Boxcars, Bowlers & Boas - a 1940’s Wedding with Donald Yeager Photography
Monday, May 31, 2010
The 1940's evoke images of black and white movies with their dashing actors and stylish, elegant leading ladies. Casablanca, Citizen Kane, It's a Wonderful Life and many more classics made the decade and its fashion iconic - sharp suits and fedoras for men, beautiful dresses and sexy yet very classy accessories for women. It was a romantic era and it's no wonder when Kelly and James planned their big day, they adopted the 1940's theme.
Using creative, D.I.Y. smarts they successfully incorporated the theme and included their guests in the mix to really complete it! They did such a fantastic job too and thanks to Donald Yeager Photography, we get to share in the fun of their 1940's wedding. I had so much fun looking at the pictures and I hope you do too.
Real Wedding: Kelly & James' Downtown Wedding, 1940's style.
Bride Kelly Hohenbrink
Groom James Stewart
Our Wedding Details November 7, 2009 4:00pm
Ceremony Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Germantown, Nashville
Reception: The aVenue
Guests Approx 150
How did he propose?
James proposed the day after Christmas 2008 at my parent’s house. He had big plans to propose on Christmas day but everything that could go wrong with his plan, did go wrong. He ended up getting down on one knee the next morning in my childhood bedroom and proposed before anything else could get in his way!
What was your wedding style?
Classic and fun 1940’s.
What were your colors? Why did you choose them?
Our colors were black, white and red. Using black and white is always very classy and, by adding a pop of red, it really worked to make it glamorous.
Did you have a theme? What was it?
We made our wedding theme 1940’s Hollywood Glamour done Nashville style.
What did you use for inspiration?
We got a lot of ideas from watching classic 1940’s movies to see their style of dress, the mood of the era and to get ideas about centerpieces. The classic movies were pretty much all we watched up until the wedding day so we were really in tune with how we wanted the vibe of the ceremony and reception to be. We also bought magazines from the 1940s from ebay to make sure we were in line with the styles and to get ideas about how the invitations should look.
What was your budget?
The budget was very important for us. We tried to keep in under $15,000. We probably went over but not by too much.
What was your wedding WOW factor? {What did your guests love?}
The reception was completely decked out for the 1940’s. From the Big Band music and the crooning of Frank Sinatra to the actual 1940’s magazines scattered throughout the room, it was like stepping back in time. We had feathers and pearls everywhere. Each table was supplied with fedora hats and red handkerchiefs for the men and boas, pillbox hats, gloves and “pearl” necklaces for the women. Our guests were all able to dress the part and had a fabulous time. We also had lots of tea-light candles in Mason jelly jars for a southern, romantic feel.
What did you give as favors to your guests?
The guests got to take home the hats and accessories they wore during the night and also candy from the Mason jars that were on their tables. All the candy we put out was candy popular in the 1940’s and I made sure it fit the color scheme, of course!
How did you personalize your wedding?
One of the fun things we did was put framed pictures on each table at the reception from our engagement photo session with Donald Yeager Photography. We had the pictures taken in downtown Nashville dressed up in 1940’s style clothing. We also put out framed pictures of our grandparents on their wedding days from the actual 1940’s. They loved it!
What did you give your bridesmaids and groomsmen?
All the bridesmaids and groomsmen got full flasks that I engraved with their initials. Yep, engraving can be DIY, too! I got the engraver at Lowes for under $20 and stencils from Hobby Lobby.
What was your most special moment of the day?
My special moment of the day was walking into the reception for the first time. James and I didn’t want to see each other before the wedding so we took our pictures as a couple after the ceremony. This gave the guests plenty of time to get comfortable at the reception during the cocktail hour before we arrived. When we walked in, I saw the whole crowd dressed up in all the hats and boas and jewels that we’d put on their tables. They were eating, drinking, laughing and looked simply dashing. It just meant so much to me that everyone had really gotten into the theme. They looked amazing and were already having a great time.
Did you have kids at your wedding? What did you do for them?
We did have kids at the wedding but limited it to nieces/nephews and children of our friends. We arranged for them to have special kid’s meals and put crayons and actual 1940’s coloring books on their tables (ebay, of course!). Also, we gave them Ring Pops for a little extra kid bling.
Did you Do It Yourself or did you leave it to the professionals?
We were on a strict budget and I’m very artsy so everything that we could do ourselves, we did. We had friends do our flowers and wedding cupcakes. Pictures were very important to us so we made sure to use a professional photographer. Don Yeager did an amazing job. We also used a professional DJ under strict orders to only play music from the 1940’s.
If you did DIY, what was your favorite project? Why?
Making the vintage hats for the guests was my favorite. This ranged from simply hot-gluing a ribbon on a men’s fedora to constructing an entire ladies pillbox hat from felt. It wasn’t my favorite while making them (because there were so many!) but it made every hat unique and definitely personalized. And, there is something special about seeing everyone from your grandparents to your friends from work looking stunning wearing hats that you’ve hand-made. I still can’t help but smile thinking about it!
Wedding Vendors:
Planner: Planning was done by the Bride
Cake(s): Cupcakes made by our friend and expert cupcake-maker Jackie Kovarovics
Caterer: Chef’s Market
Photographer: Donald Yeager Photography
Stationery: All designed by the Bride, printing by GreenerPrinter.com
Bridesmaid Dresses: Pacificplex.com
Rings: Overstock.com
Music: DJ – Joel Price
Decorations/Detail: All designed by the Bride.
Bridal Gown: Ceremony gown from David’s Bridal, Reception gown from Pacificplex.com
Tuxes: Men’s Warehouse
Accessories: Hats, gloves, jewelry, seamed hose, etc all from ebay.
Flowers: a group of my girlfriends from work ordered roses online from Sam’s Club and then made all the bouquets and boutonnieres
Transportation: Limo service was given as a gift. Not sure which company was used.
Gifts: Flasks from Amazon, Vintage pins for the Mothers from ebay
Who were your favorites? {the ones you would highly recommend to your best friend}
Donald Yeager Photography was great. He was so willing and excited to shake things up a little with the 1940’s theme. I would definitely recommend him. Also, the bridal party got their hair and make-up done at Harlow Salon. Harlow is amazing and they are experts in 1940’s style. They are the ones who really made the whole look come together better than I’d even imagined they would.
Wedding Rewind
What would you do differently if you could start back at the beginning?
Nothing. All the DIY projects wouldn’t be for everyone, but I really liked putting so much work into it. Luckily I had flexibility at my job at that time and started early so I had adequate time to get everything together.
What do you consider the biggest waste of time and/or money?
The biggest waste of money was getting a venue that did not include the tables/chairs/plates/etc in the rental. All these things had to be rented separately which really adds up. However, we probably would have still done it the same way we did if we had it to do over because the location and look of the venue really fit our theme.
What do you consider the best value for the service and product?
Everything. It’s hard to say just one thing since most everything we did was either DIY or done by a friend.
What was the neatest thing you found for your wedding?
I found so many great things from ebay. I really wanted to be true to the 1940’s and couldn’t believe how many things I found from the actual era on ebay. I found a lot of great original hats and magazines and coloring books and vintage jewelry. It was perfect.
What was your biggest {and best} splurge?
We chose to have additional lighting brought in from Nashville Event Lighting– string lights over the dance floor and wash lighting against the walls. We could have done without it but it really gave the place a nice vibe and the string lights added some extra romance. They also looked great in pictures!
What a fantastic theme! Everyone and everything looked great and it looked like it was a blast. Kelly and James, here's wishing you a lifetime of dances and fun - congratulations! We're glad we got to take a peek into your wonderful day. Much thanks also to Donald Yeager Photography for the pictures.
About the Author:
Tabitha
Blogging is something I’ve enjoyed doing for years. My interests lie mostly in lifestyle related topics like fashion, style, design, food and weddings. When I heard Ashley was looking to bring on new members to the ABG team, I jumped at the opportunity - I can’t think of a better way to stay involved in weddings than to write about them and to stay in touch with the trends and new ideas. Lucky for me, Ashley likes my blog and trusts my experience to bring me on and so far, it’s been a blast.
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Posted on May 31, 2010 |
Filed under: DIY & Budget Wed Finds, Real Nashville Weddings
