I recently did a vintage woodland lake wedding at Oak Opening Metropark in Maumee, OH. The ceremony itself was held at Evergreen Lake (it truly is an ever green lake) and the reception was held at the Lodge.
This wedding had some unique and personalized aspects to the couple in it. In many ways this event had peculiar challenges for me because I was the bride! (I can speak personally on why one should not DIY; I will blog on that later.)
Probably one of the more unusual aspects of our wedding is that it was a mid-morning wedding and followed with a brunch reception. It was nice because it left us (and our guests) time to relax and unwind before the intimate gift opening breakfast we had Sunday morning at the Caretaker’s Cottage, also at Oak Openings.
The ambiance and feel we wanted for our wedding was one that exuded warmth and romance being by a quiet lake in the woods with slight hints of yesteryear. I love the Victorian era – it just speaks to me. It was an era of elegance, refinement and etiquette.
Stationary
We were able to custom design all of our stationary. The invitations looked like they were printed on old parchment like paper and included a pen and ink drawing of an oak tree. We selected navy blue as our ink color. Each invitation was wrapped in a navy laser cut paper doily and tied-off with a narrow blush pink ribbon. The reception card and rain location card coordinated with the invitation. The envelope was in the same parchment like design as the invitation.
Other stationary was the rehearsal and dinner invitation and the intimate morning after brunch invitation. These, while a little less formal, were designed by us too.
The programs for our wedding matched the invitation as well. These were made into fans for guests to use to cool themselves.
The Dress & Accessories
My dress was a lovely custom design by Toni Lynn Creations. It was a fit and flare style of the lightest pink satin covered with ivory Alencon lace. The neckline was a soft v edged in lace with an empire waist. Three tiny pearl buttons adorned the gathered bodice. The three quarter length sleeves were also of lace and ended just before the elbow. The back had a long row of the same tiny pearl buttons from neck to just beyond the waist. The train of the dress was simply lace without an underlayment and was a semi cathedral in length.
I loved my dress! Toni did an excellent job and was such a joy with which to work. She also made me a coordinating drawstring purse. It was nice to have a little something to carry some tissues, lip gloss, etcetera.
My veil was a cathedral length double veil with pearl edging on the bottom tier. The detachable hairpiece was an ivory rose with pearls in the center, accessorized with some tiny feathers and a bit of lace. (Our flower girl and dancer had complimentary hair pieces.) We added some pretty pink wax flower and greenery to the hairpiece.
I wore ivory Lauren Conrad sandal pumps, whose soles I painted navy for my something blue and accessorized with pearls that spelled, “I do”, for the ceremony. These were actually my first wedding purchase! I found them on clearance at a Kohl’s Dept. Store. For the reception I wore gold BCBGeneration wedge flip flops. They had cute acrylic flowers along one strap on each flop. I did cover the heels on the stilettos with heel covers – those things are the bomb diggity! They really protect your shoe heels and keep you from sinking into the grass/ground.
The jewelry I wore was a combination of old and new. The necklace I wore was a Christmas gift from one of my bridesmaids a couple years earlier. I found bracelets, believe it or not, that were part of the same set as the necklace! I also had another set of bracelets that coordinated with the bridesmaid’s jewelry. The necklace and one of the bracelets was pearls and a sparkling diamanté like bead. The other bracelets were a combination of the ivory pears, some a very soft pink pearl and there was also a bracelet that was made-up of just the diamanté like beads.
So my something old, I had my necklace, something new was my dress, something borrowed, well, it’s a little on the gross side, but it was my deodorant! I borrowed it from my MOH. I can’t recall if I had forgotten to put any on at all or if I just wanted insurance. You can’t have wet spots on a satin dress!! My blue was the soles of my wedding shoes.
The Ceremony
My escort and I arrived to the ceremony site, Evergreen Lake, in a horse and buggy. It was only a short ride from The Lodge to the lake but so relaxing and gave a few minutes before the fun continued. I tried soaking-up every last moment that I could, but you just can’t grasp it all.
We used an old desk that was painted ivory for our guest book table. Pots of ivy trailed out of the drawer slots in the front while on the desktop was a collection of our engagement pictures in an assortment of frames. Bits of alencon lace left from my wedding dress accompanied a navy silk to accentuate the desk and pictures. We had a book made too of our engagement pictures that our guests could sign with a fun collection of pretty metallic pens. We also had a “standard” pen if desired. As part of the guest book table vignette, there was also an easel with an ornately framed picture of us and a wooden crate draped with navy silk that had a tray with sunscreen, bug repellant bands, disinfectant wipes and mosquito repellant wipes. We were in a woodland setting by water in August and wanted our guests to be comfortable!
Marking the entrance to the ceremony site was a set of white vintage doors. The left door held a moss covered (there was even a tiny pine cone in there) “K” for the grooms last name. The top of the doorframe was draped in ivory tulle and had a large flower swag containing blush/pink garden roses, pink spray roses, various greenery, scabiosa pods, hanging amaranthus, white roses, pink wax flower, white anemone and blush ranunculus. Either side of the door was flanked with silk covered crates with vases of roses and a variety of lanterns; some of which had tillandsia, moss and fairy lights, candles and some had flowers in them.
The end of the aisle was marked with a pillar on each side that held Boston ferns. On the left we had a cute Victorian styled chalkboard that held an “Unplugged Ceremony” sign below which were doubled tiered flower boxes.
The aisle itself was quite wide; we planned to have the bridal party and newlyweds dance down the aisle following the ceremony. The guests were seated on chairs covered in ivory fabric. At the end of the aisle were shepherds hooks with lanterns containing flower arrangements with hanging amaranthus, wax flower, ranunculus, blushing bride protea and a garden rose.
At the altar area was a black arch draped with gauzy off white fabric and festooned with an asymmetrical arrangement of blush and pink garden roses, pink spray roses, various greenery including lacy fern, Italian ruscus, seeded eucalyptus and jasmine vine. Other flowers included scabiosa pods, hanging amaranthus, white roses, pink wax flower, white anemone, blushing bride protea and blush ranunculus.
The arch contained an “altar” table covered in navy and holding a large footed crystal vase with a sumptuous arrangement of the wedding flowers.
As something humorous and as a surprise to my groom, when it came time for, “You may kiss your bride”, I had my junior bridesmaid pop around with a little step-stool for me. (Our officiant was in the know.) Because I am only 5’ tall and my groom is 6’2”. Even with my 4” stilettos I needed the step-stool. With it, I was at the perfect height. We got some laughs (which was the intent.)
The Reception
Our reception was at Oak Openings Metropark The Lodge. We directed people upon arriving to the patio area with an adorable double-sided chalk board sign – one side said, “Hors’ de veours” and the other, “Reception.” This chalkboard set atop a crate in which was a terrarium bowl with plants inside. Hors’ de veours were served on the patio with yard games like tic-tac-toe, bocce ball and corn hole in the yard area. We made sure sun screen, bug repellent bands, disinfectant wipes and bug repellent wipes were available here too. Décor for the hors’ de veour hour were more lanterns with flowers.
The picnic tables were covered with ivory tulle. Barbershop quartet music was to play during hors’ de veours as well. We had other things planned but that is part of that other blog I mentioned earlier.
After hors’ de veours, our guests were able to find their seating for the reception on the vintage four over three window that was on an easel by the door. The menu was written on a gold framed mirror that was also on an easel.
We opted for rows of 8’ tables, at which 10 guests were seated. Each table was covered in ivory floor length table linens and then laid with either navy or pink taffeta runner. Chairs were covered in ivory fabric with either a navy or a pink taffeta sash. Coordinating napkins adorned each place setting which was ivory gold rimmed china. Table centerpieces were a slab of sealed wood on top of which set a lantern (these are the same lanterns that adorned the aisle at the ceremony.) Gold mercury votive cups with candles interspersed with various sized moss balls completed the centerpieces.
The head table was decorated with the wedding party flowers. The altar arrangement was also placed on the head table. For fun, we had buckets of blush pink with gold glitter slime on the head table.
The slime, along with coloring and puzzle books and crayons were also part of the kiddy bags we created for our little guests. For all our guests, we had personalized bottles of water. These were in metal tubs filled with ice on the patio.
Our photographer had a flat screen where he showed the photos he’d taken so far of our event. I think guests enjoyed that feature – a first look of our wedding photos.
It was a fantastic day! It was personal, it was unique; it was personally and uniquely us! Our perfect day!
Stationary: Bride & Groom, Vistaprint.com
Ceremony Venue: Oak Opening Metropark – Evergreen Lake - Whitehouse, OH
Reception Venue: Oak Opening Metropark – The Lodge - Whitehouse, OH
Accommodations: Oak Opening Metropark – Caretaker’s Cottage - Whitehouse, OH
Photography: JLK Photography - Napoleon, OH
Floral Design: Designs With Love - Archbold, OH
Horse & Buggy: Ethan Wirick
Bridal Gown: Toni Lynn Creations
Bride's Hair: Elisabeth Rhoads
Make-up: Salon Bliss, Archbold, OH
Groom's Tuxedo: Men's Warehouse - Fallen Timbers, Maumee, OH
Wedding Planning: Designs With Love- Archbold, OH
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