What does it mean? Elaina and Mark
“What does it mean?” is a continuing series where we ask a blogger how they brought meaning into their wedding. Today we are honored to hear from Elaina Keppler and her husband, Mark Alberti. Elaina is blogger of Fint og Deligt. She and her husband live in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“In a lot of ways, the things we didn’t do or didn’t have for our wedding were just as meaningful as those we did. Since our wedding date was somewhat set for us by the Danish Immigration Service (Mark’s Danish, I’m Canadian), we were free to break from a lot of wedding conventions. I found inspiration in prewar wedding traditions, when weddings were much simpler. We were married at City Hall, had a cake and champagne reception at our home and then went for dinner with our immediate family. Although I love a big party, we found this wedding model fit best with our values and for the kind of family we wanted to become. We were also able to focus on the things most important to us – family and friends, food, and photography – and leave the rest out. It was also really important to me that our wedding had a small environmental impact, which helped keep things simple as well.
Some of the little things that made it meaningful: – Knowing how much it meant to my dad that I was wearing my grandmother’s wedding ring. – Receiving a surprise bouquet from my husband the morning of our wedding, after I had hastily decided that having one would be “too much fuss”. – Getting married on the eight year anniversary of having gone on our first “date” to the beach.”
by Brittany Watson Jepsen of The House that Lars Built
photography by Hilda Grahnat
DIY: How to make white pumpkin centerpieces
An autumn wedding does not need to be associated only with orange, red, and brown. I found some lovely white pumpkins that can create the perfect vase for an all-white wedding. They are so easy to make that you’ll want to use them all year round.
Materials: white flowers of your choice, white pumpkins, knife, flower clippers
Step 1: Like normal jack-o-lantern, cut a circle into the pumpkin. Don’t make it too small or too wide. Too small might look a bit funny with flowers in it, and too wide might make them fall out.
Step 2: I left all the seeds inside so it would be easier to stick the flowers in.
Step 3: Put some water into the pumpkin for the flowers.
Step 4: Criss-cross the flowers so they hold their shape like above.
Step 5: Keep on criss-crossing until the pumpkin has a nice shape of flowers.
Done! Aren’t they just the cutest?!
Project and photography by Brittany Watson Jepsen of The House That Lars Built
Fall wedding decor
I LOVE fall weddings. I love the warm colors, the leaves, the branches, the wheat. There are so many autumnal touches to create a beautiful harvest wedding. These are a few of my favorite ways to incorporate the signs of the season. (Top pic) add some baby gourds into a glass terrarium, (middle left) create some fall leaf cookies for your guests, (middle right) add rosehip and twine to your napkins, (bottom left) preserve fall leaves in wax and hang them as decorations, (bottom middle) add wheat into your bouquet, (bottom right) make a sparse wreath from pinecones).
by Brittany Watson Jepsen of The House That Lars Built
Baby gourds | Leaf cookies | rosehip napkins | Hanging leaves | Wheat bouquet | Wreath
What does it mean? Alison and Eric
“What does it mean?” is a continuing series where we ask a blogger how they brought meaning into their wedding. Today we are honored to hear from Alison Faulkner and her husband, Eric Robertson. Alison is the one woman show of The Alison Show, a blog and series of DIYs.
“My husband and I are very different, but we both place a lot of value in two things: creativity and making others feel included. I think we brought meaning to our wedding by showcasing our creative talents, and by creating what is still talked about (almost 5 years later) as an epic dance party.
My husband is a composer and musician, so at our wedding he played the song he wrote and used to propose to me. He played it on a keyboard for all of our guests, and the parts he couldn’t play live, he recorded digitally. I loved watching my friend’s and family be in awe of his talent, a talent I continue to be in awe of.
“I’ve worked in advertising, design, and now write mostly about crafts and how to party with style. I didn’t want just a wedding; I wanted a full-blown conceptual masterpiece. We went for “Lovebirds” concept with a 1940’s feel to reflect my vintage engagement ring. I was able to put my creative touches on almost every detail, with the help of the wedding planner so I wouldn’t turn into a crazy dictator. I worked with so many creative geniuses that the whole thing turned into a creative love fest, and this was really meaningful to me. I loved hearing people “ooh” and “aww” at all the little touches.
At the wedding dinner the night before the wedding, we taught all of the wedding party and relatives a choreographed dance, and this was KEY in getting everyone up and dancing when it was time to party. That and I think the invitations telling people they were coming to “Eat, love and boogie” didn’t hurt either.
Looking back I’m so glad I reached out for help even though planning and crafting are things I love so much. If I hadn’t asked for help I would have been too wrapped up in the details and crafts and I would have forgotten about the people. And that’s what a wedding’s all about, right? People coming together and having a giant love fest.”
Thank you, Alison and Eric, for being a part of “What does it mean?”
by Brittany Watson Jepsen of The House That Lars Built
What does it mean? Charlotte + Daniel
“What does it mean?” is a continuing series where we ask a blogger how they brought meaning into their wedding. Today we are honored to hear from Charlotte Rivers and her husband Daniel. Charlotte is a design and lifestyle writer living in England by the sea. She is the blogger of Lottie Loves, a blog featuring the lovely things that inspire her.
My husband and I married in the winter in a beautiful church in West London. We then piled all our guests onto London buses and took them to a local pub where we ate amazing food, drank lots of fine wine and had our friends spin some records late into the night. It was the most special day made all the more special by our amazing family and friends that were there with us… Aside from the memories of the day itself what we really loved about our wedding, and the lead up to it, was that we involved as many of our creative friends (and ourselves) in the process as possible. We designed the invitation, order of service, menus and coasters ourselves and had them letterpress printed (of course!). My best friend wrote on the black boards in the pub in her beautiful calligraphic handwriting. She also wrote the heart shaped signs for the tables which were named after different towns in Australia (where my late mother and her family are from). Another best friend came from India with a bag full of beautiful silk butterflies she’d made which she dotted around the walls of the pub. My little brother and his fiance created all the confetti cones and handed them out to our guests. Two of our friends sang during the service. My husband’s auntie created the beautiful flower arrangements that we had on the tables and around the pub, and my seven (!) wonderful bridesmaids created all of their bouquets, and mine. Finally my best friend’s father created our super original cake topper (he is a Royal Academician you know) which sat on top of our simple white wedding cake which was made by Meg Rivers Cakes (a company started by my late mother).
by Brittany Watson Jepsen of The House That Lars Built
