Ali & Emily’s fairytale wedding in the woods

The offbeat bride: Ali – Senior Consultant

Her offbeat partner: Emily – Nursing Student / OR Scheduler

Location & date of wedding: Family friend’s property on Lake Champlain in Georgia, VT — August 7, 2010

What made our wedding offbeat:We are two chicks 🙂

All our guests slept in campers on the property all weekend!

We, along with family and friends, DIYed or borrowed all the decorations. All the flowers were handpicked by our family and friends. We planned our wedding from Tampa, FL and drove to Vermont the weekend before the big day with tons of DIY goodies and Emily’s wedding dress.

We had our ceremony in the woods, with haybales covered in burlap for seats.

We performed bits and pieces of a traditional handfasting during our ceremony.

Tell us about the ceremony: Emily and I were married by a family friend in Vermont. We had done quite a bit of research to write our own ceremony and we really liked the idea of a handfasting to unite us. Below is an excerpt from the handfasting. The officiant read and one of our best friends Ashley, tied the rope around our hands while Ben Harper “Forever” played in the background.

Emily, take Ali’s hands, palms up,
so you may see the gift that they are to you.
These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and vibrant with love,
that are holding yours on your wedding day,
as she promises to love you all the days of her life.

Now Ali, please take Emily’s hands, palms up,
so you may see the gift that they are to you:
These are the hands of your best friend, smooth, young, and carefree,
that are holding yours on your wedding day,
as she promises to love you all the days of her life.
Now, please join hands so that they may be fasted in the ways of old.
Remember then as your hands are fasted, these are not the ties that bind…

Our biggest challenge: Planning a Vermont wedding from Tampa, Florida having only visited the venue one time before!

Some of the small challenges included Emily’s veil not arriving until an hour before the ceremony.

Since the ceremony and reception were both outside we were incredibly nervous about the uncontrollable factor of good/bad weather. Luckily, the weather Friday and Saturday were gorgeous.

My favorite moment: The most meaningful moment was the first time Emily and I saw each other. We took pictures before the ceremony and were able to spend some time with just each other.

Another meaningful moment was prior to the actual ceremony when Emily and I took a looked around and saw all our family and friends helping set up the reception site and ceremony.

The toasts by our friends were also unforgettable.

My funniest moment: During the wedding ceremony, when I (Ali) was finished saying my wedding vows to Emily, she leaned in to kiss me because she thought they were so sweet and, right in front of all the guests, I rejected her because I thought the rule was that you couldn’t kiss until you were pronounced married. Everyone laughed so hard and Emily couldn’t believe, on our wedding day, I would pull away from a kiss.

Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? Late Thursday night, we got a call from our photographer, Matt Miller of Our Labor of Love, saying his Friday flight was cancelled and he didn’t think they would arrive in time for our Welcome Party that night. We were dissapointed and a bit sad to be honest, but again felt that there is nothing we could do so we continued to enjoy the people around us. Matt is so incredibly awesome that he called around to photographers in Vermont and hired someone to drive to our Welcome Party and photograph since he could not be there. It was amazing and we cannot thank him enough!

My advice for offbeat brides: If you have the opportunity, take the time to see each other before the ceremony and take the pictures that don’t require your family and wedding party. The anticipation of seeing each other by yourselves is awesome plus you get to the cocktail hour sooner!

And don’t sweat the small stuff! Everything will work out and the wedding will go on! Remember the number one reason for that day is you are marrying the person you love!”

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? Don’t waste time worrying about the people that chose not to come to your wedding and know that those friends and family that show up are the perfect combination of personalities to make your wedding a dream come true.

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

• Rentals/Linens/Tent: Vermont Tent Company
• Photography: Matt Miller at Our Labor of Love (See more offbeat weddings by Our Labor of Love, here)
• Music: Aaron Topfer
• Caterer: Let’s Pretend Catering
• Cake: BakeAria
• Gown: Amy Michelson
• Birdcage Veil: Vanrobmac
• Floral Décor & Design: Handpicked by our friends and family
• Decorations: DIY
• Hair & Makeup: Emily’s mother and friends
• Ali’s Attire and Wedding Party Attire: Express
• Smores Kits: DIY

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!