our labor of love | Brooklyn Bride

Real wedding: Summer + Adam

Its hard to not love this wedding, with its ultra bright colors and rainbow bridesmaids…every bit is perfection!

From the bride:

It’s safe to say I am not the kind of girl who has been dreaming about her wedding since she was six. So when we started planning, we didn’t really come into it with a vision, except that we wanted our wedding to be a great party. I wanted it to be bright, beautiful, and full of color, music, love, and joy. And we wanted to get to enjoy our friends and family for longer than just the 8 hours of the wedding. We were so fortunate to come across the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, which made all of that possible, and also just happens to be the coolest hotel on the planet. And every single one of our vendors was unbelievable. “Vendor” doesn’t seem like the right word at all; Wonderful-People-Who-Made-Our-Wedding-Amazing is probably better.

I like to think of myself as non-traditional, but I came to see that the process of planning a wedding shows you which traditions do matter to you, and which don’t. We didn’t do a cake or a bouquet toss, but the ceremony was really important to us. We asked a dear friend to marry us, which was the best idea ever, and the three of us basically wrote the ceremony together, which made it feel completely ours. By far the most important and memorable moment of the wedding was when we read the vows that we had written for each other. In the end I felt like we had taken this ritual and made it a very personal expression of who we are as individuals and as a couple, and it could not have been more perfect.

My number one piece of advice is to get a coordinator. We hired Courtney as a month-of coordinator, but she was available to answer our questions via email from the moment we hired her and there is NO question that we could not have done it without her. She was 100% on top of everything, and it just gave me complete peace of mind and let me actually enjoy the day. Although there were definitely moments of stress throughout the planning process, I ended up being completely relaxed once it all began. I really had no idea how incredibly joyful an experience it would be, and having someone there to handle all of the logistics left us free to enjoy the moment. My other advice is not to scrimp on your photographers. As you can see from these pictures, ours were INCREDIBLE, and looking at their pictures is like reliving the whole experience all over again. You honestly can’t put a price on that, so whatever you pay for a great photographer will be a bargain in the long run. And finally (and everyone will tell you this but it’s worth repeating), just enjoy! Focus on what matters, which is the two of you. Stick together, enjoy every second, and it will be perfect in all the ways that matter.

VENDORS
Photographer: Jesse, Whitney, & Jenn from Our Labor of Love
DJ: Smiles Davis via The Flashdance
Planner: Courtney Tibbets, After the Engagement
Ceremony & Reception Venue: Ace Hotel & Swim Club, Palm Springs, CA
Florist: Primary Petals
Wedding Cake or Dessert Baker: Desserts by Ace Hotel (King’s Highway
Restaurant)
Caterer: Ace Hotel (King’s Highway Restaurant)
Linens: Provided by the Ace Hotel
Lighting: Classic Party Rentals
Paper Products:
• Invitations & menus: Wedding Paper Divas
• Place cards & table numbers: e.m. papers
• Programs: Wide Eyes Design
Bride’s Gown: Garbo by Elizabeth Fillmore (via Kleinfeld Bridal)
Bride’s Hair Accessories/Veil/Jewelry:
• Hair accessory: LoBoheme
• Earrings: BHLDN
Hair Stylist: Christine Choi
Makeup Artist: Flor Hunt (bridesmaid J)
Bride’s Shoes: Miss Albright (from Anthropologie)
Bridesmaids’ Dresses: ModCloth and BHLDN
Groom’s Attire: Suit: Jones New York; Tie: Nordstrom; Custom cufflinks
(his wedding gift – they were both maps, one of the spot where we met, and
one of the spot where we were getting married): Uncommon Goods
Groomsmen Attire: Suits: their own; Ties: Nordstrom

[images from Our Labor of Love]

Real Brooklyn wedding: Laura + Aaron

Pops of yellow and oversized lettering at the ceremony make this Green Building wedding all the more fun!

VENDORS

Photographer: Matt Miller & Meghan of Our Labor of Love
Day of coordinator: Tammy Golson
Ceremony & reception venue: The Green Building
Florist: Rose Red & Lavender
Wedding Cake or Dessert Baker: Dough (donuts) & Coolhaus (ice cream sandwiches)
Caterer: Cobblestone Catering
Food trucks: Schnitzel & Things & Mexicue
Lighting: I made the lit letters, The Green Building did the light altar
Paper Products: Most were designed by me
Bride’s Gown: Nicole Miller
Hair Stylist: Maura Burns from Blackstones Salon
Makeup Artist: Jessica Lawson
Bride’s Shoes: Something Blue from BHDLN
Save the date video: Laura Pence Ambrose
Grooms Attire: Brooklyn Tailors

[images from Our Labor of Love]

Real Atlanta wedding: Theresa + Jay

Welcome back everyone! Thought we could kick off 2013 with a fab wedding featuring horsey masks, a chic short dress, and a contemporary museum setting!

From the couple!

All in all, we wanted a simple, relaxed wedding – outdoors, minimalistic, modern but warm and laid-back. We really wanted to focus on having fun and enjoying our close friends and family, most of whom came in from out of town (South Africa, Netherlands, Germany, CA, lots from NY, & Mississippi). We picked the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center for its open and post-industrial-esque space outside, with our fingers crossed for good weather and no trains (success on the weather!). Alice Reynolds helped us with the succulent-inspired arrangements and lots of the design details – including impromptu chalk drawings on the walkway that were a big hit with the guests.

We wrote our vows together with the help of our friend and officiant Jessica Chilton using crayons, construction paper and a toy-covered sand box (her day job is a creative arts therapist). Some of the highlights were the unexpected toasts, seeing props from the photo booth make their way to the dance floor and lavender smores (from our creative caterer SIMB) cooked over a flaming fire-pit. For the end of the night we had big plans for everyone to let off paper sky laterns, inspired by a trip to Thailand earlier in the year. Some alarmed guests, a few singed hairs, and a flaming tree later, we realized sky lanterns are a lot more graceful on the beach. Good thing the Georgia Brown Ale was flowing to calm the nerves!

VENDORS

Location: Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
DJ: A-Dot
Floral: Alice Reynolds
Catering: Sun in My Belly
Day-of Coordination: Emily Gomez
Photographer: Kendrick and David – Our Labor of Love
Officiant: Jess Chilton

[images from David & Kendrick of Our Labor of Love]

Real Brooklyn wedding: Allie + Brian

So excited to kick off this week with a fabulous Brooklyn wedding! It starts off at the new Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, with a ceremony at a local garden design shop, then ends up with a parade over to the reception at My Moon. Its fun with lots of fab details, so be sure to click thru for all the wedding-y goodness!

Real wedding: Lauren + Chad part 2

Whoa, I almost thought I was going to have a mutiny on my hands if I didn’t show some more pictures from Lauren and Chad’s Big Fish inspired wedding! Here’s some to tide you over…maybe I’ll be able to get some more a little later.