It seems like every wedding we like on Instagram and pin to Pinterest lately has one common theme: an orange wedding color palette! Whether the details are in moody shades of copper or inspired by citrus hues, orange is making a huge comeback this year as one of our favorite wedding trends. Get inspired to craft your own gorgeous orange wedding color palette.
Teri and Sanjay’s Kalamazoo wedding was all about fusion. Their industrial venue, Loft 310 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was a fusion of location, being halfway between their current city of Chicago and their hometown of Fort Wayne. Their two ceremonies, Christian and Hindu, were a fusion of their cultures, and every detail (down to Teri’s bridal looks and their dinner menus!) beautifully reflected their two styles. We are so in love with how Rhino Weddings photographed Teri and Sanjay’s bright and sunny day, including their breathtaking first dance photos!
The most important thing for us while planning our wedding was keeping both of our cultures top of mind while trying to create a fun atmosphere for our guests. Since most of my guests had never been to an Indian wedding, and most of his guests had never been to a Christian wedding, it was a fun opportunity for us to showcase both of our cultures to a new audience. This also gave us the chance to ditch traditional wedding formalities and pick and choose the parts of weddings that were most important to us.
I really love some of our first look shots – there’s so much emotion in some of our faces, and the hallway just provides the most beautiful simple backdrop with geometric touches that fit in perfectly with our wedding themes. There are also tons of pictures of us dancing that I love because my dress looked amazing when it moved!
I absolutely love Hayley Paige, and her photo shoots inspired my look. I wanted a hair style that looked relaxed but showed of the beautiful back of my dress, as well as makeup that looked very natural. The bridesmaids followed a similar boho-chic style, wearing dresses by Hayley Paige occasions.
I cannot say enough good things about our photographers and videographers. They were personable, hilarious, and honestly I was pretty sad when they had to leave for the night. They made me feel like a princess for the entire day, and delivered photos/videos better than anything I could have dreamed. I honestly think the best wedding decision I made was to hire those wonderful people.
We currently live in Chicago and are both from Fort Wayne Indiana. After visiting venues in both places, we found Chicago to be too expensive and Fort Wayne venues didn’t fit our vision. Instead we picked a venue half way in between, in Kalamazoo Michigan. The biggest factor for us was that we needed a lot of different space to accomodate a Hindu Wedding, a Christian Wedding, and a reception, and Loft 310 gave us all of that in one building.
Our whole wedding focused on fusion. We were blending traditional Hindu and Christian ceremony elements, so we brought the theme all the way through blending soft natural elements with hard industrial and metallic touches. We thought the juxtaposition of the two was stunning!
Our Christian ceremony officiant was a close friend of ours, Nate James. Nate had known both Sanjay and I since middle school, and did a fantastic job personalizing our ceremony to honor both of our families and tell the story of our love.
For me, the most memorable part of the day was our personal “professions of love” that we added into our vows. Sanjay and I chose to write statements to each other reminiscing on our twelve years of dating and discussing our hopes and dreams for the future. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room when we were done – Sanjay is typically a man of few words, so I think my whole family was surprised at his eloquence and deep feelings.
We chose natural blues and greens and copper. These colors went well with our natural/industrial fusion theme and allowed the metallic pops to stand out against the soft natural hues.
Your wedding should be a true reflection of both of you as a couple. Feel free to ditch any items that don’t fit your personalities, it’s your day! We skipped a lot of traditions that we felt were outdated or meaningless to us, and added in a few new things that I think our guests enjoyed.
We wanted to include food that both of our families would like, so we had two entree choices – Sesame Chicken or Potato and Cauliflower Masala with Naan. All of our guests seemed to enjoy the fusion food.
Does hearing the words “wedding planning” give you a slight panic attack? Being stressed by planning your wedding is definitely normal, but it doesn’t have to be that way! Over the years, we’ve learned some awesome tips from real couples that made the wedding planning process a piece of cake. If you’ve ever wondered the secrets to a low-stress wedding planning experience, we’re revealing them below!
Hire Trustworthy Vendors
While this is likely your first time planning a wedding, wedding vendors are total experts in the process! Hiring trustworthy vendors is often the easiest answer to stress-free wedding planning. Even if you opt out of hiring a full-service wedding planner, bringing on a coordinator is almost a necessity if you want a stress-free wedding. Not only do they handle the little things and keep questions away from you on the day-of, but they can help keep all of your vendor communication in order, ensure that you don’t forget last minute details, and allow you to focus on what’s most important to you — getting married!
Another vendor you may not associate with reducing stress is a rental company. If you dream of a wedding filled with little details from ceiling to floor, know that you don’t have to collect them all yourself! Rental companies are great to work with because you can find everything you’re looking for in one place and, when the wedding is said and done, you don’t have to find a home for 120 mason jars and gold chargers! Less stress before *and* after the wedding? Yes please!
While your coordinator, rental company, and other vendors help for stress-free planning, your photographer can help reduce stress on the big day. When booking your photographer, you want to consider how well you get along with them as much as you do style and quality of their images. You will spend more time with your photographer than anyone else on your wedding day, so booking someone who makes you feel comfortable and calm is extremely important!
When most couples picture their wedding day, they envision their best friends standing alongside them at the altar. However, what isn’t as often considered is the stress involved with rallying a group of people who may not have even met before. Between coordinating outfits, having an additional set of people to keep up with on email, and navigating the potential of hurt feelings from people who didn’t make the cut, having a bridal party can actually cause a great deal of stress. Keep in mind, too, how stressful it is to be a bridesmaid or groomsman! Ditching the bridal party eliminates stress for everyone!
It may seem like a no-brainer, but the fewer attendees you have at your wedding, the fewer people you have to be responsible for. This responsibility comes from a financial perspective as much as it is personal. Creating a seating arrangement that makes each guest comfortable, ordering enough food, renting enough chairs and place settings all add up when it comes to guest-related stress. Less food, less chair rentals, and a smaller seating chart are great bonuses to keeping your guest list small!
Whether or not you hire a coordinator, delegating tasks to your loved ones is essential. If you have a bridal party, give each member a duty before and on your wedding day. For instance, one bridesmaid is in charge of keeping up with your pre-wedding event schedule before the wedding and is in charge of keeping your lipstick fresh on the big day. Here are some helpful tips for how and what to delegate to friends and family!
One of the most important parts of delegating is making sure that everyone is on the same page. Using a shared app or a platform like Google Docs, you can ensure that the details and dates that lives in your head is also available to your coordinator, your mom, your Maid of Honor, and, of course, your future spouse! Be sure to share a group of involved friends and vendors on the same information to avoid having to answer last minute questions.
At some point in your wedding planning, you will have to let go of certain projects or expectations. Not everything is going to be able to happen the way you envision on your wedding day, and that’s okay! There may be DIY projects you intended to finish, but real non-wedding life got in the way. Maybe you hoped to collect colored glass goblets for every place setting, but didn’t find quite enough for each guest. You will be so busy being a newlywed you won’t even notice details that didn’t make it into fruition (and guess what — neither will your guests!).
As stressful as the time leading up to your wedding can be, the day itself should be as stress free as possible. The best way to make this happen is to plan for a quiet morning before saying “I do.” Once you’ve let go and become open to change, you can truly enjoy the moments before you have your first look or walk down the aisle. Get a massage, listen to your favorite music, get ready alone or only with your best and closest, and bask in this once in a lifetime experience. If you can, we love the idea of booking an AirBnB nearby the venue where you can relax in a clean, quiet space and prepare for your big day!
Looking for more wedding planning advice? Check out these helpful ideas:
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photos by Carrie J. Photography, event design by Honey Lemon Events, floral design by Blush and Bloom, rentals by The Perfect Table, invitations by Jordynn Mackenzie, venue: Album Studio Rentals; see more from this inspiration shoot here!
photos by Monique Serra Photography, event design by Hickenloopers, event coordination by Photo Native, floral design by The Potted Pansy, rentals by Renata Stone, wedding dress by Rue De Seine via Alta Moda Bridal, venue: The Charcoal Loft; see more from this styled shoot here!
photos by Evynn LeValley, event planning by A Big Sur Affair, floral design by Big Sur Flowers, wedding dress by Katie May, place cards by Invite Alice, venue: Point 16; see more from this wedding here!
photos by Oak & Myrrh Photography, event design by Fresh Look Design, floral design by From The Potting Shed, rentals by Amulette, Tenue de Soirée, Sofa To Go, venue: The Slit Barn; see more from this wedding here!
photos by Melissa Marshall, floral design by Juniper Designs, cake by Amy Cakes, calligraphy by Kiah Bailey, ceremony arch by The House Phoenix, venue: Southwind Hills; see more from this wedding here!
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