Emma and Andrew’s Very Special Vintage Inspired Wedding

Emma and Andrew vowed to love each other forever on an early spring day in a billowy, romantic white tent on her family’s property surrounded by 220 guests. Their warm reception was held in their lovely, rustic barn. Their day was incredible due to the efforts of her team of wedding pros, and also her wonderful friends & family. And, of course, because of the beautiful love that she and Andrew share. But one reason the event was so special was that it was filled with so many personal touches from Emma’s heart. Luckily Erin Morrison Photography was on hand to artfully capture all the details.

You see, beautiful bride Emma spent a long time, years in fact, planning and preparing for her amazing and colorful vintage-inspired wedding. Long before she met Andrew, back in her high school days, she dreamed of what her wedding would be like so often Emma got herself a notebook to keep track of all of her favorite ideas. The book was stuffed with flowers, cakes, decor dresses and anything else that captured her fancy. Emma, who has a love of all things vintage, also spent lots of her free time scouring auctions, flea markets and estate sales with her mother to find things that caught her eye. In her college years, she became an avid collector, amassing vases, tissue paper bells, bridal baskets, handkerchiefs and linens in earnest. The best part? Emma ended up having the wedding of her dreams and using those ideas and items she collected through the years. Her joyous wedding turned out perfectly, as she put it, “colorful, mismatched and a little kitsch.” But decor and details were just part of the equation, as Emma says, “In the end, the day is about marrying the love you’ve waited for and sharing the day with all of your favorite people.”

Some of Emma’s favorite folks are a group of her mom’s friends, known as the Ya-Ya’s. These fun-loving, party-planning, stand-in moms all played a part in the festivities. They were all over the wedding helping with cleaning, organizing, bringing over more “junk” to decorate with, setting up, and even catering. She recalls their reception happily, “It was beautiful and exactly what I had imagined. All of my favorite things—mismatched china and milk glass, vintage head vases, old linen tablecloths, a ceiling filled with tissue paper bells, Victorian screen doors re-purposed into chalkboards, old quilts on the ladders that belonged to Andrew’s granddad, and breakfast for dinner prepared and served by the Ya-Ya’s.” And all those bridal baskets she so lovingly collected ended up providing a major style statement hung in a happy profusion on the barn wall, filled with baby’s breath from LB Floral.

Lesley at LB Floral played a key role in setting the stage for the wedding. Prior to the wedding, she met with Emma and her mother to plan the floral elements. She even took a look through Emma’s wedding notebook for inspiration. She was able to incorporate so many of Emma’s ideas and her favorite flowers (daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths) beautifully. Lesley made an astonishingly amazing arch that included some of the collected tissue paper bells. Isn’t it fabulous?

Our favorite floral element though has to be the bountiful bouquet bursting with color that LB Floral made for the bride.

Emma’s habit of accumulating antique hankies paid off too. She used them as creative gift wrapping for the wedding favors. Emma put out local honey as well as apple butter, jam, and peanut butter spread that were all homemade by her friends. And, Emma used a wrought iron tea cart she found at an antique show in Ohio to display those yummy gifts.

Emma always felt she should wear something 50’s inspired on her wedding day. She actually purchased a tea-length dress with vintage vibes in Europe but decided it wasn’t quite what she wanted a few months before her special day. She and her mother visited The Gilded Gown where they found her dream dress; a gorgeous full-length gown composed of all-over lace with three quarter length sleeves and a beautiful train. (The bridesmaids found similar style dresses in all different colors from various sources.)

She added in her retro flair by wearing a bouffant veil and kitten heels, both found on Amazon.

Ramble Creek Cakes made the adorable white wedding cake which was artistically decorated to look like hobnail milk glass. Emma used a whimsical vintage vase that belonged to Andrew’s grandmom as the topper.

We are blown away by the amazing paper backdrop that graced one corner of the barn.

Every nook and cranny of their wedding was graced with happy vignettes, like this antique bike with its’ basket full of flowers and a sweet sign propped beside it proclaiming, “Just Married.”

Emma and Andrew created a wedding filled with love, laughter, family, and friends. The fact that Emma incorporated her passion for vintage treasures just made the whole event even more enjoyable for all who were in attendance. And now they can live happily ever after.