Irina & Chris’ Glitter Meets Rustic Virginia Wedding at Historic Aldie Mill

Images: Emily Alyssa Photography

FRIDAY! We did it! Another week down, and I already feel like we are blowing through October. Andy, Evie & I are headed North on Monday (first NJ, then on to a short week in Vermont – bring on the Fall break and attempt to stay off social media ….). I’m gearing up for a SUPER FUN wedding at the Loft at 600F tomorrow and then running a 10 miler on Sunday morning (because I love my feet/legs so much) and then it’s RELAX CITY for this lady. Here’s a beautiful Virginia wedding that I meant to have up before 10am this morning and am only just publishing it now … have a great weekend Romancers!

I am a super hippie at heart and have always wanted a simple intimate wedding with a twist -where is lots of alcohol (I am also Russian), brick walls, vintage/rustic details, and no stress.

The stress part did not happen exactly as planned because it turned out that planning a wedding is overwhelmingly difficult (who knew?), but everything else worked out better than we could ever imagine. To be honest, I am not a very creative person and most of the work was done by our amazing wedding party who diligently came over every 2-3 weeks to help with decor and ideas throughout several months.

My mom and sister in law handmade all 7 flower crowns, bouquets, and boutonnieres for the wedding party and brought them all the way from Kazakhstan (where I am from). They looked absolutely beautiful and you know what’s the best part about fake flowers? I got to keep them in my house and can look at them every day.

Like I mentioned above, most of the wedding party (especially the bridesmaids) were heavily involved in everything and it’s so hard for me to just pick one person. But if I had to mention only one, it would be my dear friend Reina. Reina is one of those people who have a huge heart and golden hands. A perfect combination for a wedding helper:) She spent many hours thinking through and creating decorations, from cutting and painting stupid flag banners to shopping with me at Michael’s, TJ Max and Target to pick out flowers for the backdrop and then creating a beautiful backdrop in front of my eyes. I was just there doing the bitch work really, hanging her scissors and pouring wine.

She even managed to move the backdrop from the ceremony location (which was outside) to the inside after the reception was over. I had no idea when and how she did it, but it looked amazing! We feel so beyond blessed for all her help, and would never forget her dedication and talent!

Most of the details including the centerpieces were made out of burlap and lace because I love the rustic look. My husband likes it too:) I think it’s time I mention him at least once here.We created twine and lace wrapped wine bottles and I bought small awesome lights to place inside. We used the bottles to decorate the stairs.

One thing that took me over 50 hours to create was a wax paper backdrop that we used inside the mill to cover some machinery and also to add some white color to the brick decor. I was making this backdrop while watching TV, talking to my parents in Skype, chatting with my husband-basically anytime I had free hands:)

Most of the ideas were totally stolen from Pinterest, of course, but I think our version looked even more awesome than the pictures I found.

The same goes for the wedding music-because we have decided to create our own playlist on spotify and had a friend manage the music, we can relive our wedding day any day we want!