some beautiful weddings – to share miracle of love

wedding-week-at-lisa-leonard-designs

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we are so excited to share some beautiful wedding with you this week!

everyday we’ll have photos and a special offer.

today it’s our pewter heart wall hanging. so fun!!

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today’s wedding is ben and nichole potter.

isn’t she gorgeous?

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they were married in san miguel, which is just north of san luis obispo.

amazing photos taken by cameron ingalls.

i know, aren’t they absolutely magical?

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wildflower bouquets are perfect for the barn setting.

these bouquets are works of art.

flowers by adornments.

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and we are thrilled that the bridesmaids each wore one of our vintage frames necklaces.

so dainty and pretty with these aqua dresses.

love.

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can i just say i LOVE how they used our pewter heart wall hanging for a photo prop.

so fun!!

and i love that it’s a keepsake, too.

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the pewter heart wall hanging is on SALE today.

hop over and pick one up for your wedding

or just for a fun photo prop.

you’ll find them here.

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ben and nichole, thank you for sharing your beautiful wedding with us!

we wish you happiness and love.

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please visit cameron ingall’s blog to see more amazing photos!

and come back tomorrow for another wedding

and a special offer.

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please tell us one memory from your wedding.

just one, special thing that stands out.

and if you’re not married yet, tell us one small thing you want to include.

56 comments

  1. I carried a handkerchief that has been carried by all the women in my mother’s family. I also remember how tender and proud my hubby was all through the ceremony, and how he’s whisper the sweetest sentiments….

  2. I planned out wedding in 9 weeks, yes 9 weeks!! My mom had breast cancer at the time and I did not want to risk her not being there if we waited a year to get married….(I wanted an autumn wedding) when we did pictures of my mom and I, I surprised her by showing her my “something blue” was actually “something pink” in honor of her and her fight against breast cancer….I wore a breast cancer ribbon over my heart hidden by a cuff on my dress…..my mom has been cancer free for over 5 years now….it is one of my favorite pictures and memories from my wedding.

  3. My college sweetie and I are coming up on our 31st anniversary. This past weekend, we celebrated our daughter Hannah’s graduation from the same college we met at. She is our third Earlham grad.
    Our wedding was very low key and informal. My crown of fresh flowers, my bouquet and wedding cake topper were made of daisies. So, so seventies!

  4. I just married last year…at age 37! While it’s not old, I didn’t think I’d ever marry. πŸ™‚ Now, we’re trying for kids…and I just feel so blessed to be spending my life with THIS man AND to try and have his babies.

    My husband is Romanian (we live in Romania), but we married in CA (where I’m from). There’s this Romanian tradition of ‘stealing’ the bride and making the groom pay a ransom to get her back. My brother-in-law stole me and made my husband dance all by himself to get me back (DH dosn’t like dancing so much). Anyway, it was just this lovely little Romanian spot in our otherwise fairly Americanized wedding and I loved it.

    I think I’ve told you about my blog before, but I talk often and a lot about what we’re doing here in Romania and about living here in general. Would love it if you’d check it out!

  5. My husband and I have been married for almost 2 years now. My favorite memory from our wedding was the wedding night (don’t worry, I’ll keep it clean). My husband had been living in our house for a few months prior to our wedding and our wedding night was the first night we both stayed in our house for the first time. I knew he had a surprise for me, but I didn’t know what it was. When I walked into the bedroom there was a huge, handmade (by him), beautiful bed!! It was the best surprise ever. Every night when I crawl into bed, I think of that moment. Pure bliss!

  6. My one year wedding anniversary is this week. Our wedding was so special to me because the ceremony was conducted by my husband’s aunt, who is a minister. It was lovely having someone so close to us marry us, and made everything feel extra personal.

  7. Beautiful pictures as usual!!

    The night before my husband and I got married, he asked me to create a short wedding vow. Frankly, I am NOT very good at creating at a very last minute especially when it comes to writing or expressing in a front of people or sending Christmas Newsletter. I was so FURIOUS when he asked me to do this… Well, I practiced and memorized only four simple lines. PERFECT, just before when it was my turn to express my vow in a front of 110 people.

    Well, my husband decided to express his own vow. His vow was about taking me on a white horse as if I was his Queen to go on a Fairyland Castle, etc.. It made several women: wives, girlfriends, and other females cried because it was so beautiful. As for me, my mouth dropped because I was startled when he expressed BEAUTIFULLY!

    When it was my turn to make a vow, I forgot EVERY SINGLE LINE even though it was only four lines because I couldn’t believe what he had told me during the vow. Luckily, I already handed the paper to the sign language interpreter earlier. She had to tell me each line. It was embarrassing when I had to look at her and then to my husband in a front of the guests. But I can tell you even we were married on July 24th, 1999, I can always count myself lucky to have him.

  8. LOVED my wedding day! It was a beautiful Fall day (just over) three years ago. I just remember saying…”this is so much fun.” And it was!

  9. When someone came up to Dan in the old gym at Grace and said, “You don’t look nervous. Aren’t you nervous?” And he said, “Not at all – when it’s right, it’s right. No need to be nervous.” And that’s how I felt. I was having fun putting my nail polish on, getting my hair done and just gabbing with my bridesmaids and maid of honor. So all you gals who will be getting married soon, or when you get to that point…ENJOY your day. Relax. Focus on him. You’ll make special non-stressful memories.

  10. I love to read about weddings! So fun!!! In August it will be our first wedding anniversary. I loved everything about our wedding day and I think I was tearing up all day….our photographer says I was! I was so honored to be marrying my husband! My favorite part was when my oldest brother played Ave Maria on the violin during our wedding mass in a gorgeous cathedral in Washington, DC. Although the reception was perfect I could have been happy with no party at all and just the mass. It was beautiful.

  11. My Wedding was on a Tuesday in December. We were so lucky, we had a beautiful sunny day and I wore a very dark purple ball gown as a wedding dress and my husband were a tux. A great was had!

  12. I’m not married {yet}, but I can’t wait! This wedding is beautiful inspiration…
    I want my wedding to matter to my sweetheart and I. I’m not so much concerned about tradition and more about what will make the day special to us. Although I haven’t figured out exactly what thy means yet… πŸ™‚

  13. I remember smiling and laughing so much my face hurt. I also remember the quiver of my husbands smile as he said his vows. It’s almost 15 years now and he is my heart.

  14. My husband and I got married on a glorious day in early December just over three years ago. The one thing that stands out, was walking through our garden, full of delphiniums, queen anne’s lace, poppies and other beauties, to be married in front of the farm gate that leads down to our paddock with all of our family and friends around us. Sigh – a truly beautiful experience!

  15. We had a zydeco band and I remember everyone dancing and my sister-in-law playing the washboard! Almost 11 years and so happy!

  16. A special memory is one that others hold, but the bridal party missed. We were married in my parent’s backyard, which backs up to a horse ranch. When the preacher announced us as husband and wife and we turned to face the audience, five horses lined up on a hill, looking at us, then one by one reared and ran off in a line. Everyone was astonished, and said it looked staged! And NO ONE got a picture!

  17. I could go on and on about my dashing husband and allll the love present that day (thanks to God for that one), but I’ll tell about one pretty unique element that’s really dear to my heart.

    In my bouquet, I included a few sprigs of ivy. They were nice at face value, but their origin is the really cool part: they were trimmed from my mom’s ivy plant at home–the same ivy plant she started growing from her own bridal bouquet she carried 36 years before. Needless to say, I potted my sprigs, too, and the little plant is still going strong. I only hope I can keep it around, and that God gives me a daughter who wants to carry it, too!

  18. Gorgeous photos! And lovely necklaces for the BMs too.

    I got married 4 years ago and the one thing I remember about it was seeing my husband tear up as I was walking down the aisle towards him. He’s not an very emotional type of guy – always known to be cool and calm. But as I saw his eyes start to water, I broke into tears and didn’t stop until the ceremony was over.

    Thank goodness for waterproof mascara! πŸ˜‰

  19. Our wedding was seriously all I dreamed it would be! From my husband yelling, “I do!” way before it was time during our vows, to dancing under the stars and twinkle lights, I loved it. BUT the most memorable moment is when my cousin/maid of honor embarrassingly shared with everyone that whenever I am feeling conflicted in life, I ask myself, “WHAT WOULD JULIA ROBERTS DO?” I still get wickedly teased about that all the time, and it’s been seven years!!

  20. Well….we got married at 17 in a hotel in our city downtown after we used the yellow pages to find a justice of the peace…with our first babies feet in the bottom of the ONE pic that we took that day….I remember the lady (the justice of the peace) saying “we have to hurry up and do this before the staff catches us!” Oh, well! Almost 13 years (and 5 kids) later we are still majorly in love!! We did renew our vows at 10 years with all of our family onlooking…but the first was just him and I and completely in love!!

  21. i walked down the isle to the imperial march from the starwars trilogy. i had always said i’d know that i’d picked the right guy when i told him i wanted to do this and not only would he not laugh at me but he’d totally understand why.
    my husband and i are not a match made in heaven, we are a match made long, long, ago – in a galaxy far, far away…..

  22. My niece, who was our flower girl, holding up 4 fingers to show the priest how old she was and then asking him how old he was and why he was wearing a dress. All of this right in the middle of our vows. Priceless. People thought I was crying because my shoulders were shaking, but I was actually laughing my head off.

  23. The morning of my wedding my grandpa and Dad took me out to breakfast and kept bragging to anyone that would listen that I was getting married. Our music wouldn’t work for the reception, so for the father/daughter dance, my dad sang to me the praise songs he has sung to me many, many times in my life.
    My favorite picture from the wedding is a side view of me, my dad and my mother in law all looking at my husband when I arrived before him at the alter. We each have such a different expression on our face: me: totally in love and happy; my dad a little hesitant but proud and happy; his mom happy and tearful with joy. I love it!

  24. this was a lovely post, as always Lisa. there were so many special things about my wedding, but since i can only choose one, i will share the wedding we showed at the reception instead of a more traditional slideshow – it was a lot of work and really fun to make. you can see it on YouTube.

  25. On a brisk October day (Friday the 13th) in the small town of Greenwich Connecticut, my sweetheart and I were married in the home of a justice of the peace, just us and her and her husband… The whole ceremony was so special, tender and private, it felt like we were the only people in the world that day, it is a day I will never forget…. True Love at long last……………

  26. First of all, I’m wearing my new Tiny Squares necklace! I love it!

    One of the things I loved about my wedding almost 10 years ago, is that those that we are the closest to, from all of our many different “lives” combined, were there. I loved standing off a little and watching everyone mingle and laugh. The love felt palatable in that room.

  27. Beautiful pictures…one of my most favorite details of my wedding was getting married in the round. My daddy built a stage that was 12X12 and about 1.5 feet off the ground. I wanted to be surrounded by my favorite and most loved family and friends.

  28. Almost 13 years ago in hot, humid late June in Indiana & the air-conditioning goes out in the church. Our hands were so sweaty as we stood at the altar, we kept moving them trying to hold onto each other – everyone thought it was so sweet how he kept ‘caressing my hands’ as we said our vows!! πŸ™‚

  29. I remember the special people who came from afar to attend our wedding. We only had 17 people, our closest family and friends, and 75% were from out of town. The fact that they took the time out of their lives to witness our vows meant a lot to us.

  30. I am getting married in July…I cannot wait! My fiancΓ© and I have decided to incorporate a foot washing ceremony, instead of the traditional communion service. We saw this idea used by our friends at their wedding. We loved the symbolism of servant hood towards one another. Marriage should always be a giving of one’s self to the other, just like Jesus gave of His self, so that we could all live. This is how we are going to show our dedication to one another and to Christ.

  31. I’ve been married 46 years. Our wedding was simple and just what we wanted. One memory I have is my 16 year old sister in law, sobbing her eyes out, loudly, during the ceremony!

  32. My wedding was PERFECT!!! My husband and I didn’t care about what was going on around us, we were just so into each other and the fact that we were becoming husband and wife!!!:)

  33. I’ve been married for 10 1/2 years….wow, how time flies and how I can’t remember everything from the wedding anymore! Here’s a funny though….I got my hair done early am at the salon w/ my regular stylist. I was supposed to get make up done too by an artist who would travel to the salon. But she no-showed me….so me, my hair stylist and my bridesmaids were all scrambling to get my make up on. It actually looked pretty good, but made me run late to get to the church. I was driving my own car, and my sister was with me…there I was in my veil w/ hair all done up speeding to the church, going over the bumpy road there too fast, catching some air with the car, my sister and I laughing all the way…good thing I didn’t pee my pants!! and pulling into the church parking lot with tires screeching…anyone already there must’ve thought, oh yeah, the bride’s a total nut!! πŸ™‚

  34. Beautiful photographs.

    I remember standing in the foyer of the church waiting for the song to end before the wedding song would begin. I kept thinking will the song ever end. I was so ready to get to the alter and marry my husband.

  35. One of my favorite memories from our wedding was having my dad respond to “Who gives this woman to this man?” with “Her mother, sister, brother and I do” which really got me crying. It was great to know that the Lord had blessed me with a man my whole family loves and it wasn’t just about the two of us, but two families joining together.

  36. The evening before the wedding, which was New Year’s Eve, my husband and I and a gathering of our closest friends got together at my place. The brides maids and I put together the corsages and boutonniere for the special guests and chatted while the others played games just a few feet away. About 11:30 p.m. we finished our task, and I announced, “now to make the bridal bouquet!” Yes, I am a last minute person! It ended up beautiful – an arrangement of ivy adorned with little crystals and red ribbon, with a hand-blown bead from the sister of one of my brides maids. The best part was that it was a collaborative effort. I planted the ivy afterward, to keep, but the next year it succumbed to frost. The marriage, however, is still hot!

  37. our wedding was very simple…you should ask your husband about the blow torches we had to use for the candle lighting since we forgot the matches. leo (groom) was on top of his game when he went to the shop and wrapped up the blow torches to look like they were “weddingish” πŸ™‚ the candle lighters went down the with the blow torches lit – it was hilarious!

  38. I wore this beautiful lace gown with a sash and brooch–exactly the dress that had been in my head for years:)

  39. Loved this post Lisa.
    My husband wanted the big wedding thing. I didn’t. I’m not close to my family, we have very different beliefs and it was extremely stressful on me. I would have liked to have gotten married on a beach somewhere just the two of us…
    My special moment was before the guests arrived and before pictures Rob was led into the church and blindfolded, everyone but the photographer, best man and maid of honor were asked to leave. (With much complaining I might add.) I was determined to have that moment ALONE. When he blindfold was removed I was standing in front of my groom and he started to cry…I will not share the words we exchanged, but it was PERFECT. I have a picture of it and it is one of my most cherished. I was able to gracefully make it through the rest. Knowing that noone ruined or interrupted our moment.
    That can’t be said for the rest of the day, but looking back it’s a story to tell the kids and a model for me what NOT to do when it’s my daughter and son’s turn! πŸ™‚

  40. LOVE. I am currently wearing my vintage frames necklace and get SO many compliments on it, daily. My kids (and other kids) love touching each one and identifying who it belongs to πŸ˜‰

    Favorite memory… slipping and falling flat on my butt in my wedding dress in the middle of the reception hall on some spilled champagne πŸ˜‰

    It was hysterical πŸ˜‰

  41. I love the sleeves on this brides dress! Gorgeous lace.

    There are so many things that leap to mind when I think about my wedding day, but one of my favorite things about the ceremony is that we mixed up the bridal party so that it wasn’t just all guys on one side and all girls on another, but they surrounded us. Not enough to block us from the guests, but I loved having my brother close to me on my side inside instead of far along down a line on the other side. It was really special to feel so enveloped in love during our vows.

  42. We have been married almost ten years! Of course our whole day is my favorite part, but one moment stands out as amazingly sweet. The fall we got married
    my cousin’s son was almost two. During the ceremony, my uncle sang “The Lord’s Prayer”. At the end of the song, the chapel was peaceful and silent, until we all heard Drew’s sweet voice call out, “Yeah!”… To which the pastor (a good family friend) declared “Yeah, indeed!”. It was a sweet moment that made the whole chapel sigh.

  43. Every detail at our wedding meant something– my necklace was the birthstones of my parents and their parents, the music was all chosen by my groom and I, the wine was from our family vineyard in Oregon, the cake was from a bakery I visited weekly as a child (after ballet lessons), etc. so we made a program explaining all of the details to our guests. It helped them get to know us better as a couple when we shared our little “secrets” .

    I can’t wait for the rest of wedding week πŸ™‚

  44. During our wedding 16 years ago, a wild Nebraska summer thunderstorm whipped up during the ceremony. It was a very loud and nerve racking with sharp lightning and big thunder claps. We thought we were all going to have to head to the basement for a while there. Lol! We joke about how our marriage started off with a storm!

  45. Not married yet, but I always wanted to have swing lessons for the guests while the hub and I take pictures! Not sure if that will really happen, but sometimes that break is sooo boring!!!

  46. My husband and I recently celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. It was the first wedding our pastor had performed in about 20 years (he’d been the Director of Missions for our denomination for all those years). He forgot to have us kiss at the end of the ceremony. My mother-in-law thought it was because our church didn’t allow kissing in the sanctuary (where she got that idea, I have no idea…but that was pretty comical). So, in the midst of our reception, the pastor got everyone’s attention and said, “I forgot the most important part of the day! Brad, you may kiss your Bride.” And he did…to wild applause. πŸ™‚

  47. Well, next week will be our fourth anniversary! I think that a special bit about our wedding is that it was held in a teeny tiny church in the country- so small that there wasn’t even a bathrom or a heater- just a woodburning furnace, and due to it’s age, ours was the last wedding held there- they’ve decided to stop using it for anything other than funerals. It was SO sweet and pretty!

  48. my husband and i have been married now for 10 years. i remember that day like it was yesterday. it was purely magical! to be able to be together forever and love one another is truly a gift. one of my favorite memories from the day though was when we got to go on a carriage ride, just the 2 of us. it was a nice little “break”

  49. oooooh, loving this week already. What a gorgeous bride and groom!

    My husband and I had our first dance choreographed and it was one of the day’s highlights. All the prep that went into it and all the excitement of performing it made it totally worth it, plus we got to have a little so you think you can dance moment. It was fun for us and really got the guests into celebrating with us.

  50. just ONE special detail? okay, i think my favorite memory from the day was the unmistakable shimmer of unshed tears in my husband-to-be’s eyes as he saw me for the first time that day when i walked down the aisle. he denies he was about to cry, but i know what i saw, and it was a tender moment between the 2 of us. that was almost 20 years ago (aug. 25 1990), and i don’t have one ounce of regret about our decision to marry. he is God’s choice for me, and i am so thankful.

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