"I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a
part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and
knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into
something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as
naturally as sleep.”
―
Willa Cather,
My Ántonia
New England really is most charming in autumn and we wanted our guests to be welcomed to our wedding in the sweetest way: with lots of love, bright gold and yellow mums, ripe pumpkins, vintage maps, and vibrant autumn leaves.
Instead of the typical wedding flowers, we opted for flowers to make ours from vintage maps. For our family: the men received matching bow ties and the ladies received vintage globe brooches. Jerron and I really wanted everyone to feel a part of our vintage themed ceremony
so we invited all the guests to wear vintage hats, gloves, bow ties, and
pocket squares. Boy did they deliver! One guest, dear Helga, even wore her vintage dirndl! Our
ceremony was filled with details from our life together: the first duet
we sang together, love locks and french music that played asJerron proposed to me in Paris, vintage globes, Willa Cather, vintage dresses, and lots of
singing.
Willa Cather was known to say "I must have music!" My sentiments exactly, Ms. Cather, as this was the most important aspect of our wedding ceremony. We basically created a ceremony around singing and it was heavenly!
My husband, Jerron, arranged a stunning piece for violin, organ, and piano which still makes me cry! You can hear Dubois' trio "Hymne Nuptial" below.
When it came to the vows, we decided to write our own and we did not discuss or share our thoughts with each other until the ceremony, as we wanted to save this gift for our wedding day. It was challenging to write our own vows and a little scary but in the end it is the thing I cherish most about our wedding. Without knowing, we both ended our vows with different quotes from Willa Cather's "My Ántonia."
“I'd have liked to have you for a sweetheart, or a wife, or my mother or
my sister--anything a woman can be to a man. The idea of you is part of
my mind; you influence my likes and dislikes, all my tastes, hundreds
of times when I don't realize it. You really are a part of me.”
―
Willa Cather,
My Ántonia
Our nephews, the ring bearers, brought us our vintage rings on an old french lock, just as Jerron used when he proposed.
As we exited the sanctuary, our sweet friend play "Autumn Leaves" on the piano. This was the exact song that was being played on an accordion while Jerron proposed on the Pont de l'Archevêché (the love lock bridge just behind Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris).
And finally, as we made our way out of the church our guest threw vintage map paper airplanes, which created a whimsical exit into the perfect autumn afternoon.
As I look out my frosted windows over cold and desolate Hartford, I am finding myself longing for summer.
This past summer was magical for us. As classical artists, my husband and I feel a bit like fish out of water here in the states. That isn't to say there isn't amazing art happening in the states or there aren't incredibly talent musicians hidden in every tiny town and big city, but our art form comes alive in Europe.
To walk the streets Mozart and Beethoven did, see the town where Goethe wrote his poetry, or sit at a café Puccini frequented is to gain a deeper understanding of our art form and life. I know, spoken like a true artist, right?
Jerron and I traveled to Saarburg, Germany where we spent two
wonderful weeks full of rehearsing and practicing and evenings
performing for the most appreciative German audiences.
I was given the most fabulous 1960's wiggle dress to perform in. The German audiences loved it; I was actually asked if I was a movie star when I wore it! Yesterday's Lady knew exactly which dress would travel well, fit perfectly, and steal the stage!
We lived those two weeks.
We ate rich and delicious
food, drank world famous wine, danced in the streets, sang for hours,
walked cobblestone streets, biked winding roads and hiked among grape
vines. Just like I said, it was a magical summer.
It's been too long, my vintagistas! A lot has happened since we last met here: I am now a married woman! I have been meaning to share all my wedding plans along the way and it just never happened. *sigh* As they say, better late than never. So, I thought "why not start now?" And here it is folks: A Vintage Travel Love Affair.
The Dress
To beperfectly honest, I had no idea where to begin to find the illusive "perfect" dress. I scoured pinterest, etsy, and 5th St Vintage to no avail. I felt lost, chunky, and broke. It was as if every dress I was drawn to was too fancy, too small, or too expense. Then my mom, Yesterday's Lady, worked her magic and found the perfect dress.
The dress is a beautiful vintage lace cocktail dress worn by my grandmother on her wedding day. I had only seen photos of the dress and wasn't sure in what condition it was or what size it was, but with my whole I wanted wear that dress.
And sure enough, it was in great condition (albeit a bit dirty from 60
years in a closet)! I wore my husband's grandmother's crystal earrings
and necklace from the 1950s and paired them coral colored gloves, a birdcage
veil, and stilettos.
My "something borrowed" was a gorgeous nude silk clutch that my sister picked up from a flea market in Connecticut and a vintage fur wrap from my mom that has a label from Hovlin-Swanson in Lincoln, NE. It seems as if once I found the dress, everything fell into place!
We are just three short months from our New England wedding! Time has absolutely flown by and wedding planning has taken a backseat to our performing. Jerron and I both opened showed and closed shows in May and June and now we are preparing for our European adventure next week! In the meantime we are busy digging into the details of our wedding.
Jerron and I are on the tightest of budgets for our wedding so by necessity it has become a DIY wedding and I wouldn't have it any other way! Since we have found that our lives have been filled with travel, we've decided to make our wedding vintage travel themed. Here is our Save the Date video that Jerron made for all of our out of town guests.
Tonight we finally finished our invitations! A bottle of wine and a little jazz can really get you through almost anything!
I am so in love with the invitations Jerron designed for us!
~~~~~~ This post is best enjoyed with "Only a Paper Moon" by Ella Fitzgerald ~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a lovely weekend full of family, friends, vintage frocks, thrifting, and celebrating love! Here's a peak at Yesterday's Lady 's trip to New England!
We managed to find a bit of Nebraska in New England.
The best weekends begin with a bit of bubble and vintage pocket squares!
Miss Eleanor wore the sweetest vintage pink dress with ruffled bottoms.
We had the most beautiful wedding shower with vintage dresses, cherished advice, and decadent food!
Even Miss Eleanor wore her best vintage dress to the affair!
We've moved...and created our first gallery wall! Ever since I spied this awesome gallery wall on ABMyears
ago, I have been collecting fun prints and frames just waiting for the
perfect space! Here's everything you need to know about creating your
own gallery wall.
I
was a bit overwhelmed when we first started to lay out our photos and
prints, but as I began to style this small corner of our new apartment I
found it to be so much fun! It quickly became my favorite corner,
housing the liquor and motivation quotes!
Our
first step was to lay out all of our prints on the floor and tinker
with their placement until we found an arrangement that we felt was
perfect. One of the most important aspects of a gallery wall is to make
sure every piece is spaced equally across the whole wall. You can
measure it precisely, but we found it was much easier to find a small
object to use a spacer and stick with it. For this, we used our Apple TV
remote!
After
settling on a layout, we flipped every item over and cut paper
precisely to fit the size of each piece. Once the paper was cut, we
poked a whole where the nail was supposed to be placed, and then
replaced the picture with the newly cut piece of paper.
After
each piece was complete, began with the biggest central piece as an
"anchor" and taped each piece of paper to the wall precisely where we
wanted it. After the whole wall was assembled, we drived the nails into
the proper places, tore down the pieces of paper, and replaced them with
the real frames!
You
may notice that we changed our mind on one of the pieces once we got it
on the wall. It's important to remember that you do not need to stick to your original plan if you don't want to. Anything goes!
This project's theme song is Michael Kiwanuka's Home Again.
Jerron and I really wanted everyone to feel a part of our vintage themed ceremony
so we invited all the guests to wear vintage hats, gloves, bow ties, and
pocket squares. Boy did they deliver! One guest, dear Helga, even wore her vintage dirndl!
Our
ceremony was filled with details from our life together: the first duet
we sang together, love locks and french music that played as Jerron proposed to me in Paris, vintage globes, Willa Cather, vintage dresses, and lots of
singing. 
