Jessica + Lotan
(May 30, 2021 in Spokane, WA)
The author's vision for their wedding was romantic, elegant, and classic with colors of rose quartz, ivory, and navy. The couple prioritized flowers and found a great florist who understood their vision. They found their photographers on Instagram and the rest of their vendors through preferred vendor lists, personal recommendations, and blogs. Despite the challenges of planning a wedding during COVID, their wedding was small, emotional, and full of love. They incorporated unique details such as handmade stomping glass and stemless wine glasses made from the shards of the glass. The author's #1 tip for future brides is to spread out the wedding tasks and not get overwhelmed by trying to do everything at once.
Our real bride Jessica was absolutely gorgeous in our Lila gown by LAmour. This is a stunning A-line gown with a beautiful full tulle skirt. The bodice is unlined and features beautiful floral appliques that trickle down into the skirt. The off-the-shoulder straps provide a romantic feel to the dress AND theyre detachable!
By our real bride, Jessica:
What was the vision for your wedding?
The vision for our wedding was romantic, elegant, and classic. We pretty quickly landed on our colors of rose quartz, ivory, and navy as we felt that would look great for our spring wedding. Everything else was very overwhelming! There are so many gorgeous aesthetics on Pinterest and social media, so it was really hard to narrow down exactly what we wanted. It was actually helpful when I picked my wedding dress because it sparked the vision of "Taylor Swift" romantic vibes.
I knew that flowers were important for me so we started by deciding the overall look for the various floral arrangements we would have. Our florist at Rose and Blossom was great because she really understood what I was looking for, and suggested flower varieties that would work well with everything else we wanted.
In regards to choosing our vendors, our photographers were one of the first that we chose. They actually found us! When Honest in Ivory posted my "found the gown" photo on their story, I got a bunch of follow requests from local photographers and vendors. After scrolling through a few profiles, I really liked Caleb+Britt's style and the fact that they were a husband/wife duo. From there, the rest of our vendors came from preferred vendors lists from our venue, personal recommendations, and reading Honest in Ivory blogs! In the end, we learned that most of our vendors had worked with each other before and I feel like that really helped with the overall cohesiveness of the day!
How did it go the day-of?
Our wedding day was absolutely perfect because we had a great support system of family and friends who really made the day so easy for us! Planning a wedding during COVID was really tricky, as there were times when we didn't even know if we would get to have our dream wedding. However, we pushed through (and made several backup plans) and it all worked well!
Our wedding was special because it was fairly small (just family and close friends) which meant that everyone could get to know each other. It felt like our families were truly blending! We incorporated a lot of fun touches which added to the overall vibe of the day, including a petal toss cart (for right after the ceremony), a table with photos honoring our parents' and grandparents' marriages, and handmade details at each table setting. My husband is Jewish, so one aspect of our ceremony which was unique was that he stomped on a glass at the end. Rather than purchase a regular stomping glass, we actually worked with a glassblowing studio in Seattle that made one for us to stomp and then save the pieces to be used in a keepsake piece. Now we have beautiful stemless wine glasses which were made by melting the shards of our smashed glass and they serve as wonderful reminders of our big day. We loved our wedding because it was traditional, but so personal to us. The ceremony was emotional and full of love, but our reception was one big party! At one point, every guest was on the dance floor, which is exactly what we wanted.
What is your #1 tip to future brides?
It was really helpful for me to spread out the "wedding tasks" and not get overwhelmed by trying to do everything at once. At the beginning of our wedding planning, I was so excited and I wanted to dive right in and do everything at once. However, spending a weekend working on one task at a time allowed me to enjoy those crafty things rather than have them feel like a chore. It was something fun for my husband and me to do together and helped us to pace ourselves.
