Cottage Core Wedding by the Lake | Katie + Brett from Columbia, MO
Summer weddings in Missouri bring the heat! This fun-loving couple wasn’t afraid of higher temperatures and wanted to host their wedding ceremony outside on the lawn at Emerson Fields. At our venue, we offer multiple outdoor ceremony sites but Katie and Brett had a specific idea in mind for a lakeside wedding. We are here to give you all the details of this cottage core-inspired wedding day at Emerson Fields with our first lakeside wedding ceremony! Let’s start at the beginning of this August wedding day.
On Friday afternoon, vendors started showing up to Emerson Fields to set up décor and start styling our venue for Brett and Katie’s wedding. Brett, the groom, is a close cousin to Courtney of Pretty Little Things, a vintage rental company that styles and creates gorgeous weddings. Courtney showed up on Friday to set out the lounge areas, add décor to the tables, and start creating the romantic cottage garden feeling at Emerson Fields.
Katie and Brett hired Plan It Terra for event management services and that team knocked it out of the park! Terra and her team helped the couple create the perfect garden wedding with cottage-inspired florals, vintage details, and romantic vibes. Plan It Terra also helped Brett and Katie dream about this unique wedding ceremony location and worked through logistics with Emerson Fields.
“I provided a Custom Planning Experience (Partial Planning) for Katie & Brett, and for them, this meant that I walked through a lot of major meetings with them and supported them in the decision-making process. I also supported them with securing key vendors and guiding them through the logistics of their celebration.
A big portion of my role was partnering with Pretty Little Things, who provided full styling services for their wedding. This meant that Pretty Little Things focused on the design portion of the celebration while I focused on the logistics and project management. ”
Katie and her bridesmaids got ready upstairs in the bridal suite with Uplifted Beauty giving the ladies romantic curls and natural glam makeup. While the ladies got their hair and makeup finished, the photographer, Bailey Fraccascia, started getting detail photos. Then the bridesmaids went downstairs to the patio for a first look with Katie in her gown! The patio was perfect for a hot August day because it provides a lot of natural light while being shaded from direct sunlight.
The bridesmaids weren’t the only ones to enjoy a special moment with the bride. Katie and her dad had a first look inside the venue. Katie and her parents were able to spend some moments together before Katie went to see her groom.
This late summer wedding brought typical weather with bright skies and high temps. Katie and Brett wanted an outdoor first look so they chose the privacy of the wooded clearing with the shady trees. Katie greeted Brett and the couple shared many smiles, laughs, and sweet kisses together. They chose to read personal vows to one another during this intimate first look. Don’t they just look so happy to be with each other?! The smile never left their faces all day and by doing a first look with each other they were able to spend the majority of their wedding day together.
Cottage Core Wedding Design
Emily and her team at Sugarberry Blooms created romantic cottage-inspired floral arrangements for Katie and Brett’s wedding day. It was a unique look with a lot of flower variety. Here’s what Emily had to say about these cottage core florals.
“The floral palette featured blush, rose, soft blue, lavender, and ivory tones with soft greenery accents. Katie's bouquet (which was one of our favorites of the summer!) featured delphinium, cosmos, clematis, scabiosa, garden roses, tweedia, and ranunculus. The ceremony featured textural, airy aisle arrangements which featured a lovely mix of allium blooms, garden roses, delphinium, campanula, and spray roses.
The same combination of blooms was also utilized throughout the reception. Aisle pieces from the ceremony were repurposed in front of the head table. Three different designs were repeated throughout the guest tables and included a low, lush floral arrangement, a bud vase cluster, and a trio of small brass goblets. We love utilizing two or three different designs throughout the reception to bring interest and cohesion throughout the space.”
“Florals for Katie and Brett’s day were designed around the concept of a romantic cottage garden. Basically we focused on utilizing a variety of florals, textural elements and foliage to create a lush, garden-like design. ”
Creating a cohesive wedding design on your own can be tricky, but when an excellent vendor team collaborates, all those little details come together beautifully. The blush, rose, and ivory color palette with pops of soft blue and lavender created a garden feeling. When you pair the vintage lounge with the brass candlesticks and soft fabric table runners, the romantic side shines. All of the florals in various bud vases, goblets, and arrangements tie each area of the wedding venue together to make it all look cohesive. Florals are the perfect way to extend your color palette and style into each space at your wedding.
“Floral selection (including the flower type and color) was important to carry out the cottage garden vibe throughout the design process. We sourced beautiful locally grown blooms from several mid-Missouri flower farms and filled in with blooms from our wholesale floral connections. Each design was unique, but cohesive, creating that cobbled, cottage feel.” - Emily with Sugarberry Blooms
“Katie loved texture, so we tried to incorporate as much texture as we could through every element such as linen choice, runner choice, charger choice. Sugarberry Blooms called the design cottage-inspired, and she added plenty of texture through the florals.”
As we mentioned, this was a hot August wedding day. Most of the time our summer couples choose either the shaded pavilion or the dock with easy venue access for their outdoor ceremony. This was going to be our first lakeside wedding on the southwest side of the venue lawn. We were really excited about this new ceremony location and started thinking through logistics early on.
One of our initial concerns was highway noise since that side of the venue is closest to the highway. With the trees in full summer bloom and slower Saturday afternoon traffic, there wasn’t too much extra noise. Our next concern was the gravel driveway. In the summer, the driveway can give off a lot of dust as multiple cars drive up to the venue. Since this ceremony location would be next to the potentially dusty area we decided to water down the driveway to cut out that dusty air. It worked like a charm!
We love it when our couples think outside of the box and bring us their ideas. It’s always an adventure at Emerson Fields and since our couples get the venue to themselves for the whole weekend, we are able to try out new ideas all the time.
Our first lakeside wedding ceremony was beautiful! Sugarberry Blooms created romantic aisle floral arrangements and added a unique floral installation on our cedar arbor. This August wedding ceremony started at 6:00 PM. Katie was walked down the aisle by her father and met Brett at the arbor. A friend of the couple officiated which added to the personal and intimate feeling of this outdoor lakeside wedding. There was scripture reading, prayers, the exchanging of rings, and then this lovely couple was announced as Mr. and Mrs.
Short and sweet wedding ceremonies are best for outdoor summer weddings. The personal touches that Katie and Brett put into the ceremony, down to the music played, made it memorable for everyone.
Summer newlywed portraits never looked so good!
Since Katie and Brett had already completed the majority of their photos before the wedding ceremony, they went straight from the ceremony to dinner. They didn’t do a cocktail hour but made the dinner portion of the reception engaging and interactive with an outdoor food court! We blocked off the north parking lot and the Plan It Terra team worked logistics on hiring three food truck vendors to come and serve the wedding guests dinner. It. Was. So. Fun. The guests really loved it and this choice reflected the couple’s casual and fun personality. We set out cocktail tables for guests if they wanted to eat outside and SW Productions hung string lights to make the area cozy and intentional.
Guests made their way back inside for the reception to start. The wedding party entered while Harry Styles “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” played from High Class DJs. Katie’s dad shared a lovely speech and dedicated a song to his daughter. The couple cut their cake and shared a first dance. Guests enjoyed a dessert bar with Nothing Bundt Cakes along with brownie bites, cheesecake bites, cookies, mini cupcakes, and mini cinnamon rolls! Then the real party started!
The guests had a fantastic time on the dance floor and the formal, garden wedding ceremony turned into a fun-loving reception celebration!
“Their wedding was a logistical challenge for the simple fact that Brett & Katie desired a relaxed reception that included a food truck “court.” With the vendor team, we thought through every “what if” such as releasing tables, informing guests the food truck menus, flow to and from the food trucks, layout, and more. I was absolutely blown away at how amazing everything went. It was a unique experience for everyone, and I think it came together amazingly well.”
Katie and Brett’s friends knew how to have a good time! As the night came to an end, Brett and Katie wanted to share one last private dance. The guests exited outside the venue and the Plan It Terra team helped them get sparklers set up while Brett and Katie danced to “At Last” by Etta James.
“It is always the best compliment and the best relationship when my clients feel that their ideas are respected. They know that I have their best interest at heart.
Additionally, I approach wedding planning from a very collaborative standpoint, and I think having that approach ultimately helps the vendor team thrive, which ultimately benefits the client.”
Making a wedding day unique like Brett and Katie’s couldn’t have been possible without an incredible vendor team. As wedding venue owners, we love when our couples bring us unique ideas. This wedding weekend featured a lakeside wedding ceremony in August, an outdoor food court with specialty food trucks, and a romantic cottage core wedding style. We give our couples our full attention each weekend and work with them one-on-one to create a special, personalized wedding celebration.
If you love a garden-inspired wedding day, check out this Romantic Summer Garden Wedding with Lush Florals.
Vendors
Guest Count | 207
Wedding Venue | Emerson Fields
Wedding Planner | Plan It Terra
Photographer | Bailey Fraccascia
Wedding Videographer | Living Proof Productions
Florist | Sugarberry Blooms
Cake | Nothing Bundt Cakes
Wedding Gown & Designer | Mia Grace Bridal, Rebecca Ingram
DJ | High Class DJs, Brian Graves
Caterer | Lilly’s Cantina, The Big Cheeze, Zydeco’s Cajun Kitchen
Bridesmaid Gowns | Revelry
Menswear Rentals | Samuels Menswear
Hair and Makeup Stylists | Uplifted Salon
Rentals | Pretty Little Things
Lighting | SW Productions
08/02/2023 - Gabrielle Isom
