Good morning, fair readers! We’re not sure where to start with this unbearably cute, designed by the bride, executed by family and friends, DIY extravaganza sent over by Max Wanger. Seriously, Holly sent us such a beautifully detailed description of their whole wedding and planning process we’re stumped on where to start. How about with a big Huzzah! for the super creative couple and for Max and his always lovely photography? There. Now we can properly begin.
Holly and Billy were married at the Overbrook House in Buzzards Bay, MA. They chose the site immediately after falling in love with the working organic farm, acres of hiking trails, fields and beaches that are all part of the property. They rented the 1920’s farmhouse for the entire week and had their entire wedding party stay with them. What a way to kick off your wedding!
Holly is a footwear designer for Converse, (um, cool!), but in her previous life she was a graphic designer and knew that she wanted to do all the planning, designing, and executing of their wedding herself. Um, yes. That turned out to be an excellent choice, Hols.
She created the invites and stationary herself, inspired by vintage champagne promos she found at the Paris flea market, mixed with a sweet 50’s vibe. She printed all the paper goods at home on her Gocco. Her save the dates were little notebooks where she imagined guests could write down important info (like directions) leading up to the wedding. Her invites were printed on vintage hankies… inspired by gifts that her mom has always brought to a wedding or given as a gift to friends when their daughters were married. She printed all of her fabric pieces (including guest totes) using a laser fabric printer (where can we get one of those??)
And as if that wasn’t all enough, Holly had so much fun designing her wedding goods, she and her friend John started a little design studio called Save Me Studios. The site isn’t up yet, but we’ll be sure to let you all know when it is!
Her bridesmaids all wore J Crew, but in different colors. Doesn’t that look so awesome? Holly didn’t want to choose one specific color palette so decided she’d go with florals, tempered by kraft paper, simple white linens, and gold and silver. Frickin’ spectacular if you ask us!
Holly’s dress was a handmade vintage 50’s cocktail dress she found on vintageous.com while she was in China for work. She was so excited and so scared it would sell, she woke her maid of honor, Pam, in the middle of the night to get her address in San Francisco (where she was stopping over on her way home), and had it shipped there so she could try it on asap.
She made the belt for extra fabric she had trimmed off the bottom of the dress, and added a rhinestone buckle she found on etsy. Her petticoat came from ebay, her shoes J Crew, and all of her jewelry and other accessories were vintage finds from etsy. Her veil and flowers in her hair were purchased from Handle and Spout.
SO MANY amazing details! Those ruffly colored fans are just delicious.
Holly’s maid of honor, Pamela, ended up getting ordained online and served as the officiant. They based their ceremony on the Quaker tradition of being married by your community, and asked four speakers to put together a reading on four subjects: Life, Family, Friendship, and Love. They each wrote and read a letter to each other during the ceremony with the theme “what you mean to me.”
Once Holly decided on florals, she knew she wanted to incorporate all sorts of flowery patterns into her design. She collected different fabric throughout the year and used it to make corresponding button escort cards and napkins, in lieu of table numbers, for each table. She used the extra fabric to make cocktail napkins for the bar and the bunting flags that hung in the dance hall. AND because that’s clearly not enough, Holly made the groomsmen’s ties using the same fabric.
Holly’s friend Ann is an amazing baker and offered to make all the cakes for the wedding herself. And by all the cakes, that means one for every table. They served and sweet and delicious centerpieces that went perfectly with the vintagey Paris feel of the tables.
Holly had initially decided to do the flowers herself, but not surprisingly ran out of time. Luckily one of Billy’s lifelong friends and groomsmen had worked at a greenery for years and stepped up last minute to do an amazing job the morning of the wedding.
Everyone in the wedding party chipped in to decorate leading up to the wedding. Holly’s dad even surprised her by sprucing up her childhood rowboat and making a “just married” sign for it. Billy made the chalkboard and escort card board from frames he found at Goodwill. Pam wrote the menu in her lovely handwriting, and for their guestbook they used a vintage 3-ring binder from etsy and a little instant fuji camera that’s been making the rounds on blogs.
Holly and Billy, we’re at a loss of words! So much thought and detail. And so many awesomely creative friends came together to help you pull off your vision. Thanks so much for getting married and for having Max shoot your wedding so we could end up sharing it.
Congratulations!
Photography: Max Wanger / Venue: The Overbrook House at Bay End Farm / Dress: Vintageous.com / Veil: Handle and Spout / Flowers: Bay End Farm and online. Arranged by one talented groomsman! / Jewelry: Etsy / Shoes: J.Crew / Groom, groomsmen and bridesmaids: J.Crew / Catering: Season to Taste / Cakes: Ann Hammer / Reception music: Diane Blue Band
