The beauty of simplicity
Advice, Wedding Porn
By
on May 19, 2008
16
This weekend I attended the wedding of my brother-in-law Chris in Missoula. He and his fiance, Sacha, had intended to get married in September ... but when they got the word a couple weeks ago that Chris's mother's cancer was back with a vengeance and her time is limited, they moved the wedding up by four months.
The wedding was positively beautiful, and lead to me to think about how in many ways wedding planning will expand to fill as much time and/or money as you want to throw at it. If you have two weeks to prepare, you strip it down to the most important things and the result is deeply meaningful. In the case of this wedding, the top priority was that the mother of the groom be present. And she was.
I acted as stand-in wedding photographer:
More of my pictures of this backyard Montana wedding are over here.
About Ariel Meadow Stallings
Author of Offbeat Bride: Creative Alternatives for Independent Brides, Ariel acts as the publisher of all the Offbeat Empire websites. She lives, loves, and dorks out hard in Seattle, WA.
Jess said
Wow. You my dear are pretty f'in talented with the camera. You took all those great pics? Ever think about doing some engagement photos? I'll hire you
N. said
We are trying to keep our wedding as simple as possible and it has made the whole process so stress free. Our parents keep calling and offering to help and there just isn't anything that they need to do- it's awesome.
brooke said
Congratulations to them… now I am going to go hide in the bathroom and have a good cry.
Pazz said
Congratulations to them both. We are having to push forward our wedding date due to family members with cancer too. It may not be the wedding I dreamed of, but its more than worth it.
Amy said
Where did she find the beautiful dress? It is simple and perfect, just like the rest of the day, by the look of it.
Melissa said
This brought me to tears. Thanks for keeping things in perspective, Ariel.
JustaRabbit said
What a beautiful wedding. Really hits home that weddings aren't so much about the party details, but celebrating with those you love.
kmontana said
Hi Ariel – Beautiful job on this post! Your sister-in-law's dress is amazing… I'm in Montana as well and have had the toughest time finding an casual/elegant tea length dress. Any idea where she got it? Thank you!!
Ariel said
Hey dress-curious ladies: I emailed Sacha about her dress. Hopefully we'll hear back soon!
Sacha said
I am the lucky sister-in-law who had the good fortune of having Ariel snap all of her amazing pictures. I found my dress in Portland, OR. It was made by a local designer, Lena Medoyeff. Her dresses are handmade, fair trade and amazingly affordable.
kmontana said
Thank you!!
Cate said
So beautiful, so bittersweet, so very real and true to life rather than a fantasy wedding.
Cassandra said
Gorgeous photos…and beautiful day.
abigail said
Ahhh! This post is great, the pictures rock and I LOVE Sacha's dress- I will check out the website she posted under her comment…I am living in India right now, getting married in October, and am going to get a dress made here. The tailor's here can make anything I want…is it possible to get a pic of Sacha in her dress? I want the top of mine to be like hers!!
Ariel said
There are lot of photos of Sacha's dress over here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/a…134572567/
Samantha said
Would Sasha be willing to sell her dress? We are planning a very simple wedding in the next 4 months as well also due to cancer in the family. If she was willing to part with her dress and if it might fit me, I'd love to hear from her!