Bright tones of yellow, purple, and red make for some cheerful eye candy in this summer wedding. Liz and Kevin celebrated their wedding day at Pigeon Hill Farms in Vermont, and included some wonderful handmade and vintage details. Liz’s mother made the bridal gown and clutches and instead of a guestbook, they chose something more interactive – a vintage typewriter, fitting because Kevin collects them. And this wedding has one of the cutest groomsmen ever. You’ll know the one I mean – look for a sweet purple vest and four paws!

Before the Ring:
Kevin and I met at the University of Maine where we were both pursing degrees in Education. Our roommates were dating each other which is how we met in the first place. There is some disagreement between us as to the first meeting because I seem to think we met much later than Kevin remembers. Whenever we first met, we were both dating other people. We saw each other occasionally at parties or when our friends hung out. It wasn’t until our senior year that we really took notice of one another. At first I wasn’t sure I was interested but Kevin was persistent and convinced me to go out on a date with him. It didn’t take long for us to figure out that we were perfect for each other. When we graduated in May we both started looking for jobs in the same areas. Luckily we both found teaching jobs at Springfield High School in Vermont and that is where we settled. A year later we bought a house and got engaged. We got our adorable rescue dog Charlie not long after that.

The Proposal:
We were in the process of closing on the house we were buying. The week before, we were lying in bed and I was already sleeping and Kevin was awake. He looked over at me and realized that he wanted to marry me. He said his heart started pounding so hard he thought it would wake me up. So he went out and bought a ring and gave it to his mom for safe keeping. The next week after we had signed all of the paperwork for the house we went over to check it out. According to Kevin, he was trying to get away from me so he could get down on one knee. He sent me away to hang up the shower curtain and when I came back he was on one knee in our bedroom and simply said “Elizabeth, Will you Marry Me?”  I was so completely shocked! Of course I said yes!

Details of the Day:
We wrote our own vows. This of course caused a lot of tears on our part and on the part of our family and friends. We felt like that really personalized the ceremony. One of our friends became a one-day justice of the peace and married us. We displayed pictures of our grandparents’ weddings. We used an antique typewriter as our guest book because Kevin collects old typewriters.  I wore my great grandmother’s pearls and my mom made my dress as well as the flower girl and ring bearer outfits, clutches I gave my bridesmaids and the outfit our dog Charlie wore (he was one of the groomsmen).

We chose yellow and purple for our color pallet because we thought it would go wonderfully with the colors of summer. We included our dog Charlie in as many aspects of the wedding as we could– he appeared on our save the dates, our invites, on our favors and of course he was present at the ceremony.

Instead of doing a bouquet toss we did a generation dance. This is when all the married couples get on the dance floor and the DJ starts with “all couples married less than 24 hours leave the dance floor” then “all the couples married less than a year please leave the dance floor” and so on until there is one couple left. We felt like it was a nice way to recognize and celebrate the marriages of our guests. The last couple was my grandparents who have been married 58 years. I presented my grandmother my bouquet of flowers and danced with my grandfather. It was a really special moment for me.

Advice to Future Brides:
During Wedding Planning take some time out to put the wedding stuff aside and just spend some time with each other. Ask friends and Family for help – you never know what hidden talents they might have! During the wedding take time to just stop and really enjoy the moment. Look around and take it all in – it goes by so fast!

Photography: North Photography / Invitations: Inviting Moments / Venue: The Stables at Pigeon Hill Farm / Coordination: Michael with Pigeon Hill / Ceremony music: solo guitarist Jean Charles / Caterer: Pigeon Hill / Cake: Mountain View Farms / Floral: Pigeon Hill / Bride’s dress: made by Bride’s mother / Hair: The Modern Touch Salon / Makeup: Bride’s sister / Jewelry: Von Bargen’s Jewelry / Bridesmaid’s dresses: David’s Bridal / Groom’s attire: Brooks Brothers / DJ: Nick from Top Hat Entertainment / Favors: Cherry Hill Farm (friend of bride and groom owns the farm which mainly grows raspberries and currants. She made the red raspberry and currant jam favors.)