SUFFOLK VIRGINIA WEDDING {Lauran & Todd}

I met Lauran about a 8 months before her wedding…right around the time that I was trying to start planning weddings. We got to talking about the style of wedding she wanted and all of her plans and I offered to create some inspiration boards for her {since I would probably be able to use them later for the blog}. I made 3 different boards that each showed different aspects of the look I thought she was going for. After some deliberation {and possibly some heavy persuasion on my part}, she decided that going all-out with a shabby chic outdoor wedding was what she wanted to do. Since I wanted to help as much as possible {and because I needed a full-blown wedding under my belt} I offered to do the styling aspect of her wedding for free.

Once we came up with a definite direction for the wedding theme, Lauran and I began scouring thrift stores for vintage filigree mirrors, milk glass bottles, and other historic pieces to use for decor. To save some money, I found some vintage looking PLASTIC vases at the dollar store and spray painted one white to see what Lauran thought. A girl after my own heart, she was thrilled to save money and got to work spray painting the other 18 vases. You tell me, do these look plastic to you?!

We were also able to save a lot of money on rental furniture because we were able to borrow tables, chairs, and linens from their church. The biggest budget buster was the tent, but THANK GOD we had it because mother nature unleashed on us halfway through the reception…she’s such a sweetie. Lauran’s mom, Robin, had some amazing vintage furniture pieces that we were able to use in different aspects of the wedding. She even HAND CRAFTED the ceremony backdrop after a few discussions on what we wanted to do! I just LOVE women who know how to throw a nail gun around ;)

Lauran’s mother in law is friends with Rich from Bowman’s Garden Center, the chosen florist and caterer for the event. He immediately understood the look we were going for. Not only did he whip up an excellent dinner, but he also created this to-die-for dripping bouquet for Lauran.

As i’ve mentioned before, I love surprising people with little creative elements. For Lauran’s wedding, I had two surprises. The first of which was that I planned to fold all of the napkins for the head tables into bowties. I hot glued different patterned ribbon around the center of each napkin to add another shabby chic element to the design {all they had to do was pull the ribbon apart to get their napkins out…}.

The second surprise was the biggest task i’ve undertaken thus far…it took the greater part of the week before her wedding. I wanted to add an interactive element to the event by creating a photobooth where guests could leave pictures for the bride and groom. I created a 9’x12′ backdrop panel using leftover burlap and TWO HUNDRED paper flowers that I later attached to the backdrop. I used some vintage props and printed out some photobooth props for people to use. I also put some smaller furniture pieces in the background to hold the props and the window pane seating chart (we put the seating chart there temporarily).Using my camera and a friend’s tripod, we set up the photobooth area and left it there for people to use all night.

SBD created Lauran and Todd’s wedding invitations to look like something Lauran found online. We also designed the rehearsal dinner invitations, the thank you cards, and the program fans. Lauran and her mom made the favors…the cutest freakin things i’ve ever seen. Remember in high school chemistry when you made ice cream?? Well, she made a home-made ice cream kit in a mason jar for each person at each place setting. Adorable.

My favorite aspect of the wedding was the head table and backdrop…when I first met her mom, I saw these two chairs in her living room and immediately asked if she minded if I took them outside for the wedding. I LOVE when the head table chairs are special. Lauran’s grandfather had this old mantle in his garage which displayed Lauran’s baptism dress, a vintage chandelier, and some flowers & greenery.

I truly could go on for hours about all the details of this wedding, but feel like I should stop here and move on with my life. PLUS, we have word that it will be featured on a wedding blog in the not too distant future, so you will get to see a ton of images not shown here!!

The slideshow below shows the rest of the amazing aspects of this event :)