alicia + tony

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I first met Alicia on May 20, 2011 at 11am at a Starbucks for an initial consultation.  Three and a half hours later, we were still sitting there, talking and talking. I left the meeting knowing I had met someone who I not only wanted to work with, but also wanted to be friends with! I am a lucky lady – I got to do both! The year that followed that meeting was SO much fun.  At their wedding on May 12, 2012, I felt like, even though I was their planner and there in a professional capacity, I was at the wedding of two dear friends.  The second I saw Alicia in her bridal glory – and I mean serious bridal glory, wait till you see the pictures below – I immediately teared up.  This wedding was such a pleasure to work on and seeing every piece of the design come together was amazing.

In her own words, Alicia described her wedding as “vintage-parisian-cafe-meets-retro-americana-lawn-party-meets-rustic-tuscan-dinner-party … with an heirloom sewing theme and a healthy dose of mint green” and well, that pretty much hits the nail on the head.  First, the setting: Mercury Hall. I’ve made no secret of how much I love this venue and how it can be a chameleon taking on any design, any feel – for Alicia and Tony’s wedding, it was the perfect setting for exactly what she described.  Something you should know about Alicia – she is an incredibly talented artist.  And her wedding truly became her art.  She lived and breathed every piece of this wedding from start to finish.  Every printed piece that you see below was designed, printed, and assembled by the bride and her equally lovely Maid of Honor, Lizzie.  We’re talking the invitations (complete with red-stitched envelopes they hand-made), the programs, the menu cards, all the way down to the luggage tags showing the flavors of the pies.  And the best part was that they had such a great time doing it that they’ve since started their own design and lifestyle company, spool + ink {handcrafted}.   To get that truly vintage essence? Enter Loot Vintage, another Three Apples favorite – the altar doors, the vintage vanity welcome table, the photo display table, the escort card door, the head table’s vintage china … all fabulous pieces from Loot’s inventory.  And Zinnia and Company knocked the flowers out of the park as usual! Leah’s designs were absolutely spot on – a lovely vintage feel in the perfect colors.

As guests walked up, the first piece they came to was the vintage vanity – here they could sign Alicia and Tony’s rolodex and grab a program booklet. Just inside the hall was a setup for gifts – a vintage ironing board sitting under a pennant banner with the couple’s initials.  And on the big eave outside Mercury Hall’s double doors were pennants proclaiming “Oh Happy Day.”

Alicia and Tony said “I do” inside Mercury Hall against that beautiful Loot backdrop.  The music for the ceremony was a serious treat for guests – Suzanna Choffel and her band were awesome.  After the ceremony, their guests headed out under the oak trees for cocktail hour.  By one of trees, we put out a set of bocce balls (totally the norm for any Alicia and Tony shindig) for guests to play, another had an old door with the luggage tag escort cards, and the third was next to a beautiful display of family photos on one of Loot’s tables.  Also on that table, a dictionary for guests to circle words that reminded them of the couple and leave notes.  So cute.

Dinner was outside – each table had a burlap runner sitting under a cluster of floral arrangements in mason jars and milk bottles and a bocce ball table number, and at each place setting was a fabric pocket containing the printed menu.  At the head table, all of the china was vintage, and at Alicia and Tony’s placesettings were “bride” and “groom” spelled out in scrabble tiles.  Another key thing to know about Alicia and Tony – these two know their food.  So it was important for the food to be amazing, and Royal Fig Catering accomplished that with flying colors (no surprise here, Royal Fig rocks!). The family style meal was perfection.

The cake table was another incredible set up! The cake (in mint green, of course!) was by Walton’s Fancy and Staple with edible buttons ordered by the bride running down the side. And the pies, OH the pies! Andrea with Bake Sale – ANOTHER fave – is a baking genius (the PB&J is my personal favorite… oh wow). And now, onto the party! For dancing, guests headed back inside the hall where the room had been flipped from the ceremony setup.  Erik with Greenbelt DJ took the reins and kept the dance floor going. For favors at the end of the night, little muslin bags stamped with ampersands and tied with mini tags filled with chocolate covered espresso beans (put together by spool + ink, of course!).  And after running through a tunnel of sparklers, Alicia and Tony exited in an antique Bentley.

As you look at the photos below, keep your eyes peeled for a few themes that show up throughout: spools, thread, buttons and yarn; ampersands; quotes and books; and chalkboards. So many incredible details!

From a professional perspective, this wedding was any planner’s dream – an oh-so-easy-to-work-with couple, lots of design and details, a dream team of vendors.  And from a personal perspective, this wedding was beyond amazing –  I loved getting random texts from Alicia with pictures of her newest finds, I loved collaborating with such an incredibly creative artist, I loved all of the beautiful personal details, and I LOVE that I now have awesome friends for life!

One last favorite vendor shout out: photos by the fantastically talented duo The Nichols.

Style Me Pretty loved Alicia and Tony’s wedding too! See their post HERE.