Happy Bank Holiday Monday Lovely Peeps,

Hope you've all had a good weekend so far. Sun is finally shining in Kent so I am happy!

We have a beautiful wedding to share with you today.

Tracy and Will's 'Cricklovefest' is full of boho style, DIY decor and a gorgeous collection of bridesmaid dresses. It is one of those weddings that has such a natural beauty about it because of the understated styling, the subtle colours of the decor and flowers and the laid back attitude of the bride and groom. It is also a wedding that has almost entirely been put together by family and friends. Everything you see, from the decor to the flowers, has either been handmade by the bride and groom or their friends. Even the ceremony was conducted and handwritten by the brides oldest friend.

Having so many of your friends and family involved in your wedding really does make it that extra bit special. People feel like they are more than just a guest at your wedding making the entire day so much more meaningful for everyone involved. I always think that weddings like Tracy and Will's bring friends and families closer together. It's lovely.

If you have 10 minutes to spare today, take the time to read through this entire post. It really is so lovely to read how much involvement Tracy and Will's family and friends had in their day.

Look out for Tracy's words of wisdom at the end of the post. She offers some very good advice.

Enjoy....

Will proposed on a Thursday in August. It was a warm night, and he talked me into going up onto the roof of our San Francisco apartment to have a glass of wine and enjoy the rare warm San Francisco evening, especially in August. We were only up there a few minutes before he had a loss for words and started fumbling a little. He launched into a very sweet speech about our life together, that was really hard for him to finish. But before he did, he got down on one knee with the most beautiful antique ring and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. Apparently he had been trying for a week, but every time he asked me to go somewhere or do something I would find a way to convince him to do something else and foil his plan. The way he did it was simple, modest and perfect for who we are as a couple, just us two and not a big fuss.

I told them any dress they wanted that was a light neutral color, taupe, beige, light pink, off-white, etc. I didn't specify lace, but they all went that direction independently because they know I am a big fan of lace! I wanted them to be comfortable in the dress and accessories they were wearing so I didn't given them much direction. They all looked fantastic in their dresses, especially my friend Gina who was 8 months pregnant at the time! She found the most intricate, beautiful maternity dress, it looked amazing!

They all wore accessories of their choosing, but I gave them gold arrow bracelets as a gift that they all wore that day.

Our flowers were bought in bulk from boulder creek flowers, but assembled by me, the bridesmaids and my mum and husband's mum the day before. The bridesmaids did all the centerpieces and I worked on the bouquets and boutonnieres.

Highlands Park, our wedding venue, is where my parents got married. They were amazing role models when it came to relationships, respectful, loyal, patient, kind, fun-loving, and I was honoured to stand where they stood and marry my husband. Their wedding was modest and within their means at the time, and I tried to take a similar approach.

Inside, the decorations were simple. A few lace table cloths on assorted tables, and we used our favour gifts as decorations. They were paper white bulbs that we had forced to grow in a jar (we used all recycled salsa and pasta type jars, I soaked to remove the labels and then spray painted them gold). During the months leading up to the wedding I spent me evenings cutting up pieces of paper to stamp "Thank you" to tie around the jars, and I wrote a little note on the back, my husband thought I was nuts, but I love the little personal touches. I did the same with the little tags on the handkerchief invitations, hand stamped a little T &W and tied it on. The handkerchiefs were one of my favorite things we did for the wedding, so unique and beautiful, and something our family and friends can keep. We had so much fun picking out which color and pattern would go to each guest.

All of the decorating and set-up was done by the groom, our parents, our friends and Bridgette from ExQuisite Event Co. Clean-up by our families and Bridgette. I am so thankful for these people and their willingness to help and generosity. Our wedding day would not have been possible without these amazing people. I feel like I got off easy on the day of Just getting ready and hanging with my girls!

The venue was so beautiful on its own that we did not have to do extravagant decorating, but we did need to bring in a lot of our own stuff (tables, chairs, linens, flatware, plates, glasses, etc.) We used a rental company for all the goods we needed ( Alexis Party Rental).

The ceremony was outside in a big field surrounded by beautiful trees. My husband built the chuppah we got married under, out of 4 umbrella stand holders, wood posts, a lace table cloth from a rummage sale, curled willow tips and 2 seeded eucalyptus vines. We had done a few trial runs to make sure it wouldn't collapse on us, but when I arrived that day I was blown away by it, it was stunning!

My best and longest childhood friend Jeff Moir was our officiant, which meant the world to me! I didn't think there was any way I could get him in a bridesmaid's dress and I wanted him involved in the wedding in a way that reflected the huge role he has played in my life. He and Will actually went to Jewish Temple School together when they were young, so he has known us both a long time. His words brought both my husband and I to tears as they were so moving and thoughtfully written.

Jeff and my dad both paid homage in their speeches to loved ones that couldn't be there that day, my Grandma who I had lost just the year before and my older brother who had passed away a few years back. The special mention of them made it feel like they were somehow there in spirit, partaking in the festivities. I also, sewed two charms into my bouquet with pictures of both of them, so they could walk down the aisle with me.

Everyone ate dinner outside because it was such a warm day, and the tables were decorated with crocheted doilies that my mom had made and then hand sewn together to make table runners (for every table!), they were beautiful, I am trying to get her to sell them on Etsy! The centrepieces were all blue glass that had been collected by my father in law Jack Crick. He is a huge fan of the bargain barn and Goodwill and he managed to find some of the most ornate blue glass vases I had ever seen (and not to mention hundreds of vases). The flowers in the blue glass were all assorted white flowers and greenery. I love the greenery almost as much as the flowers, and it looks great with the blue. A huge portion of the white flowers were Dahlias home grown by my Mom's high school best friend Janet Thelen, who has shown her flowers at our local county fair. She was kind enough to provide hundreds of white Dahlias for the weeding.

Our wedding was a huge collaboration of effort especially from our family and friends because we were on a limited budget. But I wouldn't have it any other way! I am so thankful for the hard work that everyone put in to make our wedding day so memorable.

We rented a U-Haul for the day of that my parents drove up to bring all the decorations, chuppah materials, beer and wine, favors, etc. The beer was purchased in bulk from Costco, but the wine was all hand selected by my dad. He picked some amazing wines from local vineyards, and spent over a year collecting different types for the wedding.

It is so hard to choose! But one that comes to mind is the moment when I arrived at Highlands Park, my husband, the groomsmen and our parents had been there all day setting things up, and when I got there a few hours before the wedding, and saw everything set up, the chuppah that Will had made, the hand sewn doily table runners my mom had knit, every last detail that I had envisioned, I burst into tears, perfect makeup and all. The magnitude of it all was overwhelming.

Don't sweat the small stuff, especially on the day off. The day will be perfect and amazing and no one will notice that the tiniest thing is out of place or did not go as planned but you. Enjoy all your hard work and remember why you are there, to celebrate you and your significant other and the beautiful life that you have created together.

Photography: Aim & Arrow Photographers

Venue: Highlands Park, Ben Lomond, CA
Brides Dress:J Crew

Brides Shoes: Seychelles

Floral Crown: Boulder Creek Flowers

Bride's Gold Leaf Belt: Etsy

Hair & Make-Up: Holly Designs

Groom: Grey Suit - Men's Warehouse; Shoes - Calvin Klein

Wedding Planner: ExQuistie Events Co

Flowers: Boulder Creek Flowers

DJ: Santa Cruz DJ

Handkerchiefs: Lucky Luxe

Decor Rental: Alexis Party Rental

Photo Booth: Snap Cubby

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