Nice Day for a Bright Wedding

May 2, 2012 in
Real Weddings
Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods

Emily Green
MadeByEmilyGreen

Emily Green is the designer and maker behind the Etsy shop Made By Emily Green. She has a blog that she updates sporadically and lives in Thornbury, Victoria with her husband, Louis Turner.

http://http://www.emilygreen.net/

Louis proposed to me at my birthday dinner in a pizza restaurant with all of our closest friends. It was so lovely to share the moment with everyone, and we had an awesome night celebrating with them — it was like an impromptu engagement party! We decided on the wedding date that night and gratefully accepted Louis’ parents offer to have the wedding on their farm in Woodend.

The wedding preparations began the next morning as I excitedly searched Etsy and wedding blogs like Polka Dot Bride and Ruffled for inspiration. Louis couldn’t believe the haste at which I got into planning. In the months leading up to the wedding, we scoured op-shops for vintage plates and champagne saucers. My friend Indie (who has a clothing label called Monolog) and I screen-printed 12 meters of fabric with one of her designs, which my mum sewed into tablecloths.

A few weeks before the big day, a group of my lovely lady friends and I got together for a wedding decoration working bee. We made all sorts of colorful goodies, including paper bunting, crepe paper streamers, paper flowers, pom-pom garlands and a rather awesome paper chandelier. We also bought some amazing paper pom-poms from Pom Love.

Taking inspiration from Wills and Kate, I designed commemorative “Louis and Emily-bilia” — our silhouettes screen printed on tea-towels for a bomboniere. We were proud of our ability to smash out 100 fluoro red tea towels in 2 hours. Go team!

Necklace by Made by Emily Green
Necklace by Made by Emily Green
Necklace by Made by Emily Green
Necklace by Made by Emily Green
Necklace by Made by Emily Green

The two days before the wedding were busy. We were very lucky to have a big team of our friends and family around to help us with setting up and decorating the marquee, laying out table settings, arranging flowers and cooking the canapés for our 100+ guests. I also whipped up a necklace for myself and each of my bridesmaids to accent their gorgeous dresses.

When the big day arrived, it was such a good feeling to know that everything was ready and we could just relax and enjoy ourselves. After a lovely breakfast in Kyneton, I spent the day hanging out and getting ready with my friends, while Louis finished making the canapés and put the finishing touches to the decorations. It was quite funny seeing these groups of men attaching crepe paper flowers to a huge heart made of bent sticks, but they reasserted their masculinity by going and hitting a few golf balls into the dam.

Walking through the paddock on my dad’s arm and holding hands with Louis for the ceremony with all of our friends and family smiling at us was just magical. The weather was freezing cold with gusting winds (yes, in the middle of a Victorian summer!), and although I was shivering, my cheeks were hurting from all the smiling!

While ceremony and photos with the bridal party were fun, we were very much looking forward to getting into the marquee for dinner. Our food was catered by the iconic Melbourne Taco Truck, and the prawn tostadas, homemade corn chips, guacamole and salsa, and, of course, tacos were all amazing. I still can’t believe I got to eat corn chips at my wedding! With our tacos, we drank yummy raspberry beer, home-brewed by Louis’ brother.

After dinner, we had some gorgeous, tear-jerking speeches from our friends and family and a dessert of three-tired passionfruit sponge cakes baked by Louis’ mum. The vintage ’50s cake topper was a special buy from Etsy.

Paper pom-poms from PomLove
Cake topper from Dirtybirdiesvintage

Too full of good food and drink to dance? Not us! In our eyes, our “bridal waltz” exhibited our impressive contemporary dance skills, but judging from the laughs of the audience, our take on Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” was seen as more comedy than choreography. A classic mix of ’80s hip-hop and ’90s dance then brought our mates onto the dance floor for the best part of the best day.

Photography by Structured Pieces.

Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods
Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods

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