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Ria and Will are both tax lawyers so their wedding day was infused with lawyer jokes, beginning with their hashtag, #filingjointly. Ria also has a daring but soft side, so her hair was swept up in an amazing faux-hawk. She finished the look with her signature hot pink lipstick and vintage jewelry. Meaningful passages from Voltaire and Philip Pullman were read during the vows, as was a bit of tax code concerning marriage. Everyone got a great laugh out of it.
Ria went wild with DIY including the cake (a spice cake with cream cheese icing!), handcrafted invitations, dried floral bouquets, and amazing centerpieces. She painted every wooden flower and picked every vintage tea-cup for the tables. It was an event full of love, humor, and tons of artistry. Let's hear a little from the couple about it…
Our wedding was inspired by my experience living in the UK. I attended college at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and one of my favorite traditions was the spring garden parties. We decided that a British garden-party theme would be the best way to structure a fun, relaxed, day-time wedding. I mean, who doesn't love lawn games and Pim's cup?
I absolutely love to craft, so I knew right away that I wanted to do as much for the wedding by myself as possible. I gave myself 20 months of lead time to get things moving.
My favorite part was the invitations. I selected the paper, the interior and exterior envelopes, the graphics, the fonts… everything. I even bought stamps from 2015 because I wanted the design to match my theme and look nice on the envelope. I chose peach and sage green as the base colors for the invitation suite because they are scalable colors (not too pastel, not too rich).
Another favorite project was the bouquets. Since my wedding was in October, using fresh flowers seemed out of place so I chose dried ones. While I purchased mostly previously dried flowers, I did make my Maid of Honor's bouquet using flowers I dried myself from her wedding in April. For my own bouquet I used flowers from her wedding as well as home-dried flowers. Each bridesmaid's bouquet was inspired by her individual personality. I think it was really special!
Another of my favorite traditions from when I lived in the UK was afternoon tea. I decided to integrate that tradition with the garden party theme via my centerpieces. All the china featured in the centerpieces was thrifted. I felt that using dried flowers in the centerpieces would be too flat — like literally, it would lay flat on the two-tier trays and in the tea cups. So I devised the idea of the wooden flowers! I found a woman in the Philippians who makes flowers from peeled birch bark and I bought hundreds of plain flowers in different styles (roses, dahlias, lilies, etc.) And then I had to paint them (so many that all the bridesmaids and my husband had to help!).
I had never made a cake higher than two layers or made the particular recipe before I made my wedding cake. Honestly, I'm not sure what I was thinking. It took me all day Thursday before the wedding to make that cake (about 10 hours) and I could not have been more proud. The flavor was inspired both by fall and by my family history. My mother's side has a strong history as orchardists in eastern Washington state. I grew up on fresh fruit and apples are one of the family's biggest crops. I made the filling using my grandmother's old applesauce recipe!
The faux hawk was entirely for me. Before I became a lawyer I had wild hair. Imagine pink and platinum, half-shaved head, the works. I wanted my hairstyle on the wedding day to be a throw-back to my pre-law hair preferences. Yisell Santos, my hair stylist for the day, KILLED IT for me. It was glamorous, non-traditional, and per my husband's (and my employer's) preference, not permanent.
Vendors
Photography: Jessica Nazarova Photography • Venue: Kentlands Mansion • Venue Coordinator: Lisa Kim • Catering: Word of Mouth Catering • Gown: Glimmer of Elope from ModCloth • Her ring: heirloom diamond solitaire and custom opal band • His ring: Vintage Tiffany's band from estate sale • Hair and makeup: Yisell Santos • DIY by bride: cake, bouquets, floral centerpieces, ENTIRE invitation suite is handcrafted
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About the Author: Catherine Clark
Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.
Wow So beautiful .
I LOVE the lawyer puns and hashtag! My husband and I are both lawyers too, so we had a sign saying “Dickson Lorenzen LLP: founded June 2, 2018” at our wedding. We didn’t have a hashtag (because john hates hashtags), but several people posted photos online using #DicksonLorenzenLLP anyway hah.