Emma Wore Vivienne Westwood for Her Joyful, Equality Inspired Summer Wedding

Emma and Isaac married in the warmth of midsummer at Pinewood Weddings & Events in Minnesota in the USA in early August. Their day was shaped by a shared belief in equality and a desire to celebrate the people who have supported them through every chapter of their lives. It was a thoughtful, intimate gathering that placed family and community at its heart.

The setting felt close to home for the couple, with tall pines framing the celebrations and soft summer light settling over the ceremony. Their vision balanced an elegant and formal atmosphere with a summery sense of ease, kept light with a softer colour palette and gentle, seasonal florals. Every choice reflected their wish for an authentic and emotion led day, free from anything performative and full of the things that felt most true to them.

Emma’s Vivienne Westwood gown, found second hand and carefully tailored, set the tone for the celebration, and her values carried through everything they planned. Supported by their planner, Lily Hansen of HappiLily Events, and photographed by the ever thoughtful Ali Miller, the couple created a day that felt warm, present and full of joy.

We got married at Pinewood Weddings & Events in Minnesota, USA. We chose Pinewood because we wanted a venue that felt intimate, and incorporated our love of the outdoors and our home. At this venue, being surrounded by tall Minnesota pines, added to the peace and wonder of the day.

It’s important to us in making big decisions like this that we don’t choose to do it ‘just because it’s what’s done’ but rather because it aligns with our shared values. Once we agreed that it was going to be a meaningful touchstone in our relationship to have this day and share it with our friends and family, we knew we wanted the day to be authentic and emotion-led.

While we wanted to put effort into the details, and create a beautiful experience for ourselves and our guests, we were very intentional about staying away from decisions that felt performative (which can be hard to do in a social-media era of comparison!). Authenticity was and always will be the goal.

Our wedding day was intimate, joyful, and all about celebrating family, community, and love in all its forms. We wanted to invite our guests in and make them feel just as cherished as they have made us feel throughout the many stages of our life. Our overall vision was elegant and formal yet fun and summery with a lighter colour palette and soft florals. 

Throughout our relationship, we have written each other love notes, which we wanted to include in our day. Inspired by another bride who I saw make custom cocktail napkins – we had some of our favourite love notes to each other throughout the years printed on our cocktail napkins. Isaac volunteered to bring this idea to life by creating custom napkins (much of wedding planning went this way, Emma had an idea – Isaac made it happen).

I walked myself down the aisle to ‘Young and Beautiful’ by Lana Del Ray; Isaac met me partway and we walked the rest of the way down together. To us, this felt meaningful and symbolic; two individual adults, deciding to join our lives.

My mother officiated the ceremony, which made it that much more memorable. My mom expertly tied in personal stories from our travels together with lessons for a healthy partnership.

We wrote our own vows, because we wanted our day to be a celebration of our love story, this felt like an important gift to give to each other. 

We felt these readings encompassed large parts of our relationship, from the reason marriage is important to us, to the home we have found each other even while being always on the move, to who we will be at the end of our days together. 

The readings were from ‘The Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court majority decision’, a landmark ruling in the US which established national marriage equality.

This particular reading discussed the importance of marriage to all people. A segment; “Since the dawn of history, marriage has transformed strangers into relatives, binding families and societies together. No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once were.”  – read more here.

Our rings were from Knox Jewelers – a Minneapolis based jeweller – we appreciated the quality of their work.

Our photographer was Ali Miller. I didn’t really plan any details of our wedding in advance of getting engaged, except for this photographer!

I had found Ali on social media a few years ago, and immediately fell in love with the story-telling, emotive, and elevated feel of her photography. For a day where we wanted every detail to feel meaningful and authentic, Ali was the perfect fit.

Ali is ultra-talented, intentional, and finds a way to not only capture beautiful memories, but to also help her couples feel valued. We feel very lucky that we were able to work with Ali for our wedding.

Our videographer was Carraway Film Co…

We first met in Vet School and found in one another a depth of compassion that continues to anchor us. Our first date was ice skating, and we have been gliding (and slipping) through life together ever since.

Isaac says he is drawn to my fierce nature and strong moral compass – which make every day an adventure – and I am drawn to Isaac’s calm tenderness – which makes every day beautiful.

Our mutual love of family and friends, travel, outdoor activities, good food, and pets – multiply both the adventure and beauty that is our life together.

After two years of long distance while Isaac moved to California, we then moved together across the country to Austin, TX when I graduated! After a few years in Austin, we crossed the world and landed in Melbourne, Australia (with engagement ring in hand). After a year of work and travel, including stops in Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand, Samoa, and Fiji, we missed our community back home and moved to the North Loop in Minneapolis.

Our proposal happened just before we moved to Australia! Isaac proposed after a picnic amid the beautiful autumn colours on the banks of the St. Croix River in his hometown of Stillwater, Minnesota. We were engaged for 658 days before our wedding day.

Emma and Isaac’s wedding was a beautiful, intimate day, nestled in the pines of a northern Minnesota venue. Over a year and a half of planning, it was amazing to see their vision come to life and to witness the joy as they celebrated with their families! Every decision the couple made was based on their personalities and finding ways to make guests feel truly welcomed and appreciated. It was so special to see the guests’ reaction to all of the thought Emma and Isaac put into the little details! 

Throughout the planning process, the couple refined their vision to evoke that of a lush summer garden party with buttery yellows and creamy whites accented with pops of sky blue. The soft and romantic colour scheme proved to be a refreshing and seasonal take on the popular garden party aesthetic.

Emma and Issac’s florals were arranged and grown in part by June and Jane Flower Co. Emma’s bridal bouquet featured stunning locally grown dahlias and lisianthus while Issac sported a classic and timeless calla lily and lily grass boutonniere.

Local flowers and foliage were used as much as possible, including fluffy and romantic Lisianthus in shades of white and soft yellow, light blue Delphinium, white and ivory cosmos, nicotiana and zinnias and hints of blue from chinese forget-me-nots and echinops.  

We knew we had to include Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for our wedding dessert! Enjoying ice cream together quickly became a tradition in the early days of our relationship; when we were long-distance, we would always share a pint on our last night together. Sharing Ben & Jerry’s with our guests for our summer wedding felt like a no-brainer. 

As veterinarians, we also had to celebrate our cats. Affectionately known as Bean and Bert, each had their own custom drink: an Espresso “Bean” Martini and a Spicy “Bert” Dragonfruit Margarita. 

Our paper goods were by Ivory Isle Designs. We also had customised ribbon placecards with guest names in foil from White Ink Calligraphy.

Reflecting on having written meaningful letters to each other over our relationship, we wanted to include our guests in the tradition and wrote personalised thank you notes to each guest, which served as our seating escort display. Every guest at our wedding means so much to us, and wanted to let them know how thankful we are for their support and presence. 

We created a custom mini magazine as our wedding program from Wedding Story Book Programs., and included fun details about our relationship and a custom crossword puzzle.

We also provided guest portraits/live illustrations as a take home thank-you for our guests provided by a local artist.

Our rented butter yellow napkins were from Linen Effects.

For the evening, I  changed into a hand-beaded, low back, halter dress from Retrofete.

Our first dance was to ‘Coming Home’, by Leon Bridges.

Leon Bridges was one of the first musicians we saw perform in person together, and have been able to see him at a few festivals and concerts throughout the years. “Coming Home” holds a special place in our relationship, and is one of our favorite songs.

We also shared a last dance together to ‘When Emma Falls in Love” by Taylor Swift! 

Words of advice – Do what feels the most YOU for your wedding, whether this is eloping, a huge event, or a smaller and more intimate gathering. This day is about your love and the community that supports you, so feel free to make it a celebration that is reflective of that.

Also – we definitely recommend hiring a photographer/videographer for the whole day! It’s so special to have images and videos to look back on

And we’d also recommend hiring a wedding planner! This helped us to focus on the small, intimate details we wanted to infuse throughout the day, and helped us to be present with each other and our guests on our wedding day.

We had quite a few out of town guests, so we hosted a welcome party on the rooftop of one of our favorite ramen restaurants, moto-i, the night before. This gave us much needed time to see everyone and chat with our out of town guests.

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