View More: http://ashley-caroline.pass.us/allieravenmarried I will be honest with you folks, the further away from the wedding we get, the more I feel like it's slipping awayyyyyyy! I guess that's the deal with really fun days, but it stinks. I'll continue writing about it here until it completely loses its relevance, but as I recall, I have way more vendors to share with you!

Ceremony ::

Divina Strings - Raven is a musician, so deciding on ceremony music plagued me, and for a really long time I just avoided it altogether. My friend from highschool is a professional violinist, so I reached out to her (like 2 months before the wedding) on a whim to see if they were available for the ceremony and cocktail hour. I also had a very strange request : Mirrors by Justin Timberlake. Mmm-hmm, this was a non-negotiable for me. Raven had vetoed us playing the original song as a recessional, but I knew I NEEDED it somehow, so I was delighted when Divina Strings said they would be able to do a string arrangement. Score! These guys were great; they also learned a very specific Bach piece that Raven picked out as the processional, on very short notice.

Justice of the Peace, Sal Fiore - Sal married us! He came extremely highly recommended by a friend from high school, and he didn't disappoint. Sal really cares about what he does, and made it his business to tailor the ceremony exactly to our specifications. We wanted a Catholic candle lighting ceremony, and the Jewish tradition of the breaking of the glass. We wanted to cut this and add that and he was great with all of it. He also did all of the sound for the ceremony - another thing that stressed me to no end because I just don't know anything about sound production. But it was perfect and that is thanks to Sal!

Tents Unlimited - Another non-negotiable? An outdoor ceremony. When we first talked to the venue about our date, they said something like And obviously you're having an indoor ceremony...and I went into some sort of seizure. The lake at Interlaken is just perfect, and I wanted to get married all up in that amazing nature! So a simple google search lead me to TU and I was pleased to hear they did tents at our venue all the time. They hooked us up with a heated tent and a 72 hour rain notice - if the weather was perfect on the day, we could nix the tent with only the loss of our deposit. Cool. TU was the nicest! We dealt with both Brittany and Ian and they were so accommodating. I called a month out in a panic - I needed clear sidewalls (I was calling them flaps, ha!) so that guests could see the lake but I needed an opaque entrance so that I could have my Big Reveal. They made that happen for me. AND they're also a rental company, so they're really a one stop shop.

Unity Candle - Such a silly name, yeah? I knew a ways out that I did not want some monogrammed candle with sparkles and a Bible quote. Simplicity is the name of the game for us, so I found Epic Beeswax on Etsy and Brian, the owner, helped me pick out an awesome set of candles. Ps - Beeswax has a buuuunch of health benefits - the candles naturally purify the air and ease allergies and asthma. Awesome, right??

Bagpiper, Terry Manning - I don't know what possessed me, but one day I decided that we really needed a bagpiper to lead guests to and from the ceremony site. Best decision ever. I never actually met Terry, and I am sad for that! But he was hands down one of the best parts of the ceremony according to all the guests. Super easy to work with, really nice.

And that's the ceremony! If you won't murder me via the internet, we'll continue next week with the reception.

xoxo,

ALLIE SIGNATURE

love the above photo by Ashley Caroline so much!