Nina Gown – Taylor & Alex

November 26, 2020

Real Brides

Nina Gown – Taylor & Alex

COUPLE’S NAMES

Taylor & Alex

WEDDING DATE

12 September 2020

WEDDING LOCATION

Pheasant Hollow Farm. Due to the Pandemic, we were forced to re-plan our wedding with less than 60 days to go, but we are so fortunate to have family friends that own a beautiful horse farm in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The farm is on 13 acres with rolling fields and a beautiful barn that made the most amazing wedding backdrop. I think our reception turned out even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. Our ceremony occurred in my family church where my grandparents and parents were married and all of my mom’s family was raised.

GUEST TOTAL

PHOTOGRAPHER

What first drew me to Mariah Treiber’s photography is the moody and natural feel her photos convey. Once I got to know Mariah more, it was a benefit that she is a wonderful human being and so easy to get along with. She made the entire experience comfortable and not awkward at all. I had multiple bridal party members commenting on how much fun they had with her! Bonus! The pictures that she captured on the day really portrayed all the love and happiness that we felt throughout the whole day. Each photo I love more than the next – I am so happy to have these to look back on.

BRIDE’S DRESS

Temple by Bo & Luca, NINA gown with the Bo & Luca EVERLEY Veil. I tried many dresses on before I found the NINA gown. With many of the dresses that I tried, I found that instead of wearing the dress it felt more like the dresses were wearing me. When I tried on the Nina, it was meant to be. I stepped out of the dressing room and felt like a bride. It was light, flowy, and comfortable. The style and feel fit the modern boho look I was going for all along.

BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES

BHLDN. I wanted each girl to choose the style of dress they wanted so that they felt the most comfortable on the day. I kept the bridesmaids to a deep wine color while my matron and maid of honor wore blush tones with a little extra sparkle. I wanted the bridal party to look put together but not matchy-matchy.

ENGAGEMENT STORY

Living in New Hampshire for 3 years while Alex was in Law School we weren’t always able to do as much hiking and traveling, as we would have liked. Fast-forward to 4 years later, we took a spontaneous trip to New Hampshire to visit friends, our old stomping grounds, and to do a little hiking in the White Mountains. At the top of the 1st of 3 mountains hiked that day, Alex popped the big question, and of course, the answer was an astounding “YES!”. Alex and I have been together for over 9 years.

WEDDING THEME

The theme of our wedding was modern vintage. I wanted a mixture of clean lines, natural florals and vintage touches. The inspiration behind the theme came from a place of wanting people to feel comfortable. I knew I did not want a stuffy event. My goal was to make people feel free to move about, enjoy the company, food and music. At the end of the day, it was to want a feeling of being home and at ease, which I think we accomplished.

WEDDING RINGS

Since I knew from the start that I wanted things to be different than the norm that also carried over into our wedding rings. My engagement ring is rose gold with an oval center stone surrounded by a halo of smaller diamonds. We are so lucky that we have an amazing jeweler in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Henne Jewelers, who always has the most beautiful selection of rings. For our wedding bands, I selected a rose gold braided band with small diamonds. Alex has a titanium band with a surprise – the inside of his band is entirely rose gold. This is a nice homage to my set while keeping the style more masculine.

FLOWERS & BOUQUETS

My color choices for our florals were based on having a late summer/early fall wedding. I wanted to keep it light with lots of greenery and include blush tones into the florals. To tie in the early fall, for an accent color I incorporated a deep wine color. I wanted the bouquets to have a very natural and soft feel to them that would accent everyone’s dresses but not take away from how beautiful they were. For my bouquet, I kept it very simple with lots of greens and a beautiful mauve ribbon. Our reception florals were out of this world. Our florist is magical and she made each design in my head come to life. When entering the tent our reception was housed under, a floral archway that was lined with beautiful lanterns and soft candlelight greeted you. Upon entering the tent each table had its own personality. I used a mixture of high and low floral arrangements along with rectangular farm tables and round banquet tables. Greenery ceilings adorned two of the farm tables to bring the outside in. The other tables were a mix of greenery and floral runners as well as arrangements on tall geometric gold metal stands.

WEDDING CAKE

The bakery that we chose to do our cake is a baker and an artist. Tasty Bakery is another Pittsburgh favorite that can take any design and bring to life. We chose a vanilla bean cake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream icing. Instead of going traditional with fresh flowers, she crafted them out of fondant to go with the out of the box style that I was looking for.

FIRST SONG

The song we chose for our first dance was the acoustic version of Jess Glynne’s I’ll Be There. Alex and I are a partnership and we have been through a lot in the 9 years that we have been together. This song always reminds us that no matter what, we will always be there for each other. Rooting each other on and holding each other up when life gets difficult.

FOOD & DRINKS

We did a buffet-style Italian meal. To keep with the warm and cozy feel there is nothing better than Italian food. Coming from an Italian family it made sense, food is always central to any event. We chose a caterer that was able to take our vision and bring it to life both in how the food was presented but also with how it tasted. We wanted all of our guests to eat good food, indulge in a few drinks, and have fun.

HONEYMOON

Alex and I wanted to choose something easy to get to so that we could maximize our time with family and friends that traveled to spend our special day with us. We did a five-day trip to Carmel by the Sea, California. We stayed in a cottage style boutique hotel in the town of Carmel. Spent our days visiting the beach, going on a winery tour, hiking Point Lobos and visiting the city of Monterey. I think our favorite part of the honeymoon, after spending much of this year stressing over the pandemic, was getting away and enjoying each other’s company. A must-see, while you are in Carmel, is Point Lobos. There is nothing like the California coastline.

MEMORABLE MOMENT

I think the most memorable moment from our wedding day was when we were on the dance floor, surrounded by our closest family and friends and just enjoying a moment of pure joy.

ADVICE FOR BRIDES-TO-BE

Enjoy the process. It will be here and gone before you even know it. Enjoy every step of the process and really drink it all in. Take a step back every so often and look at all the people and the love that is all around you. Take the time to enjoy being engaged and enjoy time together that isn’t wedding planning.