Yue & Greg’s Simple, Cherry Blossom Themed Maryland Wedding

Today’s real wedding feature is simple, but beautiful due to the couple’s focus on handmade details. Yue & Greg also decided to use Cherry Blossoms as the backdrop and theme for their Maryland wedding – including the pale pink flower in the wedding decor. They decided to keep their wedding as low-key and simple as possible, relying heavily on family & friends and Etsy to decorate their wedding day.

Lucky for you all, I have all the details from Yue below, with some really sage words on including handmade details in your wedding day. Especially how one of the benefits of DIYing your wedding projects, is the increased time with family and friends, making the items!

A special thanks to Eye Wonder Photography for submitting this beautiful wedding via Two Bright Lights.

Yue & Greg’s Simple Cherry Blossom Themed Wedding in Potomac Maryland

Vendors:

Photographer: Eye Wonder Photography | Venue: Bolger Center | Submitted via Two Bright Lights

About their wedding vision:

From the beginning, Greg and I knew we wanted our wedding to be simple, charming and personal. That, and we wanted the ceremony outdoors. We imagined a small, intimate wedding in a field of wild flowers or under a grove of trees—letting nature dictate our decor.

I really love this note about incorporating handmade (not necessarily DIY) details into their wedding day!

Greg and I also really appreciate the detail, craftsmanship, and one-of-a-kind feel of something handmade, so we tried our best to incorporate those elements into our wedding.

We opted to do without a wedding planner/event coordinator, and sent our invitations in hand-folded envelopes. We used Etsy to find handmade convertible dresses for the bridesmaids, and bought Greg’s wedding band there too.

On their Maryland wedding venue selection:

Bolger Center turned out to be a nice fit: rolling green lawns, peppered with willows and cherry blossoms; a round arbor of evergreen trees, steps away from a little, white pergola; an on-site hotel for our many out-of-towner guests. So, we booked and prayed for a sunny April morning.

Maybe our favorite Etsy buy though was a set of six little ceramic bells. We hung them from low branches surrounding the ceremony site and strung strips of ribbon and burlap for a wind catch. Every breeze sent a peel of faint chiming into the air all around us: the effect was lovely and calming.

Another personal touch came from an idea my mom had, about making sure I was hidden away from view before the ceremony. Greg and the groomsmen hung lace panel curtains from each side of the pergola and let them billow in the wind—a nice play on the fluttery straps on my dress.

In the end, the hint of my silhouette through the lace made for a bit of mystery as guests passed by to get seated.

Click inside for the rest of Greg & Yue’s simple, handmade Maryland wedding ~ including some fun with a cotton candy machine!

We couldn’t agree more with Yue on the added benefit of DIYing your wedding:

In hindsight, one of the perks of a wedding with some more DIY elements is time with friends and family.

Can you believe her mom MADE that stunning, floor-length veil!?

My mom spent weeks piecing together and sewing my veil, and I was lucky enough to be able to wear the Chinese Qipao Dress that my mother-in-law wore for her wedding!

The bouquets, centerpieces, and boutonnieres were made with a ton of help from my family and bridesmaids. On florals, we aimed for simple, rustic, and whimsical, setting ranunculus, anemones, and mums into little wooden crates or mason jars.

The Totoro card box (made by one of my bridesmaids), dessert bar (with tons of cakes, cookies, Chinese desserts and of course, cotton candy!) and a giant tumbling towers set kept the rest of the reception playful and light.

Every wedding should have a cotton candy machine! LOVE!

The whole day was full of happy memories and a surprising lack of loose-ends stress, and we’re hugely grateful to everyone who helped to make it so.

Congratulations Yue & Greg – thank you for sharing all the details from your beautiful, handmade Maryland wedding with us! A special thanks again to Eye Wonder Photography & Two Bright Lights for making the feature possible.