Molly & Chris- Wedding

WEEEE!!  So excited to share this wedding.  Molly & Chris are the sweetest, cutest, most adorable couple on the planet & I’m SO lucky to now call them friends.  Their Florida vintage inspired wedding was held right here in Downtown St. Pete at the Shuffleboard Club.  When she first told me, I didn’t even know we had a shuffleboard club, but it sounded so unique & awesome.  I was immediately thrilled to do a wedding there.  She went on to tell me all about her details & I was so pumped.  Her college mascot was a squirrel, so she wanted to tribute that in some of her details, so she wore the cutest squirrel belt.  When she told me this, at first I was a little worried.  I pictures this belt made out of a real squirrel, head & everything.  THANK GOD this wasn’t the case.  It turned out to be much, much cuter & cruelty free.  :)
When I asked Molly for their love story, she went over and beyond, not only giving their love story, but also details about their perfect wedding, her advice on wedding planning, how Chris paid tribute to his combat brothers… all in all, a fantastic, fun blurb.

Chris and I met in September of 2010, not long after I moved to Florida. He was working as a bouncer for a restaurant/bar in Ybor City which is known as THE party place in our area. I was there to hear a band with a friend and stepped outside to get some air. Walking past me was a woman dressed all in leather, walking a man on all fours with a leash and a leather hood over his head. Naturally, my jaw dropped and I could not stop staring. Chris saw me and laughed and opened with the best line ever, “You’re not from around here, are you?” I shook my head no and eventually we started seeing each other.

Our relationship, like most people’s, has not been without its ups and downs and we had a lot to work through while we were together. We even broke up at one point and through that period realized that we had to make an active decision to be with one another and love one another no matter what life threw at us. Once we got back together, our relationship and communication was so much stronger and better. We both seemed to realize that this was the real deal. In our ceremony, we chose to recognize that we broke up and got back together and to include the Fable of the Porcupine instead of something like first Corinthians. The moral of the fable is to accept life’s little hurts and work together so that you’re stronger.

Our wedding was such a special day for us. We were on an extremely limited budget and paying for everything ourselves so DIY was definitely the name of the game. I found some wonderful vendors, including our amazing photographer Jessica, through Ruffled and other indie bride blogs. I decided on the St Pete Shuffleboard Club because it was a night date destination for Chris and I and it was such a cute location. We wanted to stick with local and independent vendors as much as possible so I called on Fire Monkey Food Truck and Whatever Pops to do the catering- those guys are amazing. Totally custom menus from each and they worked so well within the budget. Everyone raved about having gourmet popsicles on what turned out to be a scorching night!

Our theme was a loose vintage Florida feel and since I call Chris my “bear” and I was the mascot at my college -Gladys, the Fighting Squirrel- I designed the programs, table numbers, and cocktail descriptions to match. Our colors were navy, yellow, and green to kind of keep with the shuffleboard courts coloring and a vintage-y/preppy feel. I made the wrapped bottles in our colors (tip to other brides- start at the top, not the bottom), I made the burlap table runners, the orange crate labels for the favors, the bug spray and SPF labels, the aisle runner, the bunting (out of Chris’s old shirts), invitations/save the dates, cocktails and the wedding cake. It seems like a lot now that I’m thinking about it!

One of the most important things to both Chris and I was to find a way to subtlety honor his combat brothers, the men of Dog Company. Chris is a Purple Heart recipient from the Iraq War as a member of the 506th Infantry Regiment. While serving in Iraq they lost a beloved leader, Sgt. David Herrera, and it meant a lot to Chris to have our wedding be a sort of reunion for the guys who were able to attend. So to honor Sgt. Herrera, and all the men they served with, Chris and his groomsmen wore the “Currahee” crest instead of boutonnieres. It was a small touch but full of meaning. That would be my biggest piece of advice for any prospective bride- find small ways to honor important parts of both your lives that have made you who you are. For Chris, that was the “Currahee” crest. For me, it was wearing a squirrel belt buckle! You, most likely, will have another detail entirely.

Hands down..  Best kiss EVER