July 15, 2015

Wedding Wednesday - Lauren and Van Clemson Wedding

Hooray! It's another Wedding Wednesday today on the blog! You Clemson Girls sure do know how to throw amazing weddings - especially with our favorite colors... orange and purple!

Get ready to fall in love with another Clemson wedding today...

Meet Lauren and Van - both die hard Clemson fans and Lauren's a 2009 alum.


The couple met through mutual friends in 2008, and were friends for 5 years before they started dating. Van actually asked Lauren to go to a Christmas dinner with his golf group as a friend because the person who was supposed to go wasn't able to. The two ended up talking more than they ever had that night, and having gone into the evening with no expectations, they came out of it shocked that sparks were flying. Lauren and Van both had separate conversations with their best friends about how great the night was (which they discovered after comparing notes later on). Van then asked Lauren on a real date over the Christmas holidays when they were both home in Myrtle Beach area with their families. "He picked me up from my parents house," Lauren told us,"which was super awkward since we are our thirties! Ha ha!" The two had an amazing time, and their first kiss happened in Lauren's parents' driveway. So funny, but so sweet!


The Proposal
In June of 2014, after dinner with Van's and Lauren's families in Murrells Inlet and a great game of putt-putt (Lauren got a hole in one!), Van asked Lauren to marry him on the balcony of his family’s condo in Surfside. Of course Lauren said, "Yes!"


Clemson has always been a big part of the couple's relationship - even before they started dating the two would tailgate together for Clemson games. Van is a die had Clemson fan, having gone to games since he was a small child. Lauren is a Clemson graduate and has lived in the Clemson or Anderson area (with the exception of a year-and-a-half) since 1999.


Lauren provided us with a great write up of her wedding planning and the wedding itself - rather than try to rewrite it to tell her story, we will just let Laure tell it herself!

Lauren shared with us...

Planning the wedding and fun DIY stuff
My Mom and I took a mother/daughter trip to San Francisco and Auburn, CA last summer for another wedding, and while we were in San Fran, we made a very special visit to Britex Fabrics to buy the fabric for my wedding gown. My mom, who’s degree from Virginia Tech is in Fashion Merchandising, made most of my clothes as a child, my debutante gown, her own wedding dress, and has made dresses for others. We designed the dress together on the plane out to CA, and brought all of the fabric for the dress home with us, including my gold birdcage netting for the veil.


Van was gung-ho orange and purple wedding from the beginning of the planning process. I was thinking more aqua, yellow, and spring-y, but the Clemson color scheme was SUPER important to him. I was picturing that it would turn out more Fall than Spring-like. However, after some brainstorming, I decided to have my girls wear ivory and we decided on orange and white seersucker for the boys.


We chose the park in downtown Anderson as our ceremony venue.


My bridesmaids and I made over 200 paper flowers to be used for décor in different areas, and I painted an old window as a sign by the entrance. I purchased antique doors and curtains - from a friend who got married last fall - to be used as the entrance for the wedding party and painted them peach. The curtains were ivory. Everything for the wedding was done in shades of orange and purple, with accents of gold, ivory and pink.


I designed our simple yet whimsical orange and white invitations, programs, signage, koozie design, website and other printables so everything coordinated.


I made 17 boutonnieres and 13 corsages from miniature paper flowers, Van’s grandmother’s succulent plant that lives on our back patio, ribbon I purchased last summer in San Francisco, and Magnolia leaves from the neighbor’s yard across the street.


We had two receptions. The first was a cake and punch reception immediately following the wedding at Wren Park in Anderson. For our main cake, I hired Kristi from Doodle Dots designs to create a cake and gave her creative liberty. As an artist, I realize this is usually when we do our best work. I gave her pictures of my dress, our topper, and several of the paper flowers as inspiration. I had no idea what the cake was going to look like until she sent me a picture the day of the wedding. AMAZING. It was PERFECT and DELICIOUS.

For the rest of the cakes at the first reception, several dear family and friends made between 10-15 cakes (I’m honestly not sure what the final number was). All were handmade from special recipes including my Great Grandma Anderson’s Chocolate Cherry Cake recipe.


Our second reception was at the Anderson Farmer’s Market, we had fiesta food by Hob Nob Events that has gotten RAVE reviews from all of our guests. Our DJ kept everyone dancing through the night. We had a photo booth at both events, and the scrapbook they created that day is hilarious. Van and I have looked at it several times and it always makes us laugh. Such a special keepsake!


The Clemson Bus
Van’s best man owns a small bus that he uses for tailgating at Clemson games, and he was kind enough to let us borrow the bus the day of the wedding. The gentlemen hung out in the bus before the ceremony, and the bus came to pick us up to go to our second reception, “the SHINDIG” later that evening. Not only was it perfect for helping us get people around, it made a great {BIG} photo prop!


Personal details
Our wedding had tons of personal details that made it so special for Van and me and our families. Not only did my mom make my dress, she also made my nieces’ flower girl dresses. I wore the Swedish crown that she wore when she married my Dad 38 years ago.


Van’s mom asked if I would like to wear the pearl necklace that his dad had given her, which has one pearl for every year they were married before he passed away 10 years ago. Of course, I said yes, and am so touched that she allowed me to do so.


Our guest book at the ceremony and cake and punch reception was a large Bible that was a wedding gift to my parents. Guests highlighted verses and wrote notes in it for us to enjoy throughout our marriage.


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Lauren's wedding photographer was Curtis Snyder from Kismet photography.

We want to give Lauren a very special thank you for sharing her love story and wedding details with us so we could share them with our readers! The photos are beautiful, and we love the creativity and fun throughout the wedding details. What a special day! Best wishes to Lauren and Van on their happy union.


3 comments :

Lauren said...

"The judge has not yet decided whose tree it is."

Couldn't help the Steel Magnolias referenced to the neighbor's leaves.

Such a fun, quaint, creative party! I love her dress and those paper flowers!!

stevenjared0853 said...

Wow, amazing pictures!! I love the color combination used in party. Everything looks perfect from flowers to wedding invitation, cake and dresses. Currently we are searching for SF event venues for my brother’s reception party. Can you help me out?

Taylor Wells said...

Congrats to the newly married couple!! They are truly looking lovely and
adorable. Marriage ceremonies boost our relationships and I
wish the best of luck to them. They should really carry it
along to a memorable journey.

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