Edith + Lonnie
September 30th, 2023 in Kennewick, WA
Welcome back to the Ivory Bride Blog, where we share stories of our real brides and their dreamy weddings! Today, we're featuring a wedding with a celestial twist that perfectly captured the couple's unique vision. They envisioned a starry night theme with navy, gold, and silver accents, incorporating stars, moons, and suns into their decor. Their special touches, from custom Funko Pop cake toppers to a drumhead guest book, made their celebration truly one-of-a-kind. With a venue adorned in string lights and chandeliers, their day was not only beautiful but also deeply personal, reflecting their love story in every detail. Read on to learn how their magical day unfolded and gain some heartfelt advice for future brides.
By our real bride, Edith:
What was the vision for your wedding?
The vision we had for our wedding was a starry, celestial night! Our colors were navy with gold and silver accent colors. We wanted to incorporate stars, moons, and suns in any way possible and we accomplished that vision!
We knew we wanted string lights everywhere and thankfully our venue had chandeliers and string lights galore so it hardly needed decor added! One big thing we wanted for sure that we decided before we even got engaged was custom Funko Pops as our cake topper! I customized them by "Frankenstein-ing" several together, painting them to match our wedding outfits, adding a veil out of sparkle fabric tulle, and even making accessories like a bouquet, drumsticks, and vow books out of polymer clay! They turned out so perfect!
Our cake had acrylic stars and moons to tie in our theme. Another personal detail we included was a drumhead as our guest book! My husband is a drummer and we thought it would be a nice decoration to have on our wall. My mother-in-law painted rocks navy and added our names, the wedding date, and stars and moons as our favors.
I also knew I wanted to have a crystal handle for my bouquet. I kept a close eye on a crystal shop's Instagram page, located in Wenatchee, Washington, to find a crystal that would work and as soon as I saw a rhodonite wand, I knew it would be perfect! Rhodonite is said to clear away emotional wounds and scars from the past and nurture love. It was a great deal! My husband also wanted each of us to open a pack of Pokemon cards as part of our unity ceremony so that we could display the cards we pulled in a frame to remind us of that moment.
It was a beautiful, personal touch. All of the little details we wanted to include were incorporated and made our wedding exactly what we dreamed of! It truly was a dream.
How did it go the day-of?
We were so lucky in that our day was the wedding of our dreams. During planning, we, unfortunately, had concerns about our caterer that did end up causing a bit of stress on the day of but we had planned accordingly ahead of time and had a backup plan ready to go! Our venue coordinator was also an immense help! Michelle at Bella Fiori Gardens truly prioritizes her couples and their experience and she worked so hard to help us with this issue and relieve as much of the weight of it as she could! She provided us with so much support and her staff were so helpful. It truly is a big thanks to her that our wedding went as smoothly as it did. Her professionalism is why we can feel like our day went perfectly. The concerns regarding the caterer were hardly anything to dwell on because she worked with us and helped us adjust as needed and by the time the ceremony started, our spirits were high.
Lonnie and I gave gifts to each other once he arrived at the venue, his brother Cody (also our officiant) was nice enough to go back and forth to deliver them. I surprised him with tickets to see two bands he's been waiting like ten years to see (Intervals & TessaracT), a new, colorful lanyard for his keys (he would lose his keys all the time and I bet part of it was that his dark lanyard made it hard to find), and a homemade keychain of a GameBoy Color, matching the one he had as a kid with Charmander on the screen.
He got me a Halloween basket with so many little treats and items I would love: a Halloween blanket, a bat mug with a skull hot cocoa bomb, Halloween pencils, hair clips and earrings, Squishmallow pens, a Nightmare Before Christmas tapestry and Jack Skellington picture block that he wrote a sweet message on the back of, candles and tons of candies with a bouquet of roses as a final touch. It was so perfect! We both got each other things that we knew each other would love. When it came to our appearances of the day, we both looked exactly like we wanted!
I felt so beautiful in my Honest in Ivory gown! (Justin Alexander Sincerity 44073) My experience finding my gown in their shop was amazing! They treated me and my bridesmaids so well and I would purchase a dress from them again if I had to do it all over! My stylist had the most amazing choices for me to pick from and I loved each one so much. As soon as I was about to step into my dress, I looked at my sister as she held it for me and said to her, "This is the one, isn't it?", and she smiled at me and nodded. I ordered leafy straps to add to it and they matched perfectly with the leaves of my engagement ring and wedding band. Once my talented seamstress added them on and my dress was altered to perfection, it felt like MY dress. Lonnie later told me that he loved the dress I picked and that it was perfect for our theme and venue. He said that I looked so beautiful and I felt it!
I looked exactly the way I imagined. My hair and makeup artist, Erika, knocked it out of the park and made me feel so beautiful. When I had done a first look with my dad, we both cried and held each other for a moment. It was so special to me. We waited in the bridal suite as our bridal party began making their way down the aisle. We were both so nervous and he held my hand so tightly, trying to hold back our tears-- we were just so full of so many emotions.
Lonnie and I opted out of doing a first look. We knew we wanted to build up to that moment. I had stayed at my sister's house the night prior and he stayed at our home; our night apart was to add to the build-up to the moment we saw each other at the altar. During my walk down, I had just walked around the fountain with my dad and was overwhelmed with emotion as I approached the beginning of the aisle.
The lyrics to the song I was walking down to, (I Do by Aloe Blacc) are lyrics that reflect exactly how I feel about marrying my husband. I let out the biggest, ugliest sob at the beginning of the aisle and apologized before continuing. I think it's pretty funny now. Later when my husband and I discussed it, he said that he got emotional when he heard the song, thinking, "Wait, that's her song. This is happening!" He was looking down at the time and was going to wait to look up but as soon as he heard my sob, he said he looked up in a "what was that?" type of way and saw me crying.
Once we met up at the altar and I took his arm, as my dad gave me away, I could see the emotion and love in his eyes. He doesn't cry much but at that moment, his eyes were red and watery and he had the biggest smile on his face as we took each other's hands. Lonnie's brother was the perfect choice as our officiant and wrote up a ceremony that was so personal to who are as a couple. I confidently read my handwritten vows and Lonnie wanted to take a chance at saying his from the heart.
As another funny moment in our ceremony, he said that he had in mind several things he wanted to mention and that I had mentioned a few of them in my vows but that as soon as I had handed him the mic, he said his entire mind went blank and he had to rely on the little pictures that he had drawn as reminders to his vows. They included an eye (loved me at first sight); waves that represented a quote from a song: Kill the Ache by Currents - "This is our home now, you and I will never be alone/When you fall down, take my hand, don't let me go/When you fall down, I am yours to hold"; a turd and finally a heart because even when I am a turd, he still and will always love me. They were very "Lonnie" vows.
When we were pronounced husband and wife, I was so excited that I forgot to get my bouquet back from my matron of honor (my sister Ericka). We were very intentional about the songs we picked for each of the special moments in the day. Lonnie's aisle song: Fall for Me by Sleep Token; my aisle song: I Do by Aloe Blacc; the end of the ceremony: Follow You by Bring Me The Horizon; grand entrance: Happy by Shangrila; first dance: Down for the Ride; Father/daughter: Tu Sangre en mi Cuerpo by Ángela Aguilar and her father Pepe Aguilar; cake cutting: The One by Jonny Craig; final dance: Footprints by Rain City Drive.
Our reception was equally as dreamy. It had some of our best moments. Among them was our daughter running up during our first dance to give us a big hug and sway with us, my little niece borrowing the mic to thank everyone for coming to her party, and our families dancing together to Spanish songs and mingling. My dad even danced with Lonnie's grandma! We could tell everyone had a great time and had so much love for us. We felt so lucky to have everyone that helped make our day so special.
Our family helped us so much in making sure our wedding was everything we could have wanted and it means so much to us that they love us and are so supportive of our marriage. Our loved ones are everything to us and we couldn't have had such a special day without them. We have the most amazing family and friends!
Our photographer, Tiffany, did such an amazing job with our wedding gallery! The photos she took truly show the happiness and good vibes that were had. Looking through them, we were instantly taken back to that night and were able to relive it all over again! They're the most beautiful reminder of one of the most important days of our lives.
What is your #1 tip to future brides?
My #1 tip to future brides is to fight for those little details! I was determined to incorporate details that represented us and our relationship. We made sure that those details were items that could be keepsakes later on. Examples of this are our Funko Pop cake toppers, our Pokemon cards, our neon name sign, our drumhead guest book, and our wishing well card box.
These items are so sentimental and whenever we see them, we are taken back to our wedding day. Please, if there are any sort of items that you feel like really speak to who you and your significant other are, do everything you can to make it happen. Don't skimp on those details that will make your day feel more personal-- feel like you.
