WEDDING BLOG

Autumn North Carolina Wedding at Old Orchard Creek – Jeremie Barlow Photography – Aimee and JT

September 20, 2011 | editorial team

The couple: Aimee and JT

The Wedding: 9.25.10 – Old Orchard Creek, Lansing, North Carolina

What three adjectives that best describe your wedding? Rustic, elegant and fun

What inspired your personal wedding style, and how did you incorporate your style and personalities into your big day? Our favorite season is fall, so we knew we wanted a fall wedding and both of our favorite colors are orange. Neither of us wanted a big traditional wedding and knew we wanted it to be rustic and a relaxed atmosphere. I wanted the trees in the apple orchard at Old Orchard Creek full of old rustic lanterns. We also hung orange and cream colored ribbon from the trees and lined the isle with shepherd hooks that held flower filled mason jars. One of my hardest finds were my shoes, I wanted to have a pop of color and wanted them to be burnt orange. I literally bought 12 pairs online before I found THE ONES but I found them! Instead of having the traditional programs, we had the wedding party information printed on card stock and glued to small cookie bags which were filled with oatmeal cookies. We also served lemonade with blueberries with the cookies as guest arrived.

After JT and I said I DO, servers passed out champagne to the us, the bridal party and all of the guest. JT gave a very tearful toast, thanking all of our friends and family for sharing in our special day. It was very special.

After the toast, JT and I took pictures while our guests enjoyed the cocktail hour and listened to Appalachian States Hayes quartet. After the cocktail hour, JT and I, along with our bridal party, were introduced and then JT and I danced to A fool for you by John Butler Trio (one of our favorite bands). We also took lyrics from about 12 of our favorite songs and had them printed on beautiful card stock and placed on various tables at the reception.

The reception area also had a ton of paper lanternsbrown, deep orange and cream to continue with our color theme. We danced all night to Scoot Pittman Trio, one of our favorite local Charlotte bands. We did not want traditional wedding music and the Scoot Pittman Trio perfectly represented our personalities.

We wanted an intimate wedding with our closest friends and family and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Looking back, what are the moments, decisions or memories that you love the most about your wedding? Deciding on how I would walk down the isle. My father passed away in December 2008, JT did not want anyone else taking his place walking me down the isle, so we decided that he would walk toward me and meet me half way and then walk me the rest of the way down the isle. We kept it a surprise from everyone, so not only was it sweet for us but everything there knew the importance of him doing that.

Wedding color palette: Fall oranges, browns and creams.

The Wedding Team:

Photographer: Jeremie Barlow Photography
Event Planner: The Charmed Event
Ceremony and Reception Venue: Old Orchard Creek
Officiant: Janice Odom
Invitation Designer: Craig McDuffie
Catering: Chris Coleman
Florist: Petal Pushers
Cake: Stick Boy
Wedding dress: Paloma Blanca
Bridal accessories: Kathleen Murphey Designs
Bridesmaids apparel and accessories: Bill Levkoff
Hair and make-up: Courtney Vose Bridal Makeup Artist
Live music: Scoot Pittman Trio
Favors: Candy Apples

Light X Design by Expert Wedding Lighting Designer Bentley Meeker

September 19, 2011 | editorial team

Bentley Meeker is a world renowned lighting designer who has worked with the top wedding planners and designers in the world, creating magical environments for weddings and events like no one else. In his new book Light X Design: 20 Years of Lighting by Bentley Meeker, Bentley shares photo after photo of his unbelievable creations. The scenes are utterly impressive as they make the grand New York City locations they exist in even more spectacular, and they illustrate Bentley’s great love and passion for his artistic medium. I was lucky enough to get to ask Bentley a few questions recently about wedding lighting design, so that we could all learn a bit from his vast body of knowledge. Here’s what he had to say…

Junebug: When planning the lighting design for a wedding, is there a place you like to begin the creative process with the wedding planner, the designer or the couple? Or is this jumping off point different for every event?

Bentley: It begins with the sensibility of the couple themselves. We often work with decorators and event planners in NYC that have particularly elevated aesthetics and are tastemakers in the industry so the translation from the couple’s sensibility into information we can use is a smooth one. However, in other markets, where the planner is often one’s aunt who has little experience in translating information as such, it’s great for the lighting designer to directly get a sense of what the couple’s vibe is.

(Above images of various wedding and fashion show lighting designs at New York City’s Gotham Hall, beginning with no decor or creative lighting at all in the top photo.)

Junebug: What are some aspects about great lighting that people often overlook? What can it bring to an event that nothing else can? To a wedding specifically?

Bentley: Lighting is the single most transformative element in an event and especially in a wedding. Design and decor are hugely important and lighting works closely with that, but true transformation of a space begins and ends with the lighting.

Junebug: Are there any lighting basics that every couple should consider when planning their weddings, regardless of their event size or budget?

Bentley: Yes. Have EVERYTHING on dimmers. Also, be very wary of LED’s which, while creating bold and often vibrant colors, can detract from the quality of light in an event and especially in weddings. We use them as infrequently as possible in weddings.

Junebug: If a couple is planning a wedding in an indoor location with existing decor colors, textures and furnishings, what is a good way to approach their creative lighting choices?

Bentley: I think that they should first look at what they like architecturally about the space and possibly light those things, whether it be a ceiling wash, the uplighting of columns or even the highlighting of decor they bring in. It’s important to highlight what we want the eye drawn to most, because our eyes are indeed drawn to – and adjust to – what’s brightest in our field of vision.

Junebug: In the warmer seasons, so many people love to hold weddings outdoors where bringing in additional lighting can feel tricky. What are some of your favorite ways to add beautiful lighting to what mother nature already supplies?

Bentley: I’m partial to using foliage breakups for outdoor events, especially in tents, creating a sense of the outside being brought in. I also like to stay with warm, natural colors, as I do in most places.

For foliage, I like to light it in white, showcasing the natural colors of the trees, flora and even fauna. I always thought that lighting a green tree with green light made it a little too strong… (Especially when that green squirrel goes running up it…)

Junebug: Do you have any great tips for everyday lighting that couples can use to make their homes look and feel more beautiful and welcoming?

Bentley: Yes. Use incandescent light and put it all on dimmers. Everything. And then use them. When you’re not needing bright functional light (cooking, reading, etc.) lower your lights. It’s infinitely more beautiful and saves electricity to boot.

Thank you Bentley! Your new book is absolutely beautiful, and we appreciate you sharing your expertise with us!

Readers, for even more spectacular lighting design inspiration, check out Bentley’s book Light X Design: 20 Years of Lighting by Bentley Meeker!

Rustic Texas Ranch Wedding at The T Bar M Resort – Carrie and David

September 16, 2011 | editorial team

brown gray orange tan

Carrie and David’s Texas ranch wedding was a full-on mini destination wedding with fun and creativity packed into every wonderful moment. As you saw in our blog post this morning, their Thursday night rehearsal dinner and Friday night BBQ allowed everyone to spend loads of quality time together, which made the wedding day itself that much more fun. Read on to learn about all the many special moments, details and ideas that Carrie, David and their talented team of wedding professionals brought to life…

The Goals: As a bride, Carrie really wanted a rustic wedding in the heart of Texas Hill Country that felt welcoming and relaxing like a family reunion. As a designer and wedding professional herself, she wanted the whole weekend to have a very cohesive and detailed look. Along with the theme of “tying the knot” she used wedding colors of burnt orange and charcoal gray with accents of natural fibers and wood grain in all the design elements, as well as a sweet illustration of their initials carved into a tree.

The Design: One of the best decisions Carrie and David feel they made was to surround themselves with wedding professionals they trusted 100%, like the planners at Sweet Pea Events and Lavender Joy Events and the photographers at ee Photography. Another was to hold all of the wedding events in one beautiful location, the T Bar M Resort. “All of our family was able to stay there on property in great condos. The food was amazing and the scenery perfect. Plus, the resort staff took such great care of us!!” The ceremony was held in a picturesque setting in front of one of the cabins and the reception was held in the Sanctuary – a large, open-air log structure with wood-planked floors and an incredible long porch.

Carrie and David’s creative design elements filled the wedding from beginning to end, and incorporated the work of so many local wedding professionals, family members and friends. The table runners were cut from burlap and stitched at the ends with their wedding logo. Felt placemats were hand cut with pinking shears and then an orange border was stitched around each one. The dinner tables were set family style and the napkins were folded to fit the custom menus Carrie designed and then wrapped with orange twine – a signature detail throughout the wedding. To bring in real rustic ranch atmosphere, escort cards were hung from an old farmhouse screen door, hay bales covered with muslin were used for ceremony seating, and the bar was made from salvaged barn wood. I love the way the fall inspired floral designs from Kate Foley Designs fit so perfectly into this look as well!

Carrie, an invitation designer with The Event Messenger, designed their invitations, paper goods and favors, of course. “I wanted the invitation to be a gift so I constructed it to open layer by layer. I wanted people to be excited about the weekend – wanted it to be a real representation of the casual, fun-filled, family-oriented weekend we had planned. For our favors I bought little muslin draw-string bags and stamped them with a custom-made stamp of our wedding “logo.” I filled them with homemade cocoa and trail mix that my friends helped me stir up in our kitchen.”

For their wedding cake from Frosted Pink they chose a 3 tier cake with ivory fondant and orange stripes, and Carrie constructed their cake topper (the letter “A”) with twigs tied with orange twine. The Groom’s cake was designed to look like a snorkel and mask tossed on the sand, with a little cooler filled with David’s favorite beer. Additionally, they had 5 cakes made of all their favorite flavors placed on cake stands that their families contributed. “We wanted it to be like our guests walked up to our grandmother’s table and picked out their favorite piece of homemade cake!”

The Look: Carrie went for a casual approach to her bridal look, and she especially loved her Watters wedding dress and the burlap, silk and tulle hair flower she crafted herself. David wore a tan poplin suit with an ivory tie which coordinated with his groomsmen in their tan suits and orange striped ties. Carrie’s bridesmaids wore short charcoal gray strapless dresses and chunky burnt orange necklaces that tied closed with ribbon.

The Moments: So many moments of the weekend stood out to Carrie and David, but on their wedding day they especially loved seeing each other for the first time all dressed in their wedding finery, hearing the speeches given at their reception and dancing together all night long. Says Carrie, “I loved dancing with my husband – he’s never really like dancing before, but that night he never left the dance floor.”

For even more wedding inspiration, we have a great film from Elle Films with a look at all the events of the weekend…

The Pros: To learn about all of the wedding professionals who contributed to this wedding day please visit Carrie and David’s page in our Real Wedding Library.

Thank you for sharing your wedding weekend with us Carrie and David! We loved every detail!

Readers, to plan your own Southern California or Seattle area wedding, check out our Plan Your Wedding Hotlists, and to find a dream wedding photographer for your wedding anywhere in the world, don’t miss our World’s Best Wedding Photographers Hotlist!

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WEDDING BLOG

Autumn North Carolina Wedding at Old Orchard Creek – Jeremie Barlow Photography – Aimee and JT

Light X Design by Expert Wedding Lighting Designer Bentley Meeker

Rustic Texas Ranch Wedding at The T Bar M Resort – Carrie and David

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