Sometimes my work can feel like winning the jackpot. And styling the wedding of Aukje & Ivan was definitely a ‘golden enveloppe’ moment. I don’t even know where to begin with their story. Seeing all the gorgeous photos by Danique (OAK & FIR) again while writing this post has given me heart-eyes. All the flowers, the stunning bride&groom, their lovely guests, the venue, even the heatwave.. everything was perfect. Not magazine-perfect, but real life perfect. It was perfect for them, for me, my team and everyone there.
The moment newly-engaged couple Aukje and Ivan emailed me about their Midsummer wedding I knew this would be good. A few weeks later, when we sat at my dining room table and they showed me their inspiration I knew how good. What can I say, when you bring images of Liekeland, the Moomins, Monet and van Gogh you are a winner! No Pinterest trends for these two dreamers! Because that is what they are. Sweet Aukje and Ivan are the most thoughtful and kind people with some very cool ideas. We immediately hit if off and spend a lot of time together, looking for the perfect venue and designing their wedding weekend.
We found the venue in the very South of Holland and the couple rocked my world by hiring Danique for the photography.
I took the inspiration Aukje & Ivan showed me and transformed it into a stylingplan. Key ingredient: flowers and personal elements! Aukje & Ivan made some items themselves, like the cotton flags and hand-painted signs. I folded origami birds from their inspirational images as a surprise backdrop and cut napkins out of the perfect fabric. I made some flower arrangements in advance and I brought hundreds of flowers with me.
My husband Stefan, assistant Tonke, dear friend Rena en I roadtripped to Limburg the day before the wedding. The best improvised team I ever had! We had a blast in our firevan, sweating our faces off despite the stops for ice cream. Who knew there would be a heatwave that weekend? I had my girls spray all the flowers with water during the trip to make sure they would survive. Almost all of them did :) And even though we had to skip some of my ideas (all the colored candles I got would melt with these temperatures), everything came together perfectly.
Aukje had the best idea: she thrifted some vintage vases with each of their overnight guests in mind. She labeled them with their names. We filled them up and used them for decor on the wedding day. After everyone left for the party, we delivered each vase to the corresponding room number. This way, all the guests had a lovely bouquet in their room and a personal souvenir!
Enough words for now, time to swoon!
Fun fact that nobody cares about: This lovely girl is the brides best friend and our best friends sister! Mr cool on the right is her husband :) It’s a small, small world!
Obviously I couldn’t have done this without Aukje & Ivan. These two made my concept come alive. The moment they stepped outside in a burgundy suit and a gorgeous handmade dress & flower crown was the cherry on top of a perfect day.
This Midsummer wedding is one for the books. I’m proud to sign my name under it and even more proud I got to do this with some of my favorite people in the world.
Dreaming of a unique wedding or gathering yourself? Just tell me what inspires you and I will create a day to remember!
♥ Anne
photos: OAK & FIR / styling&flowers: Inspire Styling / dress: Esther Vijftigschild / catering: Lange Tafels in het Gras / wedding cake: Holy Nut / venue: Hoeve Vernelsberg