Waterfront Wedding

Jamie and Jill had an intimate wedding on the sun deck followed by an elegant reception with beautiful waterfront sunset views. Blush pinks and rose gold details adorned every table and DIY pieces and romantic touches personalized the event.

Q1: Tell us about your wedding! What was the inspiration behind your day? Did you have a specific theme, style or color palette? Did you incorporate any cultural or religious traditions in any part of your day?
A1: Right from the begin­ning, we wanted some­thing “beachy,” with a hint of ele­gance. We were lucky enough to get just that – we were married on a deck overlooking water and our reception was in an beautiful ball­room. We decided on rose gold wedding bands, which started our obsession with all things rose gold. Our wedding color palette became: rose gold, champagne, and ivory. We had so much fun with designing all the little pieces of the day.  We still have much of the decor as decoration in our home!

Q2: Let’s talk wedding decor. How did you decorate your space for the ceremony and the reception? Was any part of the decor DIY?
A2: For the ceremony, we had very simple decor. We had a beautiful backdrop, an inlet of water; so, we only had a few baby’s breath pompadours to line the aisle and on the railing behind the officiant. For the reception, guest tables had ivory table linens with a rose gold sequined runner, champagne pink satin napkins, gold chiavari chairs, and gold beaded chargers. Center pieces included ivory and light pink flowers, with rose gold accents, in gold lanterns and terrariums. Table numbers were made by the brides — mini gold picture frames, with Cricut cut rose gold numbers over ivory paper.The brides’ table had a rose gold sequined linen, bridal bouquets, and a wooden J & J which were painted by the brides to match our colors. The baby’s breath pompadours from the ceremony were behind the brides’ table during the reception.Small rose gold and gold tea-light candle votives were on all tables. Our wedding cake topper was made by a local street vendor. It was bent metal in the shape of-  Jill (heart) Jamie. We spray painted this rose gold. We had a table for gifts, favors, the memorial board, and place cards for guests. The brides designed and made all place cards, signs, and the memorial board. The favors were champagne matchbooks with rose gold writing.

Q3: What were the florals like in your wedding? Did you use flowers in any of your design elements like the bridal bouquets, centerpieces or ceremony backdrop? Did they play an important part in the overall style of your wedding?
A3: The flowers were an amazing addition to the overall feel of the wedding environment. They were simple yet elegant. Both brides had semi-flowing bouquets, full of fresh ivory and pink flowers with rose gold accents (spray painted eucalyptus) and dusty millers. Our centerpieces, flowers on the cake, and boutonnieres and corsages all had the same theme. We also had baby’s breath pompadours on the chairs along the aisle and on the railing behind the officiant during the ceremony, which were moved into the ballroom behind the sweetheart table.

Q4: Did you personalize the day in any way (food trucks, guest entertainment etc.)? What were some of your favorite parts of your wedding?
A4: We loved every part of our wedding day! We did add a few personalized touches that did add something extra. One thing that we decided to do was memo­ri­alize those who couldn’t be with us on our spe­cial day. Jill’s father passed away sev­eral years ago, so she cut a heart out of one of his blue shirts… and, Jamie’s grand­fa­ther had passed away a few months before the wedding, so she cut a heart out of one of his favorite jean jack­ets. We pinned these inside our dresses – as our some­thing old and some­thing blue. We also included other memo­r­ial pieces in our bou­quets, and on a memo­r­ial board for the guests to see.We also decided to cre­ate our own photo booth (which our 16 year old ama­teur pho­tog­ra­pher nephew was in charge of). It was a lot of fun find­ing and paint­ing props, and mak­ing the back­drop. As a spe­cial gift for our guests, we printed all the pho­to­booth pho­tos and sent them with our thank you’s.We loved all the lit­tle per­sonal touches we added, but our favorite per­sonal touch was writ­ing our own vows. This was some­thing that was really impor­tant to us. It was def­i­nitely a chal­lenge, but was so worth it. We made each other cry, and our guests! And, now, we have those words to hold onto and live up to for­ever. We ended the night with a sparkler send off. This was a fun and romantic way to close such an amazing and beautiful evening with our family and friends!

Q5: Let’s talk fashion. How did you choose your wedding day look? How did the groom? Describe both looks in detail.
A5: Honestly, we thought it would take forever to find the perfect dresses. We went into a dress shop near Jamie’s hometown in PA one weekend while visiting, and ended up leaving 2 hours later with the most perfect dresses. It was completely unexpected, but it worked out so well. We knew they were meant to be. The ladies that were working that day were amazing, they helped us pick dresses that would complement each other. Jill’s was a mermaid style dress with beautifully detailed lace and beading. A beautiful satin bow and illusion train made this a stunning 360 degree look. Jamie’s dropped waist dress was full and flowing. The corset back with a rose gold satin tie and a long illusion train completed the look. Our Officiant (Jamie and Jill’s best friend), the ring bearer (Jamie’s nephew), Jamie’s Father, and Jill’s Cousin all wore khakis, white button up shirts, and rose gold ties.
Q6: How did you meet? Tell us about the proposal.

A6: We both have our PhD’s and teach at the Uni­ver­sity level. It was a job that brought us together. We became instant friends; and were friends for a few years before we started dat­ing.
We actu­ally pro­posed to each other two weeks apart. Jill pro­posed first. She planned a fun week­end in Raleigh, NC – see­ing Jamie’s favorite singer. Lit­tle did Jamie know she would get to meet her favorite singer AND when they got back to the hotel that night, she would be greeted with roses, choco­lates, cham­pagne… and, a beau­ti­ful ring! Two weeks later, while Jill was at work, Jamie dec­o­rated the house with bal­loons from which she hanged pho­tos from throughout their relationship. In the mid­dle of it all, Jamie propos­ing to Jill!
Q7: What was the most anticipated or special moment of your wedding day?

A7: See­ing it all come together. We put so much time, energy, and money into plan­ning our spe­cial day; we couldn’t wait to see it all come to life. It was just as per­fect and beau­ti­ful as we hoped it would be!
We also were immensely excited to offi­cially declare our love sur­rounded by all of our fam­ily and friends, those that sup­port us and love us most. It was an incred­i­bly mag­i­cal moment.

Q8: Do you have any wedding planning or marriage advice that you’d like to share with other couples planning their day?
A8: Two of the best pieces of advice we could offer would be: 1) Cre­ate a bud­get and stick to it. Period. You can get really lost in all the lit­tle addi­tions or extras that add up. You don’t want to get so caught up in plan­ning the wed­ding that you lose sight of the most impor­tant thing– your mar­riage and com­mit­ment to each other. And, 2) Don’t expect your wed­ding day to be 100% per­fect… Choose to accept any imper­fec­tions and just enjoy the day for what it is! The most impor­tant things are, say­ing “I do” and being sur­rounded by those who love and sup­port you. Every­thing else will likely be a detail you won’t clearly remem­ber.