erin + eric: you did it! congratulations on your gorgeous, laughter-filled, lovingly-planned, delightful wedding!

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Columbia, Missouri

vendors who helped make erin + eric’s wedding wonderful:

ceremony ~ First Baptist Church

reception ~ Hilton Garden Conference Center

flowers ~ Alan Anderson’s Just Fabulous!

cake ~ Cakes With The Personal Touch by Edith Hall

DJ ~ Aric Bremer

video ~ Creative Photo

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erin and eric were “silver nugget” all-stars . . . they organized their day using some of our favorites strategies for helping a wedding day flow seamlessly while getting great pictures. One silver nugget: get ready in a lovely, light-filled space. In this erin’s case: she chose her parents’ home . . . plenty of room to move around with all the comforts of home.

another silver nugget: if you want to move quickly from ceremony to reception, then plant to see each other BEFORE the ceremony for a private, first look . . . it’s equally as emotionally rich an experience as seeing one another in the aisle at the start of the ceremony AND it ensures that there’s plenty of time for photos of bride and groom:

this photo landed on our blog because we had to show you DJ Aric Bremer in action! he’s a SilverBox groom himself . . . it’s a blast for us (and clients!) to work with him . . . he keeps a party hopping!

~ kim + annika

Gathered near a field on a warm and perfect November day, each person at this, the most PERFECT of weddings, had a speaking role — no small parts here because those gathered have all played such a large part in Katie + Brandon’s lives. Oh the words! Those wonderful words. The collection of ideas, carefully considered by bride and groom who crafted them with special care. Crafted and then provided, as a script, in the best and highest sense of the word, to those they’d invited to encircle them in the field. Spoken words. Shared words. Felt words. You can see the script right here in Katie’s mom’s hands.

And can you see what her mom is feeling when you look into her eyes?

Can you feel this embrace and the warmth of the sunshine?  Can you hear the joy in the air?

Everyone spoke. The bride, the groom . . .

Katie’s daughter, who walked her down the aisle:

as Brandon looked on:

and when he spoke, the girls looked like THIS:

Each spoke. Rising at their part. Because each matters oh so much. Because each word should be heard.

There’s so much we want to tell you about this wedding, about how it was simply everything that a wedding should be, that a wedding CAN be. About how this wedding got to the essence of what is REAL. Let’s just do this the old fashioned way . . . from the beginning: Her dress? She found it on a rack at a 2nd hand shop for $35 dollars and she’ll tell you so with pride. She did the alterations herself. She did her flowers, too. The cool bracelet? A string of pearls from her mom. The earrings, the broach — all the jewelry comes from the moms. There’s more than one. They each matter oh so much. And of course, each would speak:

first look:

first to arrive at the ceremony site:

soon guests would arrive, too. so of course, there was Brandon to greet them:

to be married (with his brother officially officiating so to speak)

officially now, husband and wife:

family, complete:

along with the couple, we were the first to arrive the ceremony site, and the last to leave. heaven, really.

and as the sun got low

we packed up and rode together to the party: the bride, the groom, the photographer-duo. Because soon, even more friends would be gathered. The simple woodland theme carried through — the spirit and colors and details of that field, each element magically made its way inside:

brandon + katie, we are nothing if not your BIGGEST fans!

~ kim and amy

 

He’s a writer. She’s a lawyer.

Their vows?  (hold onto your hats)  SPONTANEOUS.

Spontaneous as in off-the-cuff,

Spontaneous as in now that we have the 120+ people that we love most all gathered ’round

let me just um, put into words why my life is so much better because of you

and what, from this day forward I promise…

NERVES of STEEL

LOVE of a LIFETIME.

Spontaneous?! YES!!!!

Are you kidding me? And oh my, the FEELING and ENERGY that this creates:

Exhilaration!  Vibrancy!  BEING TRULY, FULLY ALIVE!

“…the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive.”

~ D.H. Lawrence

Now think for a minute.

IF you were say, picking a mascot that represented vivid and vibrant… Any ideas?

lions, tigers, bears?  OH NO…

Peacocks, of course!

Peacocks inspired the palette, the accessories, the flowers, the cake, the tie, the shoes, the hair.

Bonham-Hardy.

He’s a writer. She’s a lawyer. Together they are oh. so. much. more.

and where does this vibrant duo call home?

Why Columbia, MO, of course. (Yeah home town!)

The most memorable part of this celebration that we will absolutely never ever forget?

Laughter all the live long day.

That, and everything peacock.

Party Hardy, friends ~ we’re your newest biggest fans!

~kim + annika

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Columbia, Missouri

vendors who helped make julia + jon’s wedding wonderful:

hair ~ Hair Therapy [with big shout out to Carla for CREATING the peacock veil]
ceremony & reception venue (AND fireworks!) ~ Alpine Park and Gardens
flowers ~ Ambrosia
event coordination ~ Elegant Events By J-Bo

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