Victor and Claire's Creative Vintage Wedding

Happy Wednesday Friends!  Today I am excited to post pictures from my brother's big day!  As you know, I got to be a part of his wedding this past weekend.



I was super excited for Victor and Claire to start their life together!  I was also really excited because I knew the couple had spent a lot of time preparing decor for the venue and I was looking forward to seeing it all come together! :)

Claire is an artist and very detail oriented.  This comes through big time with all the special touches she added to the wedding ceremony and reception areas.



Above- Claire used a simple strip of burlap, threw it over the back of a chair, and then used jute to gather the piece underneath the back rest.  She then tucked a small bouquet of flowers where the fabric was gathered.  This was an easy and somewhat inexpensive way to dress up the chairs.  So cute!  Claire also used a wood burner to create the "reserved" signs.

Below- Claire also threw in a number of sentimental touches that I absolutely loved.  Much like decorating a home, I think it's wonderful to add pieces that speak to your story.  One way Claire did this was by tying two charms with her grandparents photos onto her bouquet.



Typography is another love of Claire's.  You could see evidence of this all over the venue.  The aisle runner was painted with the quote "With My Whole Heart, For My Whole Life."  I love that and I bet the photographer got an amazing photo from behind as Claire walked down to meet Victor at the alter.



I love a wedding with a few untraditional touches.  This cool couple opted to tie a fisherman's knot with two pieces of rope in place of lighting a unity candle.



Below, you can see typography coming into play again as Claire printed love quotes onto old book pages.  A different one one each table made for a beautiful and meaningful display.



Victor and Claire both are big coffee and tea drinkers.  As a parting gift to their wonderful friends and family, the couple offered up adorable bags filled with yummy coffee or cool test tubes filled with tea!

I was afraid with all I had on my plate work wise, I wasn't going to be able to help Claire with all the preparations that go into setting up a wedding.  Luckily I was able to make time and take care of some of the decor that Claire had written off due to the time crunch.  I loved being able to make her wedding all that she wanted it to be.  :)

Claire and a few friends created all these paper pinwheels.



Then I was given the job of placing and installing them.  I decided to go with an organic type of arrangement that crept up the wall.  This is what it looked liked before I added the finishing touches.  

As I mentioned before, Claire added some pieces to tell their story.  She and Victor gathered photos from their grandparents' and parents' wedding days and placed them in a window- one photo in each pane.  When I saw the window, I wanted to place it somewhere where it would get a lot of attention.  I felt like the pinwheel wall was a great spot.  So, I added the window and a few more pinwheels to integrate it into the installation.





A few more pinwheels were placed to finish off the cake cutting area. . .



I was also able to create one of the pieces Claire had pinned as inspiration.  I designed/installed the piece in about 6 hours.  I'll be posting a full tutorial very soon! :)



The installation was hung above the head table and was the perfect piece to call attention to the most important people in the room!!! :)







It was also a great photo opp area. . .



Speaking of photo opps, Claire really wanted to have a photo booth for guests to commemorate the night.  The background featured an ombre coffee filter garland.  Lovely!



Just outside the barn (where the reception was held) there was a spot for people to come out for some fresh air.  There were tables, lanterns, a couch made from hay bales, and a DIY photo screen playing a slideshow of the couples journey up to the wedding.



If I were a better photographer, I think this could have been an amazing photo.  The flower girls were dancing and twirling in their tulle tutus in front of the lights.  It looked magical, but I couldn't quite capture the moment.  Hopefully the photographer caught this sweet scene.



Yet another fun thing Victor and Claire prepared for their guests was the lighting and launching of Chinese floating lanterns.  Gorgeous. . .  just gorgeous.





Other than all of that, we had a great time dancing the night away, which I figured you didn't want to see. . .  or did you?!!! :) I'll have to check with Tim before I post a video of that! :) Haha!

'Til tomorrow! :)