Loading...

The Big Fake Wedding Is Better Than Ever for 2022

November 23, 2021 | riley

image by Brit Nicole of Texas Elopements

Congratulations on your engagement! After you’ve settled into the excitement, it’s time to start planning. Planning a wedding is a huge task, but gathering inspiration and knowing what to do with it can take just as much work. With Pinterest, Instagram, and basically any online search, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with options. On top of that, working with images is great but seeing your options in person is even better. That’s where our good friends from The Big Fake Wedding come in. 

image by Britney Clause Photography

Attend Their Shows As A Wedding Guest

With the help of local small businesses and wedding vendors, The Big Fake Wedding travels the United States to host more than 20 wedding shows every year. They work tirelessly to put together a wedding experience unlike any other—which is the same reason we love partnering with them. Instead of just looking at inspiration images online, you actually become a wedding guest for the day. 

image by Britney Clause Photography

That’s right, The Big Fake Wedding doesn’t just host a wedding show, they host a faux wedding for a real couple to renew their vows and you get to attend. At each “ceremony” guests have a chance to meet with local vendors, check out interesting venues, and—best of all—eat wedding cake! 

image provided by sponsor

Check Out Local Vendors

Every event comes with its own mood board, featured couple, swag bag, and signature drink. When we say The Big Fake Wedding is unlike any other wedding show, we mean it. Attending these amazing shows means you’ll get a chance to build a relationship with your vendors instead of walking down aisles of merchants and retailers all vying for your attention. You’ll actually see and experience what these planners, florists, musicians, and caterers are capable of for your wedding day. 

image provided by The Big Fake Wedding

Big Fake Wedding Inspiration

The Big Fake Wedding doesn’t just focus on pastel colors and boho vibes—although they’re great at those too. Each event gets its own mood board! Upcoming events include inspiration like Cigarette Daydreams that lean on descriptions like sexy, dark, and smoky; or Tokyo Nights where the inspiration is bold, bright, and spunky. Their events have something for everyone. Any time The Big Fake Wedding crew announces a new inspiration board and theme, we can’t wait for the pages to load to see what’s in store. 

image provided by sponsor

 

image provided by sponsor

Ready to buy you and your sweetheart a ticket to The Big Fake Wedding? You can view their 2022 schedule on their website today and read about their past events by clicking here.

Sponsors
Email [email protected] to advertise on Junebug Weddings

Intentional and Glam Restaurant Wedding

November 23, 2021 | riley

Eric and Ryan reimagined traditional practices and created a celebration filled with playful nods to their love story—showcasing them in the details of their intentional and glam restaurant wedding. From the completely personalized ceremony to the show-stopping complementary suits and stylish moccasins, their wedding was meaningful, fun, and unforgettable.

They chose a venue known for its food and signature drinks, the best gluten-free cupcakes in town, and impeccable cozy, romantic interior.The Copper Hen in Minneapolis was the perfect venue for their big day. The DIY decor added character and charm to the already gorgeous space. Plus, the custom swag bags were a very thoughtful finishing touch!

Josh Olson did an amazing job capturing every beautiful moment. If you’re considering a venue with lots of personality, keep scrolling to score insightful tips and get inspired by this glam restaurant wedding.

The Couple:

Eric + Ryan

The Wedding:
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Choosing The Copper Hen For Their Glam Restaurant Wedding

We wanted a place where we could have the ceremony and reception to avoid travel and downtime for our guests. Earlier that year we went to brunch at the Copper Hen for Ryan’s birthday, and well into the bottomless mimosas, Ryan looked around and proclaimed that “this would make a great wedding venue.” Turns out, they do lots of weddings!

Personalized Wedding Ceremony And Touching Tribute

We spent a lot of time focusing on the details of the wedding ceremony—the liturgy, the readings, and the songs. Even our unique unity ceremony where glass shards were used to create a beautiful vase, which was something we did as one of our early dating activities. And calling attention to our lost loved ones by lighting a candle among their remembrance photos. The one part of the ceremony that stands out are the customized vows that we wrote for the other and when Eric broke out into a song that meant so much to Ryan as a child. We’re proud of how everything came together and how well received it was by our loved ones. 

Religious Support For Their Wedding

We both wanted to have a religious component to our ceremony while still keeping everything LGBT flavored. We pulled inspiration from many spiritual and religious ceremonies. Then we added in some details found in same-sex wedding ceremonies. We went through everything with our Pastor, who is also a close personal friend, and completely personalized the ceremony with special Eric and Ryan details. 

Live Streaming The Ceremony

We were married during COVID, so the most important things were how to keep our family and friends safe while still finding ways to celebrate us and our union. Since COVID restrictions dictated so much of what we could do for the reception, the wedding ceremony was our chance to wow the guests who were physically present as well as the many guests streaming the ceremony online.

A Pre-Wedding Photoshoot Was The Best Decision

One of the best photo decisions we made with Josh Olson was doing a pre-wedding shoot. That way, the wedding day wouldn’t be quite as crazy trying to take portrait photos around town. One of the things that really attracted us to Josh’s work was how artistic his approach was—he didn’t have a set approach to shooting a wedding but he let the moment or vibe guide him. 

The Wedding Day Menu

The Copper Hen was amazing to work with—from planning the completely customized menu to the fabulous cake and specialty cocktails. We tried to do a mix of Georgia comfort food with Wisconsin flares. Everything was made from scratch and served family style. 

Standout Custom Wedding Favors

We may have gone overboard with wedding favors, but we love details and making guests feel special. We had custom tote swag bags designed with a map of the Minneapolis skyway system with a heart over where we met on our first date and proceeded to walk the skyways. Inside the bag we personalized everything—activity books, pens, pads of paper with our pictures on them, boxes of heart-shaped chocolate chip cookies made by Ryan’s dad, breath mints, bubbles, crayons, playdough, and even mini rainbow flags!

Wedding Planning Advice

Our most important advice is to get a wedding coordinator, someone who you vibe with and will make the planning process fun so that it takes the stress right off your shoulders. The day flowed so smoothly under Whitney James’ direction with the help of her staff. Also, if something doesn’t feel right, it’s ok to pivot and change directions and go with vendors or artists that will work more cohesively with the overall team.

Living In The Moment

We were told to live in each moment, and our coordinator did her best to keep to the timeline, but seeing how fast the day went still blew us away. Overall, it was such a fun day filled with love and laughter. Bringing together our families and friends, sharing our favorite foods and music, and knowing that we were so loved and supported in that moment, was so special to us. 

The Wedding Team:

Photography – J Olson Weddings
Event Planning – Whitney James Events
Venue – The Copper Hen Cakery & Eatery
Officiant – Rev. Kelley Jepsen
Live Music – Joshua J Schmidt
Videography – Eyetography film & foto
Invitation Design – WithJoy
Rings – Wedding Day Diamonds

 

Congratulations to Eric and Ryan on their intentional and glam restaurant wedding! Big thanks to Josh Olson for capturing the emotions of their day so perfectly.

Weddings may be rooted in tradition, but they have since evolved into celebrations that reflect each couple’s love story in unique ways. Read our planning guide dedicated to LGBTQ+ couples and start envisioning your special day, tailored your way.

Sponsors
Email [email protected] to advertise on Junebug Weddings

Glamorous Four Day Wedding in Italy

November 22, 2021 | riley

Brenda and James’ four day wedding is just jaw-droppingly gorgeous in its own right. It started with a fun and traditional pizza and pasta party to welcome friends and family, followed by a fabulous trip to Capri Island on a beautiful boat the next day. 

The ceremony and reception at the panoramic terrace of the Villa Oliviero, overlooking the azure waters of the Mediterranean Sea, surrounded by lush cascading foliage and white flowers, was nothing short of magical. They wrapped up the celebration with a relaxing day at the beach club on the spectacular Amalfi Coast. The couple pulled out all of the stops when it came to their glamorous four day wedding in Italy. 

The well-traveled couple had never been to the striking and enchanting town of Positano. But with the help of their planner and Junebug member Erin Lindeman, all the planning and coordinating was an amazing and seamless experience. Florist Giuseppe transformed their luxury cliff top villa with the most beautiful floral installations, making every corner divine, romantic, and picturesque. Scroll down and be inspired to plan your dream destination wedding with these stunning photos by Rachel Black.

The Couple:

Brenda + James

The Wedding:
Positano, Italy

 

An Exciting First Look

I had been waiting so long to show my dress to him during our first look. Finally it came and we took a little buggy into town, down the mountain, and it was so magical. I had never been happier to take photos and just have a moment with just the two of us. 

 

 

A Personalized Ceremony

We wrote our own vows and had my sister and my husband’s best friend say a verse from the Bible. We also had our children pour sand with us into a jar to blend our family as one, uniting us all together. It was really special.

Creative Wedding Favors

We gave cigars and personalized matches for the guys, as well as hand-calligraphed agate place cards personalized for each guest. They were beautiful, simple, and easy to travel back home with. 

DIY Wedding Scrapbook

My Maid of Honor made a scrapbook and had it set up for each person to sign with Polaroid cameras on the table to take a photo and paste it into the book. I look at it all the time!

Planning A Four Day Wedding with Erin Lindeman

I am someone who usually loves to do the planning myself but the best decision I made was hiring Erin, our wedding planner. She was everything and more. Don’t always feel like you need to do it all yourself, especially for this huge event. Find the right people for everything, be patient, and everything else will fall into place.

The Wedding Team:

Photography – Rowanberry Lavender
Event Planning – Lindeman Weddings and Events
Venue – Villa Oliviero
Floral Design – Floragarden
Officiant – Iole Celebrant
Live Music – Marco Cantarella
Invitation Design – Momental Designs
Makeup Artist – Nicole Story
Wedding Outfits – Rue de Seine
Bridesmaids’ Apparel – BHLDN

 

Congratulations to Brenda and James and their two adorable children! And thank you to Rachel Black for capturing every awesome detail and moment in this four day wedding.

A destination wedding is a once in a lifetime and unforgettable experience you can share with your loved ones. Let yourself dream big and make your destination wedding dream come true with our planning guide.

Sponsors
Email [email protected] to advertise on Junebug Weddings
← Older Entries
Newer Entries →