Grace and Charlie

I am so excited to introduce you guys to Grace and Charlie! They are a hometown (for me) couple from Northern Indiana/Chicagoland and they are SO FUN.

Charlie is a professional brewer, and they brought a number of special beers to their wedding for tasting. And Grace is my first bride to ever wear a jumpsuit (with a cape!!!) and she rocked it. It's funny, Grace has such a clear personal style, you'd think that she would have inserted that style into the whole wedding.

But, while usually couples send me a number of inspiration photos for florals, decor etc., with Grace, it was hard for me to get her to send any decor inspo, saying she didn’t mind and whatever was fine. In the end, she sent three haku (flower crown) photos and Lyla Mah (our florist) and I designed the whole wedding based on just those! She put a lot of trust in us, but if you ask me, it was well placed because everything turned out BEAUTIFULLY.⁣

Grace and Charlie also, smartly, hired one of my wedding vendor besties, Aislinn, to photograph their wedding and she KILLED IT. Seriously, one of my favorite galleries of wedding photos ever. Just see for yourself…

And now for a funny Grace and Charlie story:

Our farm is on a long windy, one lane, road up the mountain and fairly often people think they have gone too far when they haven’t gone far enough. Well, when Grace and Charlie came with their family and friends for their rehearsal the evening before their wedding, Grace and her bridesmaids drove separately from everyone else. They called, lost on our road, because their GPS had gone out and they were worried that they had driven too far. Because usually people think they have gone too far, I told Grace just to keep driving and if they hit a gate where they can go no farther, to turn around.

The gate I was referring to is a gate to a farm at the very top of our road that is 99.9% of the time closed and locked. It is only opened when cars drive through, which isn’t that often as it is usually just employees who are going in and out. Well, of course, Grace gets up there at exactly the wrong time, and the gate is open because a car is driving out. And because she listened to my instructions to “just keep going,” she drove through the gate, and the car coming out locked it behind them! So Grace, and her bridesmaids, were all locked inside the gate of another farm on our road. Cue 30 minutes of me calling all of the neighbors I know to find out who, if anyone, has a key to this gate! Thankfully, we eventually found someone still on the farm and they were let out. In the end, everything turned out fine and we all walked away with a really funny story (and a rehearsal pretty much in the dark haha).

From Charlie and Grace:

What was the most memorable moment of your day?

Grace: I loved getting to walk down the aisle and seeing charlie. He looked really snazzy, and in that moment with all of our family standing in front of me to support us was the best feeling I could ask for.

Charlie: The moment I saw Grace walking towards me.  It was the first time I had seen her “dress”, and was so happy to be able to experience everything in such a beautiful environment.

What was your favorite wedding detail?

Grace: I loved all the flowers! I only sent a couple of flower crown images and it was better than I expected! There were so many colors in the best way possible!

Charlie: I really enjoyed the table setting, and decorations.  It transformed the dinner with our loved ones into an exquisite fine dining experience, that we are still talking about.

Any advice for future couples?

Grace: You spend so much time planning every detail around your wedding, discussing your wedding, and thinking about your wedding that when the days finally comes you don’t realize how short that day actually is. Make sure you stop for a moment with your partner and just have a moment to yourselves.

Charlie:  Don’t worry too much about every little thing going perfectly.  Remember to enjoy the individual moments, or they’ll be gone before you know it.

Funniest memory from your wedding day?

Grace: When we were cutting the cake, everyone told us to stop eating it after the picture was taken, but I regret nothing!

Charlie: Watching everyone be just as excited if not more excited for baby lambs, and a bonfire started by a flamethrower.

 If you could do it all over, would you change anything?

Grace: I would not drive so far up the mountain!

Charlie:  I would tell Grace not to drive too far up the mountain.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?

We went to Hilo and spent time in an off grid treehouse. It was such a unique experience!

VENDOR TEAM:

Photography: Wilde Sparrow Photography

Catering: Sundog Bread  

Florals: Lalamilo Flower Girl

Cake: Onolicious LLC (decoration done by me!) 

Dress (actually a jumpsuit… with pockets!): Black Halo

Bride’s Cape: Lubia’s Dresses & Events

Hair and Makeup: Bride’s Sister, Gretchen Calderone

Officiant: Bride’s Sister, Gretchen Calderone (again! She is clearly multi-talented!)