When Gatsby meets Upstate New York, you know you’re in for a treat. And that’s exactly what today’s wedding is: the perfect blend of rustic and glam. The barn venue mixed with the silver sequin linens; the wheat + feather details combined with black and white stripey straws; the outdoor autumn setting contrasted with the glamorous bridal attire and groom’s tuxedo – like I said, the perfect blend of rustic and glam. And absolute perfection. Oh, and the couple has the sweetest story of how they met, which I’m sharing from the groom’s perspective. It’s totally worth the read!
Advice for couples planning now? Be confident in your ideas and your vision. Everyone is going to have an opinion, but stick to what makes YOU happy and excited. Find a team of vendors that you mesh with. Of course you have to admire their work, but when you connect with the people you are working with, everything seems to effortlessly fall into place. I feel like our wedding day was completely stress free and I had such a blast, I didn’t have a worry in the world because we had such an AMAZING group of people we were working with.
We collected small river stones and had them displayed by the ceremony entrance. Each guest was asked to take a ‘Blessing Stone’ with them to their seat, during the ceremony our officiant asked that each guest silently add their own blessings to these stones. Just as stones provide a strong foundation upon which to build, those Blessing Stones are now displayed in our house, reminding us each day of the love of our family and friends, our love for each other.
Musical choices? Processional: Bridesmaids: ‘Love and Some Verses’ -Iron and Wine / Bride: ‘No One’s Gonna Love You’ -Band of Horses (I remember walking towards the aisle, holding my parents arms tightly and right as I turned the corner and connected eyes with Steve the words began, ‘but no one’s…ever gonna love you more than I do…” I have no idea how I held it together, it was such a beautiful moment and easily one of my favorite of the day.) / Recessional: ’She Said Yes’ -The Wedding Band (Mumford and Sons) / 1st Dance: ’Feet Don’t Touch the Ground’ -Stoney LaRue (Live at Billy Bob’s Texas version) Not too many people know this song, that’s one of the reasons why we loved it-totally not your typical 1st dance song. This song holds such special meaning to us, especially since I played it on our second date. It’s such a simple and beautifully written song-it gives me chills every time I hear it. The lyrics couldn’t be more fitting for our story.
He loves coffee and I love tea. We decided to run with that idea for favors, letting our guests pick and chose which one’s they wanted. We found this really great shop on etsy where you can customize the packaging and pick from an assortment of flavors. They were a hit! Guests raved about the fair trade coffee we chose.
We’re a city boy meets country girl love story, so it was important to us to have a wedding that truly represented the both of us, and our two worlds coming together. Our vision was rustic simplicity meets classy city chic. We both really love the style and grace of the 1920′s/30′s and wanted our day to capture that feel of vintage charm as well. When we became engaged we knew that we wanted to create a wedding that was personal and we wanted to make sure our guests felt special and included. Our day felt very intimate and sacred. Oak Hill, the estate where we held our wedding, is such a magical place in itself, it was amazing getting to share it with those we hold closest to our hearts. It was a day filled with love and gratitude.
Somewhere in our relationship, we began saying, ‘Forever, For Always, and No Matter What’. I had this printed on the top of our wedding programs, it’s almost become our little motto. Steve even wrote it into his vows. I would say that what made my wedding me was all the little unique details and special touches throughout the day. I put a lot of thought, time and effort into these details and it fills my heart to know they did not go unnoticed.
Do you see why I love this wedding so much? And there’s more! The wedding trailer by Clark + Walker Studio had me in tears last night when I watched it again while putting the finishing touches on today’s feature. And Katee & Steve have the sweetest love story. I don’t usually publish this much writing from the couple, but I just had to share it, so if you want to read it you can get his and her versions below. And be sure to check out the gallery for even more rustic glam goodness. Congrats Katee & Steve on a gorgeous wedding and a beautiful love story.
Story of how the couple met as told by Steve:
We were literally just down the road and around the corner from each other for around 12 years on and off. Katee was born and raised on a picturesque country road in Kinderhook, NY overlooking the rolling farm hills of Columbia County that I have now come to know and love. I grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan where I fell asleep staring at the tip of the Empire State Building and the Citicorp building.
After 35 years of working hard in the city, my parents finally decided to get back to their country roots and ended up buying a beautiful piece of land right on that picturesque country road I was telling you about earlier, which happened to be right next door to Katee’s parents.
Over the next years as my parents planned and built their house, I started finding myself on their land more and more to the point where I was coming up to Kinderhook every chance I got. I also met and learned to like Katee’s parents as well as her brother, all the while never even knowing that she existed. Finally a day came when Katee met my parents and I first learned that there was a fourth member to the Austin family. I’ll never forget my fathers first words to me about her, “you should meet this Katee girl, I think you’d really like her.” The seed was planted. Little did I know that across the street Katee’s mother had also planted a seed with her, saying something along the lines of, “you really need to meet that Scoblic boy.”
I’ll never forget the night we first met because I was attempting to cook Katee dinner and had asked her to simply bring herself and some ice. When the door opened, man, she was gorgeous!!! As she tells it, a smile came across my face from ear to ear that she’ll never forget. When we went to exchange the bag of ice, as if some energy hit us, or maybe because we just couldn’t take our eyes off of each other, the bag of ice hit the floor and exploded in every direction. We both laughed, and smiled, and began to get to know one another.
We ate and talked, and talked some more. We drove down to my favorite spot on the property that overlooks rolling meadows and opens up to a great view of the night-time sky. We saw two shooting stars and talked until 2am in the morning, something magical was in the air–Something bigger than us had brought us together. A year later, I would bring Katee back to that exact same spot to propose…
(GAH! And I’m crying again. I’m such a sucker for love.)
{Vendors} Photographer: Casey Connell Photography / Videography: Clark + Walker / Venue: Oak Hill in Hudson, NY / Officiant: Rev. Jude Smith / Event Design/Day of Coordination and Flowers: By Emily B. / Catering: Nicole’s Catering / DJ: Patrick Bergeron of Metro Music / Wedding Gown: Chamonix in Rhinebeck, NY / Make Up and Hair: Stacey Bean of Kylie & Company / Programs, Wedding Invites & Menus: Sunshine and Ravioli / Custom-Made Vintage Lace Shrug: Holly Stalder / Favors: Apropos Roasters / Robes: Plum Pretty Sugar
DIY projects: We made our wedding ceremony arch. Invitations were designed by my sister. The favors were made by our best friend. The centerpieces for the reception were designed by us and set up by my family. We had an IPOD DJ that was manned by the groom’s friend and bandmate.
