Welcome to the third installment of Wedding Wednesdays. On the first and third Wednesday of each month, we will share a lovely handmade wedding with you. Check out our previous installments here from St. Paul and here from Omaha. If you know of a wedding that we simply need to feature, please email us!
(Images courtesy of Lindsey and Todd’s wonderful friend and photographer, Doug Jones. The photos also served as their wedding present from him!)
For Lindsey and Todd, their wedding day was not about the perfect hairdo or flashy tuxedos, but about family and using little touches to make it their own. With a modest budget and Lindsey at the reins, the two transformed a public space in Cleveland into an intimate get together for the people they love.
I knew right off the bat there would be no tuxedos involved. I really wanted the feeling to be sophisticated, yet casual. Both Todd and I are pretty laid back, and I think we wanted the wedding to reflect that. Todd was more than happy to let me take the reins. There were times before everything came together that he would look at the random assortment of junk inside a shopping bag and raise his eyebrows, like ‘Where is she going with this?’, though he did insist on being in charge of the adult beverages. But other than that, I just kind of ran with it. I had a picture in my head, and it was really fun to try to get to that place in real life with a very modest budget. Most of the whimsy-meets-nature decor was purchased from The Flower Factory, a wholesale supply store. We decided against traditional attendants—we knew our friends would have more fun without the stress, cost, and responsibilities of the typical bridesmaids and groomsmen, and it made planning easier as well. My mother stood for me, Todd’s father for him, my brothers walked me down the aisle, and my son Milo was the ringbearer. I bought apple green silk ties for the men and asked them to wear white button-down shirts and chocolate brown trousers. My motto through the whole planning process was to keep it simple, yet sophisticated.
The couple wanted an innately beautiful space—one that wouldn’t require much additional decoration—and found just that in the Rockefeller Park Greenhouse. Since it’s a public space, it also was very inexpensive to rent. Lindsey says:
The Rockefeller Greenhouse is a beautiful group of botanical gardens donated to the city of Cleveland by John D. Rockefeller in the early 1900’s. Used initially for growing the plants used to landscape City parks and gardens, it now features specialty plant collections and theme gardens, including a talking garden for the blind.
Lindsey sheds a little light into what goes through brides’ minds before they walk down the aisle:
‘Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry.’ It didn’t work, though. The moment my brothers led me out through the doors and I saw all my family and close friends, and my son and fiance standing by the pastor waiting for me, I started crying like a nerd.
Just look at this ring pillow! Lindsey share with us why it was the perfect Etsy find:
I’m an unabashed bookworm, so when I spotted this creative alternative to a ring pillow on Etsy (from Anne Michelle Heirloom’s shop), I had to have it. There’s a secret compartment inside that held our wedding bands. Pretty neat, huh?
Flowers were another thing that I wanted to keep as simple as I could. Since both the ceremony and reception were outdoors, all I really needed was my bouquet. I had asked around a bit at florists in the area, and for a bouquet of calla lilies, everyone wanted at least $50-$100. For our situation, every dollar mattered, so I went to our local Whole Foods and bought six lilies the night before. Then I added some floral tape and chocolate brown ribbon, and voila—instant loveliness for about $15.
The wedding and reception maintained a relaxed atmosphere, and the couple received a lot of compliments on the overall feel. What was the true indicator, though? Lindsey says:
That adorable boy is my six-year-old son, Milo. After his ringbearer duties were over, he ran around the Sculpture Garden with his friend Noah, and they collected all the little green rocks they found hiding amongst the pebbles… they were convinced it was Kryptonite. He was absolutely filthy by the end of the reception, which I think by six-year-old standards meant the day was a success!
We invited less than thirty people to the actual ceremony, mainly family and close friends. The Rockefeller Greenhouse has limited room, and realistically I knew that people usually yawn through ceremonies anyway; it made more sense to keep the ceremony small and then really rock it out at the reception.
The reception was fantastic after about forty-five minutes of sheer panic… my mother and my friend Julia did the lion’s share of the catering, and when most of our guests arrived earlier than planned, we were all running around trying to get the hors d’oeuvres finished. Everything turned out beautifully in the end, and it turns out people don’t mind waiting a while for the food as long as the cocktails are flowing!
Even Lindsey’s friend helped out with the dessert:
The cakes were courtesy of my longtime friend Julia… I love cheesecake, and she made a delicious set of three tangy cheesecakes from scratch. We decorated them with just a few well-placed sprigs of ‘kangaroo paws’ I picked up at the local Whole Foods store. The cake topper is actually my maternal grandparents’—they have been married for more than 50 years, and I was honored to be able to use their topper. I loved the vintage look it lent to the reception site.
Lindsey’s brothers Ryan and Chris with their girlfriends Katie and Sarah, hanging out on a modern wooden sculpture at their reception venue. Lindsey says:
Todd works as an administrator at the Cleveland Institute of Art, and we were fortunate enough to be able to make use of their Gund Building Sculpture Garden for the reception. The outdoor area was beautiful and spacious, and decorating was as simple as covering the tables with chocolate brown tablecloths, and placing goldfish bowls and elkhorn ferns in terra cotta pots on the tables as centerpieces. We also hung rice paper lanterns from the trees to add to the whimsical atmosphere. The Sculpture Garden terraces led to an indoor lounge area that was decorated in a similar fashion. We had the food set up inside, and the drinks on the terrace to encourage people to come outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.
On the lower step is my friend Luke, whose father, Dan, has a small church in rural Ohio and was kind enough to officiate. My friend Caleb is a talented musician, and provided the music for the ceremony. It’s funny, I’ve known these people for so long and trust them implicitly… I think my directions to him regarding the music were something like, “Bring your guitar. Play pretty things.” Next to him is his girlfriend Amanda, an art student.
This image of the couple showing off their new rings is Lindsey’s favorite photo of the wedding. It has an artsy, portrait-like feel that she just loves. Of the entire day, Lindsey says:
I was so happy to make the rounds at the reception and see all the people I love together, laughing, talking, and enjoying the delicious food. It was the culmination of a lot of hard work, and to see it all come together successfully was wonderful. The atmosphere was incredibly laid-back, very cocktail party. We got tons of compliments on the mood of the reception. No obnoxious DJ blasting the chicken dance, just an iPod selection of oldies and indie rock playing quietly to encourage socializing and conversation. It was nice to avoid that awkward forced merriment of some of the more formal receptions I’ve attended and just let things flow naturally – no seat assignments, no rigid schedule to adhere to.
Thank you again to Lindsey and Todd for sharing your lovely day with us!
