Rustic Country in the Cascade Mountains
Hannah & Anton | June 2nd | Leavenworth, Washington
From the bride, Hannah:
Our mountain destination really let us be ourselves on our wedding day. We felt relaxed and at peace in nature. The mountains offer the most beautiful backdrop you could ask for so you don’t need to add much, just your love!
I loved the ceremony programs I made. I used all different types of vintage/country style scrapbook paper as the cover sheets, cut strips of burlap as a binding and a friend helped me sew the pages together like a book. They ended up really beautiful. It was fun for the guests to pick their favorite one and I noticed that many people took them home with them!
Our other favorite DIY project was the ceremony arbor that Anton and I made. Anton found perfect pieces of birch logs and created the sturdy structure of the arbor. I then found strips of burlap and lace and strung them from the top beam to cascade down like a curtain behind us. It was a really beautiful addition to the ceremony; just enough to add to the beautiful scenery around us but not be distracting.
I loved creating all the little do-it-yourself crafts for the wedding. I didn’t know I had such a creative side, but surprisingly, I really enjoyed all the crafty projects!
One of my favorite personalized things about our wedding was my shoes! I wanted my shoes to be comfortable yet unique. I picked the most comfortable white shoes I could find and my sister, who is an amazing artist, drew a collage of pictures onto my shoes that represented Anton and my relationship: nature scenes, a camping tent, the Icelandic flag (our honeymoon destination), our wedding date, etc. She highlighted it with bright blue accents of color as my “something blue”. They turned out so beautiful and I loved how they peeked out playfully from beneath my hem. I will treasure them forever!
The only anxious moment was when we were having a hard time bustling my dress…my advise to brides would be to have the person (maid of honor?) who will be doing the bustling PRACTICE a few times before the day of! When you’re excited and in a hurry to get to your reception it can be really hard to find that tiny button!
The ceremony took place in an Aspen Grove, an absolutely gorgeous setting with shimmering trees and waving grass. Our ceremony was short, sweet and perfectly ‘us’.
My favorite moment of the whole day was when Anton picked me up and carried me out of the ceremony. We both were barely holding it together during the ceremony and once he carried me past that last row of chairs we both broke into tears and let all of our emotions pour out. It was the greatest and purest feeling of love and joy I’ve ever experienced.
After he carried me off we found a private picnic bench to say our written vows to each other. We are somewhat private people so we decided to do our personal vows on our own after the ceremony ended. It was a really special intimate moment and it also gave us a chance to have some time alone to reflect before the reception. We were both very glad we decided to read them to each other in private.
For the centerpiece vases I hand-soldered the heart and our initials into the bark. I ended up giving many of them away and keeping quite a few too. It was a nice way to create a lasting memory!
My mom’s apple pies are legendary and she generously offered to bake pies to feed all 100 guests! In the days before the wedding, she measured and mixed all the dry ingredients and placed into individual plastic bags, one for each pie. Then, the day before the wedding, it was pie assembly time! We had some family from out of town that had arrived early so we all sat around and had an assembly line of apple peelers, corers and slicers. It meant so much to us that everyone helped out and we had a great time putting together those pies – they turned out PERFECT!
At the very end of the reception, I asked our DJ to play the song “Off We Go” by Trent Dabbs as our last song of the evening. As Anton and I slow danced to the beautiful song our friends and family held hands and slowly danced in a circle around us. Everyone was smiling and spinning, we were surrounded with love. It was such a special moment and the best possible way to end the greatest day of our lives.
My advice: Remember this day is about you two and no one else – you cannot please everybody! Go with your gut and make decisions based on what you feel is right in your heart.
Hannah’s RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Photographer: Mastin Studio. Kirk captured our day perfectly! He was attentive and around whenever you needed him, but he also was very stealth in the way he moved around that I hardly noticed he was there. It was the perfect attribute for a photographer. We felt completely comfortable around him and were able to be ourselves in front of the camera. He also shot in both digital and film, which I loved.
Venue & Caterer: Mountain Springs Lodge. I could not have asked for more from a venue. Not only were their facilities stunning, their staff was outstanding. There are no words for how much I appreciate their help and expertise. They were so on top of everything; I had absolutely no stress on the day of my wedding. The food was PERFECTION. Wedding food is not always memorable, but we had people telling us for months after the wedding how good the food was. I highly, highly recommend Mountain Springs.
Florist: Floral Laura. Laura created the perfect bouquets and boutonnieres for our wedding. As soon as I started describing my rustic inspiration, she completely understood and created the most stunning arrangements I could have ever dreamed of. I had sort of unique ideas of what I wanted for the men (moss/lambs ear/twigs/acorns) and she was totally on board. She also used almost completely locally farmed flowers and shrubs. By locally I mean from her and her neighbors gardens.
Wedding Gown: I Do Bridal // Bridesmaid Dresses: J. Crew
Honeymoon Location: Iceland