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 

Envelope liner ideas

Though the invitation is the star of the show, a good envelope liner can add some spice to the invitation suite. You can personalize your suite by cutting out a piece of paper to the size you want it and simply glue stick it in or try some of the options above like a beautiful paper like the florals (above left), or using maps of your destination (above right), or a coordinating tissue paper (bottom left) or a glitter paper for that extra sparkel (bottom right).

floral  |  map  |  tissue  | glitter

by Brittany Watson Jepsen of The House That Lars Built 

Ensembles: The Adorned Bride

The adorned bride has a little something extra on each piece she wears to create a truly memorable affair.

Dress  |  Shoes  |  Ring

by Brittany Watson Jepsen of The House That Lars Built

More ensembles here & here

What does it mean? Ashley & Andreas

“What does it mean?” is a continuing series where we ask a blogger how they used their wedding as an expression of their union with their significant other. Today we are honored to hear from Ashley and Andreas Ludaescher. Ashley is a photographer of travel and weddings and blogger of Chasing Heartbeats. She and her husband live in Berlin, Germany.

I am originally from California and met Andreas while I was working in Germany’s beautiful Black Forest.  When we started to plan our wedding we knew we wanted something small and intimate, a long weekend for our families and friends to relax and get to know one another.  The location was the easiest decision we made, as we got engaged in Cape Cod and it has always been one of my favorite places in the world, in addition to the fact that it is pretty close to half way between our two homes.  Another reason it is so close to my heart is that my family has so much history there.  My grandfather grew up in Cape Cod and later in his life built his sister a little lakeside cottage there, which is now my family’s little home away from home.  The property it sits on has been in our family so long that it was originally paid for in British Pounds!  Andreas has also grown to love Cape Cod the way I do, and we wanted to share it with the rest of our family and friends who had never visited before.

The ceremony and reception was held at the same location where our guest stayed, a rustic lakeside resort with 9 little cabins complete with canoes and sandy beach.  The ceremony itself was held under a grouping of trees next to the lake and our 44 guests held hands in a circle, which literally surrounded us with love.  We wrote our own vows, mine were spoken in English and Andreas replied back to me in German so everyone there could understand- and the vows were both playful and romantic.

We were married by my uncle who is a fantastic writer and incredibly creative.  He came up with the idea of having all our guests literally “tie the knot”- each guest wrote their name on a piece of fabric and used rope to tie their piece to those next to them, which tied not only Andreas and I together as a couple, but our family and friends together as well.  It was not only a lovely idea, it is a keepsake from the wedding we will always cherish.

After the ceremony we had planned to go out in my boat “Lady Jane” to spend our first few married moments just the two of us out on the lake.  Unfortunately it looked like a storm was rolling in as we started the ceremony, but magically as soon as we headed out in my boat, we were graced with the most incredible sunset I have ever seen- it was extraordinary.  My mama said it was my late grandparents wedding gift to us, as they were there in spirit, celebrating right alongside us.

photography by Davina + Daniel

by Brittany Watson Jepsen of The House That Lars Built

DIY: Printable monogram stationery

Personalize your thank you cards with one of these FREE printable monogram cards. A perfect size to show your guests gratitude!

Click here to download all 26 letters. Simply print the page you want, cut out the shape (it’s a standard 4 bar or 3 1/2″ x 4 7/8″), then write in your sweet note. Use a matching 4 bar size envelope (3 5/8 x 5 1/8″) to jazz it up.

Voila!

project and photography by Brittany Watson Jepsen of The House That Lars Built