Kate & Justin - My kids!

 I may be a little bit prejudiced, but my wonderful daughter-in-law, Kate, was very easy to work with on her wedding.  Her favorite flowers are hydrangeas - so I used lots of them.  It was easy to incorporate them because her color palette consisted of purple, lavender, green, and white - all hydrangea colors!  She sent me a photograph of a manzanita arrangement that was her inspiration for her branch and bird theme and gave me a lot of leeway to design her wedding. I put the kids to work on many projects and they did a terrific job!  We added lots of little details, that I don't have the space to add here, but Kate did a whole lot of work tracking things down. And Justin put his carpentry skills to the test!

Kate wanted an outside ceremony and a unique reception venue - which the kids found in The Foundry.  Fantastic Food was provided by Robert Ryan Caterers. Most of the photographs I've used here were taken by Bill Frasier of Through the Lens Photography.  Bill was a good friend of Kate's brother Jimmy and was so happy to photograph the wedding. 

 In most cases the picture of the bride goes first.  But the handsome guy below is my baby!  I apologize to Kate, but I'm sure she knows how proud I am of this young man.  Justin wanted to wear something a little different for his wedding. So he had my father's vintage gray tuxedo jacket tailored to fit him.  He paired it with black tuxedo pants and even wore his Pop-pop Irving's vintage formal shoes!  He looked gorgeous and I made him a special pocket boutonniere of Lamb's ear - from my garden - combined with dendrobium orchids.

 I love to see Kate with her warm smile and  laughing eyes. Her Marissa gown was perfect for her.  Her beaded veil looked wonderful in back of her stunning hair courtesy of Meghan Cahill.  Make-up for Kate and all the bridesmaids was provided by the amazing Kelly from Face the Occasion. Kate was such a beautiful bride!  Welcome to our family sweetheart!

 
Kate's bouquet consisted of cymbidium orchids, dendrobium orchids, Picasso calla lilies, roses, lisianthus, hypericum berries, fiddleheads, and small bouquet jewels. I wrapped her stems in tulle from her mother's veil and secured it with purple/silver aluminum wire. I placed a bicycle charm within the wire in memory of Kate's brother Jimmy.

Bridesmaids carried bouquets of lisianthus, roses, and hypericum berries. They looked great with the color of their dresses.

Bridesmaids wore lovely Amsale short dresses with  flowers on the bodice. Perfect! Groomsmen wore gray suits - or should I say most of them did. One of Justin's friends "accidentally" ordered a cream colored suit - which wasn't discovered until the groomsmen got dressed for the weding. Justin thought it was hysterical but Ray felt terrible. Kate is a good sport and just laughed along with everyone else.

Our beautiful flower girl Fiona was a star from head to toe. She wore a satin/fresh flower birch halo around her gorgeous hair (courtesy of John at Studio 73 in Skippack).  I made her a birch basket of flowers to carry. And as a surprise, after the ceremony, Fiona flipped her basket around to show a Mr. and Mrs. sign we made for her as she walked back down the aisle in front of Justin and Kate.

Instead of putting a structure in front of a structure, we used the pagoda at The Foundry for a chuppah. We covered the steel beams with large birch branches and orchids and placed large mossed white metal urns full of flowers on the ledges. Matching white metal hangars lined the aisle. We hung birch balls of orchids and roses from each of them. Ribbon was wrapped around the backs of the last row of chairs, I also made matching ribbon wands to wave as the bride and groom walked back down the aisle.

After the previous summer I dried the blooms from my hydrangea bush. I painted them purple and made a hydrangea grapevine wreath for each of the entry doors to The Foundry.

Justin has played golf for most of his life. Kate is still  learning, but really enjoys it. So we created a golf themed cocktail hour. I sat a golf "green" on each cocktail table labelled with a tag from various clubs where they've played. In each box of wheatgrass we put little purple asters and on a tee - put a golf ball imprinted with the kids' names and wedding date. On one buffet table I made a cluster of glass cylinders filled with golf balls, tees, or pencils and topped them off with hydrangea. On the other table, I sat an urn that i painted lavender. Justin cut down my mom's old golf clubs and cemented them into the urn. I arranged flowers around the clubs. My mom would have loved this! I also supplied the caterer - Robert Ryan Caterers - with golf tee toothpicks and golf flag stirrers for the bar to carry through the theme.

Justin cut down the a large branch from a tree on our property and fit it into a log base that he made. My husband carved a heart with their initials into the log. The base was covered with flowers, moss, and candles. I also staged small animals, hydrangea filled logs, pictures, and photographs around the table. The kids, Kate's mom, and Glenn and I created back to back family photos to hang from the branches among birds that the kids had received as gifts. I also painted wooden birds a lavender color to match the laser cut placecard birds. Justin cut and slit each of the logs to hold the placecards.

Justin built a large wooden birdhouse to hold gift envelopes. Aunt Carolyn lovingly hand-painted it. She did an amazing job.What a treasure for Justin and Kate to keep.

Justin cemented all of the manzanita branches into moss pots for one type of centerpiece.  I filled them with hydrangea and roses and then hung crystals and orchids from the branches. We made different colors for the tables. Kate and Justin named their tables after places that mean a lot to them with pictures of each location.

We also cantilevered manzanita branches in the top of tall glass vases and hung pomanders of roses from them for the other half of the tables.  I put flowers inside the bottom of the vases and then table-scaped flowers, bird houses, bird baths, ceramic birds, and bottles around the base. Every table was a bit different.

I love this picture of Justin and Kate laughing. Reminds me of how happy they are! Glenn used a chain saw to sculpt one of our logs. We filled it with flowers, moss, and candles. This is one of my favorite pieces. And I made mossed Mr. & Mrs. signs for the backs of the bride and groom chairs.

Justin and Kate each painted a wooden egg to resemble a bird wearing their wedding garb. They even made the eyes match their own! We set them in a nest as a cake topper. Masters' Baker replicated the carved initial heart that was on the log too. I made the moss letters to add to the table decor.

I want to give a "thank you" to other vendors that did a great job but were not listed above.  Rose Tree Video did a fantastic job capturing my daughter's wedding, so we welcomed David with the utmost confidence.  Beautiful ceremony music was provided by Pete Smyser - (guitar and flute) while  DJ Todd Frederick of Silver Sound worked the ballroom. Justin and Kate and their wedding party rented out all 7 bedrooms at Shearer Elegance B&B (in Limerick, PA) for the entire wedding weekend. Hostess Sue Tator treated everyone so nicely and they all had a blast.

Justin and Kate's wedding was truly a labor of love.  We all worked really hard on many projects for a year prior to the wedding. But the journey was well worth it and a lot of fun (at least for me!)  I love you both!