Real Wedding: Julie & Dan

  • December 6, 2009 at 10:30 am

Since there was so much talk this week about intimate weddings with a keep-it-simple mentality, this really felt like the perfect time to share Julie and Dan’s wedding with you. As soon as I read Julie’s account of the day and their wedding choices – even before I saw the beautiful photos from You Look Nice Today – I knew this was a wedding after my own heart. In Julie’s own words:

Dan and I dated for about three and a half years before we got married. All along I mostly thought that we would elope or have a destination wedding as I wasn’t into the idea of a traditional wedding. Being an event planner by trade, the last thing I wanted to do was plan my own huge party. Additionally, I hate to be the center of attention and the idea of hundreds of people staring at me, well it really made me nervous.
When Dan proposed (in Paris!) and we told our folks, I realized that a wedding could really be just the excuse we needed to see family and friends from out of town, not to mention the cocktails and dancing in fancy outfits. So, the wedding was on. We were engaged in April and married in September which definitely helped ease my anxiety as well as create a sense of focus. I knew I wanted it to be small, low-key, modern, fashionable, cheap(er) and fun!

So here we go. How this couple kept things sweet and simple…


Julie got ready at the very cool Ace Hotel (okay, I’ve never been there, but I hear it’s pretty cool, and it looks way cool…). Julie, her mom and her sister did all of the flower arrangements in the hotel a couple of hours before the ceremony, with flowers purchased at the grocery store.


From Julie – “I did not spend a lot of money on décor. I brought things from our home, like an old typewriter, some old books, framed posters of Paris, an old globe, wedding pictures of family members. I used tall glass vases and white willow branches for our ‘altar. I added tissue paper flowers to add some color. I also bought crepe paper streamers and paper wedding bells from our local party store. Modern geometric fabric from IKEA was used as table cloths.”


If you’re worried about a cocktail party not being special enough in the food department, listen to this menu: Dungeness crab cakes, prosciutto & basil with peaches and melon, pulled pork silver dollar sandwiches, antipasti, gazpacho shots, and duck confit quesadillas. Yes, please.


Mini cupcakes in red velvet, carrot, and chocolate.


Says Julie, “I’m a big fan of design blogs and used some of them for inspiration along with indie wedding blogs. I’m drawn to the style of the 1960’s and knew that I wanted to incorporate those elements with a modern/natural edge. An idea we borrowed from a blog was the Wedding Tree. Our graphic designer friend Matt created an image of a barren tree. We asked all of our guests to use various shades of green stamp ink to stamp their thumbprints on the tree as leaves. This, along with our typewriter, was used as our guest book.“


40 fabulous guests joined Julie and Dan for their celebration.


{Left} “I have so many favorite moments from the whole weekend. Our families and friends really stepped in and helped us in so many ways. One of my absolute favorites was dancing with my brother and sister to the B-52’s Rock Lobster. I’m not sure how many folks are familiar with the dance that accompanies that song but let’s just say that we were on our backs, kicking our legs up like lobsters while everyone stared in disbelief!”
{Right} “The biggest DIY element was our photo booth. I saw the idea on one of the wedding blogs and thought that it would both highlight our love of photo booth pictures (we have a ton and used one for our Save-The-Date) and it would create an activity for our guests to take part in. Weddings can sometimes be so awkward for your guests, especially if they haven’t met before.”

Venue: Center for Architecture, Portland, Oregon

Bride’s Dress / Veil / Red Shoes: Lena Medoyeff / Coco’s Masquerade / John Fluevog

Groom’s custom Suit, Shirt, Tie: Duchess Clothier, Portland, Oregon

Ceremony music: Friend of the couple, Christopher Corbell

Reception music: iPod playlist made by the groom

Catering / Cupcakes: Phresh / Cupcake Jones

Thank you so much Julie and Dan for sharing your beautiful and inspiring wedding with us, and thank you to Ryan from You Look Nice Today for sending over these awesome photos. I leave you with this bit of advice from the bride: “Take a deep breath and know that you cannot control everything. From our gas BBQ falling out of the truck on the way to the reception, to the large glass vase that broke the day of the wedding, our day was filled with Murphy’s Law. And you know what, it didn’t make any difference. The other bit of advice I have, and I know you’ve all heard this before, but really try to step back and take a mental picture of the day. It all goes by so very quickly!“ Amen, sister.

And in case you missed it earlier today, check out Julie and Dan’s engagement shoot here.
This article was originally posted onSnippet & Ink.

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