I’m so excited to share this wedding with you today! I’ve been waiting awhile to share this very special day with you all. Chris and Jill are two wonderful and super fun people that I have the pleasure of having around in real life. Which is pretty great.

Chris and Jill got married at St. James Church in Binghamton, NY and then boarded a trolley with their bridal party to head to Brackney, PA for a lakeside reception with their closest family and friends, at Quaker Lake, where Chris’s family lives.But not without a quick stop at the State Street bar, Tom & Marty’s where the couple met at Wednesday Night Trivia.

Mother Nature was not cooperating that day.The side panels of their dinner tent went up and down about three times before the sun peaked through and everything dried up just in time for cocktails. It turned out to be a perfect summer night… finally!

Here are some beautiful photos from Maria at Strinni Studio Photography. Enjoy!

Groomsmen aboard the trolley which carried the couple and their bridal party from the ceremony to the reception and everything in between.

The couple met at Tom & Marty’s a local bar, where the bridal party and close friends joined the couple following the ceremony.

The bridal party enjoyed cocktails on the dock at a close family friend’s home while the bride and groom took pictures. The newlyweds joined them aboard a pontoon boat, to head to the reception.

Guests were bused from town, where the ceremony was held, to the lake for the reception, on a school bus. This was perfect, and easy to come by for the groom, a local elementary school vice-principal.

Fireworks closed out the evening…

Ok. If you’ve never heard of this fabulously whimsical tabletop decor, sit yourself down and prepared to be schooled. Since 1983, ( a very good year) MacKenzie- Childs has been spreading whimsy to the world through their super fab tabletop ceramics and home furnishings. Everything you can imagine. Serving dishes, plates, cake stands, planters, birdhouses, rugs, tables, dressers, chairs, mirrors, glassware, enamelware,  place mats, knobs, sinks… you get my point.

Anyway, every year they have a barn sale in Aurora, NY where the artists create this fantabulous work. So this year, I grabbed some Starbucks with some of my favorite people and braved the crowds and the cars to get some serious deals (We’re talking 60-80% off kids) on beautiful gifts (yes I did buy some things for OTHER people- and this stuff is GREAT shower gift material) and gifts for myself!

The Grounds at MacKenzie-Childs in Aurora, NY

Barn Sale Entrance

There are two areas. One barn was filled with enamelware (Courtly Check mostly) Glassware, and miscellaneous seasonal and decorative items. They have paper bags available for free for you to hoard your finds, or reusable bags for $5 were on sale. Though, you’re better off just bringing your own reusable canvas bags. I even saw some women with carts. Seriously.

Inside the Barn

The tent area this year was filled with the bigger stuff. Rugs, Lighting, Mirrors, Sinks, tiles, Outdoor and all of the ceramics (dishes, bowls, cake stands, trivets you name it) They’ll hold the bigger items for you for about an hour before they put it out for the scavengers.

Some of our finds...

It was a lot of fun. We got there the second day (It runs for 3) a little after 8am, the crowds were pretty tame and the parking lots (muddy fields- come on we’re upstate here) were not nearly full. We were out of there by 10:30, and let me tell you, by the time we left…Wooo!

Get there before 10am. That’s all I can say. One woman who was working there told us someone had come through and spent $20,000 on product…no furniture. Madness. But it was a blast and we got a lot of great deals. Be prepared to throw an elbow or two if need be, but you’ll get great deals and stock up on wedding and shower gifts for the whole YEAR.

For a better reality check of what this sale actually entails… click here.

 Sigh. So this Real Wedding is pretty special because I have known the bride for a very long time!  We used to play tennis and listen to Wilson Phillip’s tapes (yes TAPES) together when Wilson Phillips was the jam. Ahh the good old days…

 Anyway, when I saw her wedding photo’s I HAD to share them with you. Such magical, magical photos from photographers, Alisha Clark and Luke Walker of Luke Walker Photography (together they make up Lillie Studios.) Very different shooting styles, yet completely enchanting from every angle!

Don’t miss the link to Annie & Dan’s amazing wedding video (at the bottom of the post) from Lillie Studios and videographer Chris! It’s incredible and so touching given their joint musical background! 

From the beautiful bride on how she met her groom…

“Dan and I met in college at Ithaca. We were in the same violin studio (Dan’s also a violinist; turned to Architectural Acoustic Design, but different circles of friends. We were friends but never really thought about dating each other due to relationships we were in. We were both single during our senior year, and happened to be working together on a project together – my graduate audition CD. Post recording session, we decided to go out for a drink. We had a great time hanging out, we decided to hang out again the next night… and the next…. and before you know it, we were dating. After college, we dated long distance, and worked very hard to keep the relationship strong. About a year after I finished grad school, Dan surprised me with a proposal on the beach on New Year’s Eve, while we were visiting our relatives in FL. He apparently had asked my Dad for permission to marry during Thanksgiving. So everyone knew, except for me. Soon after the engagement, we set a date and started planning.”

Photo Courtesy of Alisha Clark

From the bride… “Our main mantra throughout the wedding process was to be as practical as possible. We did a lot of research on pricing and so before we dove into actually booking anyone, we made sure to plan a reasonable budget. We knew we wanted to splurge a bit more in certain areas like photography and food. Less in other areas like flowers, invitations, decorations, reception venue, etc. We didn’t want to start off in debt. Especially with today’s economy. So having the budget really kept us on track.”

Photo Courtesy of Luke Walker Photography

From the lovely and very budget conscious bride…(WE LOVE THIS)

“I found my dress at a liquidation sale from a discount bridal store that was going out of business. I actually didn’t expect to find a dress there. But the ladies at the store let me loose in their store and I came out with 2 dresses. I ended buying both dresses because it cost me only $500 for both and I couldn’t make up my mind because they were so different. So I was a 2 dress bride. Now, I chose my dress over the other because the other dress was your typical wedding dress- silk, diamond white, plain. The dress I ended up wearing is a Casablanca Bridal Dress, and it had lovely lace on it with a bit of sequins. Just enough to catch some light. Plus it had a really pretty hem. So I felt more drawn to it after trying it on many times.” 

Photo Courtesy of Luke Walker Photography

Photo Courtesy of Photographer Alisha Clark

Photo Courtesy of Photographer, Alisha Clark

Photo Courtesy of Photographer, Alisha Clark

 From the bride…“Our church (Westminster Presbyterian Church, Albany, NY) was a combined effort. We fell in love with it the first time we stepped through it’s doors. We knew that it was our church, and it worked out in our favor. March was a less busy month for weddings, so they were quite open to doing a wedding. “

Photo Courtesy of Luke Walker Photography

Photo Courtesy of Luke Walker Photography

Photo Courtesy of Luke Walker Photography

Photo Courtesy of Luke Walker Photography

Photo Courtesy of Luke Walker Photography

Photo Courtesy of Luke Walker Photography

Photo Courtesy of Luke Walker Photography

 From the bride… “We went with a florist that had a background in horticulture for the bouquet, bouts, corsages, and church decoration. We wanted something a bit more unusual and not your typical rose bouquet, etc. So I took clippings from bridal magazines and brought it to him, and basically told him to be creative. We didn’t want it to be too matchy matchy. Dan and I liked more modern designs with shape and simplicity in mind. The day of the wedding, I was blown away with all the bouquets, bouts, and church decoration. It was better than we imagined.” 

Photo Courtesy of Photographer Alisha Clark

 From the bride… “Our reception venue (The Appel Inn in Altamont, NY) was actually chosen by Dan, who’s actually been there prior to planning the wedding. So when we started the process he suggested for us to take a visit, and I loved it and booked the place. From there, we connected with our DJ, reception florist, and limo – and because we were working with the reception venue, we were able to get some good deals and great service.” 

Photo Courtesy of Photographer Alisha Clark

 From the bride… “I can’t really pin point a favorite moment because of how fast the day went, and there was so many things going on. But, I really enjoyed my first dance as husband and wife with Dan to our song “Such Great Heights” by Iron & Wine. It was beautiful and touching and completely sweet. It was also when I felt relief from the day, from the planning, and from experiencing a life changing experience. It was very emotional for me- especially after having planned the wedding for over a year and to finally see everything come together. ”

Photo Courtesy of Luke Walker Photography

From the bride on her photographers… 

“We chose Luke Walker after an intensive search and interview process for about 3 months. We had about 10 photographers on our list, local and non-locals. In the end Luke stayed in our mind because of many reasons. 1) he did photojournalism, which we were in love with. His work was fairly vibrant and colorful, and we appreciated that a lot. 2) he was moving to the area from NYC, so he was local! 3) we talked to him over the phone and he was so laid back and candid with us 4) we had a common connection: ITHACA. He used to live in the Ithaca area, and both Dan and I were Ithaca College alumni 5) he was open minded to a different package set up. In the end we ended up with a very nice package with items that were important to us. Luke has now become good friends of ours through this whole process. We frequently go on double dates. That’s how we became friends with Alisha, and how she came to be the other photographer in our wedding. ”

Check out Annie & Dan’s Wedding video from Lillie Studios. It’s amazing and so beautiful. It completely blew me away…

Continuing with our photographer features, Tommy Brown is a hilarious and eclectic photographer in upstate New York who takes AMAZING photos. His collection is quirky and imaginative while still being real and totally memorable. Below are some of my favorites of his!