Chic Portland Wedding with Vintage Muffs

You never know quite when or where inspiration will hit you — you just know it when you feel it. When Jenafer’s grandmother gave her a white fur muff she wore on her own wedding day, Jena paid this gift the tribute it deserved by using it as a linchpin for her entire wedding decor and look. Using her own talented eye with business The City Hippy Studio and bringing on board some of the Pacific Northwest’s most talented vendors, including Dylan & Sara, Vanity Affair Event, and Swoon Floral Design, this wedding day was a vintage lover’s dream come true.

From the bride, Jena: I’ve always been a vintage connoisseur, so I knew I wanted to incorporate my love for vintage somehow. My grandmother had given me a white fur muff that she wore in her wedding when my grandfather passed away, so that muff truly inspired our entire look. It led us to get married in the winter, and inspired me to go the “glam” route vs anything retro, etc. We fell in love with our venue because of it’s gilded walls, eclectic furniture and big personality, so we spent the majority of planning figuring out how to make the event feel uniquely “us”. We kept it intimate and fun even though we were dressed to the nines.

Bouquet recipe: Red garden roses, purple lisianthus, purple ranunculus, burgundy leucodendron, burgundy cybidium orchids, privet berry, greenery and gold painted succulents.

We didn’t choose a color scheme — I wanted my wedding to be very colorful — but I did describe the palette as deep, rich colors to my florist and bridesmaids. I have a wedding stationery business, so I created all of my paper products from invitations to programs & menus to escort cards. I handlettered our signage on vintage art I had thrifted, and created table numbers out of 4×4’s and chalkboard paint. I thrifted vintage medicine bottles and used a vintage label maker to create place cards for my head table. My grandmother on my mother’s side, hand-sewed 11 floral table runners and one 40ft long gold velvet table runner for our giant head table that ran through the middle of the room. I also thrifted 10 vintage fur muffs for my bridesmaids to carry instead of floral bouquets.

Our ceremony was definitely my favorite part of the day. We had chosen readings that were meaningful to us, and our officiant (friend) had created a ceremony perfectly tailored to our personalities and our relationship — he even included marriage advice from my parents who were high school sweethearts. We spent the majority of the reception on the dance floor, singing along and having the occasional dance-off (I won!). For the last song, our friends and family made a giant circle around us on the dance floor, joined arms and cheered us on as we closed down the night. I will never forget that feeling of having everyone we love literally surrounding us in support and encouragement!

See Also

Italian Castle Fairytale at Castello Di Piovera

Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? Be yourself and fight for what really matters to you. Slow down, and know things will go “wrong” on your day. It won’t matter!

Wedding Music:
Prelude: “I Will,” The Beatles; “Just One Look,” Doris Troy
Bride’s Processional: “Stand by Me,” Ben E. King
Recessional: “You Make Loving Fun,” Fleetwood Mac
First Dance: “Will You Still Love Me,” Chicago
We choreographed a dance for our first dance to “Will You Still Love Me?” — an homage to my parents who were high school sweethearts and danced to Chicago’s “You’re The Inspiration” at their wedding.