Charm City Wedding - Nathalie & Cory

Cory and Nathalie are yet another super cute, Baltimore, Maryland couple! After meeting through friends at MICA (the Maryland Institute College of Art) and falling in love 5 years ago, they married on April 26, 2009, in the Hemlock Grove of Woodend Sanctuary in front of 60 guests. Though being as eco-friendly as possible was important, being practical and personal meant even more to the couple.

Woodend Sanctuary is a venue that strives to be as green as possible in their practices: they recycle, have energy efficient lightbulbs and heating and cooling systems installed (along with low-flow toilets and faucets), and print their newsletter on 30% post-consumer waste paper. Being married in the grove in daylight also cut down on electricity usage. So that the guests didn't have to commute from one place to another, a shuttle brought them from the hotel to the ceremony and the reception was within walking distance at the Sanctuary.

The couple made sure to have plenty of creative touches before, during, and after the wedding. Nathalie is a full-time graphic designer for Gilah Press + Design in Baltimore, so of course she designed all of the paper goods! The invitation suite gave the guests a good idea of the atmosphere to be expected at our wedding: rustic, casual, and personal with lots of fun touches.

The finishing touch was a custom heart monogram Nathalie drew and had made into a stamp that was stamped onto the back of each invitation with brown ink.

Writing their own vows was a very interesting experience. The night before the ceremony, right after the rehearsal dinner, they wrote their vows next to each other in the hotel. They tried reading them to each other over and over again to minimize the crying at the ceremony (they’re very emotional people) but still could barely get through them during the ceremony.

The couple also took secret dance lessons for the first dance, coordinating an upbeat and fun dance (they're not slow-dance people) to I’ve Just Seen a Face by the Beatles (see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66UF2qEag1E). Beatles songs were also used for key parts of the ceremony and reception: Here Comes the Sun for Nathalie's entrance, In My Life for the recessional, With a Little Help From My Friends for the introductions, When I’m Sixty-Four for the cupcake cutting, and All You Need is Love for the final dance of the night.

The couple wanted some sort of photobooth after seeing a similar setup at another wedding. Using a big patterned fabric of green berries from a local thrift store, it was tied it to rope that spanned across two trees and was used as the backdrop. Their photographer, Jocelyn of Studio Mathewes (http://www.studiomathewes.com/), set up lights and wrote down times on a chalkboard that let guests know when they should show up at the booth to get their photo taken. As the night went on and people drank a little more, the photos turned out even more hilarious. One close group of friends even secretly schemed together the idea of spelling out a message for the couple that we only saw once we browsed our photos online on Jocelyn’s website. (Jocelyn's post about it here.) It was such a fun surprise!

Nathalie's number one favorite wedding detail is the guestbook that her co-worker Whitney and her husband Jacob created for a wedding gift. The cover was created using a salvaged piece of wood that Jacob refinished and hand-carved a monogram into. All of the tags were hand-cut and slipped into light brown coin-sized envelopes that were glued and tied with organic cotton yarn. Guests were able to slide the tags in and out of the envelopes to either sign their name, write a little message or get creative. Super cute!

Other favorite details? Ceremony/cocktail hour musician that played folk songs on his guitar and harmonica, her yellow Frye peep-toe heels, and the escort cards created by herself that Cory’s sisters hung around a big oak tree next to the cocktail hour location. They used twine and clothespins to create a pretty rustic look.


A local Baltimore crafter named SmittenXOXO on Etsy created the birdcage veil and headpiece. She was able to request a custom design for a low price compared to what bridal stores wanted for such a tiny piece of fabric and some pre-made headpiece decoration. So beautiful.

The dress was custom made by Amanda Archer in San Francisco on Etsy who always uses natural-fiber fabrics in her work. Nathalie gave her photos of a Priscilla of Boston dress she loved but couldn’t afford and Amanda went to work recreating it and making it her own after given the measurements. Beth Cyr, also known as bcyrjewelry on Etsy, created the rings. The couple found two gorgeous rings at her online shop and had them made in their ring sizes. Well priced and they loved them.

A lot of the wedding was done by the couple themselves. For the centerpieces they used Cory’s mother’s vintage salt and pepper shakers, wood slices that Cory’s father created using fallen logs from his backyard, wood numbers purchased and stained for the table numbers, and dozens of mason jars that we were scored off of Craigslist that held bunches of herbs, plants and local, in-season flowers that Ellen of Local Color Flowers put together so beautifully for them. (Local's post about it here.)
The couple also kept a blog that let people know what was going through their heads right up to the day of the wedding. Taking advantage of the blog, they posted all the directions, accommodations, and wedding information to save paper when it came time to design the invitations. Check out the site here.

Congratulations you two!