Take a moment to marvel into today’s feature of Christa & Adam’s gorgeous lavender-filled ceremony. We always enjoy how lavender can give such a soft elegant touch to a rather simple & casual look. Christa & Adam are also huge Dave Matthews band fans, that was why they chose to incorporate as much of them into their wedding – from the sing-alongs & their favorite lyrics placed into frames on each table. Thank you Kirsten Smith for sharing these precious moments of such a wonderful couple. Enjoy!
What is your story as a couple, how did you meet & fall in love?
Adam and I are both teachers, he teaches fourth I teach third. I was hired as a long term sub at his school and was placed two classrooms down from him. What started out as friends quickly turned to more and it wasn’t long at all before we realized we were meant for each other.
What was the best advice you received when you were planning your wedding?
To stay calm and enjoy every minute of it 🙂
What makes the two of you a perfect match?
Every little thing 🙂 we are so similar in every aspect of life. It makes being in a relationship easy when you are with your best friend and agree on both the big and little things in life. We both love life, trying new things, exploring new places, spending time with our friends and family, concerts and music, kids, and spending time together.
What inspired your wedding decor? Why did you choose the things that you did?
Beachy, rustic, but relaxed and casual- not over the top… I liked simplicity, like the babies breath and hydrangeas we used everywhere! My mom and I would go out on weekends and just find pieces or decor that we loved and would find ways to incorporate it into our big day. We took inspiration from all of our other family members and friends and on the day of setting up we had 15 people there helping and it really was one big collaboration of creativity!
Do you have advice for couples still in the planning process?
ENJOY IT!! have fun with it, you will miss it when it’s gone. And take it one little thing at a time.
What were some challenges you faced planning your wedding & what would you have done differently to avoid them?
I can’t say there really were any challenges… We just dealt with or changed our plans for any little speed bumps along the way and didn’t get too caught up in everything being ‘perfect’- we just kept reminding ourselves what the day truly was about!
What was the wedding budget?
It’s hard to say an exact price but it was definitely a combined budget between Adam and I and our parents. We didn’t want to spend an outrageous amount of money on one day, we knew it could be special without doing that. If day it was under 20,000.
Where did you save the most money?
Flowers! Bought most in bulk and arranged them ourselves, found items and yard sales and re-created them into what we wanted, found my dress on sale, the boys clothes on sale, opted for a fun cocktail style dinner which was AMAZING because we didn’t waste two hours of the day sitting down and eating, we are as we celebrated and mingled! We shopped at places like IKEA and then take what we got there and make it our own, and our favors were thanks to Adam’s parents who own Otterbein’s Bakery– everyone got delicious cookies in a pretty little box we made out of kraft boxes, doilies and ribbons. I didn’t get caught up in expensive invitations since I knew they would just be thrown away eventually. We did an online RSVP which worked GREAT! And I found most of the paper products- programs, thank you tags etc online in a PDF format then just bought card stock and ran them off myself!
Can you share some tips or tricks that you learned along the way leading up to the wedding or after?
You don’t have to buy the most expensive items to make your day absolutely beautiful 🙂 And search for those PDF files, so cheap and easy!
Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We are leaving for Ocho Rios Jamaica in 4 days!
What are you most excited about for the future?
Being with Adam day in and day out, enjoying life together and (soon) growing our family!
How many guests were invited in your wedding and what was the final guest count? Was it difficult to narrow down your guest list?
142 and final count was 120. We wanted to invite everyone at our jobs and a lot more people that we care about, but people understand it’s so hard to do that and keep the number to a reasonable amount.
What songs did you use during the ceremony?
Oh my gosh, we love music! The poor DJ – we gave him a list of 97 songs to stick to. My cousin Kevin played his guitar during the ceremony. Our first dance was the Lumineers version of the talking heads song ‘This Must Be The Place’. We came out dancing and the whole bridal party joined us to Rusted Root ‘Send Me on My Way’. The bridal party came out to fun upbeat songs like Michael Franti’s ‘Say Hey’, James brown’ get up offa that thing, Diplo ‘Express Yourself’, Bubba Sparxx ‘Ms. New Booty’, and Unk’s ‘Walk It Out’. Our parents came out to sledgehammer and genius of love, and parent dances were Jack Johnson’s ‘I Got You and For Mine’, Paul Simon’s ‘Father and Daughter’. We ended the night with Dave Matthews band ‘So Right’
What would you say, the overall story for this album?
I’d say it was a wedding that we had fun planning, added a lot of personal touches to, and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the day! I also love how much all of our families and friends contributed and helped make what it was, from DIY days together, to my uncle and cousin doing the ceremony, to the Otterbein cookies, to the readings by our siblings. I also had my mom, my best friend, stand with my bridesmaids during the ceremony. Family is everything to us and I think that shows. We also were able to really bring together all of our friends over the last few months and seeing the bonds and friendships that formed is SO cool 🙂
What inspired the wedding day outfits?
The beach and my favorite color- blurple (blue and purple). Casual elegance.
What was your favorite part of the day?
Everything. Every last minute of the day. 🙂
(Sorry I really can’t pick!)
Was there any Do it Yourself (DIY) projects? If so, can you describe them in detail?
All of them!! Haha my mom and I as well as Adam’s mom and sister and my bridesmaids all got together and made pretty much everything. I really love the old 10 pane window we got, painted it with chalk paint and listed all of the tables assignments on it. It was really cool seeing all of the things we made and all of the little details come together!
What were the highlights from the ceremony & reception?
The ceremony was done by my Uncle Doug, which was very special. Adam and I wrote the ceremony ourselves, so the whole ceremony meant a lot. The readings were done by our siblings… Meg read an excerpt from the Velveteen Rabbit, Brady wrote a personal INCREDIBLE speech, and Perry read a marriage equality statement that we co-wrote. That was especially meaningful as it’s a subject that is very important to us and very close to our hearts. The music by Kevin and the sing-along was awesome! We had our moms combine soil from each of our hometowns that we can now plant a tree at our new home with- which we loved. We also wrote our own vows, which I highly recommend everyone do– it was the only part we were really nervous about but looking back it was definitely the highlight! The reception—- the whole thing!! The dancing, the entrance songs, the music, the open bar, the families coming together a one. We loved it all. We set out luminaries on the beach after which was just beautiful!
Was there a theme for the ceremony and reception?
We incorporated a lot of Dave Matthew’s band subtle touches. Our first conversation was me saying ‘So, I hear you’re a Dave fan too…’ And we are both huge DMB fans but didn’t want to over-do it. We had a sign the ring bearers held that said ‘Climb on Two by Two to be Sure These Days Continue…’ We had acoustic Dave songs played by Kevin, we found our favorite love lyrics and each table had a different lyric on it in these awesome little Ikea frames we found! And we also had Dreaming Tree wine bottles that we cut (interesting DIY) and cut out flowers in on a lot of the tables. I loved the subtle touches of Dave all throughout the day. Other than that, it was a lot of beachy rustic touches everywhere.
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Photographer: Kirsten Smith Photography