Americana Inspired With A Touch Of Vintage: Real Wedding

Americana Inspired With A Touch Of Vintage: Real Wedding

Hello, hello! I can’t believe another week is flying by… I hope your week’s going rather well and you’re managing to sneak a bit of wedding planning and inspiration in here and there?

I’m loving this real wedding featured on the Want That Wedding blog today. Sander and Kerstin had a beautiful outdoor wedding ceremony which could make a few of us Brits a tad jealous, like yer know, with all our rain and all that… Never mind though, there is still tonnes of inspiration to be taken from outdoor USA weddings that can still be used in here in the UK, or in fact anywhere around the world. Kerstin, who’s an interior designer by trade, planned and sourced almost every item then hired a florist/decorator to arrange the setup. The couple live in Antwerp Belgium so most of the planning was arranged via the internet and Skype. Let’s here more about their day from our bride Kerstin.

We’re both Dutch. Sander was born in Holland and I’m Dutch on my mother’s side. We met at the Dutch Club in Manhattan. I grew up in NY (Staten Island) and had been living in Manhattan for about 2 yrs. Sander was in NY on a 4 yr work visa. We were friends and late night burger buddies for at least 6 months before we started dating. Our proposal came about quietly at home. We’d moved to Belgium and had undertaken so many projects that before we knew it 5 years had flown by… With age being a factor we realized we’d need to start trying soon if we wanted to be parents before 40.

We fell in love taking road trips to upstate NY from Manhattan where we met. A perfect weekend consisted of yard sales, auctions, small towns, great antique finds and hot wings.

I was obsessed with getting a 1950’s tea length dress and only went to Cymbeline because they were having a sample sale. I didn’t even pick out the dress the saleswomen did (Amy I think?). When I tried it on I was floored. .. it was so much more elegant and flattering than everything else I’d tried. But I was still unsure; the decision came down to the advice of a good friend. When I remembered what was important I knew the elegant silk dress from Cymbeline suited me much better than all the other synthetic cutesy dresses I’d considered for twice the price!

Our colours were inspired by the Dutch and American flags: red, white and blue. To avoid the primary colours we opted for deep Magenta, and Persian Blue with a little yellow and purple to keep it all from being matchy matchy. My list of favourite flowers included: Peonies, Dahlias, Freesia, Orchids, Tulips and I purchased some antique Belgian lace for the handle of the bouquet and had 4 lockets with pictures of departed loved ones.

The ceremony décor were ribbon streamers on the existing Adirondack arbour, flowers in circle forming alter area, blue and white polka dot poppers from BHLDN.

I surprised Sander with a bagpiper, we walked up the hill together to Highland Cathedral.

We had a spiritual but non religious wedding. We used a Celtic hand fasting ceremony as inspiration but left out most of the literal rituals. My dad is a Lutheran minister so he gave the benediction.

Our inspiration for the styling of our wedding came from: the 1920’s (think Great Gatsby), feminine touches with an antique retro twist (think Anthropologie), and classic Americana.

We love the outdoors, winding country roads, mountain vistas, grand homes, pretty gardens, being near water and the Hudson area in general. The Clermont Estate had it all and at a very affordable rate.

The gardens and the outhouses combined are just so amazing. Its hands down one of the most charming places in the Hudson Valley. We can’t wait to move back to the US so we can go there for anniversary picnics :)

For reception tent décor we used pennant flags, tissue lanterns over the dance floor, white linens with burlap coloured runners, ribbon streamers on the bride & groom chairs mason jars and vintage blue bottles served as vases, Adirondack chairs across from tent for relaxed Hudson River views.

For wedding favours I decorated plain burlap bags and put Freesia flower bulbs inside. Bags were decorated with dark fuchsia dragonfly stamps and cute little manila tags that were stamped with “thank you”.

If I could impart any words of wisdom? Don’t pretend, shop around and don’t be afraid to negotiate. Most women are emotional and caught up in the whole pretence of showing off and vendors take advantage of that. Be wise, your wedding will be among your most costly life expenses. You negotiate the price you pay for your house, your car, why on earth wouldn’t you negotiate for your wedding?

Our photographer was Dana Stripling of Dana Stripling Photography. We love, love, love her! She was so enthusiastic, fun and yet completely professional. We couldn’t have been happier with her :)

Wow! How gorgeous is their wedding? I’m loving the inspiration they took from a hand-fasting ceremony by using the colourful ribbon streamer backdrop! Which bits are your favourite?