Announcing a new series – the Featured Weddings series! Many of our customers are brides who use our watercolor clip art, pre-made backgrounds & borders to make their own wedding stationery – be it invitations, welcome signs, thank you cards and more. This is a place to feature their work & weddings – straight from them!
We start this series with Jessica Wind, a super talented and gorgeous photographer & designer. Read on to get a few glimpses of her beautiful Blush Pink & Navy Wedding in Gaylord, Michigan.
Location: Gaylord, MI.
1. Please tell us a little about the two of you and how you met!
Zack and I met in High School through a mutual friend and began dating. After we started dating we quickly became best friends, 5 years later we became parents to our sweet baby Layla, then engaged, and now finally husband and wife. 6 years, 2 dogs, and a baby later we have such a great relationship and we were so lucky to have an amazing wedding day surrounded by our best friends and family to celebrate that.
2. The wedding – what was the theme that you had in mind and why?
We wanted everything simple, light, and classic. We had a ton of small details that tied everything together and brought out our individual personalities. The guys had dinosaur cuff-links (from The Lysine Contingency), I made charms with photos of Zack’s late father put on Zack’s boutonniere, his mom’s corsage, and sisters’ bouquets so that they could feel him there with them all day, my flower girls had gorgeous bows from a brand my daughter reps for (Lark and Laurel), the bridesmaids wore the earrings I gave them when I asked them to be my bridesmaids, I designed everything I could myself, the cake and stationary all matched our wedding invitation, we had a wedding hashtag (#gonewiththewind17) and personal snapchat filter, and we chose vendors we had a previous personal connection with.
The Dress & The Ring
3. What did you have in mind when you were thinking about your look for the wedding?
I really wanted something flattering and timeless. Something we could look back on years from now and still love.
4. Where is the dress from?
The dress is from Petoskey Bridal. The designer is Casablanca Bridal and it is style number 2077. I added sleeves and slightly changed the neckline.
5. Did you always think you’d find something here, or was it a chance find?
More of a chance find. This was the second dress shop that my mom and I went to and we thought we would get a feel for the style I would like then we could bring more friends and family later to pick out “the one”. After I tried it on we both knew there was no point in looking any further, the dress fit perfectly off the rack that was the one for me!
6. Can you recommend other similar stores?
I would highly recommend Petoskey Bridal. They made sure I was happy and helped me customize the dress the dress so that it was perfect for me.
7. Where are the bridal accessories from?
My veil was my something borrowed and is from my sister-in-law Stephanie! Definitely was a special touch to complete my look. My hair piece was from Petoskey Bridal. I had two pairs of shoes, the first formal ones were David Tate, and the second were sparkly/fun Kate Spade tennis shoes that I wore at the reception.
8. Where is your ring from? What’s the story behind it?
I’m actually not sure where my ring is from! It is rose gold (my favorite) and absolutely perfect for my style. Zack’s ring is from RobandLean on Etsy and is made with Dinosaur bone. I knew right when we got engaged I wanted to get him a ring with dinosaur bone, Zack is a geology major and is a dinosaur fanatic. This ring was perfect because it had dinosaur bone, the color of it was green (his favorite color) and the ring had hints of rose gold so that it coordinated with my ring as well.
Wedding Details – Stationary Cake, Signs, Decor
9. Why did you choose to go the DIY route?
I chose the DIY route because I love design and wanted to make sure the look of the wedding was as cohesive and perfect as possible.
10. How did you use Essem Creatives Products and what was your experience like?
I used Essem Creatives to design a program for the reception, welcome sign, “our story” sign, reserved signs, and to design a thank you. My experience was perfect and the designs were easy to use. The designs were similar to our invite from Minted so it allowed me to create a cohesive look between our invite, cake, and all stationary.
10. Where did you get your wedding stationery printed?
We printed at home. My dad is a computer expert and my mom and I are photographers so we were fortunate enough to have a printer that could handle the size and quality we wanted for the wedding.
11. What are your top tips for other bride-tobe’s out there on DIYing their stationary/wedding?
I would say it is so fun and a way to make your wedding more personal. Start early enough so you’re not overwhelmed in the two weeks before the wedding when time flies by super fast.
12. Please tell us about your main vendors (cake, decor, event planner, photog, stylist, etc.)
We went the DIY or family route whenever we could! This made our day so personal and special. I am a photographer so if I could have done my own photos I would have. My uncle is a very talented photographer so he spent his day taking our photos and I edited them.
Church: Peace Lutheran Church
Photo Location: Treetops Resort
Trolley: Northern Michigan Trolley
Reception Hall: Otsego Grand Event Center
Cake: Patty Blanzy
Florist: Melissa Krussel
Photographer: Doug Wind
Photo Editor: 22 & You
Hair: Carriage Clippery
Flower Girl Bows: Lark and Laurel
Flower Girl Dress Shop: Laurie’s Infants and Children’s Wear
Flower Girl Shoes: Monkey Feet USA
Dress Shop: Petoskey Bridal
Bridal Shoes: Kate Spade & David Tate
Cuff Links: The Lysine Contingency
DJ: Celebration DJs
Advice for brides
13. What are your top tips for bride-to-be’s in general?
My top tip would be to focus on the people you are surrounding yourself with on the wedding day. We were so fortunate to have the perfect wedding party and supportive family which made our day the best day of our lives.
To our readers, we hope you enjoyed this! Stay tuned as we will be bringing you more in this Featured Weddings series! If you’re looking to DIY a few designs for your wedding / event, check out the shop.