Sarah & Chris’ Classic Delaware Wedding
I could go on and on about Sarah & Chris, but I figured it would be better in Sarah's own words!
Our story -- and as a result, our wedding -- is a cross-country journey. I grew up in California, Chris grew up in Delaware, and we met and fell in love in college in Boston. After college, we both went to law school, but I was in Washington, D.C. and Chris was in Cambridge, MA. After law school, I moved to New York to begin practicing and Chris moved back to Delaware to spend a year as a law clerk. Finally, after four years of long-distance dating, Chris moved to New York and we were happily together in the same city. Returning to our college roots, Chris proposed during a trip to Boston in the middle of a snowstorm.
Because we had lived all over and had friends and connections to so many cities, when it came time to plan our wedding, we had an extremely difficult time deciding where we should get married. We looked up and down the East Coast and in California, visiting all of the cities where we had lived and our friends and family who lived there. These planning trips -- although time-consuming and sometimes stressful -- allowed us to relive so many memories from throughout our relationship. Chris was the complete opposite of an absentee groom, and we planned every step of the wedding together. We finally decided to get married in Chris's hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, so we could have the ceremony at Chris's family's church (where his parents were married 32 years ago), and so that our grandparents would would be able to celebrate with us. Our reception was held at the gorgeous Greenville Country Club, which is a former DuPont mansion and has the most stunning gardens and grounds.
I knew that I wanted our long-distance story to play a role in our wedding. Our save-the-dates were a map of the U.S. that showed the journey that we took to reach our wedding day. Because most of our guests were from out of town, and because we really enjoy getting out-of-town bags when we travel to weddings, we wanted to do more substantial welcome bags. So instead of traditional favors, our bags included an edible treat from each city in which we've lived, including traditional Ukrainian cookies homemade by Chris's grandmother to represent Delaware. For our guestbook, we collected postcards from each of the cities we had lived in, and our guests wrote us good wishes on the postcard of their choice. Our tables were all named after streets where we have lived.
When I first started planning our wedding, I didn't think I had a crafty bone in my body. I was in awe and overwhelmed by the brides that I read about on blogs and in magazines who had DIY'd their entire wedding. But I was also intrigued. With the guidance of a crafty and creative friend, I started out slowly by creating the cards to ask my bridesmaids to be a part of our wedding, and soon enough, my crafty side appeared. A tutorial (from Style Me Pretty -- probably a good detail to include if you're submitting to them!) inspired me to make pinwheels to use as place cards for our guests and to decorate our out-of-town bags. With help from Chris and a few close friends, I made our escort cards out of the same paper as the pinwheels, and created our programs and out-of-town welcome letters. Like so many brides before me, I also discovered Etsy, and many items used throughout the wedding were purchased from various wonderful sellers.
On the day of the wedding, the weather was absolutely perfect. Chris and I were so lucky to have all of our closest family and friends with us and felt so much love from all of them throughout the day. Chris started the day by playing the best round of golf of his life, while I got ready with my family and bridesmaids. We chose to see each other at Greenville before the ceremony, and we were happy to have a few quiet moments together. During the traditional Ukrainian Catholic Ceremony, we were crowned as king and queen of our household, and were bound together to take our first steps as a married couple. After the ceremony, our guests enjoyed exploring Greenville's gardens during the cocktail hour and dinner was served outside on Greenville's brick patio. My dad welcomed everyone to the reception with a beautiful toast that included singing a lullaby he wrote for me when I was a baby, which had everyone in tears. After dinner, which we planned down to the last detail with Greenville's talented chef, my Maid of Honor and former roommate gave a wonderful speech about the happy marriage we had while living together before Chris stole me away from her, and Chris's brother and Best Man brought down the house with a simultaneously hilarious and heartfelt tribute to his older brother. After dinner, we moved inside and danced and danced to the music of Bigg Romeo.
We were so thankful for all of our vendors who helped create our amazing day -- from Emily and Natalie who created the perfect makeup and hair, to the talented women of Proud to Plan who made sure that we didn't have to worry about anything on the day of the wedding, to Jubilee Photography, who captured every moment beautifully. My dress was by Selia Yang and was an incredibly generous gift from my grandma, and I loved every minute that I got to wear it.
Vendor List:
Here is our vendor list -- good thing I had already started this so I didn't forget anyone! I'm not sure if they would all be applicable, depending on which pictures were used, but here they are:
Photographer: Jubilee Photography | Day of Coordination: Proud to Plan
Florist: Flowers by Yukie | Reception/Catering: Greenville Country Club |Cake: Liz Marden Gourmet Cakes |Hair: Hair by Natalie | Makeup: Cheekadee | Dress/Belt/Veil: Selia Yang | Shoes: Nine West | Hair Flower: FeathersandFrills (Etsy) | Bracelet: Tejani | Earrings: Tudor Rose (NYC Antique Store) | Tuxes: Men's Wearhouse | Bridesmaid Dresses: Priscilla of Boston | Bridesmaid Earrings: Cara Ciuffani | Invitations: Bella Figura | Dress Hanger: lilafrances (Etsy) | Chalkboard Table Names/Menus: Knickknackpaddywack (Etsy) | Calligraphy for Place Cards: Goodhue Designs | Band: Bigg Romeo