Southern Weddings

This amazing couple is very crafty…  Kate created all the stationery and paper goods for the wedding.  Ken (who has a background in computers) helped Kate create the detail items like personalising the CD/seating chart and the steel buckets for the rice toss.  Kate’s friend Sue of Using My Gifts created all the floral arrangements and bouquets. This stunning event was held at {R.H. Phillips Winery} with amazing tiramisu cupcakes created by Babycakes.  See all the shots at Travis Hoehne Photography’s {Blog}.  Can’t get enough of Kate? Check out her wedding blog {Kate’s Wedding Blog} that we adore and her new blog about being a stylish, savvy newlywed {Pretty Damn Fabulous}.

The weather on our wedding day was: Scary! We had an entirely outdoor wedding and the rain clouds were looming overhead. It had sprinkled overnight and while I was prepared for that, I had hoped that it would clear up on our wedding day. Up until 4 hours before our ceremony, we still hadn’t a clue whether our reception would be cramped indoors due to the rain. We were extremely lucky – it cleared up with just enough time to set up and stayed dry for the rest of the evening.
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? I fell in love with the uber-trendy black and white damask after discovering that it would be an easy design element to incorporate. I kept seeing it everywhere – even in the Target dollar bins. I wanted to keep it modern and rustic, so we added a nice mossy green and later, a touch of black and white French stripe. The black, white and green worked well for the venue location and the overall effect was a perfect reflection of our personalities.
Favorite design element of your big day: All the paper products – from the various menus, to the napkins, to the favors, to the programs. I poured my heart into it all. It was the most tedious, time- consuming and stressful part of the whole planning process – but it was SO worth it. Those little details helped carry our design throughout the entire wedding without having to spend a fortune.
Describe your wedding flowers: The flowers were graciously gifted by a friend of my mom, Auntie Sue. Auntie Sue was extremely generous of her time and while I had assumed that she would be making the bouts and bouquets, she insisted on additional arrangements. Our bouquets and boutonnières included fresh succulents, chrysanthemums, and lady slipper orchids. She decorated the ceremony arch with fresh greenery and hung fresh floral pomanders from the trees. Our centerpieces were simple and modern, including both succulents and lots of curly willow in sleek black glass vases.
Describe your wedding cake: In order to avoid spending a fortune on things like cake cutting fees, I knew that staying true to my cupcake addiction would be beneficial. Kenneth’s favorite dessert is tiramisu, so I had Babycakes create a custom flavor for us to pair with a traditional carrot cake and my favorite, a rich chocolate raspberry. We had them decorate the tops with black and white striped fondant bows and our version of a scripted hostess cupcake. One of each flavor was showcased under a glass cloche accented with a custom label tied on with a moss green ribbon. I sewed a black and white damask table topper to sit underneath the cupcake tower.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: Another cheap, last minute decision – the paper lanterns in the trees. While difficult to capture in the photographs, it added a magical element to the lighting on the patio. Looking down the entire corridor from the head table was breathtaking.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? Paying for it ourselves. We didn’t exactly have a wedding savings account, so when the economy started to fail it didn’t exactly lend to our whole, “pay as you go” attitude. It got a little scary at the end, but we managed to pull it off without any debt.
Were there any special family traditions you included in the wedding? We had photographs of our grandparent’s weddings at our guest table. It was a nice tribute to the since passed generations who were unable to be with us on our special day.
Scariest moment? After running through our First Dance routine once, we realized that we had forgotten to give the DJ the edited shorter version of our song. It was a grin-and-bear-it moment when we realized we were stuck on the dance floor for twice as long with a really short routine. Improv!
Funniest moment? As a last minute decision, Ken and I put together little labeled galvanized steel buckets full of rice to be used at our farewell. It only took a few moments of waiting for our friends to be worked up into a rice throwing frenzy. They were chanting “Kate and Ken!” outside the Tasting Room doors. Right before we opened the door, our photographer Travis said to me, “Close your eyes! That rice is dangerous!” Somehow we managed to get through the wall of rice unscathed – but it definitely got everywhere.
The most unexpected event on our wedding day was: While we did plan to have Ken’s cousin sing one of our favorite songs during the reception, we hadn’t planned on an impromptu karaoke rendition of New Order’s “Blue Monday” by our good friend Alain. It was hilarious and well-received on the dance floor.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Chaotic, Exciting, Happy
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding? Ken: add a 15% buffer to your budget. Kate: start your DIY as early as possible.
Best advice or most memorable comment someone made to you during the wedding celebration. “When life gets hard and complicated, just hold each other and dance.” – Auntie Sue
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? We’re looking forward to buying a house and starting a family – but for now, we’re enjoying our newlywed time and hope to get in some international travel before we truly settle down. I’ve been enjoying blogging about my new nesting habits over at {Pretty Damn Fabulous}.
Other details you want us to know about your wedding:  Our favors were a great multi-tasking project – they doubled as both favors and seating cards for our guests. The CD contained a listing of tracks that brought us together in the early stages of our relationship, as well as selections from our ceremony music. The spine had a removable sticker that displayed the guests’ name and table where they would be seated. I really enjoyed working with Jewelboxing’s templates – they ended up looking really professional.

Congratulations to Kate + Kenneth!  We look forward to hearing about your newlywed lives on {Pretty Damn Fabulous} Blog!

What a pleasure it is to share this wedding. The photographer, Travis Hoehne of {Travis Hoehne Photography} is amazing! The stunning bride, Kate, emailed our team during the week of finishing a cake feature for the print issue with a photo of tiramisu cupcake from her wedding. Not only were we intrigued and impressed but immediately knew we had to showcase her wedding on the SW blog!  Kate’s gorgeous wedding dress was made by {Carole Kenney Designs}. She had Carole re-create an Oscar de la Renta dress to fit perfectly and make her big day complete. Kate’s jewelry was designed by one of her good friends, Lisa, from {Sunflower Designs}. “Yet another one of my wonderful friends, Lisa, made all of our jewelry and said prayers throughout the process to bless us on our wedding day. They turned out beautiful, and I imagine may have played a part in the impossibly beautiful weather we ended up having.” Read on to hear more about how the two met and created their dream wedding on a budget…

Isn’t Kate breathtaking!?

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story… Ken and I met on a popular online social networking website. He accidentally searched for one of our favorite bands in the wrong search field and up popped my profile – I happened to have a song from said band playing on my page. After browsing my profile, he became engrossed in reading my blog entries. Soon after, he discovered that some entries were secured for friend’s viewing only. He decided to email me to beg for access to my blog and to add him as my friend by stating, “I’ll make all your Narnia dreams come true.” This is beginning of our quirky love story – and best describes our offbeat sense of humor – he had me at Narnia.
Describe the proposal: The first proposal or the second? The first proposal was spoiled by a friend’s girlfriend who thought the secret was worth spoiling in order to make sure I could control my dream proposal. Honestly, my dream proposal included only one tiny detail: a surprise. It took a while to recover from that debacle, but over a year later Ken finally had a ring burning a hole in his pocket. His dream of proposing in a hot air balloon basket high above Napa Valley would bring too much wait time, so he crafted yet another awesome scenario: the California State Fair. After almost being taken in by security near the front gates (he picked a hefty ring shank) and a near panic attack on the rides by yours truly, he popped the question while at the tip top of the Ferris wheel right before the fireworks began. He had timed it perfectly.
What attracted me to my husband was: His intellect, sense of humor, charm, and of course, his awesome taste in music. At first I thought he was a bit too goofy for me, but now I know that I was just in denial about my own goofiness.
Why do you love your husband? He’s amazingly intelligent, always taking on new projects, and studying new subjects. It’s fascinating to be a part of his life as I’m constantly being exposed to new things. He’s forgiving, patient and just an all around good person.
What attracted me to my wife was: Her intelligent sense of humor, great taste in music, her impeccable fashion sense, her delicious cooking and her overall craftiness.
A date we went on that we’ll always remember: Our first date comes to mind – the first time we met in person Ken greeted me and my 10 accompanying friends at a bar to play pool. He handled them all very well, even the most outgoing of them all, my best friend. The highlight of said date had to be when Kenneth presented me with a pineapple (instead of flowers), as a gift to symbolize our friendship. I was teased mercilessly by my friends over that!
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: Well, I didn’t exactly find my wedding dress – but I definitely fell in love with a design. It was an Oscar de la Renta original that I still couldn’t afford if I were to purchase it on deep discount on eBay. Thankfully, I was able to find Carole who was having a 25th Anniversary sale. I was able to have my dream dress made for 75% what it would cost to make it (which was already a huge discount off of the designer original) and it would be fit to my body (no additional alterations). It was a really fun process, almost like taking part of your very own Project Runway.
Did you write your own vows? Yes, we wrote our own vows. Ken surprised me with a poem that described how much he loved me. I don’t think I could pick a line out that I loved the most, as it stands on its own in its entirety. Ken’s favorite part of my vows included the lines where I promised to rub his back and cook his favorite comfort food.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? Walking out into the crowd of friends and family while we were being announced was incredible! Who knew we knew so many people!? The applause was so loud and they all cheered for us – it was definitely one of the most memorable moments of the night.

Check back later for more from Kate + Kenneth!