Abby & Austin’s vibrant wedding took place on a hot summer day in early June; and being a wedding florist herself, Abby created the most amazing tropical floral arrangements with coral peonies, greenery, ranunculus, and anemones that suited the sun-bathed day perfectly!

I am firmly of the belief that your venue goes a long way to setting the style and theme of your day, but Abby & Austin show just how you can make any space your own with a vision and a little creativity! While romantic portraits were captured outdoors in a nearby historic neighborhood, their ceremony and reception were held indoors, in a restored brewery no less – more industrial loft than tropical oasis – that they decorated with cool white linens, bistro lighting, and of course LOADS of tropical flowers.

“We had a lot of DIY and handmade elements to our wedding. Our table runners and overlays were sewn by my mom from some fabric I bought online, our moms made all the desserts for our dessert table, my mom fashioned a guestbook sign out of an old window that came from Austin’s mom, my mom made hundreds of cute little stamps that we affixed to the front of popcorn boxes, my mom made a little sign that my nephew carried down the aisle. I would definitely say that our wedding was a labor of love.”

Abby wore a beautiful lace Sottero & Midgley gown, but it was the vintage veil she topped it with that was extra special….  “Before I even picked out my wedding dress, I knew that I wanted to wear my mom’s veil. If she weren’t 4 inches shorter than me, I probably would’ve worn her dress, too. When I was young, I always tried on my mom’s wedding dress and have always thought it was so beautiful. Last year, January 2017, my mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 lymphoma. It was the scariest time of my life. I was a complete wreck, but my mom handled it with grace and strength, and she is now in complete remission. But after that scare, it was even more important that I wear her veil, so the wedding dress that I picked had to look good with the veil, first and foremost.”

“My absolute favorite part of the day was the actual ceremony. I was nervous walking down the aisle, but then my 4-year-old nephew (as I’m about half way down the aisle) yells out “SAY CHEEEESE!” I laughed really loudly. In fact, there is a picture of me laughing in our photo gallery, and it turned out to be one of my favorite pictures. Then, standing up there with Austin, saying our vows, I started crying. Then Austin started crying. Then I could hear sniffles and giggles from our bridal party and guests. It was so wonderful to feel the emotion coming from all of our loved ones. And perhaps my favorite part about the ceremony was having my brother play the ceremony music and officiate. He did such an amazing job. He played “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty as the bridal party walked in, then he played “Desire” by Ryan Adams as I walked down the aisle. During our ring ceremony, he played an acoustic version of “The Promise” by When in Rome, which is one of my all time favorite songs from the 80’s. It was so special.”

“I wanted the wedding flowers to be bright and tropical yet still romantic and beautiful, so I decided to use all tropical greens with bright garden flowers. I am a florist, so the flowers were extremely important to me. I chose to get married in June so that I could have coral peonies! I know that is kind of crazy, but I am a complete flower geek. I used a lot of monstera leaves, robellini, fishtail, and ruscus for the tropical greenery. For flowers, I used about 200 stems of coral peonies, lots of garden roses, spray roses, anemones, ranunculus, veronica, stock, clematis, and carnations.”

“The attire choices actually came somewhat serendipitously. I found my bridesmaids dresses on Nordstrom as I was looking for an outfit for myself. I saw the dress and thought “These are adorable! And in my colors! And they can wear them again!” The guys suits were discovered in a quick internet search. I have purchased many times from ASOS, but the suits they had were exactly what I envisioned the guys to wear AND they were on clearance.”

“The most important things to us during planning were the food and the flowers. We both enjoy great food, and the Quincy Country Club did an amazing job with the catering. I own a flower shop, and our speciality is wedding flowers, so of course the flowers were a big deal to me. We saved money in a lot of areas so that we could have a fantastic meal and lots of florals. For example, we kept the guest list down to under 100 people for the ceremony and dinner, but we opened up the reception to all of our extended family, friends, and co-workers. We had family help with set up, and they made most of our desserts and signature drinks. We kept our bridal party small, and probably the best way we saved that made our wedding even more special was by having my brother marry us and play our ceremony music.”

“Austin’s aunt is a cake decorator, so she made the cake. We kept the cake very simple because we had an over-the-top dessert bar – which also served as our favors. The cake was a two tier lemon cake with raspberry filling with white butter cream and metallic foils. Most of the desserts were hand-made by our moms. We had cheesecake bars, lemon bars, brownies, popcorn, candy, ice cream, and all kinds of goodies.”

Pearls of wedding wisdom from the bride….

“My only piece of advice is to do what makes you happy. Traditions are a thing of the past. I know there can be a lot of input from outsiders on what you “should” do, but don’t do it! For example, I was told that I “needed to register for a lot of things.” A lot of our friends and family kept asking me what I wanted besides money. But I didn’t want things. A house full of stuff that I may never use didn’t make me happy, so I stuck to my guns and I’m so glad I did. I did that for most aspects of the wedding, and while I know not everyone was happy, Austin and I were very happy and in the end, that is all that matters.”

Tell us a little bit about your photographer….

“I met Justine a little over two years ago when she approached my business to purchase a bouquet for a styled shoot she was doing. She mentioned that she was just beginning her journey as a photographer as it had always been her passion. After Austin proposed, I reached out to her to see if she was still thinking about pursuing her passion as a wedding photographer, and she graciously agreed to capture our wedding. After I saw some of her pictures, I knew that I wanted her as our photographer. I also wanted someone that I would want to hang out with all day, since you do end up spending a lot of time with your photographer, and she just seemed like someone I would be friends with. Justine has an amazing talent and all of my bridesmaids commented on hour great she was!”

VIEW THE GALLERY

Aren’t those florals fabulous?? Huge congratulations to the happy couple Abby & Austin, and a big thankyou to them and their photographer Justine Wright for capturing it all so perfectly and allowing me to share it with you here. If you love Justine’s work and would like to see more be sure to pop across to her website www.justinewrightphoto.com – and don’t forget to follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

Or if its the fine art style of photography you have fallen in love with then you should take a peek at Alex & Amanda’s beautiful Fall affair in the mountains of North Carolina and Tricia & Aaron’s super sweet mid-century inspired celebration. Or for more bright florals, but this time with a boho-vintage vibe Shelby & Zachary’s wedding is not to be missed

Amy

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Contributors & Credits

Photography – Justine Wright Photography // Venue – Dick Brothers Brewery // Floral Design – Lavish Floral Design // Stationery – Zazzle // Wedding Cake – Hyvee // Hair – Hilary Minnick // Makeup – Ashley Hatch // Rentals – Celebrations Party & Event Rentals // Catering – Quincy Country Club // Engagement Ring – Sturhahn Jewelers // Wedding Dress – Sottero & Midgley // Bridal Boutique – Girls in White Satin // Groom’s Attire – ASOS // Bridesmaid Dresses – Nordstrom // Ties – Knotty Tie Co. // Submitted via Matchology