Pieceful Wedding Inspiration

After taking a short break from the blogging world, I wanted to officially say Happy New Year! 2013 is definitely going to be a great year full of exciting opportunities. In fact, wonderful things have already started for Pieceful Wedding with my recent move from Houston to Austin, Texas. It's a change that has me over the moon with excitement because I just know that this fun and unique city is the perfect place for Pieceful Wedding as a blog and as a consulting business! So with that in mind, I felt the best way to ring in the new year is with a reflection on the inspiration for Pieceful Wedding which was my own wedding...a memorable experience that I can say changed my life in so many ways! For the rest of the week, I'll be piecing together the important elements like what we wore, where we got married, what floral arrangements we had, and the various decorations for the ceremony and reception.

Everyone knows the dress is one of the most important details of the wedding...so let's start there! I always wanted a casual yet elegant look for my wedding dress....something to match a grand outdoor setting. So when I found the Petal Gown by Theia at Blue Bridal Boutique in Austin...I was in love. It was a gown that not only made me feel absolutely beautiful with its unique petal details and bias cut silhouette, but also made me feel super comfortable with the spaghetti straps and scoop neckline. I was so grateful for that because our wedding photos called for kicking off my heels and climbing up hills, standing on a boat dock, posing on rocks along the lake, and maneuvering my way through large crowds of people...it was truly the perfect dress for me and my wedding! Next, I wore these cute yellow pumps with black and white striped heels by Kate Spade for the ceremony. Yellow was part of my summer wedding color scheme...so these pops of color in the form of shoes were way too much fun to pass up. In terms of my jewelery...they were a compilation of new and vintage elements. I really wanted to incorporate my family into my wedding experience and this was a great way of doing that. I wore elegant strings of pearls...a beautiful vintage necklace I borrowed from my mother...and a handmade pearl bracelet my mother made from parts of her wedding dress and my father's yellow wedding tuxedo...they got married in the 70's. In my hair, I wore an amazing ivory flower hairpiece by Twigs and Honey. It was a handmade beauty that I felt matched perfectly with the petals on my wedding dress. If there's an accessory that can make you feel romantic...this is definitely the one!

Now I can't really end this post without mentioning what my husband wore...he took a lot of time and effort to pull together this wonderful look! He is not much of a suit and tie kind of guy...so he went with a charcoal grey vest and pants by J.Crew . It was something he could wear comfortably at the height of summer. To match my yellow pumps...he sported yellow socks from Barney's New York and a yellow tie by Hermès. Now this tie was definitely unique because it had rain clouds on the front and colorful umbrellas on the back...details that symbolized washing away the old and bringing in the new.

Stay tuned for our dramatic Lake Louise, Canada wedding venue!

There is so much I want to say about our destination wedding venue...The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada! It was spectacular! It was amazing! It was truly our dream come true location! Now I have to say that all the credit for finding our venue needs to go to my amazing husband. He was the one who introduced me to the location when I first visited his hometown of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. We took a beautiful three hour drive into Banff National Park and spent a magical time in the town centre of Banff. We almost decided on having our wedding at a hotel there, but we were still unsure at that point. We nearly drove past Lake Louise on our way to Vancouver. It was so crowded with the summer tourists, I really just wanted to leave it for a future trip. However, my husband was adamant that it was worth seeing. I'm glad he was because as soon as I saw it, I knew this was the place. This gorgeous turquoise lake with a stunning glacier feeding it and a historic chateau along its shores was going to be the home of our wedding! So we did what any excited bride and groom-to-be would do, drop everything and find the wedding coordinator to schedule our wedding date...a year in advance.

The first meeting with the wedding coordinator included a tour of the historically beautiful interior and exterior of the Chateau. It looks very much like a luxurious lodge in the Swiss Alps...think Sound of Music. We knew we wanted an outdoor wedding; so we needed to make the choice of getting married in front of the lake or up on the terrace closer to the Chateau. They actually asked us our preference, while perchance, we watched a wedding take place down by the lake. Cameras galore from tourists watching the wedding made it easy for us to choose the more private terrace for our intimate wedding ceremony (9 guests total). For the reception, we chose a small room that would be as intimate as we wanted but still had the dramatic view of the lake...because seriously, it's hard not to just want to stare at Lake Louise all day long. So by the end of the meeting, that was it. We secured our dream wedding locale!

A few months later, we had to fly back to Canada one more time to tie up any loose ends including verifying deliveries, reserving rooms for guests, and to do my favorite part of the wedding process...the tasting of the menu! It was a delightful task of tasting soups, appetizers, main courses, and desserts because we decided that our guests should have difficult choices because all the options are just that good! Our final menu created by the Chateau included things like Butternut and Apple Bisque Soup, Thinly Sliced Prosciutto with Grilled Asparagus Salad, Roasted Alberta Beef Tenderloin Roasted Shallot Confit, White Peach, Ginger and Ice Wine Parfait, and some other beautiful choices.

The next time we were at the Chateau was for our wedding! The day before the event, nervous and excited, we spent time settling in at our super comfortable Lakeview Junior Suite and having our rehearsal dinner at the Walliser Stube, one of the restaurants at the Chateau. The fondue was amazing there. They had a great selection of cheeses...and there was very little left at the end of the night! On the day of our wedding, everything was absolutely perfect...stunning in every way possible, thanks to the wonderful staff at The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. From walking down the aisle to start my life with my very best friend to sharing this special moment with our families in the most beautiful environment I've ever seen...it was pure magic!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post detailing Our Simply Intimate Wedding Ceremony!

Developing my intimate wedding ceremony at the The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise was all about one thing...the view! We had chosen to get married on the Chateau's elegant terrace overlooking the picturesque Lake Louise...and we wanted to make sure that everything we did in terms of decorations, flowers, chairs, etc. would not take away from that amazing location. So simplicity was our motto!

We utilized simple white chairs and a signing table from the Chateau and angled them in a way that the Lake would be our focal point....no need for an elaborate backdrop at this wedding ceremony because it was nature that beautified our space. Even the flowers we didn't have to furnish for this part of the event because they had gorgeous arrangements already there that worked perfectly.

In terms of the decorations, again simple was the key...not only because we wanted to keep things natural, but also because this was a destination wedding. We actually ended up bringing about four suitcases and a few bags from Texas which was mainly filled with my wedding dress, his suit, and a whole lot of decorations for the reception! So for the ceremony, we chose to have white paper parasols for the guests. I bought them online from the Oriental Trading Company, and they worked out perfectly. They were beautiful and provided our guests with some much needed shade from the summer heat. The only other decorative pieces I included were the yellow wooden heart pins I made for each guest. It was a super simple DIY that included painting wooden hearts yellow and gluing magnets on the back of them. It was rustic but had that pop of color which was a nice complement to our wedding.

Now music was definitely an important part of our ceremony because we wanted it to reflect the calming nature of our outdoor setting and the sophistication of the Chateau, so there were really only two answers to that situation...classical music and Deborah Nyack. She is a wonderfully talented harpist who was highly recommended by our wedding coordinator and did a beautiful job playing the most amazing classical pieces. It was the type of sweet music that just made you feel elegant!

Lastly, one of the great aspects of our wedding ceremony was that my husband's dad was our officiant. I can't tell you enough how amazing it is to have family conduct the ceremony. It just made things so much more intimate and meaningful!

Overall, our wedding ceremony was everything we wanted it to be and more! It was truly enlightening to have everything simple and natural because the focus was truly about our courtship...and of course, that magnificent view!

Come back this afternoon for the next post about our Nature Inspired Floral Arrangements!

Our deep appreciation of nature was our true motivation for finding the perfect wedding flowers! We wanted wildflowers galore for our bouquet, boutonniere, and reception arrangements. We wanted a bright and cheerful color scheme to reflect the summer season of our wedding. And I needed to incorporate my love of burlap in the form of a wrap for my bouquet and my husband's boutonnière...I just love rustic details! In terms of the vases for the reception, we knew we were only having one large reception table to accomodate our nine guests...so a cluster of unique and dramatic vases seemed like a perfect choice. Now before finding a flower shop near our wedding location, I went ahead and purchased the burlap from a local fabric store and combed the Internet for amazing white vases. We went with the Pure White Ceramic Vases from West Elm not only because they were absolutely beautiful, but they had a wonderful selection of different shapes and sizes.

So armed with print outs of inspirations, burlap fabric, and our vases, we had a meeting with Forget-Me-Not-Flowers, a sweet little shop in Banff, Alberta, Canada who were beyond helpful with their great knowledge of gorgeous flowers and how to arrange them perfectly. And to be honest, it was one of the most exciting moments when I saw them on my wedding day in all it's glory! The only downfall though...was that we couldn't keep the flowers after the wedding...a destination wedding flaw. But we were able to give them away to my husband/s family in Canada, which ended up being perfect homes for these gorgeous arrangements!

Make sure to come back tomorrow for the last piece of my wedding inspiration...Our Handmade With Love Wedding Reception!

I absolutely love DIY weddings, which is why it was no-brainer that I was going to try to do the same for mine! With the help of my super talented mother...we designated my reception as a place to style and create the perfect space for my wedding. Now we wanted to be able to bring in the rustic beauty of the outdoor environment, elegance of the hotel, and the clean/fresh atmosphere of the summer season...so we chose many of our pieces based on that.

To complement the beautifully natural floral arrangements created by Forget-Me-Not-Flowers that were in the charming vases from West Elm, my mother created a lovely burlap table runner which she monogrammed with our initials. She continued with the burlap creations by handmaking burlap chair ties which we tied around natural colored Chiavari Chairs we rented from Special Event Rentals. I created wooden egg placeholders for each of our guests which I hand engraved using die stamps and a colored pencil to fill it in.

We also purchased some decorations including adorable stripe straws and felt leaves from BHLDN to add more personality to the table. I ended up buying a whole bunch of mason jars as well...another one of my obsessions! In fact, for my photo table, I used them to house our engagement photos that my brother took during the holiday season in Houston, Texas. Green and yellow vintage books were also used on the photo table which I think added a little more colorful detail to the overall look. Lastly, we included the Instax Mini Camera which turned out to be one of the highlights of the reception! It was a great way for our guests to capture moments from the celebration!

It's been a wonderful week reflecting on my wedding experience...take a look at the Puzzle Complete Section below for final thoughts!

My wedding experience was hands down one of the best experiences of my life! I envisioned...I created...I learned from each detail I encountered during the process. And most of all, I loved every minute of it because I was able to learn more about myself, about love, and about family. Weddings are truly wonderful events...and I look forward to helping others as they learn and love through their own wedding experience!

Want to see more from my wedding...be sure to check out my Style Me Pretty feature!