Vintage Literary Wedding
Brooklyn, New York
♥ ♥ ♥
Bookworms, grab an eyeful of this bookish Brooklyn wedding! Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, newlywed’s Mary and Steve got their hands dirty with some fab DIY projects to put together their unique vintage literary themed wedding.
Mary is a librarian so there were many bookish elements, like the invitations, escort card board and the succulent book planters. As they both love all things vintage, they also incorporated aged decor elements in their wedding. One of the best things about having their wedding in their Brooklyn neighbourhood was that they could share with their out-of-town guests all of their favourite spots.
Boasting vintage inspired soft pastel colours, old novels, paper florals and vintage glassware with a hint of a romantic birdies here and there, check out Mary and Steve’s superb literary wedding captured so prettily by Anne-Claire Brun Wedding Photography.
Vintage Literary Themed Wedding Look
(Above) Vintage Pastel Bridal Bouquet: Mary carried a pastel coloured bridal bouquet that featured a locket secured on the lace tied stems.
(Above) Bridal Floral Headpiece: Mary bought her vintage floral headpiece from Etsy. See more bridal headpieces from this collection of 20 Floral Bridal Crowns & Flower Wreaths {Trendy Tuesday}
(Above) Vintage Boutonniere: Steve paired his grey blue suit from J.Crew with a patterned tie and vintage inspired boutonniere in soft floral colours.
(Above Right) Vintage Bridal Wedding Dress: Mary is quite the thrifty gal so she first went to J.Crew and tried on a dozen dresses before visiting Ebay and buying the one she loved for half the retail price! Later at the reception she changed into an after-party dress. “Ladies let me tell you: if you’re going to EAT and dance all night, change into a comfortable party dress. You won’t regret it!” says Mary.
Vintage Literary Themed Wedding Ceremony
(Above) Vintage Library Themed Wedding Invitations: The couple’s Save the Dates were a photostrip that they created with an iPhone app as a nod to their engagement and their paper invitations were library-themed as well.
Steve and Mary’s Love Story
Mary tells us a little about how they met and fell in love: We first met at Steve’s apartment almost five years ago and a New Year’s brunch party. His roommate was my friend and co-worker. He was walking up to his apartment at the same time as me and we saw each other and both thought, “I really hope we’re going to the same place”. I had only planned on staying 1-2 hours, but somehow it turned into 10! We hit it off immediately and a few weeks later, he offered to help me move into my new apartment. I thought, “Either this guy is into me or he is the nicest person ever”. Turns out he’s both!
(Above) Vintage Outdoor Hanging Backdrop: Mary fell madly in love with this yellow, white and green floral outdoor hanging backdrop, which she had made especially for their wedding day. Learn how to create your own paper backdrop by following this easy-as-pie DIY Paper Mobile Wedding Backdrop {Tutorial}.
The Tale Of Their Proposal
The sweet tale of their proposal was captured moment by moment: After he helped me move into my apartment, we went on our first date that same night. Our first kiss happened that night inside a photo booth at a Williamsburg bar. We smooched like crazy in there until some drunk and annoyed bar patrons started banging on the booth! Two years later we were walking by the same bar and Steve insisted we stop so he could use the bathroom. Once inside, he suggested we hop into the photo booth for old time’s sake. We put in the dollars and as the photos were snapping, he pulled out the ring box and proposed! Then he brought me to another bar where all of our friends were waiting for an impromptu engagement party (someone was pretty confident I’d say yes!). We still have the photo strip on our refrigerator.
Vintage Literary Themed Wedding Reception
From the literary escort card board and fabric bunting to the vintage book planters and floral arrangements, most of the decor elements from their wedding was DIY projects that the couple worked on. Mary spent a year gathering vintage books, milk glass vases and apothecary jars for their wedding centrepieces.
(Above) Vintage Bunting: Mary sewed all the bunting that hung in the backyard along the wooden fence.
(Above) Vintage Blackboard Signs: Cute blackboard signs with vintage-inspired frames were used to direct their guests to find their seat, leave gifts and cards and to take a photo for the guestbook.
(Above) Vintage Library & Book Themed Wedding Gift Table: The cards and gifts table was decorated with a large birdcage to hold the guest cards and cute vintage blackboard signs.
(Above) Vintage Library & Book Themed Wedding Escort Board: For their escort board, they used library checkout cards that featured a personalised stamp that read, “From the library of Stephen and Mary”.
(Above) Vintage Wedding Reception: The wedding reception venue was a white canvas that was dresses up with long tables, a square sweetheart table for the couple and white fold-up chairs. Creating a fresh and light atmosphere, the white colour palette was accented pastel florals.
(Above) Vintage Library & Book Themed Wedding Book Planters: They converted several vintage books into planters and filled them with moss and succulents. The old novels were displayed open leaving a stunning arrangement of succulent florals and moss, which contrasted perfectly with the worn book pages.
(Above) DIY Paper Flowers: The couple created paper flowers from the pages of books, which added an interesting textural contrast to the rest of the table decor. The great thing about paper decor is that they don’t wilt! This wedding paper trend looks especially fab when displayed in cute jars alongside real floral arrangements, as seen adorning the tables of this beautiful Baby’s Breath & Lace Wedding, Franschhoek.
(Above) Vintage Table Numbers: Stylish brown paper cards were displayed upright with a table number printed on each of them.
(Above) Vintage Literary Themed Wedding Place Settings: Pastel blue paper card tags bearing each guest’s name was used as place settings.
(Above) Vintage Pastel Wedding Cake: Their cute two-tiered wedding cake was iced and decorated with pastel florals to match the rest of the floral arrangements.
(Above) Vintage Photo Guest Book: Guests preserved their wedding day wishes on a snapshot that was pegged to a large bare vintage frame.
Real Bride, Mary’s, Tips For Brides-To-Be
- Be true to yourself. A lot of people will have opinions about who you invite or what you should wear, but it all boils down to what feels right to you and your fiancé.
- Splurge on a great photographer! The day goes by in a flash and you’ll want to hold onto those memories.
- Don’t sweat the small stuff! A few things may go wrong, but at long as it’s not a natural disaster, just roll with it. Our transportation to and from the venue flaked the day before, one of our ceremony readers got cold feet, and Steve left his iPhone in the cab, but everything worked out beautifully anyways!
- Be determined to stay within your budget. NYC must be the most expensive place in the world to have a wedding so we were determined to stay within our budget. I borrowed décor from friends and bought a lot of stuff at thrifts stores and we did our own flowers. We kept our guest list to immediate family and friends only and then had a party afterwards for additional friends at our friend’s bar, Crown Vic.
What a wonderful literary inspired wedding celebration that is sure to make us rethink the the way we look at libraries again. If you thought the hanging decor projects found in Mary and Steve’s wedding were just dreamy, you’re going to love browsing these 21 DIY Outdoor & Hanging Decor Ideas for more wedding inspiration.