Shanda and Vince are the definition of adventurers. Check out any of their social media accounts and you will find amazing imagery of far off beautiful places. They love nature and spending time together in the outdoors, and that was exceptionally clear through all their amazing wedding decor. Shanda and Vince made, MADE, themselves, practically all the cool wooden decorations for their own wedding, Vince found and cut all the wood, and then painted and beat up each piece to make it look older, I think everything came out sooo amazing.
Wooden mountains were placed at every table, each mountain had a name, and each person had their own personal mountain with their own name that let them know which mountain table they were to be sitting for dinner. There was beautiful pieces for their guest book table, gift table, welcome table, reserved signs for the ceremony, door signs for their getting ready cabins, the list goes on! Seriously, it is absolutely incredible how much time, effort, love, and skill was put into each little piece of this wedding.
One of the details I absolutely loved was their ring box. Not only was it beautiful and very in touch with their adventurous, outdoorsy theme, but it was incredibly meaningful as well. Their ring box was made from a tree, a very special tree, a tree that was planted when Shanda's son was born. Vince was able to carve a heart shaped hole into the piece to hold their rings, and I just love how it brings all these special things together.
A few more beautiful details, honestly I felt like there wasn't a single detail that didn't have personal significance and a beautiful story, but all of Shanda's jewelry was also very meaningful. In particular she had a beautiful bracelet that was a family heirloom that had been worn by many family members, including her two cousins, on their weddings days. Two special family brooches from her two late aunts, were also carried in Shanda's bouquet, so many beautiful personal details!!!
Their whole day was just so beautiful, everything was close by, you could see the ceremony location, reception location as well as both getting ready locations from one spot. Echo Basin really made everything so accessible and close. It gave another level of intimacy to their whole day. Their ceremony took place under a beautiful gazebo, adorned with amazing flowers made by friends and put up by Vince and his groomsmen. They included multiple close friends in their ceremony, sharing stories and love. Their reception was also full of special moments, not only did they do the traditional first dances between bride and groom, father daughter, and mother son, they also had a dance between Shanda and her son, and switched around dancing with each other's parents because they are all one big family now! I loved that.
All the words spoken about Shanda and Vince throughout the day, in the ceremony, in toasts, and even just in passing, all reinforced over and over how amazing they each are and how wonderful their love is together.
Congratulations Shanda and Vince, I am so excited for you to keep exploring through life together!