We love, love, love it when photographers send us photos from real weddings they have photographed that include our flowers, and that is just what the super sweet husband and wife team of Sweetlife Photography did, so now I get to share it with you!
Miriam and Ian were married on September 5th, 2015 at the home of Ian’s parents in Grants Pass, Oregon. They ordered a variety of garden like blooms, from FiftyFlowers.com, that included 12 stems Ivory White Hydrangeas, 36 stems Peach Juliet Garden Roses, 5 bunches Medium Pink Lisianthus, a small package of the Grandmother’s Garden DIY Flower Combo (which includes Patience Ivory Cream Garden Roses, Sunset Pink Freesia, Stephanotis and Dusty Miller) and 5 bunches of Seeded Eucalyptus.
Read on to see how it all came together and to hear from the Newlyweds themselves!
How they met:
Ian: I remember first noticing the receptionist with the long hair and glasses. She was always fervently working, and I would often find excuses to go over to the lobby and medical office to chat with the cute girl who seemed very unique. I wasn’t quite sure if we had chemistry, but it wasn’t until an encounter on Halloween where I was dressed as a cowboy and made a ubiquitous comment about her cheer-leading outfit’s socks, that I knew this beautiful girl was also interested in me too.
Miriam: I remember seeing Ian across the room at work and noticed how helpful, warmhearted and diligent he was. He laughed at a joke in the whole body, head back way he does and I thought “that’s something I would like to be a part of.” It was a bit of a dreamweaver moment for me. I knew something was different with Ian. I was afraid to ask him out first as I was certain that he would think the gesture was clearly work place harassment. Luckily Ian didn’t think I was too scary, we went to happy hour one night and have been together ever since. Best chance I have ever taken.
The engagement:
We became engaged on a beautiful day, June 20th of 2013. Ian suggested we take the day to celebrate “finishing the school year”. We had lunch at our favorite restaurant in our old neighborhood in Ballard, got coffee and drove to a spot overlooking the Puget Sound. Gifts of chocolates, charcuterie, a bottle of our favorite wine from the Rogue Valley and a handwritten letter were presented. Then he got down on one knee and asked the best question ever. The answer was of course yes and we celebrated our moment and the night away.
Miriam – I thought he was acting weird and didn’t want coffee and then he surprised me with our future. Best day ever.
Ian – I knew I had to ask her to marry me when it was keeping me up at night. I already knew I wanted to marry her, but it was the middle of finals in med school and if I didn’t make a plan, I knew I’d never sleep. And I really needed some sleep.
Wedding planning – from the bride:
Ian and I did most of the planning before the wedding week ourselves as both of our families live in different cities. We knew we wanted modern elements and both really connected to geometric shapes and a clean, slightly industrial aesthetic. We both decided that a wedding outside in the summer was what we were looking for and Ian’s parents very graciously offered to let us use their beautiful home for the wedding. We started planning by thinking of elements we wanted involved to express our style: wood, concrete, glass and natural greenery. We wanted the wedding to be fun and elegant with lots of personal touches. We scavenged, collected and DIY’ed our wedding projects before heading to the ranch. Our family and friends worked so hard to help us pull everything together during the final week. In the end it was a labor of love by our community.
I wanted the wedding flowers to work with the modern feel we had chosen. I selected different shades of cream, blush and peach to keep the look soft and romantic. I also added seeded eucalyptus to the bouquets for texture. I chose several types of garden roses to mimic the more expensive peonies that were not available during our date. To keep the reception looking clean and forward, we used large succulents as centerpieces and added large cream hydrangea in bias cut vases around the location. We made boutonniere’s from locally purchased hops, and our mothers, bridesmaids, family and friends helped us make bouquets and centerpieces.
Wedding details:
My husband brews beer and I enjoy viniculture, so we tied that into the wedding in our groomsmen’s boutonnieres, wine barrel “cocktail tables,” cork place holders and wine bottle decorations. We incorporated the gold geometric design from the invites into the concrete table decorations, the wedding games and the ceremony elements. We also collected antique plates, glass bud vases and containers from local thrift shops. The corn hole boards and giant Jenga we made ourselves prior to the wedding. Ian’s aunt and cousin made our wedding cake by hand and his mother’s ladies group, The Black Pearls, made all of the treats for our dessert table. As a gift we asked all our relatives for their wedding photos, which we displayed at our wedding.
Congrats Miriam and Ian, what a wonderful wedding! Special thanks again to Sweetlife Photography for sharing these fabulous photos.
Need help planning your wedding flowers? Let us know how we can help by calling us at 1-877-507-6737 or by using our live chat at www.FiftyFlowers.com.