Real Wedding - Ashley and Rodney

Ashley and Rodney's destination wedding in Scottsdale, Arizona, photographed by one of Junebug's incredible member photographers, Melissa Jill, was the ideal intimate affair, with just close friends and family gathered around to celebrate. We just love the way their bright colors pop in the desert landscape - so gorgeous! Check out all of the wedding day details below!

The Goals: Ashley and Rodney's main wedding planning goals were to keep the event small, with just a handful of guests, and to host a wedding away from home. Ashley and Rodney had just moved to Wisconsin, and with most guests coming from the east side of the country, a warm and sunny locale like Scottsdale, Arizona, was just the right place. So, the couple planned an outdoor ceremony at The Phoenician, followed by a low-key dinner with their 33 guests, showcasing their other important goal for the big day - amazing food!

The Design: Ashley chose a wedding color palette of raspberry and champagne, and carried the theme through many of the wedding details, like the paper, flowers and table decor. At the ceremony the aisle leading to the gazebo where the couple would say their vows was lined with deep magenta and white rose petals, and hanging from the gazebo were glass orbs filled with deep reddish-pink flowers.

After the ceremony, guests joined the couple for dinner at one long banquet table - a must for Ashley, since she wanted each guest to feel included. The banquet table was decorated with glass vases holding pink-hued peonies, tulips, orchids and roses, and the arrangements were kept simple and low so guests would be able to see and speak to each other across the table. At each place setting was a champagne colored charger with a printed menu of the evening's offerings, and scattered throughout the room were dozens of twinkling tea-lights.

The menu was filled with delicious treats, including prickly pear sorbet, miniature creme brulée, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate mousse and raspberry and lemon tarts. And then there was the cake! A layer of yellow cake with vanilla filling and fresh raspberries, a layer of chocolate cake with chocolate mousse, and a final layer of chocolate cake with vanilla filling and fresh raspberries. Yum!

The Look: Ashley was radiant in a strapless lace gown from Antonio Fermin, accessorized with a silk belt and sparkling brooch. In a sweet personal touch, Ashley had a clutch made out of fabric from her grandmother's wedding gown. Rodney's khaki suit was casual but stylish, complete with a striped tie in the main color of the wedding day, raspberry.

The Moments: Just before going into their reception dinner, Ashley and Rodney were able to spend a few quiet moments together where, Ashley says, "we just had this moment of 'wow, we just got married'." The rest of the evening was pure celebration.

The Pros: To learn about all of the incredible wedding professionals who helped to make this wedding a reality, please visit our Real Weddings section.  

Thank you so much for sharing your wedding with us Ashley and Rodney! Congrats!

If you're planning a wedding in Southern California or Seattle, don't miss our trusted Plan Your Wedding Hotlist, and to find your dream wedding photographer for weddings anywhere in the world, be sure to visit our World's Best Wedding Photographers Hotlist!

Groom's Wedding Boutonniere Inspiration

Beautiful floral boutonnieres are some of the most fun fashion accessories to come up with to add to your groom and groomsmen's wedding day looks, and I'm very happy to say that our new image gallery is full of fabulous ideas! We have gorgeous photos of every kind of boutonniere you can think of - from crafty and creative to formal and elegant, so if you've got boutonnieres on the brain, take a look at these beauties here, and jump over to our image gallery for even more! (Though I do apologize in advance if it breaks your heart to have to choose just one!)

Wedding Style - Erica and Matthias

The Happy Couple: Erica and Matthias

The Wedding: 5.29.2010 - Wellers Carriage House, Saline, MI

What three adjectives best describe your wedding? Elegant, natural, hot!!

What inspired your personal wedding style, and how did you incorporate your personalities into your big day? We wanted our guests to be comfortable and relaxed because as a couple, that is how we are! We both felt that having the event “outdoor accessible” would enable our guests to move around and be comfortable during both the ceremony and reception. We also wanted the event to have an understated elegance (not too fussy). We feel we achieved this by having romantic but simple floral arrangements on the tables, along with pearl favor boxes and pearl napkin rings. The use of pearls was inspired by the my dress; we thought the sheen and luster of the satin matched that of the pearls so they were a great way to incorporate the dress into the reception setting.

Lastly, since Matthias and his friends and family are from Germany, we wanted to celebrate both of our cultures. In Germany, it is not legal to marry outside, so having the ceremony outdoors was something totally new for the German guests. We ended the evening with some games and the distribution of the “wedding magazine,” which is customary in Germany. All were a big hit with guests, both American and German!

Looking back, what are the moments, decisions or memories that you love the most about your wedding? Even though the day was uncharacteristically hot for May in Michigan, we love that the ceremony was outdoors. It was such a beautiful setting and the heat certainly made it memorable for us and our guests! The reception was so much fun, especially during the last hour when the German guests took over the music. Everyone was dancing to German party music and loving it. Even I was surprised at how enthusiastically my American friends and family embraced it! A significant portion of our guests, about 70%, traveled from out of state or country to come to the event. The day was so much more special because they all came. It was the first time Matthias’ parents came to America. We are really so blessed to have friends and family who wanted to come support us on such an important day.

My personal favorite memory and moment... I had not planned to wear a necklace that day (thus the big earrings), but a few moments before we left the hotel for the wedding, Matthias’ sister-in-law gave me a pearl necklace that his mom had brought from Germany. It had been Matthias’ grandmother's necklace and was over 80 years old. I decided to wear it. After the ceremony, in the first moments we had alone, I told Matthias that the necklace had been his grandma’s and that I had no idea that his mom was bringing it for me to wear. He was just as surprised as I was, and his eyes started watering as he told me that he had memories of her wearing it. It truly touched me to see how the memory of his grandma was so special to him. By wearing her pearl necklace, she was still able to be a part of our day.

Color Palette: Green and white

The Wedding Team:

Photographer: Jen Lynne Photography
Floral Designer: Wedding Flowers by Heidi
Ceremony Venue: West Grounds of Wellers Inc. 
Reception Venue: Wellers Carriage House
Officiant: Reverend Ron of Wedding Ceremonies Michigan 
Invitation Designer: Wedding Paper Divas - Rustic Frame 
Catering: Wellers Inc.
Cake: The Cakery at Jefferson Market
Wedding dress: Melissa Sweet
Dress shop: Mimi’s Bridal Boutique in Ann Arbor, MI
Bridal accessories: Earrings and bracelet BelleNouvelleDesigns on Etsy, pearl necklace was the groom’s grandmother's, hair flower from Brendasbridalveils on Etsy, veil by Elen Henderson.
Bridesmaid’s apparel and accessories: Jim Hjelm dresses from Mimi’s Bridal Boutique, earrings handmade by the bride’s mother, custom clutches from DavieandChiyo on Etsy
Groom and groomsmen apparel and accessories: Tuxedos from Milano Fine Apparel in Plymouth, MI - Jean Yves Parisian Collection
Hair and make-up: POSH Makeup Studio
DJ: Jim Petrat
Transportation: A Dream Coach Limo
Dance instruction: Nora Nader - Schoolcraft College, Livonia, MI
Favors: Ivory Linen favor boxes from Beau-Coup.com adorned with pearls and ribbon by the brides’ mother, pearl and crystal napkin rings also made by the bride’s mother

Thank you so much Erica and Matthias!

To find more inspiration for your our personal wedding style, don't miss our all new and gorgeous wedding image gallery!

All images above by Jen Lynne Photography

Wedding Style: Karen and Phil

The couple: Karen and Phil

The Wedding: 5.30.2010 - The State Room, Boston, MA

What three adjectives that best describe your wedding? Intimate, Personal, Classic

What inspired your personal wedding style, and how were your personalities incorporated into your big day? I knew I wanted a classic wedding but beyond that I wasn’t really too sure. After we got engaged people kept asking me what my theme and colors were...I had no idea...colors for what??? What really got everything going was choosing the location and the venue. We both had a lot of out-of-town family so we decided a city wedding was the way to go. We wanted our extended family to see Boston and love it the way we do. We picked Memorial Day weekend so our guests could make a nice trip out it and get to see the city. Once we decided on Boston we wanted to find a unique venue that felt like us. The State Room was perfect! It has amazing views of the city, great clean modern spaces, and the Harbor Side Room that we choose was the perfect size for our 100 person wedding. Because the space is so simple with a lot of neutral colors, I decided bold colors for the flowers and bridesmaids' dresses were the way to go. The fuchsia and oranges looked so great against the browns in the room. Our florist, Michele Bernard, did an amazing job making my vision come to life. Everything ending up coming together perfectly and we could not have been happier with our wedding day!

Looking back, what are the moments, decisions or memories that you love the most about your wedding? There were so many amazing things about our wedding day but what surprised me the most was the actual ceremony. Its sounds obvious, but in the craze of planning a wedding it is hard not to get caught up in all the other fun details. Our ceremony turned out to be so personal and special. We had an amazing Rabbi that really took the time to get to know both of us, and he helped create a ceremony that fit us perfectly. We are from different religious backgrounds and wanted to to make the ceremony about blending our beliefs together and creating new traditions as husband and wife. We also wanted to be sure both our families felt comfortable and included. The Rabbi read the text from our Ketubah, which we had chosen ourselves, and spoke about the two of us and why we love one another. We received so many compliments about the what a wonderful job the Rabbi did, and how touching the ceremony was!

Color Palette: Orange and fuchsia 

The Wedding Team: 

Photographer: Kate McElwee Photography
Event Planner: Vanessa Hoyle - The State Room
Floral Designer: Michele Bernard
Ceremony Venue: The State Room
Reception Venue: The State Room
DJ: Entertainment Specialists
Officiant: Rabbi Joseph Eiduson
Invitations: Cerise invitations by Checkerboard
Wedding dress: Paloma Blanca gown from Country Weddings
Bridesmaid’s apparel and accessories: Jasmine B2
Groom and groomsmen apparel and accessories: Classic Tuxedo
Hair and make-up: Cynthia Klocek - Make-up, Orestes Lopez - Hair
Transportation: Beantown Trolley
Rings: Barmakian Jewlers

Thank you Karen and Phil!

To find more inspiration for your our personal wedding style, don't miss our new wedding image gallery!

All images above by Kate McElwee Photography

Wedding Style: Riki and Will

With the growth of Junebug Weddings over the past 4 years, we receive more and more amazing submissions for our blog and Real Weddings library all the time. Now that we also accept content through Two Bright Lights (a super awesome tool - wedding professionals, check it out!) I just had to find a new way to showcase even more of these inspirational stories and ideas than ever before. So dear readers, problem solved! Today we're introducing our new Wedding Style Features! A mini real wedding if you will - a snapshot of the unique personal style and approach that these creative couples from around the world chose for their weddings. You'll see beautiful images, hear directly from each couple, and hopefully feel encouraged and inspired to create your own wedding that's a perfect reflection of you! Stay tuned for more all week long!

Without further ado... the beautiful Riki and Will!

The Wedding 5.1.2010 - Private Residence, Cave Creek, Arizona 

What four adjectives best describe your wedding? Memorable, Beautiful, Fresh, Exciting

What inspired your personal wedding style, and how were your personalities incorporated into your big day? Will and I both wanted a wedding with some tradition, and with some modern things that were ours. We picked my parent’s house as the venue and used their corvette as an entrance for the ceremony. It was beautiful and brilliant! The reception was bright and crisp, which stepped away from tradition and brought in our current style.

Looking back, what are the moments, decisions or memories that you love the most about your wedding? The moment we saw each other for the first time was incredible as we both teared up and had to try to keep it together (for a bit at least). Also, walking into our reception tent for the first time to see how beautifully put together it was, and having all of our closest family and friends there to celebrate this wonderful event with us! We couldn't have done any of this without our AMAZING wedding planner Victoria Canada. She is the most incredible lady, and without her our day wouldnt have been as special and as beautiful as it was!

Wedding Color Palette: White and blue  

Wedding Team:

Photographer: Keith Pitts Photography
Event Planner: Victoria Canada Weddings and Events
Wedding Film: Princess Bride Video
Ceremony and Reception Venue: Private Residence
Officiant: Paul Hubbard
Invitation Designer: Page and Mason
Caterer: Santa Barbara Catering Company 
Florist: Petal Pushers
Cake: Sedona Cake Couture
Wedding Dress: Paloma Blanca
Dress Store: Destiny's Bride
Groom and groomsmen apparel and accessories: Mr. Formal
Hair and make-up: Amber Hasson - hair, Linda - makeup
DJ: MT Sounds 
Rentals: Tri-Rentals
Rings: Smythe Jewelers

All images above by Keith Pitts Photography

Thank you so much Riki and Will!

To find more inspiration for your our personal wedding style, don't miss our new wedding image gallery!

Today on Photobug: Philadelphia Real Wedding!

Amazing wedding photographer Stephan Maloman takes shows us around Philadelphia for Jackie and Kyle's stylish Philly Real Wedding! See the full post on Photobug, our wedding photography blog!