Our October Wedding

I thought I would take a short break from our heirloom pumpkin theme to share some of the highlights of one of the greatest days in my life. Today is Zach and my 3rd anniversary. I can't believe all that has happened in three short years. In so many ways, my life has done a 180. Some good, some bad...but the best part is that I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend.

Our wedding was a very "hands on" wedding, as we did so much of the preparations ourselves, including making the bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces and even our own cake and cake topper! We both love the fall so we decided it would be a perfect time to be wed. In Michigan, the second weekend in October is usually the best colors.

We made our cake...all four layers. It was a white cake with butter cream frosting. I made the leaves by rolling gum paste very thin and cutting out leaf shapes from real leaves. The veins of the leaves left veins in the gum paste, giving them realistic character. Then I let the gum paste dry draping it over wads of tin foil so they would curve this way and that. Once dry, I used edible food coloring powder and brushed the coloring into the leaves with a blunt brush. We trimmed each layer with a wide black satin ribbon, and Zach forged the cake topper initials.  

We were married at our beautiful, rustic church, St. Joseph in Lake Orion. Zach and I were both baptized here. And this is the church my family attended all my life.

The reception was at my parents home in the woods. We had a beautiful white tent and the guests were welcome to filter back and forth. It was a chilly day, but the house was warm and there was a roaring fire in the fireplace.

The theme of our wedding was wheat. Wheat has a lot of symbolic meaning, including the significance of bounty, sharing, welcome, and union.

The bridesmaids held bunches of wheat, and my Maid-of-Honor held a variety of wheat called black beard, where the tassels are a deep black-brown.

My mom made the centerpieces with rust and gold colored roses. We ran a wide black satin ribbon down each table and set votive candles down the ribbon.  

In lieu of gifts on the tables, we made a donation to a local animal shelter, and the National Kidney Foundation.

My dad passed away 5 short months after our wedding due to kidney failure, so we were blessed to have him at our wedding.

These are the woods surrounding my parents house and one of the ponds.

 
The ring bearer pillow

My family is very Irish, so we had a piper lead us out of the church after the ceremony.

The inside of the tent.

 Even the goats were in attendance. We actually picked up these girls a week before our wedding. Along with all of the wedding preparations, we were also building fences and pens to be ready for our goats to come home.

Getting ready the morning of

 The center piece to the hors d vors table was a giant bunch of wheat.

 My favorite part of my dress!

Zach looked so handsome!

My aunt kicked off the dancing for the evening with a traditional Irish sword dance.

It was one of the greatest days of my life. I truly had a blast! We honeymooned up and down the east coast, from Pennsylvania to the most northern part of Maine. The colors were amazing, and we spent most of our time hiking through parks or in cemeteries soaking up all of the history of our nations beginning...oh and eating delicious seafood...lots and lots of seafood.

Photography by Liz Waters at Trinity Photography