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dusty blue wedding

Real Weddings :: Justine & Devin’s Glamorous Gala in Downtown Flint

0 · Aug 29, 2017 ·

I’ve been wanting to share this wedding for some time now.  But every time I sit down to tell the story of Justine and Devin’s the words elude me.  I don’t where to start.

I could start with the tale of a girl who has triumphed over the less fortunate happenings in her life.  She forever holds my admiration. Or I could tell of a boy who’s wanted to marry a certain girl since the 6th grade, which is probably the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t really know where the love story began, but I’m certainly glad to be a part of it.

You may remember my sister’s Cinderella inspired proposal, which was one of my favorite days ever (you can see it here).  Devin really is her Prince Charming, welcoming her daughter and her into his heart as a true gentleman.

As this wedding touches me on such a personal level, the job of narrowing down photos and pieces to share is nearly impossible, so I decided it was actually worth 2 posts.  Anyone who’s gotten married knows there are two parts to the wedding day.  There’s the pre-wedding – the time spent pampering yourself with your closest family and friends, focusing on the joy to come and preparing to commit yourself to one another forever.  While this time can be beautiful and relaxing, there’s also an electricity in the air and everyone around can feel it.

Part 2 of the wedding day is the post wedding celebration.  There ceremony takes places.  Vows and promises are exchanged and suddenly everyone can celebrate.  There’s a cloud of, well I hate to call it stress but for lack of a better word, stress, that lifts and there’s even more joy, if you even thought that was possible.

Today, I’m telling of the prewedding.  Thinking of the flowers that were placed, the moments spent zipping a bride’s dress and Great Grandma’s pearl necklace that was worn by my mother and myself on our wedding days, and now by my sister as well.  There’s the first moment that a groom see’s his bride and know’s that she’ll forever be by his side.

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Photography: Samantha James Photography | Wedding Planning & Floral Design: The Day’s Design | Getting Ready Venue: Knob Hill Bed & Breakfast | Wedding Venue: The Durant | Bride’s Dress: Pierre’s Bridal | Bridesmaids Dresses: Rent the Runway | Menswear: Menguin | Flowergirls dresses: Laura Ashley | Invitations: Minted | Bride’s Ring: Pennibelle | Bridesmaids Ribbons: Adorn | Bride’s Bouquet Ribbons: Silk & Willow 

It’s as though I could share something significant about each and every one of these photos, however I do think that would disrupt the overall flow of this post.  But even now going through all of these, I can feel the anticipation rising.  Even though they decided to see one another prior to the ceremony, you’ll see when I share the rest of the wedding – part 2 of the day – that nothing was lost and the emotion and significance of the ceremony was all there.  This was just the teaser, the celebration is yet to come.

Celebrations, Flowers blush wedding, dusty blue wedding, flint wedding, floral design, Michigan wedding, Real Weddings

Justine & Devin :: The Inspiration

0 · Aug 15, 2017 ·

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared an inspiration board on here.  It’s not because I haven’t been creating them, because I certainly have.  They’re an amazing tool to help keep your planning on track.  Sometimes the process of wedding planning can become so overwhelming and there are so many ideas out there, and directions that decor and styles can take and after a year or more of preparation for your big day, the final results can deviate so much for where you orginally wanted to be – this can be either really good or bad.  I like to think of these as modern magazine clippings all compiled onto a one page summary of your day.

Durant Ballroom Wedding | The Day's Design | Samantha James Photography

Photography: Samantha James Photography

On the other hand, Justine and Devin were engaged in May and wed in August (you can see their super romantic proposal story here).  It was quick, and there was very little room for debating all the various design options.  So we created a mood board to help set the stage and made sure that everything stayed on track with the initial concept.  If something felt out of place with this “summary” their wedding day, then it was vetod and we moved on.

There’s a beautiful ballroom in downtown Flint that would play host to the day.  It has thick white trim, orginal early 1900s grey and white tiled floors, marble accents and gold chairs.  This was our canvas for creating.  The next layer of design was the bride’s desire to add dusty blue touches and glittering sequin bridesmaids gowns.  Elegant and glamorous where key discriptive words, and since she’s my sister I know her sense of style pretty well, which meant I also knew we needed to add in some frills and girly charms.

This is the condensed version of our design, as the actual design plan went on for 5 pages detailing every aspect of their glittering wedding day.  There was much focus on flowers and end results were too good for words and I’ll be sharing the entire day soon.

Dusty Blue and Gold | Wedding Inspiration Board | The Day's Design

Image sources (top to bottom, left to right): Photography: Heather Payne Photography, Bouquet: Philosophy Flowers via Team Flower Instagram |   Quicksand Roses | White Majolika Roses | Gold Chiavari Chair | Helga Piaget Roses via Peterkort Roses | Photography: Heather Payne Photography, Floral Design: Philosophy Flowers via Team Flower Instagram | Minted Invitations | Faith Roses | via ModWedding

You can also see an expanded Pinterest board that helped inspire their celebration here.  The results of their beautiful wedding are coming soon!

 

Celebrations, Wedding Planning & Advice dusty blue wedding, flint wedding, inspiration board, mood board, Samantha James Photography, wedding planning

Real Weddings :: Hallie & Eric

0 · Jan 21, 2016 ·

I love the planning and designing, the dreaming and getting to know each and every one of my brides.  Often there are day trips to distant destinations, drinks over design plans and yummy bakery treats (I know, I have a rough job!).  I’m always so eager for the wedding day to actually arrive and then see the fruits of my labors and watch a bride’s dreams come true.  Seeing flower recipes on paper is nothing compared to holding the blooms in your hands and gingerly adding yards of flowing lace to a finished bouquet.  And yet it’s always a little bittersweet as this will be the end of scheming, late night emails and vintage treasure hunts.

On a balmy day in mid July, my journey with one such bride ended – only so she could begin a new one with the love of her life.  From the moment I met Hallie, I knew that her wedding day would be fabulous.  She had chosen a horse farm in Ludington to host both her ceremony and reception and she hoped to bring along lots of vintage, rustic and girly touches.  Dusty blue was the primary color inspiration, allowing shades of pink to naturally introduce itself through the floral palette and patterns on the vintage china.  We aimed for softness, without being too pastel and added rustic details alongside timeless touches of silver and lace.  You may remember their dusty and vintage inspiration board which I wrote about last week.

Her roses were flown in from California and paired with some goodies naturally found in our back yards.  Sweet pea added just the perfectly subtle pop of pink and the carnations I used stole my heart.  Please trust me and let me use carnations – sometimes they hold the most unusual and glorious hues.  Not to mention, they’re a completely sturdy flower that humidity barely takes a toll on.

Photography: Bradley James Photography  |  Wedding & Floral Design, Day of Coordination: The Day’s Design |  Venue: Iris Hills Weddings & Occasion |  Rentals:  Grand Rental Station  |  Catering: Rykes |  Cake: Julie Sheehan  |  DJ: Complete MVP  |  Officiant: Keith Littlepage of Forever I Do  |  Vintage China: Debby Does Dishes  |  Late Night Snacks: Lakeside Weiner Wagon

Dear Hallie & Eric – I hope what they say is true and rain is good luck on your wedding day, the heavens let down some nasty storms that morning, as we all weathered through it.  You two deserve so much happiness and it was an absolute pleasure being a part of your wedding day.

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Celebrations barn wedding, Bradley James Photography, Debby Does Dishes, dusty blue wedding, Iris Hills, Ludington Wedding, pink and blue, pink flowers, rustic wedding, Sweet Peas, Vintage china

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