1. Real Weddings

A Sophisticated Vintage Wedding in Middletown, NJ

“I wanted a relaxed, farm wedding with vintage flair and a bit of sophistication,” says Aimee. Our family farm holds a very dear place in my heart, so

“I wanted a relaxed, farm wedding with vintage flair and a bit of sophistication,” says Aimee. Our family farm holds a very dear place in my heart, so when we decided to have a wedding rather than a small destination ceremony, I knew I wanted to have it there!

The couple had a small two-tier cake just for cutting, and then offered a cupcake buffet with 10 different flavors for guests. The cutting cake was iced in buttercream and topped with a few blue hydrangeas.
The bride printed the table numbers in a font that matched the rest of the stationery, and attached the numbered cards to long wooden skewers inside glass bottles.
Over a few months, I collected about a thousand (yes, a thousand!) antique glass bottles in varying sizes and colors, says Aimee. We filled them with mini garden roses, hypericum berries and craspedia--I wanted the bottles themselves to be featured, so we chose simple, small flowers to fill them.
Each place setting had a folded white linen napkin, a menu, silverware and a small fork for picking the lobsters that were served up during the authentic Jersey Shore lobster boil dinner.
Aimee made all of the stationery, including the save-the-dates, invitations, ceremony programs, menus, table numbers and escort cards. By doing it all myself, I had complete control over the style and design of the stationery, and it all matched in some way.
The escort cards were really fun to make, says Aimee. Each name was printed on a card stock tag and attached with bakers twine to a mini copper cowbell--a fun, rustic twist on a traditional wedding bell.
Aimee knew arranging 1,000 antique bottles on the reception tables would take too much time on the wedding day, so she affixed them to long strips of wood to make them easy to take on and off the tables.
“We planned an outdoor wedding in June, so I wanted a dress that would fit the venue,” Aimee recalls. “I went to a small bridal shop and saw this unique, vintage-looking gown. It was different than what I imagined myself wearing, but when I tried it on I fell in love. It felt whimsical and perfect for a garden wedding.”
Large Mason jar arrangements of hydrangeas, craspedia and white hypericum berries lined the aisle at the ceremony.
Aimee's bridal bouquet was a hand-tied arrangement of peonies, ranunculus, garden roses, dahlias, spray roses and dusty miller all wrapped with burlap ribbon.