Apr 8, 2020

On Love + Pets

Do you remember your first pet?

Maybe it was a beautiful golden retriever named Sandy who shed like you wouldn’t believe and loved to snuggle. Maybe it was a gorgeous tabby cat named Gerald who always curled up at your feet while you were reading the latest edition in the Animorphs series. Maybe it was a hermit crab that you named Shelley (because you were the wittiest four year old ever) and you are realizing, at this very moment, that in choosing such an uncuddleable introduction to pet-having, your parents are obviously not pet people and were probably just trying to deter you from ever asking for another pet. Ever again.

But maybe you hit the pet lottery. Maybe you got a beautiful black horse named Iggy who helped you discover your passion for riding, became your best friend, grew old alongside you, and ultimately changed your life in the best ways, forever.

Iggy was Chelsea’s horse. He passed away this year, months before Chelsea walked down the aisle.

We always talk about our couples’ love stories; how we want to honor them and use their story as a blueprint for their entire wedding day. This may come across to some as overly sentimental or sappy, but we’re not just talking about two random people partnering up to create a neat, new story, like a simple 1+1=2 equation. No, we are talking about two complex stories - full of experiences and lifelong friendships and brief encounters and heartbreak and triumph and hilarity and sadness and other people’s stories - intertwining with each other, doubling the size of the living, breathing tapestry of their lives. Honoring a couple’s love story means honoring their individual stories and everything and everyone that has brought them to their day.

For Chelsea and Mike, it meant honoring Iggy too.

So they chose a rustic barn for their venue. Everything about Chelsea’s look, from her beautiful boho dress to her dripping-with-Queen-Anne’s-lace bouquet, made us feel like she had just come in from the most glamorous ride through the country anyone has ever had and the color palette for the rest of the wedding party was moody, bohemian-chic perfection. Cocktail hour was an elegant garden party, thanks to gorgeous furniture rentals curated and styled by our own Kelsey Hahn, featuring the perfect signature drinks for Chelsea and Mike’s story (and some awesome White Dahlia chalk art).

The copper-piped seating chart was one of our favorites in recent memory and the table numbers were a whimsically elegant nod to dear Iggy. The centerpieces were the “chic” to the dinnerware’s “boho” while light blush napkins softened the entire look. Every beautiful farm table was dusted with votives, tiny gold horses, and gold jeeps and Chelsea and Mike’s favors were beer glasses that paid further homage to the stories that led them to each other.

And after taking one beautiful weekend to honor those stories, they look forward to a future of new stories that they get to make, together.

XO,

White Dahlia