1950s Inspired Auburn Wedding
One wedding theme that never fails to bring a smile to my face is the vintage theme – in particular, anything inspired by the 1950s. Emma and Anthony knew they wanted their big day to have the feel of a fifties garden party, and enlisted the help of Tiffany Hughes Photography, Invision Events, and Stanley Sistrunk to help round out their vision. Personally, we couldn’t help but fall in love with Emma’s cotton candy pink petticoat!
From the bride, Emma: We were striving for a 1950s garden party feel–light and airy with lots of flowers and mid-century/vintage touches, and a blend of informal and formal. Our colors were pink and mint. Some adjectives: vintage-inspired, 1950s, floral, garden party.
Flower recipe: The centerpieces at the reception were white azalea bushes. The bouquets and wedding arrangements at the front of the church were a stunning combination of pink and white roses, hydrangeas, and some other flowers.
We didn’t do too much DIY because we live in Washington, DC and the wedding was in Alabama and we were flying down without much time. Probably just as well, I could have spent months doing DIY projects! My effort was more tracking down vendors with specific vintage pieces we wanted and figuring out how to use them in the best way, combined with finding interesting version of standard things (like napkins) or diamonds in the rough (a great little metal cleaning caddy from World Market was the perfect color, perfectly vintage inspired, and just right for cards at the reception).
Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? Even if you are planning on doing most of the planning yourself, it’s worth every penny to hire a day of coordinator to handle the final arrangements with the vendor in the week prior to the wedding, setup the day before, and all of the details on the day itself. It really freed me up to enjoy the day, as well as my mom, sister, and bridesmaids who might have had to do a lot of that, which also would have not let me enjoy the day. Also, I feel like several people told me not to worry about the little details, to let those go and focus on bigger things (catering, music, etc). I don’t think they understood that it was the fun little things (choosing napkins and decorations and so on) that really made me happy and got me through the tedious processes of booking the logistics. And of course it’s those things that made the wedding as great as it was–people notice those details, and appreciate them. And even if they didn’t, it made me so happy to see the things I had carefully chosen and loved decorating our reception.
View all images from this wedding in the gallery
From the event designers at Invision Events: Emma and Anthony’s spring wedding is chock full of so much prettiness and Emma did so much herself, as this was a budget soiree. We are completely, I mean completely, in love with them as a couple and their wedding. They have an amazing story, too! Emma, a mid-wife for women from countries in crisis, and Anthony met in Africa. They now live in Washington DC. And Emma’s dress is a vintage 50s one-of-a-kind. Emma really wanted a very simple and vintage inspired day. Their wedding was less than 100 guests and she wanted to use the sweet and quaint setting the Holy Trinity has to create a vintage garden party feel. Being a couple that travels a lot, coming back to Auburn and to Holy Trinity where Emma had grown up was an easy choice for them. Everything about their day was done to give their day a personal feel.
Wedding Music:
Mother/Grandmother Processional: Alleluia Mozart
Bridal Party Processional: Largo
Bridal Processional: Queen of Sheba
Ceremony: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Aria by Handel, and Be Thou My Vision
Recessional: La Rejouissance
First Dance: “Tupelo Honey,” Van Morrison
My dad has amazing taste in music and always knows what’s new and good on the music scene, so we delegated the music for the reception to him. He made several wonderful playlists with the perfect mix of old and new, slow and fast.
Wedding Location: Auburn, AL / Photographer: Tiffany Hughes Photography / Event Design: Invision Events / Florist: Stanley Sistrunk at The Flower Store / Venue: Holy Trinity Episcopal Church / Wedding Dress: Vintage, bought from Gogovintage and altered by the amazing women at Green and Blue Studio in Washington, DC / Petticoat: Modcloth / Wedding Veil: My mother’s, handmade by my great-grandmother for her / Wedding Shoes: J. Crew / Wedding Earrings: My aunt’s, made from a necklace of my grandmother’s / Caterer: Sprayberry BBQ / Hors d’oeuvres: Christine’s Gourmet / Wedding Cake: Sonshine Cakes / Music: Auburn String Quartet / Rentals: Special Arrangements / Vintage Decor: Rum and Roses / Cloth Napkins: Dot and Army / Wedding Invitations: Minted / Place Cards and Table Numbers: Rifle Paper Company
Simple and Gorgeous Photography!
That Barn is so rustic and adorable! Such a great venue!
Love this! Sometimes 50s style can be in-your-face retro (which is totally fine) but this wedding has such a fresh, simple beauty. I adore the dresses, flowers and especially the subtle pink and mint palette!
So many reasons to love this darling, vintage wedding, especially the design created by Invision Events! We love Julie and her team!
Love the pop of color! Especially her shoes!
I’m just dying looking at that amazing dress!
This is what I was looking for all the time. Thanks for inspiring me! I love the blush of pink under the dress plus the shoes. So lovely! This is something no one ever wears here in germany and I cant wait to walk down the aisle.