Kailani + Mitch
June 4, 2011
Holladay, Utah

BEFORE THE WEDDING

Occupations: Kailani is a nanny and is starting her own craft business. Mitch works in warehousing while attending Engineering Graduate School at the U.

How the couple met: They first met at a local music concert where his and her mutual friend, Chaz Prymek, was playing a show. There was very little interaction this time other than Mitch made a comment that they "had the same bikes", granted he meant they had the man and woman version of the bike, but he didn't make that very clear at first and Kailani pretty much thought he was a nerd. After that Mitch tracked Kailani down on MySpace (you know that thing that was around before Facebook was cool) and attempted to start up some communication. She wasn't very prompt with her response but eventually got back to him right before they ran into each other again at a Band of Annuals concert at Urban Lounge. This time the sparks started to fly a little more, with a little help from the beer probably, and dancing commenced. Afterwards, they rode bikes home together and he finally got her phone number. After some casual texting Kailani invited Mitch over to a BBQ where they shared our first kiss. Even though their first attempt at a "real date" after that by spending the day together and going to the Farmer's Market and Jamba Juice was a mild disaster, they gave it a shot at a second date where things went much better. Ever since they've pretty much been attached at the hip (seriously, ask their friends).

How he proposed: Before Mitch officially proposed, the couple had bought a house together in Sugarhouse. He decided he wanted to do something personal and romantic at the house with just the two of them (and a future maid of honor hiding to take pictures). The only problem was having enough time to prepare without her being home. To accomplish this he asked the parents she nannies for to make her work (on a Friday night, which she wasn't too excited about). So with the help of his parents he had the house decorated in flowers, and the entire back yard decorated in paper lanterns. He also had a custom cake made from Granite Bakery set up on a table with champagne. So when she came home and followed the flowers through the house he was waiting there in the back yard to ask her.

Bridal shower/Bachelorette party: The bridal shower was a small little gathering at the Bowman home with close friends and family. It just happened that this day was the one day out of a couple weeks with great weather. There were salads, snacks, drinks, and of course, eclaires. The decorations were very similar to the wedding using the floral cloth napkins and the vintage plates.

The bachelorette party was camping down in Green River, UT where the Bride's sister works as a river guide. Because there was such amazing weather the girls were able to go hiking in Arches and river rafting. It just so happened that one night there was also an annual desert dance party in the middle of nowhere, which really topped off the weekend.

Bachelor party: Camping up Spanish Fork Canyon where the weather wasn't nearly as pleasant as down in Green River. Each time the guys were about to go hiking it began to rain. One time there was a mad dash to get the rain fly on the tent, another was to catch the tent as it was blown down the hill. All of this made for a fun weekend of sitting around, but not many activities.

WEDDING

Ceremony Place: Kailani's Parents Home in Holladay

Date: June 4th 2011

The bride wore: A Pronovias all-lace gown as well as a second dress for additional fabric to put underneath the lace. This changed the color to a more yellow ivory color which enhanced the pattern of the lace and also created a sweetheart line.

The groom wore: A suit, shirt, and tie from Jos A. Bank with a custom vest made by his Grandmother.

RECEPTION

Reception Place: Kailani's Parents Home in Holladay

Wedding music: Tony Lake Trio who performs instrumental (guitar, bass, drums) of every type of music

Menu: Because the couple is vegetarian, they wanted to serve a vegetarian menu while also pleasing all of their guests. For appetizers they had fruits and veggies, cheese ball from Harmon's with bread and crackers, and a spinach dip. For the main course they had vegetarian "meat"balls with vegetarian brown gravy and garlic mashed potatoes, served with grilled asparagus, a salad, and a roll from Stoneground Bakery. This was all accomplished through Mitch's family and family friend's, thankfully saving the couple money on catering. Water, lemonade, and a full bar were also provided. A late night snack of milk cartons and chocolate chip cookies was served later.

Cake: Granite Bakery provided the cake which had two tiers of red velvet with cream cheese filling, one tier of raspberry swirl with bavarian cream filling, and a top tier of key lime cake with cream cheese filling. The cake was a creamy yellow color with white accents and a vintage theme.

Colors: Yellows, Greens, Browns, and Ivory

Theme: The couple wanted a vintage theme while also trying to use as many second-hand and recycled items as possible.

Flowers: The flowers were put together by the Bride's mother and her friend Deborah Hall who used to own a flower shop, along with the help of many of their friends. The flowers were primarily daisies, billy balls, yellow buttons, baby's breath, cream-colored small roses, and assorted wildflowers.

Décor elements: Most elements of decoration were either bought second hand or hand made. These included wine bottles and jars and vases, vintage furniture and piano, floral pattern napkins from vintage linens, old frames and umbrellas, and vintage plates and mason jars.

Unique details: The bride found some of her other items on the online shop Etsy. Her favorites being the custom-made cake toppers by MilkTea and the vintage tea dresses for the bridesmaids made from second-hand fabrics by SohoMode. Another thing they were excited about was the ring-pillow made by the Bride, using a stitched handkerchief which belonged to the Groom's grandmother who passed away a few weeks before the wedding. There was also a custom-lamp (using the same idea as ones made by Kailani's business), it was set on the guest sign-in table to show off the engagement photos using the photos on 35mm slides as the lamp shade.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT

Bride's answer: All night Mitch and I hadn't really had a chance to be alone and take it all in, and all I wanted was to dance with him under the lights and candles in the orchard. So I went and grabbed him to do just that. This may not have been a moment captured by any photographers, but it was definitely one I will always remember.

Groom's answer: My favorite moment also has to be the dance in the orchard with my new wife. When the night was winding down a little bit Kailani came and insisted we go dance out in the orchard. After a night of greeting and thanking so many people, this gave us the time to slow down just the two of us and enjoy what the night was really about.

HONEYMOON

Place: Rome and Greece (Athens, and the islands of Naxos and Santorini)

A memorable moment of the honeymoon: The most memorable moments were probably the moments sitting on our balcony enjoying the sunset in the Greek islands. However the most story-worthy is probably getting lost walking around Rome. We had walked who-knows how many miles that day already going around to all of the sites. Both of us were pretty exhausted and getting a little grumpy, so we decided to head back a different direction to catch the metro line we needed. Words of advice: don't trust too much in the free map provided by the hotel. There is a huge central park in Rome which wasn't exactly drawn to scale on our free map. The streets adjacent to the park also weren't exactly accurate on the map either. By the time we got out of the park we were a couple miles away from where we had thought/hoped and couldn't help but laugh at the whole ordeal. By then we decided to take our chances with the bus system and luckily it worked out.

WEDDING ADVICE: If you had asked us the day before the wedding we would have told anyone to never plan your own backyard wedding. After it was all said and done though, we couldn't be happier with how it turned out. We originally decided on a backyard wedding to give us the freedom to choose every aspect of the wedding ourselves, without having to select from a list of approved vendors. We wanted to be able to go with as many independent artists, local and on Esty.com, as well as local vendors. We just didn't anticipate how much stress this would cause to manage everything ourselves. It did give us the chance to create the wedding of our (mainly Kailani's) dreams, but this couldn't have been done without the help from so many friends and family member, to whom we are very grateful. As well as Kailani's father for putting so much work into the yard.

When you're planning a wedding just remember to always pursue what YOU want and not what other people think is best for you. But also remember everyone is just trying to help because they care. In the end always remember that this is a celebration for the two of you and to enjoy one another throughout the process.

VENDORS

Rings: Custom-made by "Joe the Jeweler" at 9th and 9th Jewelers. (He was fantastic to work with. He took our ideas and made them better to create rings we are thrilled with.)

Invitations: Handmade by the couple and families using custom-stamped fabric using the same vintage linens as throughout the wedding.

Rehearsal dinner: We kept it informal with pizza and salad, and beer and soda at the Bowman's residence.

Guest book: Hand-made by Kelly, a friend of the Bride's mother, hand-bound using artisan Japanese paper

Photography: Opiefoto

Videography: Dave Brewer Photo

Bridal gown: The Perfect Dress

Alterations: Done by a woman, Pat, who was referred by the Perfect Dress.

Hair and Makeup: Landis Aveda Lifestyle Salon

Bridesmaids' dresses: Sohomode on Etsy.com

Groom's Tux/Suit: Jos A. Bank

Flowers: Arranged by Deborah Hall, a friend of the Bride's mother, and friends and family. Purchased from Ensign Floral.

Decorations and rentals: RSVP Rentals, Hale Center Theatre, Bella Umbrellas, and Affordable Portables

Catering: Family, Family Friends, and Harmon's

Cake: Granite Bakery

Venue: The Bowman Residence

Entertainment/Music: Tony Lake Trio

Wedding favors: Photobooth by Dave Brewer & His Crew

Wedding planner: Kailani Bowman, she wouldn't trust anybody else...

Officiant: Donald Dunn

Transportation: Golf Carts from Intermountain Golf Cart

Guest lodging: The Bowman Residence

Photobooth: Dave Brewer & His Crew

Flower Girl Dress: AnastaciaGus on Etsy.com