Nathan and Brianna had a beautiful backyard wedding. Brianna took care of the decorations almost on her own, and tried to incorporate many personal references to their own story (as the frozen banana stand she built as a reminder of the TV show Arrested Development the couple used to watch together at the beginning of their story!). I personally think that those framed letters and messages make the perfect ceremony backdrop, and what to say about the fact that this wedding gathered lamas, ponys and chickens? Photography by Aubrey & Phillip for Yes, Dear. Studio, out of San Diego, USA.
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The wedding took place on June 22, 2013 in Olympia, WA, USA, at The Albee’s. From the bride:
One of the first times Nathan and I hung out just the two of us, I had crafted (and by this, I definitely mean spent at least half an hour writing and editing) a well-worded text inviting him to watch a movie with me. We ended up watching Arrested Development and talking until about three in the morning and many of the jokes from the show became things we said to each other throughout our friendship and then, the time we dated. We thought it would be fun to incorporate this into our wedding and originally, had only planned on serving chocolate covered bananas until one of the groomsmen, Austin, suggested we actually have a banana stand at the wedding. The month before the wedding, I spent a good ten hours (at least) planning and building what became the Dupper’s Original Frozen Banana Stand. Our friend Shirlee served as Mr. Manager and it was one of my favorite parts of our wedding.
I had never been one of those girls with their wedding planned out in their head and when it came time to actually think about my own, the only thing I had strong feelings about was wanting a vintage dress. I have always had an appreciation for vintage fashion and knew that when it came to my wedding dress, I wanted vintage, particularly 50’s or 60’s. After searching online for nearly two months and searching a random assortment of LA and Seattle thrift stores, I had kind of given up hope of finding something. I had read online about this shop called Shareen’s, which is girl’s only (because there are no fitting rooms-girls just change wherever there is room) and is a warehouse full of vintage dresses from every era. Faith, one of my bridesmaids, and I decided to check it out early one morning and after getting lost in the middle of Chinatown twice, we found this hole in the wall store filled to the brim with vintage dresses galore. The sales girl had me try on at 20 or so dresses, all from different time periods, but nothing was working. As the disappointment set in, she ran to the back to find one more and minutes later came out with the perfect-fitting, Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face, 50’s gown that ended up coming home with me. I left with dress in hand and glad that this adventure was finally over.
Regarding the wedding, one thing you regret…
I really liked the bridesmaids dresses, but I think if I could change anything, I would have them pick their own. Other than that, I think I’m pretty happy about how things turned out.
Oh! Not eating more of the Wedding pie we had. I had a slice and it was delicious and I wish I could have had more. Does that count?
… And one thing you’re really happy about/ proud of.
The look and feel of our wedding turned out to fit our personalities, which was what we were going for. We wanted something simple and fun because we felt like our wedding should be a relaxed time to celebrate the commitment we made with the people we care about. A lot of thought and care went into the decorations, music, food and well, everything else. I think it all came together and that we had exactly the day we wanted. If I had to say one thing I’m proud of, it would probably be decorations. I spent so much time, especially with the hand-lettered signs and banana stand, and was glad to see everything fit together nicely once it was all done.
