Hey!!! Guess what???
We’re on Offbeat Bride today!!!
I started reading Offbeat Bride pretty early in the engagement process and it quickly became one of my top-three go-to blogs. As in, my morning isn’t complete if I haven’t read it whilst drinking my coffee.
Oh hey, come here often?
I realized, that other than this post (oh yeah, remember all that stuff? Well I have WAYYYY cooler photos … just you wait), I haven’t properly given My Precious its due. So …
It’s a family heirloom from 1914. His great-grandmother’s engagement ring. His mum shipped it over super-secret James Bond style. It fit almost perfectly when I first slipped it on and is proportionate to my tiny carnie-esque hand size. I love it.
It’s unique and has mixed metals, which I love since I wear a mix of gold and silver anyway. And when it’s clean, boy does that puppy shine!!!
Persimmon Images. Obviously.
Ok, here we go. The grand finale of Ruth and Nate’s awesome York, Australia, wedding. This is so sweet, and Duane Orriss of Orriss Films did such a lovely job. In my mind, he nailed it.
Yes, there’s MOAR. Nate and Ruth had entirely too much awesometasticness for me to pass up … however, I don’t do trilogies. So here’s part three … with one more to come. xo!
Photography: Sunny + Scout Photography
I told you I’d do multiples. So here we go with more photo happiness. No words, just ogling.
When I first saw Ruth and Nate’s wedding pictures, I had a bit of a swoon. AND THEN I WATCHED THEIR VIDEO. And read Ruth’s words (let’s face it folks, I love the visual). And it all ties together. Check out the groomsman in the cardigan. Yes. And the baby with the Chucks. AND SHE HAD BALLOONS. These guys did it green, did it familial and did it with Chucks. My words don’t do it justice. Also? She supplied me with so much and I can’t choose. So, here goes my first multi-post!
Name: Nate and Ruth Buma
Age: Nate, 28 and Ruth, 26
Occupation: Nate, Petroleum Engineer and Ruth, PA/HR/Church Volunteer
Wedding location: Uniting Church (Ceremony) and Laurelville Manor (Reception), York Western Australia
Wedding Date: 8 May 2011
Length of engagement: 4 months and a couple days!
Tell me about your wedding: It was a family affair! My aunty did our hair, my sister made the wedding cake, Nate’s grandmother made my dress, our bridal party and “speech makers” mostly comprised of family, my mum did all the stationary, my sister-in-law took photos … so it was very family orientated!
I spent many moons on blogs getting ideas for the style, and Nate sourced EVERYTHING from far and wide.
We wanted it to be as organic and local as possible so we used the town and as many as the locals as we could which turned out to be amazing and really contributed to the country feel! The florist was local, as was the caterer, as was the kind man we hired the vintage car from. We used the heritage buildings and farmers fields to take photos … it was a really relaxed vibe. A few months back York had terrible storms and the ladies who run the Uniting Church, lost the roof to a building adjacent to the church that they use for teas and such things – we made a donation to their roof fund and they put a delicious afternoon tea on for us after our ceremony which was very sweet!
While we were having photos taken, we had lawn bowls and cocktails (country style) back at our reception venue. That apparently (coz we were getting photos taken) was great idea! Good time, killer!
We wrote our own vows, which added a really personal and special touch to the ceremony!
It was just a really great experience for us! Relaxed and fun and a great reflection of us!
What was your favorite part of your wedding? I loved my dress. I loved the styling of our bridal party, with each person in their own interpretation of our colour scheme/ vibe that we wanted. I loved that it had so much of our nearest and dearest involved. I loved the country feel, and all the detail we had going on.
What disasters did you avert … or not avert and how did you deal with it? We left our seating plan until about 3 hours before the event kicked off! In a hurry to get it done we left some really key people off the plan so when they got there, they didn’t see their names anywhere, which was rather unpleasant for them! HAHA! Luckily they are close enough friends to know that we wanted them there so they did not leave! EEEEK!
Was there anything you would have done differently, or do you have any regrets about how something went? I would have had it on a day that suited my brothers better so they could have been there! But other than that, nope – it was a dream come true and I loved every moment!
What was your biggest challenge in planning? Sourcing the detail. I had got some really great ideas from different USA based wedding blogs and I found it really hard to get some of the things I wanted (eg glass drinking dispensers for the cocktails!)! It took a lot of energy, time and patience on Nates behalf!
What lessons did you learn from planning or from the wedding itself? That it takes time and patience to hunt down a bargain and that NOTHING is impossible!
What was your biggest “holyamazeballzI’mfreakininlove!” moment? We has spent ages trying to organize a vintage car, it didn’t make sense to get one to drive out from Perth, so after weeks of trying to organize something, Nate just packed the idea in, and we decided to go with the very non-vintage, community bus! When it came time for me and the girls to leave the Manor where we were getting ready, this insane, OLD SCHOOL, beautiful car pulled up! Nate had organized it in the last couple days and I had no idea! So I was so so so so thrilled!! YAY! I still love thinking back to that moment! Another real special moment was in that car, on the way, I was with my dad, and that was pretty memorable.
What were your top 5 favorite things about your wedding?
Nate’s vows
My sister’s brilliant effort with our 5 layered cake!
Loved my wedding dress – Grandma made my dream come true!
The styling (if we don’t say so ourselves!)
My cousin coming over from South Africa, my longest standing friend coming over from Adelaide and my grandmother coming over from East Coast
Top 5 least favorite?
It was a very stressful lead up. Nate and I had a very specific idea of what we wanted, and some things were a bit, non traditional, and we did get a bit of “abrasion” from the more formal family members – my least favourite thing was the stress of souring the detail.
Money issues are always not fun! And I am no budgeter so that was rather difficult! I was rattling off demands and wants and poor Nate was trying to manage the money side of things!
My younger brother ended up not being able to attend which was quite sad. He unexpectedly had to go overseas to an Olympic qualifier
What was the worst piece of wedding advice you received? A video is not needed! Thank goodness we did not listen to that! We did and here is the trailer – http://vimeo.com/24565354 (Eds. note: the full video will be in a later post. You know you want to keep watching.)
The best? A work mate said to me, that during the evening, Nate and I should go for a walk for about 5 mins, to a spot where we could see our wedding in front of us and just take a moment to breath and soak it up and acknowledge that this was our time. That was a great piece of advice and a memory I will always treasure.
Cake: Jo Pletts (Sister) from http://misscherrybird.blogspot.com
Bec is an old friend of Aussie’s. When I snuck some looks at her pics, I knew that there was no way I could not not have her on here. They’re so pretty and vintage-y. Their day looked like a swoonable old-school love story. Just the kind that makes me go “d-awwwww.” Without further ado …
Name: Rebecca
Age: 27
Occupation: Marketing coordinator
Wedding location: The Belvoir
Wedding Date: 6th of March 2011
Length of engagement: 7 months
Tell me about your wedding: We had a traditional wedding, held outside in a garden. The vows were the old school promises (without obey 😉 ) with a lovely speech by the pastor about there being three people in our relationship – Evan, Me and God. After we exchanged the rings, our parents came up and prayed for us. It was short and sweet.
What was your favorite part of your wedding? I loved getting ready with the girls and my dad, and the little moments I had alone with my groom.
What disasters did you avert … or not avert and how did you deal with it? There were confusions over family photos so as a result some were missed. Also I had given the venue the name cards in order of where they were sitting, however they went by the order of the names on the seating chart list, and it was averted as a week earlier I had also sent an email with the order so they went back and changed it.
The bridesmaids dresses were not finished till 3 days before the wedding so that was a little stressful too. OH also the jeweler lost our ring order and we got them the Friday before the wedding hahaha!
Was there anything you would have done differently, or do you have any regrets about how something went? I was not too fussed on the details at the time as all I really cared about was marrying Evan, now I wish I had spent a little more time planning ( I was living overseas for the first 3 months of the engagement so I could not do much). I wish I didn’t worry so much about how much everyone else was enjoying themselves and enjoyed it more myself! But all in all it was a great afternoon / evening.
What was your biggest challenge in planning? Time.
What lessons did you learn from planning or from the wedding itself? Just go with the flow, know what you can compromise on and know what you definitely want.
What was your biggest “holyamazeballzI’mfreakininlove!” moment? How right it felt, I had no cold feet moments, no second guesses, me and Evan just make sense.
What were your top 5 favorite things about your wedding?
Marrying Evan
My dress
Walking down the Aisle
The people
Rings
Top 5 least favorite?
The stress on the day
Family Photo chaos
That’s all!
What was the worst piece of wedding advice you received? none
The best? Get a videographer because the day goes so fast!
What from your wedding vows/ceremony still holds the truest? Being there for each other no matter what.
Any other bits of wisdom? Get a videographer because the day goes so fast!
Relax and take it all in.
Also try not to put too much pressure on the day because in the end it is just one day of the rest of your life together.
I can’t even express how much I love these two. Brianna is one of the coolest, mellowest and NICEST chicks I know. And Nick rocks. When I found out they were engaged, I full-on squealed. Then I saw their pics. And the swooning commenced. They had a super mellow, super low-key ceremony and reception fully catered to them. They had a good friend of theirs officiate the ceremony, they incorporated their own style and they had help from family and friends. Also? They managed it pretty low-budget without stressing. Yeah … they’re rad.
Name: Brianna Graner
Age: 26
Occuption: Cosmetologist
Wedding location: Teton Springs in Victor, Idaho
Wedding Date: October 23, 2010
Length of engagement: 11 months
Tell me about your wedding: Nick and I had a small wedding with only our very close friends and family. From the start we knew we wanted our wedding to be low-key and our style. We did almost everything ourselves, wrote our own ceremony, selected every song on our playlist, we used our iPod, decorations etc. We had a hint of vintage flare in our music and our style. One of our best friends, Tim Metoyer, performed our ceremony; he took this very seriously and made it very special.
What was your favorite part of your wedding? The best part of the wedding for me was finally getting to marry Nick, I also loved getting everyone we care about together in one place!
What disasters did you avert … or not avert and how did you deal with it? Somehow, in all of the planning we forgot to get a dance floor.. whoops! So the night before the wedding some of my amazing family members along with my mom got together secretly and made sure that the next day there was a dance floor ready for my horrible dance moves!
What was your biggest challenge in planning? The biggest challenge for me was I took on way too much by myself. I’m the kind of person who thinks I can do everything and I think I would have enjoyed the process a little more if I would have shared some of the responsibility.
What lessons did you learn from planning or from the wedding itself? A wedding is about two people who love each other so much they want to spend their lives together the rest of it should just be fun, if it stops being fun, elope.
What were your top 5 favorite things about your wedding? My awesome bridal shower/ bachelorette party, our amazing photographer Kisa Koenig, delicious cupcakes, all of my girls at Body & Soul making me look beautiful, and my very favorite was seeing Nick for the first time all dressed up!
What was the worst piece of wedding advice you received? I was actually very lucky because my best friend Shannon got married a few months before me so she actually shared a lot of really great advice like this gem: people want to make your wedding about them so stand strong to what you really want.
What from your wedding vows/ceremony still holds the truest?
This is the start of your new life together.
Tomorrow you will be a married couple, off on a brand new adventure.
And like any good adventure,
there are sure to be beautiful new things you’ve never seen before
unknown wonders you could never anticipate and exciting challenges.
But even when your strength is tested,
know that you will persevere.
I think it is so important for any couple because even when things get a little crazy you will always have each other.
I’ve been trying to get my girls behind For Love and Lemons to send me some stuff so I could write up a rad post … but understandably, they’re super busy.
However, this insufferably impatient girl couldn’t wait any longer.
I love love love the look of the Lulu dress and think it would be absolutely perfect for a rehearsal dinner or even for a super fun Vegas/loft/rooftop wedding. It’s cut is really flattering because it hits at the smallest part of the waist. Plus the sheer panel is uber alluring.
Gillian and Laura are constantly coming up with some sweet fashions. Check ’em out.
xo
Random Acts of Wedding 