Matt and Melissa Are Married!

So I was super giddy when I saw these photos, because I KNEW Laura Perry would take fabulous photos! I was right! She always takes amazing photos! Matt and Melissa were married at Union Grove Methodist Church in Pittsgrove, NJ. This is the church where my husband grew up. Melissa made adorable signs for the Ceremony and Reception and hand painted them.

The church was adorned with loads of sunflowers and lots of accenting flowers. I placed flowers in both aisles of the church and also two huge arrangements in the front of the sanctuary. I LOVE this close up shot!

I think this was the happiest wedding I've possibly ever been to, well, besides my own of course! Matt and Melissa grabbed some quick pics with the bridal party at Parvin State Park, right down the street from Parvin Farms, where the reception was held.

The photo on the left may end up being a big canvas in someone's home!

The bar was so awesome! My husband and Matt created these bars using old doors that were left in our 1800's Victorian home. Melissa and Matt collected photos and placed them underneath plexiglass. The tent was decorated with saplings and long thick vines from a local swamp. Then these bottles were hung everywhere. I added green trick, viking mums, and crespedia "Billy Balls" all over the place!

I used my set of bark covered tables to mark a walkway and the church flowers were set on top to add more color. I had my gray shabby lanterns all over the place to add more candlelight once the sun went down.

What else can I say? I love my job! Darren,  from The Cake Studio of Ocean City, and I built this cake tier by tier. Matt cut tree trunks and placed them at the base of the cake, and also on all the guest tables. I added a moss table runner and river rocks to the base of the cake and accented the entire space with kelly green votives. I used a massive amount of wildflowers including sunflowers, tulips, astilbe, crespedia, roses, sweet peas, wheat, ranunculus, asters, green trick, solidaster, buplerum, lady's mantle, freesia, and the list truly went on and on. Every place setting had a viking mum and the grouped centerpieces were all created in bark covered tin containers. I used sand blasted manzanita from an awesome California source and anchored them with more river rock. A HUGE thank you to everyone who helped me set up during the rehearsal and the day of the wedding, you saved me loads of time and quite a bit of lost sleep!

I like to think of my husband and I as an creative team. My husband built the doorway on the left using salvaged doors from an old farmhouse that was demolished from the property before his time. Matt made the grapevine wreaths for the church and I wired in sunflowers. They created the perfect touch of color for these doors! The church pews are a prized find Eric discovered from an old church in Brooklyn, New York! We proudly rent these for ceremonies in a "easily accessible" outdoor setting ( the beach, the park, a farmer's field!).

The gorgeous bride and her beautiful bridesmaids. The girls carried bouquets to mimic Melissa's and everyone had a handmade crocheted sleeve created by a friend of the bride and groom's. The flower girls wore halo's of mini viking mums.

My brother-in-law Chris, my brother-in-law Matt, and my hubby. I made the guys a boutonniere with viking mums, green trick, crespedia, and curly willow loops. Matt and Melissa were the only ones with wheat accents :)

I LOVE this photo!

A close up of Melissa's bouquet :)

Matt made this card holder !

The barn looked so cool!

This is one of my personal favorites! I knew Laura would do a great job, but her creativity blows me away! This is why you just never want to let a family friend do your photos, hire a pro and have no regrets! What an amazing pleasure it was to have the creative freedom that I was able to have and help make their wedding look amazing. Thank you guys for trusting me and allowing me to "play and do my thing". LOVE YOU GUYS!