Real Wedding: Maisie + Brian’s Whimsical Woodland Wedding

Prepare for one of the most whimsical weddings I’ve seen! Fairies + gnomes + vintage dresses + the most magical photos from The Brothers Wright – I really can’t stop smiling when looking at this wedding! Thanks to Maisie + Brian for sharing some details into your magical day! “From the beginning of our wedding planning, Brian + I decided we wanted our wedding day to be about gratitude. In the beginning, we had thought of eloping, but we realized that a wedding is a wonderful chance to say thank you to so many of the people who have given us and our relationship so much – and we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day spent with friends and family in such a beautiful place. It can be difficult to express something like gratitude in a six-hour event, besides saying it a lot. And while we did mention it a number of times, we mainly attempted to do it through the creation of a day that was sweet, whimsical and fun, with perhaps just a touch of the surreal – something made with love and effort for people, hopefully, to remember.

And so, the decor. Having always dreamed of a woodland fairies + gnomes wedding (and having miraculously found an incredible and loving man who somehow understood this), we decided that we wanted a “hyperrealistic yet elegant woodland wedding,” and went for it!

wedding dress with feathers

wedding bouquets

We decided on our venue, the Cass House Inn in Cayucos, CA, rather quickly. Brian’s mom lives on the Central Coast and Brian went to college there, so it is a really special place for him, and a place I have always loved visiting. Before we were engaged, I had found a small article in Sunset Magazine about the amazing restaurant at Cass House, so when we went looking for a venue, we decided to visit and knew right away that it was the beautiful, sincere, and magical place we were looking for. We absolutely love the Cass House and its wonderful staff, and both became just as much of an inspiration for the wedding as the theme. Our photographers, Brandon, Brian, and Serra Wright, did an AMAZING job with the pictures, and perfectly captured the magic of the day. (WE LOVE YOU GUYS!)

fun wedding bouquets

Growing up I always loved making fairy crowns, so we decided to make fairy headbands and gnome hats (courtesy of my crafty cousins, Kimberly and Eugenia) for our guests to help get them in the mood. The bridesmaids received more elaborate, individually crafted crowns as part of their gifts from me. My incredible mother, who has always loved floral design, did all of the boutonnieres, centerpieces, and floral arrangements by herself, and my bridesmaids made all the papiermâché mushrooms as part of a bachelorette weekend activity. It made for a great, albeit slightly messy, bonding experience!

bride in feather dress

groomsmen and ring bearer

wedding first look

bride in short wedding dress

whimsical wedding ceremony

Our Favorite Memory From The Wedding

From Brian: A three-way tie! Between 1) the moment Maisie came down the aisle wearing a different dress than she had been wearing fifteen minutes earlier and “punked” me, 2) the moment I dipped her at the end of our dance and said, “did I just hear something rip?” To which she laughed and replied, “I think so!”, and 3) peeking around the hedge before I came down the aisle with my mom, and seeing some of my most serious friends wearing gnome hats!

From Maisie: I loved every minute of it – being surrounded by our closest family and friends, you could just feel all the love and warmth in the air, and it was both unexpected and amazing. But if I have to choose, I would have to choose two – 1) when Brian surprised me by having Tim of Flicker Films come to shoot our wedding in Super 8! It was so special and thoughtful; I had wanted Tim to come shoot our wedding because I love his work and I knew I would want to remember all the moments of the day, and how everything, created with so much love, looked and played out – but it wasn’t in our budget! Somehow, Brian found a way, and it was a wonderful surprise. And 2) I loved the moment we ran out of Cass House and across the street and onto the pier, leading a music-filled parade of gnomes and fairies! Brian was just beaming, and the whole thing was just colorful and happy and crazy!

ring bear in cute hat

I think that photo above is one of the sweetest photos I’ve ever seen!

outdoor wedding ceremony

black and white wedding photos

gnome at wedding

whimsical woodland wedding

whimsical wedding parade

LOVE their parade also – and how fun is her sign “chillin with my gnomies” :) Oh, love their group photo below. I highly recommend getting one photo of all your guests!

gnome hats wedding photos

whimsical wedding photos

wedding invitations gnomes

fairytale wedding decorations

love sign made of petals and flowers

lights in a tent for wedding dance

wedding place cards

wedding bridesmaids with wings

Our Advice To Those Planning Now

Brian and I got engaged this past March. Originally we thought we would have some time to organize ourselves for a wedding, possibly in the fall of next year, but due to my father’s health we decided to move the wedding up a year – giving us only six months! Looking back, I am glad we didn’t spend a whole extra year planning the wedding. As much as one thinks they can be organized and have everything done in plenty of time (and I’m sure there are a few rare people out there who can accomplish this), the planning, while fun and extremely creatively fulfilling, gets super stressful and extending the time til your wedding day will most likely extend the stress. That said, do whatever feels right for you!

Also, I know not all grooms are interested in being involved in planning a wedding, but I found that it was really important to listen to the things that Brian really had a strong opinion about. I think it made the wedding feel more “ours”, and I could tell that the time he put into making decisions about the planning, as well as designing and making some of the decorations really made the day even more special and meaningful for him.

And I know everyone says this, but it’s true – on the day of your wedding, just relax. Even if everything isn’t absolutely perfect, take time to take it all in and just Be In Love – with your partner, your family, your friends, and life and its often beautiful and amazing imperfections. The feelings created by looking around that day at all the smiling faces, listening to all the laughter, and just being enveloped in a complete wave of love and happiness by people we adore had an intensity we didn’t really expect, but will always remember and be grateful for.

And the gorgeous super 8 film from Flicker Films that Brian surprised Maisie with :)

Vendors:
Photography: The Brothers Wright
Venue: Cass House Inn, Cayucos, CA
Day of Coordination: Grace Lorenzen, the wonderful innkeeper at the Cass House
Floral Design: Maisie’s Mom did all of the bouquets, boutonnieres, centerpieces, floral arrangements and aisle flowers for the wedding. Jack did the really rainbowy arrangement on the guest table (with the giant butterfly hanging in it). Maisie did the fairy crowns for the bridesmaids and guests, the flower curtains, the toadstool bench, and all the invitations and paper goods. Maisie’s cousins Kimberly and Eugenia made the gnome hats!
Wedding Dress: My shorter dress is a vintage Ruben Panis dress. When I bought it, it had already had one of its bottom layers and a sheer portion up top missing. I had one more layer removed from the bottom to transform it from a size zero to a size 8. The second, larger white dress is by Ysa Makino.
Groom’s attire: Hugo Boss, his tie and socks were from Ted Baker.
Catering: Cass House Inn
Super 8 Film: Flicker Films
Rentals: Unlimited Events Inc. in Paso Robles. Pearl at UEI was incredibly helpful. She went out of her way to get us linens that matched the theme at the last possible moment.
Music: Beau at Kramer Entertainment in San Luis Obispo. With Maisie’s dress change and bustle issues, we had some serious schedule alterations and a major problem with the slide show I provided but Beau managed it all with style.

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