Jacquelyn had the perfect New York wedding! All the elements of her wedding were beautiful, and she took some time to answer questions for us….

1. How did you meet your fiance?

We worked at the same company but in different departments. that summer a lot of people were hired around the same time and since we were all new to the city, we all went out constantly! it was so much fun and relaxed getting to know each other in a group setting before we started officially dating.
 
2. Where did you get married? What can you tell us about the venue?
Our venue was a bar/gastropub in dumbo called rebar. it has an eclectic downtown feel that complemented our style really well. it has lots of interesting touches in the space: a large bar area, a graffiti-ed lounge with tv, full movie theater using recycled minivan seats (the kids were very happy in there), and most importantly a big dancefloor! the setting was also ideal, with great architecture everywhere for photo ops (the two bridges, cobblestone streets, & brooklyn bridge park).
 
3. Why did you chose to do a NYC wedding?
It had to be brooklyn in the end! we live here and we loved the idea of sharing some of our favorite places with friends and family. my parents compromised by hosting a separate wedding banquet in the bay area a couple months later. :)

4. What was the best part of your wedding day?
At the very end of the night, the dj played ‘is this love’ one last time. all of our friends and family surrounded us in an impromptu group hug and we danced around in circles. it was such an exhilarating last dance!

 
5. Was there anything surprising about how your wedding day unfolded?
We were pretty disorganized so lots of things were surprising. the most regrettable one was that the first dance song turned out to be the wrong version, so i made the dj cut it short — so our first dance lasted about 15 seconds! the funniest one was that the petals i was going to use were visible through my dress so i had to use bandaids at the last minute.

Thank you to Erica Beckman of Clean Plate Pictures http://cleanplatepictures.com/

We absolutely love Heather’s New York wedding! She was married at Grand Ferry Park in Williamsburg and took some time to share the lovely details with us….

1. How did you meet your fiance? 
I was out at Union Pool in Brooklyn and he approached me while waiting for drinks at the bar - but I totally blew him off!  Luckily he was not easily deterred, a little while later he showed up kneeling next to our table with a box of chocolates and tried again.  It worked :)

2. Where did you get married? What can you tell us about the venue?
We got married in a little park on the Williamsburg waterfront named Grand Ferry Park and then walked a block up the street with our guests to Aurora for an amazing meal, dancing, etc.  We honestly couldn’t have asked for a better spot for the reception.  The place required zero ‘decorating’ effort, it is already amazing.  The staff were really into what they were doing and seemed to be enjoying themselves while at the same time serving up what felt like a 12 course family style meal complete with wine pairings for our 75 guests.  Pretty impressive.  Sprout Home, which is right down the street did beautiful fresh blooms all along the long dinner tables.  And we had a really fun local band, the 4th Street Night Owls, for music afterwards!

3. Why did you chose to do a NYC wedding?
We love living in Brooklyn and wanted to celebrate this next step in our relationship in a way was really grounded in the way we live and the things we enjoy.  I love that the places which now hold such great memories for us with our friends and family (many of which traveled from out of state) are very accessible to us as part of our normal daily lives together.

4. What was the best part of your wedding day?
For us, the ceremony was the best part.  It was absolutely exhilarating to stand up in front of our friends and family (and a handful of other sweet onlookers who happened to be enjoying a Saturday afternoon at the park) and say our vows to each other.  We have a few talented musician friends who played the violin / guitar / shaker while I walked into the park with my Dad.  No bridal party or anything, just Keith and I and a dear friend who officiated.  I couldn’t have asked for more.

5. Was there anything surprising about how your wedding day unfolded?
Planning a wedding is stressful, even though we had tried our hardest to keep it as simple as possible, I still expected there to be stress.  But there wasn’t!  We truly enjoyed ourselves the whole way through!

This months international wedding comes from Inga in Dubai. Inga found us via the internet and decided she had to have this dress, having never seen it in person! Everything came together so nicely and she looks absolutely amazing! They make such a cute couple!

A big thank you to her photographer, Jacqui Nightscales (http://www.nightscalesphotography.com/)  for sharing these images with us!

We absolutely love outdoor vineyard weddings! Jennifer took the time to share some information about her 

wedding for us.....

1. Where did you have your wedding? 

Shinn Vineyard in Mattituck, Long Island

2. What is the back story of how you chose this venue for your wedding? 

One of our first dates was to go wine tasting on the North Fork. When we decided to get married, we 

researched all the vineyard and chose Shinn because it is organic and sustainable, something both of us 

believe in. Plus, who doesn't love wine?

3. How did you meet your fiance? 

On Match

4. Is there anything you can point out about your pictures that we might not have noticed?
I bought a veil and totally forgot it at home. I think the look came off
anyway and was glad I didn't bring it ultimately.


 5. What was your favorite part of the day? 

Starting the walk down the aisle and seeing the love and support on everyone's faces. I'll never forget that.

6. Any advice for bride's planning to have their wedding outdoors or at a vineyard?
We had the reception in a barn and it got pretty hot, so fans are something I wish we had.

Today's post comes from Caitlin's lovely intimate wedding in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. We are a big fan of 

wedding pies and were so happy when Caitlin sent us her photographs. She answered a few questions for 

us....

1. How did you meet your fiancé?

We met while living in Austin through mutual friends. At some point
after we'd met, we were at a party where he was cooking sausages by pouring
beer over them, and later that night he sang songs from the movie Newsies
with me (and knew every word); we didn't start dating for a long time after
that, but that was the moment he was on my radar.

2. Why did you chose to have pies at your wedding instead of a cake/what is 

your favorite kind of pie?

I've always been a pie instead of cake kind of girl. That was one of the
very first things I knew I wanted for the wedding, before we'd actually
started planning anything else. I love all kinds of pie, but because
Charles proposed while we were picking apples the year before, we had to
have apple pies!

3. Is there anything you can point out about your pictures that we might not 

have noticed?

How cozy or small-budget our wedding was! We had the ceremony and
reception with only about 40 people at a coffee shop/wine bar a few blocks
from our apartment in Greenpoint, and almost all our vendors were friends
who gave us amazing discounts (or freebies!). The coffee shop was open
until about an hour or two before the actual ceremony, and all of our
friends ended up helping get the space ready when they showed up. My gay
bestie coordinated the whole thing, and even our officiant was our good
friend from Austin.

Also, our first dance was to R Kelly's "When a Woman Loves" playing out of
a boombox that our friend held up over his head, "Say Anything"-style.

4. What was your favorite part of the day?

The greatest part for me was the ceremony itself, which was, funnily
enough, the part we spent the least amount of time planning. We wrote the
whole thing, and our friend added some really wonderful personal touches
that made it incredibly special. We both almost broke down crying reading
our vows, and our officiant had to stop and compose himself so that he
didn't lose it at one point. At the end I turned to see all our friends,
and they were all crying too. It was a really beautiful and really
emotional moment. My best friend who I've known since we were 10 couldn't
stop sobbing the rest of the evening; we have some really hilarious
pictures of her trying to get it together.

5. Any advice for future brides planning their wedding? 

Honestly, I was not that in love with the planning, although I know some
brides love it. We tried so incredibly hard to keep our wedding small and
simple, and I still got more stressed about it than I have ever been in my
life; it just took over. One night when I was freaking out about earrings,
my married friend told me, "Honestly, when you get there and you see him,
none of this will matter..." and she was so right. One of the details I got
really wound up about was the cake-topper (for the pies); I spent crazy
hours on etsy obsessing about it. When I got to the venue and was walking
toward the backyard for the ceremony, I saw that the tiny "Mr & Mrs" banner
had ended up on the vegan sandwiches instead of a pie. That was the moment
I realized that it just didn't matter. And so I'd say, don't get bogged
down in the tiny details. Remember that you're there to marry the love of
your life, not have the perfect cake topper.

Thank you to Caitlin Casella (http://caitlincasella.blogspot.com/) for sharing these photographs!

We wanted to take some time and put together a video with a tutorial of how to tie sashes for your wedding day! In this video, we show you how to do a square knot, an obi-style square knot, and a criss-cross knot. Enjoy!

watch in full screen mode for the best viewing!

Today we are so happy to post some questions about Cathrine’s lovely wedding. Cathrine was really creative and had a lot of DIY projects for her wedding. She filled us in on the beautiful touches she added to her wedding….

1. We love how you really got involved with your wedding, can you tell us more about the DIY details you worked on?

Tom and I are creative people. He’s an artist and I’ve always been a crafter so it seemed natural that we would want to design and create a lot of the wedding elements ourselves. We made all the papergoods: invitations, service sheets, thank you cards, favours, the guestbook which consisted of leaves cut from cardboard that could be signed and paper-clipped to their photobooth photo. The overall theme tying everything together was our logo of a eucalyptus leaf and oak leaf joined together, which represents my Australian and his English roots and also my/our love for trees.
 

2. Could you tell us specifically about the paper flowers you created?

I made two types of paper flowers; one for table decorations and another for our bouquets. But sorry, no photos of the process! :( The first were origami flowers that I simply loved when I saw them in an Etsy store. So I hunted down the instructions online and set to work. I became obsessed with paper and would look in art stores, opp shops and newsagents for pretty pieces of paper to turn into flowers. I organised a couple of craft days with my four bridesmaids (many hands make light work!) and we made loads of flowers while watching cliche wedding movies. I had read so many times that the best way to avoid stress and burn out in DIY weddings was to get help so I did that as much as possible! We made over 150 in the end. The instructions for the flowers can be found here: http://www.capitolromance.com/2011/09/21/diy-how-to-origami-paper-flower-bouquet/

The second type of flowers were made based on instructions I bought from Sunny & Stumpy, an Etsy store (here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/70092609/paper-ranunculus-flower-template). They took more than an hour per flower and were definitely the most labour intensive DIY detail. Again my bridesmaids were amazing and would stay back longer than I anticipated to keep helping. Lots of love was poured into making them and I got so many compliments about them on the day. As a thank you to the girls for all their hard work, I had little ceramic lace hearts (http://www.etsy.com/listing/61907522/wedding-favors-lacy-heart-ornaments) made and attached them to each bouquet with the date and our initials on the back for them to keep with the flowers.

 

3. How did you meet your fiancé?

He was a youth group leader at a church I had just begun to attend and his last day was my first day! I met him in passing and thought I’d never see him again but we kept bumping into each other at church activities during the year. We didn’t connect straight away but he likes to say how hard he chased me and won me over. In the end, it was only a matter of time before we started dating because the more I got to know him, the more I grew to love him and his crazy sense of humour.

 
4. Is there anything you can point out about your pictures that we might not have noticed?

This isn’t a DIY detail but we have wooden wedding rings! It was a crazy idea that I had because I don’t often wear jewelry and don’t like gold or silver or metal jewelry very much and thought it would be nice to have a wedding ring that I could feel connected to. We got the rings from Simply Wood Rings. I was thrilled when Tom agreed to it.  (http://www.simplywoodrings.com/ringshop/wood-ring/engagement/passions-abloom-padauk-wood-engagement-ring-set.html)

 
5. What was your favorite part of the process?
 
What I enjoyed most was seeing it all come together and seeing our friends and family enjoy everything we had worked so hard to create. For example, the origami flowers that we made for the tables ended up adorning people’s hair, button holes, and pockets. I was left with hardly any after the wedding because so many were taken home! I love that our friends and family loved them so much they could not resist taking them home.

Thanks to Marzena Wasilewska (http://mw-photography.com.au/) for sharing these lovely photographs!

For today’s post we wanted to share an easy tutorial for DIY paper flowers. For this tutorial we used tissue paper and were very happy with the results! These flowers can be used in a lot of different ways, from bouquets to table decorations.

Later this week, we’ll be hearing from a Saja bride who used her own creative skills to make paper flowers for different elements of her wedding!

For the month of April we are so happy to be featuring Amanda's international wedding! Amanda was 

married in Australia and ordered her Saja dress online. She told us a bit about the process and her 

wedding....

1. How did you meet your fiancé? 

Tom and I met through work for an international travel publishing company, but it
was our love of sport that joined us together. We were team mates on the soccer and
beach volleyball courts and good friends off.   

2. Where did you get married? What can you tell us about the venue? 

We were married on a beautiful property in Apollo Bay, Victoria, Australia. Apollo
Bay held great meaning for us, we have holidayed there frequently and was located
on one of our favourite (and the world's) touring routes, the Great Ocean Road. We
were very lucky, the day before the wedding the clouds had set in and the rain was
coming down, but somehow the heavens opened and we had glorious sunshine to view
the ocean one way and the hills the other. 

3. How did you find out about Saja? 

As you do, I trawled through some amazing wedding blogs and the style of dress I
wanted just appeared, and then appeared again. I had to find out where it was from
and discovered Saja. I knew it was meant to be, it just felt right. 

4. How did you decide to buy from Saja without having ever seen the dress in person? 

I trust my instinct (I've learnt this as a mum). It was the dress that I've always
wanted - simple, ethereal, elegant, perfect. Oh, and did I mention that the
current exchange rate helped push me over the edge? I didn't ever visit a wedding
shop or try on a wedding dress, I didn't want to jinx the process but deep down I
knew it would be a fruitless task anyway. I originally sent off a query to Yoo and
the Saja team to see if what even possible to order from Australia, and of course
it was! From there I sent my measurements, received a few comfort emails from the
team to ease any worries I may have had and in a very short time I was standing
there signing for the package. It arrived on my birthday so I knew there wasn't
going to be any issue, even before I opened it. I tried it on in private, you
know, away from those "I told you not to order your dress online" remarks but then
regretted not having anyone there to say, "see, I told you, you can order a
wedding dress online". So, I promptly went and updated my Facebook status. It was
well liked!  

5. What was the best part of your wedding day? 

Tom and I grew up in different parts of the world and live in a city a few hours
drive from our wedding location. The best part was seeing our friends and family
come together (most of them meeting for the first time) with loads of laughter and
a lot of character.   

6. Was there anything surprising about how your wedding day unfolded? 

Tom and I have two amazing young children so I was surprised on the day that I was
still so nervous with anticipation. But as soon as I saw him, holding our son, as
I was walking down the aisle with our daughter, life seemed even more complete.
All that was going around in my head was one of our favourite songs, and happened
to be one of our wedding readings, 'Gorecki' by Lamb... "if I should die this very
moment, I wouldn't fear, for I've never known completeness, like being here..." 

Thanks to Amanda’s friend Stephen Brown for taking these wonderful photographs!