Before their engagement, Katie and Chad took their first trip to Maine together.  There, they fell in love with many things: a long bicycle trip around a lake, the beautiful landscape, and most importantly, the blueberries.  They ate blueberry pancakes at breakfast each morning and shared blueberry ice cream in the afternoons.  They even sent blueberry preserves home to friends and family.

A few months later, Chad popped the question during a quiet evening at home.  Remembering the fun and adventure they had on their trip to Maine, they wanted to incorporate some part of it into their wedding.  Knowing that they wanted an outdoor wedding, something simple and elegant with a country flair, at a venue with beautiful architecture, they felt that blueberries fit the bill.

Katie and Chad had an August wedding at the Historic Mankin Mansion in Richmond, Virginia.  They chose this venue because it had the perfect mix of indoor and outdoor space, and the architecture of the mansion was the perfect backdrop for their plans.  As a bonus, since the mansion is a bed and breakfast, friends and family were able to stay there and enjoy an entire weekend of celebration.

Included in Katie’s favorite wedding decor were all simple but elegant items: hanging baskets, simply cut hydrangeas easily arranged in antique milk bottles (collected over many months by the couple themselves!), a sign made by the groom using a piece of driftwood, the handmade custom paper accessories that adorned the outdoor ceremony and tented reception, and her specially-baked blueberry-streusel muffin wedding favors.

When Katie and Chad brought their inspiration of using blueberries throughout their custom wedding invitation and paper goods to Dogwood Blossom Stationery, I was excited to get started.  They choose a pearl-like opal blue paper for the invitation, paired with white cardstock and white grosgrain ribbon.  To make things easy on guests, they asked for a custom map to the weekend venue driving from each direction.  In order to accommodate the map, we created a square, folding wedding invitation that opened on the right to reveal the invitation itself and then flipped up to reveal the map and directions.  In the end, three different blueberry motifs were designed to adorn the various handmade paper pieces: wedding invitation, response enclosure, seating cards, and table numbers.

Venue:  The Historic Mankin Mansion, Richmond, VA

Photographer:  Andy Pigsley Photography
(All photos except the invitation)

Invitations, Table Numbers, and Seating Cards:  Dogwood Blossom Stationery & Invitation Studio

So this is my very first post on my brand-new blog!  How’d I do?  Please leave your comments below and share this with your friends.  And visit again soon to see other real weddings, invitation inspiration, custom invitation ideas, and color palettes!