I am not going to over do this one with words!  Just know that tomorrow’s wedding is absolutely friggin stunning & shot by the phenomenal Kane & Social!  I highly advise carving out some eye candy time tomorrow as this sweet treat is prime to deliver!  Xo-Jess

So small back story about today’s stunning feature that not even Summer Land {the bride} knows!  My little sister is always on the hunt for the next witty thing to entertain her.  She stumbled upon, Summerlandish, and felt she found a kindred spirit.  I decided to follow Summer on Twitter & FB as if nothing else, the things she says in 140 characters make her follow worthy!  Now comes the funny life timing part, not too long after that Summer actually contacted me about featuring her wedding {apparently SBW had helped her along her way} who knew!?  Would the chicken or the egg come first, who knows, what I do know is when she reached out regarding her wedding, I pretty much accepted it without really seeing the images.  I felt it was worth the potential risk as a girl like Summer, loving to be bold, brash, risque, & simply looking to have  good time, if nothing else was going to make for one fun post and that was a  risk I was willing to take.  When the images finally landed on my desk I soon realized I was in for a treat!  This gorgeous Park City Utah wedding allows nature to do all the heaving lifting all the while putting in just the right touches to make it brilliant.  Beautiful strong  wood tables are used for dining while a great white lounge area was erected for guests to relax.  Intense pops of blue pink & orange are woven into the right places giving life to the natural tones around.  Summer’s bridal style is equally well put together, taking a cue, as she puts it, from Martha Stewart preppy, opting for a lovely wedding frock with pockets!  With her hair swept into the perfect low back bun, the finishing touches of a floral fascinator & veil are all she needs.  Prince charming comes in the form of an Aussie man {Paul Jongsma}, clearly smitten by Summer’s charms & quite happy to be so.  For their feature I wanted to do a blind questionnaire, neither knowing each others questions or answers….until now!  Enjoy this gem as its a true Friday treat!

Its pretty clear you & your boys mean a lot to one another {as well as have a good time!}, how did it feel going through such a big life change with them at your side?

Paul: “It was such a good feeling knowing that my friends care for me that much to fly all the way over from Australia and be by my side.”

What was your most memorable moment with your boys while getting ready?

Paul: “The week before the wedding, we decided to get “ready” in Vegas. Since jumping out of an airplane over the strip is more exciting than learning how to tie bow ties, this stands out in my mind.”

What was your most memorable moment with your girls while getting ready?

Summer: “We lip-synced a group performance to Carly Rae Jepson’s Call Me Maybe. And it’s incredible. However, one girl refuses to let me put it on the internet. I will beg her because it’s so blog worthy.”

When you look back over your wedding photos, which image is your favorite & why?

Summer: “That’s a really hard one. They are all so special to me. I mean I obviously love the group shots, the dancing, the couple ones, the details, etc. But I guess the one I look at all the time would be my bridesmaids one. {Above photo} I love my girlfriends so much. And many of them are the reason that Paul and I are together. Megan, my maid of honor and best friend  since middle school actually met Paul a week before we knocked on his door and had his number. She played a bit of a matchmaker. Emily, my friend from University, was doing a working holiday in Australia and spent two months traveling with Paul and me. These girls have always been there for me and witnessed Paul and I fall in crazy Ameristralian love. And since we’ve all be separated by jobs, loves, etc. It is incredible to have them all by my side.”

What was going through your mind when you saw Summer for the first time on your wedding day?

Paul: “Oh my God I didn’t think anyone could look that beautiful and I remember her worrying about whether I’d like the wedding dress and I was shocked to think I couldn’t like it once I saw her in it.”

How did you go about putting together your complete wedding day look?

Summer: “It’s pretty easy to get a look when you’re back drop is Park City. I didn’t really need much in terms of floers for the ceremony since it was outside. And I am a huge fan of low table centerpieces. I found some wonderful ideas online and then asked Melissa to help me source something. We usually ended up finding something a little different, but equally special. I actually ended up buying quite a few things from Etsy- Mason Jars, Burlap, Paper Straws, Bunting, etc. Other than that I just thought about all of the things I loved from other people’s weddings. Flip Flops, Couches, etc.”

“Paul and I wanted people to see where we met and fell in love. We wanted people to feel comfortable and relaxed. I like to describe it as Martha’s Vineyard meets Park City. A nice preppy mountain affair With a dash of Aussie!”

What was going through your mind when you saw Paul for the first time on your wedding day?

Summer: “Everything leading up to a wedding can be quite stressful (for the bride.) For me, it wasn’t that I needed everything to be perfect. I just needed to know that everyone was having a nice time. On the actual day of the wedding, I took a friend’s advice and focused on enjoying what we had created. I really looked at everything. And when I looked at Paul at the end of the aisle, I felt completely relaxed, excited, happy, content and a little shocked that we managed to find ourselves back in the same place we met- four years later- saying I do. I no longer worried about if the seats would be comfortable enough, or if the umbrellas were doing their jobs shading people. I even didn’t worry about the storm lurking behind the mountains. I could have stood up there in a hurricane with Paul. I was just so unbelievably happy. But as soon as it was over, I felt like I couldn’t remember what had just happened. Paul and I went back into our suite for a moment and we said our vows again. It was really cute. hahahaha And then of course- we danced!”

We see you guys strive to achieve vertical height in the form of standing pyramids, what gives?

Summer: “As much as this looks like it was an ex-cheerleader’s idea, I swear it was Paul’s. He loves a good shoulder stand. I’m assuming his love stems from his festival days in Australia. As for me, I instinctively go to a high V whenever performing a balancing act. Nothing like a little Cirque du Soleil show at a wedding. (Thank goodness I didn’t face plant. There was quite the crowd watching.)”

Paul: “It started off at festivals. Everyone was always sitting on people’s shoulders thinking they were the kings of the world. So I thought I’d do one better and stand on my best friend’s shoulders who happens to be the tallest man in the world. It just sort of became a thing that we did. Once, I had Summer stand on my shoulders to pick mangoes in Northern Queensland.”

Loving the white on white cake, along with how it was displayed!  What was your inspiration behind it & how do you feel it turned out?

Summer: “Initially I didn’t really want a wedding cake because neither of us have a sweet tooth, but when I began working with my wedding planner, Melissa, from Soiree Productions, she explained that I would regret not having one. I knew that I wanted something simple. I searched on Pinterest and 100LayerCake, but ultimately found one featured on Martha Stewart’s site. We had a local pastry chef recreate it. It didn’t turn out exactly like the picture, but that made it even more special  I loved the table, votives and bunting around it ”

From The Baker: “The cake flavor was a delicious Madagascar Vanilla Bean with Sour Cream, Cream Cheese Buttercream and Homemade Fondant. The cake design named after the bride, the “Summer” is covered in layers of delicate dimensional blossoms and leaves edged in pin-point piping, reminiscent of a lavish antique lace tablecloth.”

How did you know Paul/Summer was the one?

Summer: “I just really wanted to marry him and have his babies. I think it was his pheremones. He’s also super cute with baby animals and knows some really good jokes. But seriously, we just didn’t want to stop hanging out. Like ever.”

Paul: “There were a thousand things that made me want to marry Summer. But I’d say when I really fell in love with her was on our 7 week camping trip on the east coast of Australia in 2009. We slept in a tent rain, hail or shine and rarely showered. If you’re still attracted to someone after going through that, you should marry them.”

 

When it came to planning the wedding, how ‘in to it’ were you really?

Paul: “Um, I would say more than I expected. I really let Summer do whatever she wanted, but she asked for my opinion even for the finest detail. I actually chose the wedding cake. (Well she gave me three options to choose from.) If it wasn’t for her, though, it wouldn’t have been as amazing as it was.”

With a wedding spanning 2 countries, well across the world from one another, what were some of the tougher points to sort out when it came to planning?

Summer: “A major thing for us when planning an international wedding was that people could actually come. We ended up having a two year engagement so that our Aussie guests had plenty of time to save annual leave and funds to come. It was amazing in the end. We had around 30 Aussies come to the US Most ended up staying for about 5 weeks and traveling around.”

“There were also things that we wanted to incorporate from Australia that we couldn’t get in the US. We thought it would be fun to do some of our local beer and wine from Mudgee (wine region where we live), but shipping was incredibly expensive.”

“And lest we forget the time change. I seriously would have been lost without a wedding planner. Instead of me staying up until 3am to make phone calls to vendors, I could just send Melissa an email and she would sort everything out.”

“In terms of budget- I felt like I had to entertain everyone. Since it was a destination wedding for all but two families, I organized quite a few events.”

The Wedding Plan

Wednesday was a outdoor concert at Deer Valley Ski Resort.
Thursday was pool/ bachelorette. The girls went to High West (a ski in ski out whiskey distillery) and then we met up with everyone at No Name Saloon on Main Street.
Friday- Bridal Brunch/ Grooms Golfing Session and then a Welcome Party at my Maid of Honors house which was the “rehearsal dinner”
Saturday- Wedding!!!!!!
Sunday- brunch

Novella of the Bride…

Paul is from Wollongong, Australia and I’m from Gainesville, FL. Paul and I first met in Park City in 2008. He was renting a house with about 11 other friends from Australia, New Zealand and England. My friend Megan’s family owned the house across the street. I was visiting for Thanksgiving and Megan and I decided to bring the boys some leftovers. We knocked on there door while balancing trays of turkey and stuffing. Paul and I were immediately drawn to each other. The next night we went out on Main Street and as the story goes- we lived happily ever after I am a writee at my site Summerlandish and Paul is a Mechanical Fitter and works for Xstrata Coal.

We chose Park City because it is a really sentimental place for us. Neither of us wanted to get married in our home towns, so Park City became the perfect destination.  The wedding was all outdoors. We honestly didn’t need to bring in many floral arrangements because our backdrop was so beautiful. For the reception, we had big wooden tables and an old wooden floor made of barn wood. We wanted an elegant Kennedy-esque backyard wedding.

A couple of my bridesmaids also went above and beyond. Megan, my Maid of Honor hosted a Welcome Party for all of our guests, a bridal brunch and planned my bachelorette. My friend, Emily, helped me sort out bridesmaids dresses. Of course the one we chose was now three seasons old, so all nine girls had to track it down on Ebay, etc!  We actually made a little viral song and sent it to Lilly Pulitzer to help us find the dress. They loved it and tried their best! Here is the link to the song. {SBW Note: This is actually freaking hilarious, lol}  Lilly Pulitzer tweeted about it. Emily also designed the CD for our favors and my friend, Molly, made the programs!

My friend told me that on the day, I should take a moment and just watch. Once everyone was seated in the tent and eating, I stood up and looked around and felt so lucky to have so many friends and family willining to travel (pretty far) to watch us get married. I also couldn’t believe just how beautiful all of the tables were. Everything was truly perfect.  We also had our first dance song made specifically for us.

Summer Love Final

Vendor Love

Venue: Hotel Park City
Wedding Dress: Anne Barge
Bridesmaid Dresses: Lily Pulitzer
Shoes: Grace
Hair & Makeup Stylist: Paula J Dahlberg
Groom’s Suit: Jack London
Music: Utah Jive
Florist: Decoration Inc
Caterer:Hotel Park City
Baker: Carrie’s Cakes
Wedding/Event Planner: Soiree Productions
Photographer: Nick Sokoloff

Getting married under live oaks draped with Spanish moss seems so very storybook, movie style southern wedding to me!  When I saw Courtney Hamm & Whitney Newman’s wedding, which took place among the ruins at Runnymede Plantation, I knew I had to share this gorgeous South Carolina wedding with you!  The wedding was punctuated with pewter glasses, vases, and pink and white floral arrangements at the reception while our couple was married under a drift wood arch along the marsh line.  Family & friends danced then danced the night away under a tented sky, ultimately cheering the couple off with a sparkler departure!

Vendor Love

Caterer: Crazy Dutchman Catering
Event Planner: elle courtney events
Floral Designer: Pretty Petals of Charleston
Musicians: Charleston Virtuosi
Dress Boutique: The Gown Boutique of Charleston
Band: N’Tranze
Makeup Artist: Charleston events hair and makeup
Venue: Runnymede Plantation
Photographer: Reese Moore Weddings

Becci and Hugo have known each other since they were 12. Growing up together in England, they have been together for many years. This celebration was a commitment to each other and to their children. They are both casual but have real class & elegance.  Hugo is the head chef and part owner at the Kitchen Restaurants in Boulder and Denver. Community is very important to them as well as family and friends which were on hand to witness & partake in the celebration of their family.  Pastures of Plenty was chosen as their venue as it is a working local farm with which Hugo and Becci have a special relationship with, along with other farmers in the community, as they use their produce and meat in the restaurant. Pastures of Plenty specifically, is one of the produce vendors for the Kitchen Restaurants. Hugo and Becci have known Lyle and Sylvia, the owners, for a long time and were instrumental in ushering in the Farm to Table movement in Boulder, Colorado!  Hugo and Becci have two boys together and made sure that there were lots of activities for the many children at the wedding including a bouncy slide, plastic swords, big bubbles!   The kids were celebrated & included resulting in their having as much fun as the adults!

What Storyboard Likes…

The Attitude- Its pretty evident from this gorgeous wedding that our couple’s main focus was putting together a laid back casual atmosphere that guests would be utterly at ease in while enjoying that last bit of warmth that the end of summer/early fall gives us.  The feeling starts with our couple’s cool casual wedding day chic style, flowing all the way to the kids obvious enjoyment playing with bubbles!

The Tent- Where you hang your hat, as they say, is indeed important, but equally as important is where you place your bum!  This swanky yet relaxed casbah is major swoon worthy.  The extra pieces of draped lighter fabric to the vault of the tent give  a more opaque feel that really bring a sense of lightness & movement to the room.  Countering that loftiness, a strong yet not obtrusive chandelier hangs in the center giving the eye some fun to play with. Bringing things back down to earth, the natural wood tables & matching chairs ground our casbah while touches like kitchen towel napkins & small terracotta potted plants give the guests a down home feel to life bringing you back to the overall casual feel to the wedding!

The Picnic Blanket Ceremony- Wood benches are always a sweet homey touch at a weddings, so why not take things one step further, truly letting your guests feel comfy & at home while watching you celebrate your love. Its pretty evident from the photo that more then a few guests were equally tickled by this seating option, allowing them relax while joining in!

The Food Display- I am a big big fan of caterer’s that put forth extra effort to be a part of the decor show too!  We are truly loving the natural wood elements that Big Bang Catering is playing with, everything from wood slabes to hand carved out oblong bowls.  Each serving area is perfectly finished with elements of fruit & floral really elevating the overall look of the foodie offerings, making them a natural co-star to the big day!  Might I even say, we imagine with presentation like this, the food tastes that much more amazing!

Vendor Love

Venue: Pastures of Plenty
Caterer: Big Bang Catering
Florist: Sturtz and Copeland
Baker: Nathan Miller Chocolates
Wedding Dress: Vintage find by Bride
Shoe Designer: Jimmy Choo
Music: Selasse
Photographer: Ashley Davis Photography

College is not only a place to learn, it often leads to not so chance meetings of soul mates, which is exactly the case with Christina Montero & Hans Reichstetter while attending Georgetown University.  As life would have it, even though our couple shared a class freshman year, it wasnt until senior year, with a few more shared classes that Hans finally broke the ice!  Han’s proposal was completely adorable, incorporating Jake, their cat!  ”We were at our minuscule studio apartment on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, it was about 9am on a Saturday and I had just woken up.  As I was walking to the bathroom, I passed our cat Jake and he was wearing a T-shirt.  Yes a T-shirt and it said something along the lines of “Congrats on the Ring”.  I freaked out, woke up Hans, who told me to continue on to the bathroom where I was faced with a HUGE collage of photos that spelled out “Will You Marry Me? “. All of the photos were photos of just us over the past 8 years.  In the soap dish was the ring, and the tub was filled with roses. Hans got down on one knee and the rest was history. It was amazing! He then whisked me off to a weekend getaway in the Catskill Mountains where we could relax and enjoy our engagement bliss.”

Keeping with offbeat awesomeness, Christina & Hans choose the ever stunning Vizcaya Museum and Gardens keeping to a vintage glam Hollywood meets shabby chic feel, yet adding touches that kept things light & fun for all the guests.  One such act of whimsy was La Hora Loca, which was inspired by Christina’s close friend’s wedding in Costa Rica at which when the clock struck 11pm, tons of “marti gras” type costumes were handed out to all the guests, one can only imagine the craziness that ensued!  We love this dual personality wedding, from the mega glam elements to the innovative ways of keeping it filled with joy, laughter, & love!

Novella of the Bride…

The number one goal was to have fun! So with everything we did, we tried to infuse a bit of fun and care-free attitude. Most of our friends and family weren’t from Miami so the setting, warmth and easy-breezy way of life was a critical to our wedding vibe.  I think it’s very easy to get sucked into the formalities of the wedding, especially at a place like Vizcaya, and so whenever possible, both Hans and I kept things light.  If I had to define a broader design theme to the wedding, I would say vintage glam Hollywood meets shabby chic with Miami/Latin flare.  There were touched that took me back to the 1930’s but then there were other things that were from Etsy that kept things playful and easy.  Some special touches included birdcage table decour, cootie-catcher ceremony programs, a plentiful candy bar, mini cupcakes, and “Hora Loca” costume props.  When the clock struck 11pm, we had a ton of “marti gras” type costumes handed out to all the guests, a bongo drummer joined the DJ’s ensemble and with this, the energy level went up 200%.  The costumes, masks, props, etc. were nothing fancy (ordered through orientaltrading.com) but they let people dress up in ridiculous things and be goofy. The photos that stemmed from the time (yes, we even had antlers) are some of the best.

My mom, dad and our wedding planner  Vanessa were the back-bone of my wedding. Honestly, I would say managing all of the little details from afar wasn’t easy but my wedding planner Vanessa was amazing and kept everything on track, all with a stress-free attitude.  I also had my parents on the ground (they live in coconut grove), which was super helpful since they both know how to get things done.  What got a bit draining was having to squeeze in a lot of wedding to-dos whenever I visited Miami. When I wasn’t there, I was constantly in touch with Vanessa and my mom but all in all, it was worth every minute.  I also want to give a shout out to Janet McDonald from Bill Hansen Catering.  She was super helpful from day one and not only gave great advice on my catering options, but she is chock-full of info about wedding vendors/possible site options in Miami.  She helped me find Vanessa which I’m so grateful for.

Since we are from the NYC area, we wanted a place that was a mini-destination for most of our guests. I also have very close family from Peru, so Miami was an easier place to travel to that somewhere in New England. Lastly, my parents live in Miami so it made it really nice to have someone on the ground.

Vizcaya was one of those magical places that I thought would be the most amazing place to get married, but I never thought that would become a reality. I had my parents running around town considering loft spaces, hotels, museums, beach fronts, and even parking garages but because our wedding was going to be at the end of March, we finally decided a place that could showcase the beauty of Miami would be ideal. My family and Hans decided there was nothing like Vizcaya: It suited our vision, had different spaces around the property we could use, and it’s open until 1am (which is rare for an outside venue!), so we booked it. In the end, the venue was beyond what we ever imagined and I would recommend it to any bride – remember, you don’t need to go overboard with decorations! The place is already beautiful.

I can’t pin-point one favorite memory. It was honeslty one of the best days/weekends of our lives and was one very happy blur (thank god for photos!). You have the people you love the most surrounding you, you are commiting to support your best friend forever, you get to eat great food, and have a super fun dance party.   We loved everything from “The first look”, to primiping with my bridesmaids, to planning and executing an awesome ceremony onThe Mound (within Vizcaya), to posing in the photo-booth, to wearing crazy costumes, to playing drums with our drummer Chi-Chi!

 

Vendor Love

Ceremony & Reception Venue: Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
Wedding Dress: Jenny Packham “Eden”
Shoes: Badgley Mischka “Lacie”
Veil: Brenda Bridal Veils – Tulle Wedge Birdcage in Ivory
Hair & Make-Up: Susana Betancourt
Ceremony Musicians: Master Musicians
DJ: RockWithU
Florist: Karma Goddness
Caterer: Bill Hansen Catering
Baker: Filled & Frosted
Furniture Rental: Ronen Rental
Wedding Programs: AlchemyHourDesigns
Lighting: Uplyte
Photo Booth: Peekaboo Photo Booth
Wedding/Event Planner: Karma Goddness
Photographer: Adagion Studio