Secret Garden June Wedding

One of the things I loved to do as soon as I got engaged was pour over beautifully curated wedding blogs and imagine my dream wedding. So I thought to document my own personal wedding scrapbook I would post it to my blog.

Our wedding was an absolute dream. At the Highlands Mansion and Gardens in PA, I still pinch myself thinking about how I stumbled upon this absolutely perfect venue that encapsulates every thought I had about having a secret garden themed wedding.

The first picture is exactly where I wanted to have the reception here but rain threatened our plans so we moved inside. You can still see the breathtaking views of the wall where our cocktail hour took place.

Every detail mattered to me- from the shoes, to the ring display- our themes of music, spirituality, and garden came through. 

                            

                            

One thing that I knew wanted to have for our first look was a green house. I felt it was symbolic along with the the plant we potted together of the new thing we are growing.

These iconic portraits from Addison George photography meant everything to me.

                       

Prince charming and the castle *sigh*

Bridal Party Pictures

Ceremony

Jeff looked great but the flower girls and ring bearer really stole the show.

Jeff and I had our friends play worship songs at the beginning of the ceremony.

Jeff and I wrote our vow song separately and sung it together. 

Cocktail Hour and Reception

From the very beginning of our wedding planning process, Jeff and I knew we wanted to incorporate our musician friends into the wedding reception and ceremony. Jeff had this great idea of his friend and former bandmate Henry playing "Oh When the Saints Go Marching" on the sax to usher our guests from the cocktail hour to the reception inside.

                                          

The house band was his former band, Guaracha, led by Miguel Sague III

Let's not forget our friend, Dante, who led at the reception.

Our friend Eric also played during the cocktail hour but we didn't get a photo of him.

Then Benjamin Mambou also accompanied us.

We also sang a song called "Wishes" that I wrote for Jeff long ago and shared the story of one of the verses with our guests, which was that on New Years Eve 2019 I made a wish on a lantern in the sky that I would marry Jeff.

Our wedding was also featured in the New York Times mini vows section which was extra special. 

We couldn't truly have done any of this without our amazing team. We are so grateful to our parents and our wedding coordinator Emily Stripling of Mustard Seed Events + Design @mustardseeded 

The majority of these photos (I think except one or two shots) are all our amazing photographer Addison George

It takes a village and we certainly could have done it without our team below and our unofficial team, our small group, who we heard helped our AV Coordinator be in two places at once by curling cables before the big rainstorm! We love you all so dearly!

Video @_mauriciomerino
Photo @addisongeorgephotography
Flowers @rubyriversfloral
Coordinator @mustardseeded
Venue @thehighlandsmansion and Dana Dorsey
Band @miguelsague and Guaracha
Featuring @iamdantehawkins @henyo_sax
@tawnylouiseharrison
@graninertia
@benji_kev
My friends Carol @thebundbooks and Hana @thornhana
AV Coordinator @rseely5
DJ @dj_dre._
Hair and make up @mariahelanartistry