Midsummer Night's Dream Themed Wedding

Today’s real wedding is inspired by one of the greatest romantics of all time – William Shakespeare. The theme is based off of one of his most famous plays, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with refined touches. From bride Becky: “I often referred to it as Woodland Glam — where nature meets man-made, with metal and moss versus wood and moss. I planned and designed every detail of the wedding so I was concerned how it was going to all look on the wedding day. Some of the décor was from my house and finding the rest of it took countless trips around town and countless hours scouring the internet. Our colors were peach and lavender with metallic accents like bronze, gold, and rose gold. The bridesmaids wore satin taupe colored dresses with the junior bridesmaids in a lavender blush color. The flower girls had fairy wings, tutu skirts and flower crowns all in peach. My one year old nephew was the ring bearer and he stole the show in his little onesie with a beige linen vest and peach bow tie.

For our August wedding in Phoenix, we needed a venue where we could get married indoors that didn’t look like a box with fluorescent lighting. We chose Villa Siena, an old world Tuscan venue that looks like it was plucked right out of Italy and dropped in the middle of the desert. While viewing the venue, Matt decided that he wanted to get married in the courtyard with its vines, fountain, fireplace, and hand-cut herringbone brick modeled after the plaza in Siena, Italy.” Jay & Jess Photography captured some truly amazing shots of Matt and Becky’s day:

The Ceremony

“I made my own photo charms for my bouquet using resized pictures of my grandparents who passed away. My dad’s mother died of ovarian cancer before I was born and my sister surprised me by bringing my grandmother’s ring to attach to the bouquet. We also attached an amethyst cross from my maternal grandmother who was unable to travel to the wedding. I loved when I took my first steps to walk down the aisle and the movement caused all the charms to bang together loudly. At the most important part of the day, it was a nice reminder of the special people that couldn’t be there.”

The Reception

“To create a glam enchanted forest vibe at the reception, tree branches were projected up the walls in the ballroom. The shadow of the ballroom chandeliers appeared in the branches, weaving together nature and man-made. Behind the head table was a row of gold metal trees with gold votive holders on the branches. And we moved the lanterns with the copper wire lights indoors. At each table was a Shakespeare quote in a gold frame sitting on top of Shakespeare books. Instead of table numbers, we used our nicknames as table names. Since we had extra invitations and enclosure cards we had Bella Grafia Calligraphy use the backside of them to write the quotes and table names. Romantic Shakespeare quotes could be found around the entire venue. They were even on the cocktail napkins and the wedding cake. Our wedding brought together 115 close friends and family members from 14 different states. It ended up being a perfect reflection of us: detailed, romantic, and sentimental.”