedding. They also had a plant potting segment of the ceremony and a potted plant seating chart.
As an art major in college, designing the day was something Kelsey really enjoyed, and she took on a lot of DIY projects, including spray painting vintage frames, making a sign and terrariums with animal bones, crystals and butterflies in.
Originally, Amy and Shaun planned a vintage country theme for their November 2020 wedding day, but that soon changed once she started dress shopping. Once she found her favourites at Flutter Dress, she quickly realised that a dark bohemian wedding was more her style. Amy is also obsessed with collecting various animal skulls and made sure to incorporate them into their day by hand-bleaching a bison skull for her guests to sign.
Amy also turned her hand to floristry for their day, putting together all the ceremony florals, arches, bridal party bouquets and table lanterns. “I wish I knew why pampas grass is so expensive,” she told us. “however we kept costs down by spending weeks snipping live, in-bloom pampas grass and spraying it with sealant. It worked a treat!”
With a $10,000 budget, Allexa and Evan saved in many areas when it came to planning their March wedding. “One of our biggest savings was hiring an AirBnb for the weekend,” the bride told us. “Not only was it much cheaper than a venue would have been, it also included our accommodation expenses for three nights!”
They chose a retreat in McKinleyville, California, as the hub for their warm and cosy, woodland themed day. “I wanted the day to have an ethereal but edgy, enchanted forest vibe. I spent the last five years collecting ideas from Pinterest and Instagram, and pulled in our own ideas to make the day feel more like ‘us’”.
They wanted their wedding to feel like a dark and regal version of Marie Antoinette meets Alice in Wonderland so when Sabrina and Andres began planning their January 2020 wedding, they knew the details of the day would really matter. The bride in particular painstaking planned every element of the day, even going so far as considering the texture of certain elements and having a signature scent.
“We included so many gorgeous and specific details that told the story of our love”, began the bride. “We put so much thought into every single detail. The flowers and invitations were our favourite parts (and seeing the whole thing come together so perfectly, exactly how we imagined, scents of cinnamon and all!)”
When an events planner gets married, you just know it’s going to jam packed full of details and thoughtful touches! “Joe and I have always had a very specific personal style,” Nora explained. “We wanted everyone at our wedding to understand who we are as people and what our relationship is like!” They were inspired by the Sunset Strip, Norah’s great grandmother’s vintage style and the warehouse space that they were working with. “We wanted the space to feel like a lush rock star afterparty! We kept the traditions we loved and ditched the rest.”
Married at Tenk West Bank, in Cleveland, Ohio, the couple made the most of the leap year to marry on February 29th. Nora DIY’d many elements for their day, from signage, placards and menu cards to the ceremony arbour, chalk wall art and the centrepieces. Joe turned his talents to a pair of murals of the couple with made for a great photo op. They were really able to make the most of the bank canvas and turn the disused warehouse into a cool nightclub feel.
When Alicia and Vince were first married, there were too many other things going on in their lives that were stressors and made having an actual wedding impossible. Instead they eloped to Vegas for a quick ceremony. “We always planned to save and have a wedding but the timing was just never right and life became too busy,” the bride told us.
“When my husband and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary, we talked about the wedding we never had and how we would do things differently. We started floating around the idea of renewing our vows and what that would actually look like. I wanted to celebrate us, where we made it in our lives together as partners and ultimately have photos to document our union.”
The pandemic has thrown couples planning their weddings into a tailspin this year and while it’s certainly been anything but smooth sailing, we have been LOVING seeing how you’re all adapting your plans.
This year has certainly made many engaged folks feel like running away from it all and eloping instead, and we are honestly SO here for that! After all, isn’t having an alternative wedding all about creating a day for you anyway? If you’re looking for some new ways to bring the you-factor into your I Dos, then look no further than this moody meets glam inspiration shoot.
With elements such as black leather wrapped vases, metallic candles and florals dusted with a coat of glitter, this shoot shows how really simple elements can be personalised and made just that little bit more special.
For their October 2019 wedding held at Wolf Trap Farm in Gordonsville, VA, Mariah and John decided that something small was best. Their dream day began with an short and sweet ceremony, followed by a gorgeous yet low key reception in the converted hay barn. The bride opted for a Willowby by Watters gown which she bought ay BHLDN and a delicate headpiece by Laurel Lime.
“We met way back when in a crowded bar”, the bride began. “There were only two seats left, so naturally I sat next to the cute guy. We got to talking and he offered me his leftover pizza. I thought that was totally weird and he still insists it was very sweet. A dog, a house and about 7 years later he proposed in our living room.”
With Chris as a left-brained lover of maths, and Noelle a creative, their interests meet at the intersection of exploring and learning about our world. “We are both captivated by astronomy,” Noelle explained, “and I used Alphonse Mucha’s series The Moon and Stars as my inspiration for the wedding to represent that intersection that we come together at.”
“Our wedding was a love letter to everything important to us as a couple. We celebrated with an intimate reception at our favourite pizza place and we danced (including a shabash – a traditional Armenian money dance) and drank until we were exhausted! We also got matching tattoos on our ring fingers and Chris got our wedding date tattooed on his thumb. We wanted everything to be an expression of our lives and our personalities coming together in a bacchanalia of fashion, glam metal and whiskey.”
With an $8,000 budget, finding a plus-size dress that was affordable, fashion-forward and sexy was the hardest part of the couples planning. Noelle eventually settled on a Fame and Partner for David’s Bridal number at the last minute. “I’m obsessed with dreamy textiles and I knew I wanted a dress where the fabric was the star of the show. I actually had a completely different dress and then this collab dropped a month before the wedding and I changed everything. The charmeuse moves like water and made me feel so glam.”
Describing their wedding theme as ‘Poe-ho’ (Edgar Allan Poe meets boho), Morgan and Aristotle were married in February in Texas. The inspiration was dark and moody romantic with a hint of vintage flair. Almost all of the decor (the rugs, candlesticks, vases, lanterns, etc) were sourced from vintage and antique stores. The place cards were made by the bride and her cousin, Kathleen, from tile which they wrote everyone’s name on and Kathleen also painted the seating chart onto reclaimed windows.
“The best thing about our wedding was personalising everything!” Morgan began. “From the big, obvious stuff down to the tiny little details like the rose quartz pillars used as table numbers and using my great-grandmother’s ivory beads in my bouquet as my something old.”
By Southern standards, Abby and Evan’s wedding was out of the box. But by New York standards, their new adopted home, it was quite traditional, and they loved this about their day. “We wanted to create a wedding that merged our traditional Southern upbringing and our urban and modern New York life. We loved that our guests were able to experience parts of our story and personalities that they may not get to see every day, or haven’t seen in their experience with us.”
It was held Marathon Music Works in Nashville, Tennessee – a venue the couple used to go to concerts together at during school. They used sentimental details throughout their day; they were married on the vintage rug that Abby played on as a child in her grandparents house, Evan used a stone from Abby’s late grandmother’s wedding ring to incorporate into her band, and her sister read a letter from their late grandmother that she had sent to her on her own wedding day in 2012 – it was dated January 19th, Abby and Evan’s wedding date.
Christopher and Emily reflected on their own likes, interests and things they have in common to draw inspiration for their October 2018 wedding. Their vision for the day was dark, moody and whimsical, with nods to Halloween since their wedding date was October 13th. They planned the whole day themselves, and wanted it to be a true reflection of their style and personalities, focusing on themselves rather that what was trending online, and didn’t listen to other people’s opinions on what a wedding should, or should not, include.
Emily and Christopher met working at a movie theatre, so with their shared love of films they used that to guide their soundtrack for the day. Christopher and the groomsmen walked into The Godfather’s main theme, the bridesmaids walked in to Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter, and Emily’s procession was to You Are The Pan from Hook, one of the couple’s favourite movies of all time. The bridal party intros at the reception were movie based as well, and they chose songs that reminded them of one of the bridal party – a few gems included the Jurassic Park theme and Ghostbusters.
“The songs were a surprise and no one knew what they were walking out to so it made the moment even funnier seeing the look on their faces,” said Emily. “My husband and I grew up watching WWF/WWE and were introduced via Stone Cold Steve Austin’s intro music. We walked in with the glass shattering and proceeded to chug our drinks appropriately.”
