Weddings of artists are some of my most favorite as they really put their heart and soul into the day. Katie is no exception as she wanted as much of her wedding as possible to be handmade and designed by herself. They found the perfect venue – Axis Cafe and Gallery in San Francisco – which worked great as a blank slate so they could put their personality into every bit of the day. Katie + Peter choose San Francisco as the city to get married in since that is where their friendship turned into love. :) A bit more into their wedding from Katie:
I started looking at wedding blogs right when we started dating (I guess when you know, you know!) and I gathered much of my inspiration from the work of other creative brides, design blogs, and store fronts. We wanted our wedding to feel very intimate and comfortable with a bit of fancy glam for good measure. We picked our favorite comfort foods and festive drinks. We wanted the ceremony to be very personal and the reception to be the best party we had ever attended. We played all of our favorite songs and save the last hour of the night for a 90’s dance party.
Such a fun and truly personal wedding! Congrats to Katie + Peter and thanks so much to Michele Beckwith Photography for the photos!
My most memorable moment was hearing the music cue for the processional and walking out with my dad and locking eyes with Peter down the aisle. All of our guests were radiating such love and support. Our friends told us that when we were reading our vows, birds starting flying around above us. It really felt like such a magical moment.
Second favorite moment was walking in and seeing my vision of our wedding come to life after working so hard so make each little piece for a year.
Processional: You Are All I See – Active Child
Recessional: This Will Be Our Year – The Zombies
First Dance: Baby’s Arms – Kurt Vile
My color inspiration was from a Vera Neumann tea towel I inherited from my grandmother after she passed that I keep on my nightstand. My mom was my partner-in-crime in collecting milk glass vases, seeking the perfect lace for the table runners, painting the seating chart board, making 90 felt hearts for above the tables, stuffing and sewing the felt hearts for the aisle, and various other amazing projects. We completed lots of DIY projects including: XO lightbox sign, heart sign, ‘best day ever’ lightbox sign, ‘forever and ever’ glitter garland, p+k glitter garland, animal paintings, seating chart signs, pompom garlands, tassel garland, altar, fringed backdrops, pillows, felt hearts!
We didn’t pick a theme, rather bits and pieces of things we liked. We have ducks, chickens, a dog and a cat so I knew I wanted to include our love of animals in our day. I did this by hand drawing and painting an animal for each guest as their favor.
As my good friend so wisely suggested to me, hire a wedding planner! I honestly don’t know what I would have done without our amazing wedding planner. I was absolutely dedicated to all things art-related, but had no interest in the nitty-gritty details of organizing and planning. Also ask friends and family to help on DIY projects early on so you don’t wind up with a massive pile of projects all at the end. And I know this is hard for some couples but if you can, keep your wedding small! We were so happy we had a small wedding of our closest friends and family. We were able to talk with everyone, dance and laugh with everyone and even get in the photo booth with all of our fabulous guests!
photography: Michele Beckwith Photography // event planner: Va de Vie Events // venue: Axis Cafe and Gallery San Francisco, California // floral designer: Chestnut & Vine Floral Design // dress designer: Tara Keely by Lazaro // cake: Two for Two Cakes // dj: 3-16 Entertainment // rentals: Classic Party Rentals San Francisco // makeup artist: Makeup by Audrey // shoes: Steve Madden // tuxedo + men’s attire: Ben Sherman // photo booth equipment: Green Cheeze Photo Booths // save the dates + invitation: bride designed and hand printed // veil: Made by bride’s mom
to your wedding faves
Whoa! I have been blown away from how beautiful and creative this wedding was! I think this is my favorite wedding I’ve seen featured on here since I’ve started reading GWS. Lots of inspiration for my upcoming wedding!
What a fun wedding! The details are stunning..they did a fantastic job pulling everything together! And the Tara Keely wedding gown is beautiful!!
This wedding is incredible! Love the invitations and the fun animal table numbers!
Sensory overload in the best way possible. Nearly 1,000 handmade pieces made this wedding spectacular! :) Katie and her mom worked diligently for a year to create all these lovely pieces. My associate, Brittany, and I enjoyed every moment of coordinating this wedding and bringing Katie’s vision to life!! She and Peter are the awesomest ever!
I don’t usually love pink, but I LOVE this! Beautiful wedding
this wedding is absolutely incredible!!!! every detail is superb, i love those hanging hearts!!! great post!
This wedding is put together so well. I love how personalized it is for the couple but still makes it enjoyable for all. That’s the way it should be.
I wonder how the groom took the excess of pink when he first was told about it. lol. Great photos!
Amazing! It’s like in the fair tale litte red hat!
Sooooo wonderful!
This wedding is sooo pretty and fun! I love the decor, very original and unique. And pink is always fun :)
Beautiful colors you’ve used on your wedding. The bouquets match your clothes well. I like the dress in pink most.
Incredibly creative and adorable wedding here. Love the various pinks, the bridesmaid dresses, and the glittered monograms…fantastic! Just an overall adorable design!
I’m loving this trend of different style bridesmaid dresses. I also love the framed flowers.
This wedding is gorgeous! The use of pink is fantastic and not over used in the slightest. The photography is wonderful as well.
So thrilled to see Katie and Peter’s magical wedding featured on your blog! Hands down the most heartfelt and detailed wedding I’ve ever been to! <3