Rebellious Couple - Brian & Apple's Customized & Interactive Vintage Wedding

I hope that you can feature our wedding as I wanted your blog feature to serve as a surprise post-wedding gift and tribute to my husband for ALL the efforts that he has put into our wedding. :) -- Rebellious Bride Apple

We LOVE surprises so your wish is our command our dear Rebellious Bride Apple! So Brian? This is for you! :)

There are a lot of ways to do a Vintage wedding. In fact, the theme itself is actually more on the classic, traditional side. But once in a blue moon we chance upon rebellious couples who gravitate towards this particular theme yet they manage to make an otherwise traditional theme into something fresh and new. This is the case with Rebellious Couple Brian & Apple who created an Art Deco Vintage wedding with a lot of customized crafty details, and executed a lot of engaging interactive twists to their wedding that are beyond real! Just a teaser of how they made things interactive for guests? Their invitations were sooooooo detailed it's almost like a Customer Relationship Marketing type of thing where they created various versions of their invitation design depending on the personality of each guest, then once you RSVP, you even receive a KEY to the reception! Amazing! 

But first, before I start gushing and rambling about the things we love about this rebellious wedding, here are excerpts from Rebellious Bride Apple's email :)

Photo by JROAN Photography

Dear Rebellious Brides,

Soon after Brian proposed, I started looking at wedding blogs for wedding ideas (including your blog!). I was instantly inspired by so many of the couple’s creativity and amazing DIY projects. I soon realized that even with a limited budget, my keenness for craftiness, help from my husband and a year to plan, DIY handmade ideas was the way to go for us to have a wedding that was “TOTALLY US.”

Brian and I are pretty laid back, so we wanted our wedding environment and celebration style to give our family and friends the feeling that they were invited over to their home for a party. We quickly fell in love with our venue because it had the old homey and backyard feel we wanted and could easily be customized into the vintage + fun ambiance we were going for. Needless to say, Brian and I (yes, my groom actually did some handcrafted items, too!) made the perfect day happen for the two of us!

......I am of course very grateful to Brian (my husband) who folded and cut papers, glued and sewn items, boxed up crafts, and most importantly, stayed with me every step of the way.

.....I hope that you can feature our wedding as I wanted your blog feature to serve as a surprise post-wedding gift and tribute to my husband for ALL the efforts that he has put into our wedding. :)

With much love and excitement, Apple 

Brian & Apple's wedding is literally bursting with so many fresh new ideas! We've categorized their ideas into three parts: 1) Rebellious Twists, 2) Crafty Customized Ideas, and 3) Interactive Ideas 

This is a long blog feature folks but it is so worth the read! SO MANY IDEAS! Read on and enjoy! :)

REBELLIOUS TWISTS

 The Black, Bridal Preps Gown: Have you guys ever heard of a bride wearing a gown JUST for the wedding preps? Well...only Apple my dears! 

Apple: I love black. It's actually my favorite color. I am aware though that such a dramatic statement may seem arresting to the eyes of many (including our parents and friends) since most Filipinos have gotten accustomed to pastels and bright colored dresses for wedding preps. While wearing a black gown on my wedding day would seem to other people that I am in mourning, to me, it's simply a celebration of my uniqueness.

3 Words: READY-TO-WEAR. From the bride, to the groom, to the entire entourage, the couple decided to defy the usual norm and opted for ready-to-wear wedding ensembles.

Apple: I wanted to give myself an actual picture of how I would look like, say, in a mermaid cut or in a sweetheart neckline number. I wanted something that I can really fit beforehand (something that I can try wearing for hours...I wanted to make sure that I am comfortable especially when I'm sitting, moving, walking). I am brave enough to defy the age-old Pinoy superstition that it is bad luck to fit the wedding gown until the wedding day itself. I used a ready-to-wear Pronovias bridal gown and a Pronovias open-face veil (both bought from Mi Sueno Bridal/Ms. Pepper Periquet-Guanio) for the church rites plus a head candy by Bonne during the reception. 

All of the clothes worn during the wedding (including that of the entourage, groom, etc.) are RTW.

The couple had an anti-reception venue! The couple's venue was not only anti-reception, it had the feel of exploring a museum/ancestral home. Set at La Cocina de Tita Moning, they used the venue's limitations to their advantage by separating the guests into four areas. The result was an interactive reception and a venue that created a lot of texture and depth.  

Apple: Luckily, our guests appreciated our rebellious idea :) Most of them were surprised but my husband and I were nothing but happy to hear that they truly enjoyed the reception because they felt that it was really unpretentious, relaxed and that they were really part of the celebration and not just spectators :) (there were even some who commented that they felt as though it was their event, too!--- since kanya-kanyang function room haha)  

CRAFTY CUSTOMIZED IDEAS

The Rings in a miniature DIY mold instead of the Pillows!

The couple tirelessly created a lot of DIY projects that definitely updated their Vintage theme. What's more, the couple wanted the styling to be MISMATCHED. I particularly loved Apple's brooch bouquet. Brooch bouquets are growing very popular nowadays but I loved how the bouquet looked very unique given its shape and arrangement! I also loved the idea of updating the usual entourage ceremony props into something new and more practical like doing away with the pillows! Here are just a few of the very many DIY projects of the couple! 

Apple:There seems to be a specific formula to most weddings in the Philippines, so our aim was to stay as far away from it as possible! We drew our inspiration from the style + aesthetic we’ve grown to love together as a couple. We have a bit of eclectic taste and we designed our wedding day with that style in mind. 

Photos by JROAN Photography / Cake Photo by Bridal Fantasy

Brian & Apple intentionally created a lot of mismatched DIY details for their wedding. The result was a fun and homey wedding, that seemed to work together despite the lack of "rules".

The couple was assisted by their wedding partner Michael Ruiz of Flowers and Design Station to achieve the same mismatched vibe in the other elements of their wedding.

Photos by JROAN Photography / Radio Decor photo by Bridal Fantasy

INTERACTIVE IDEAS

We love how the couple envisioned a wedding that had a lot of engaging personal touches that would further enhance their guests' wedding experience. Planning a wedding is tough enough--but to even go that extra mile to make things even more personal and interactive is just really remarkable! 

The Personalized Invite & RSVP Apple: To match the overall theme, our invitations resembled vintage books (lovingly made by Trina Valenzuela-Flores of Village Projek’t) reflecting our personality as a couple, with bits and pieces of everything we love. We decided to have different kinds of book-type invites (not all people have the same preference so we decided to give each guest a unique invite) in different shades of plum, purple, violet and black details with lace enclosure that can be reused as a pouch. Also, we used the nicknames of people (instead of full names) even in the entourage page to exude a real homey feel and personal touch.

Photos by Village Projek't

We even had custom-made keys (again, lovingly made by Trina Valenzuela-Flores of Village Projek’t) for the reception with boxes... All Handmade. They are actually escort keys (instead of cards). Guests who called to RSVP received a handmade decorated trinket box with keys for them to bring to the reception. Interaction with the guests prior to the event made it more exciting!

Photo by JROAN Photography

The  Prosperity Wishing Tree  - We loved the idea of making the prosperity dance more subtle, tasteful, and fun. Instead of asking guests to pin money on them, Brian & Apple created a prosperity wishing tree where guests can hang their own personal contributions in DIY envelopes. The envelopes were then the ones used for the prosperity dance.

Photo by JROAN Photography

The Anti-Reception Set-Up w/ Live Feed Apple: As a brief background, I'd like to note that we actually used 4 rooms in the venue (the guests were grouped according to families/interests) so we had to do live feed in each of the rooms so that all the guests would be able to see what's happening in the other rooms :)

First, we wanted our guests to be comfortable so we grouped them with their families (even if a member of the family is a primary sponsor... we chose not to have the usual presidential table)--- that way, guests can sit comfortably, eat well (just like when they're at home) and just be themselves (away from the eyes of the other guests whom they do not know hehe). Second, we didn't want the stiff sitting arrangement of usual weddings so we allowed each family to have their own function room--- we wanted them to feel that they are as important as any other guest/person in the event. Lastly, we wanted everyone to feel that they really "belong" so having them sit with their families helped us achieve that goal... we got tired of attending functions in the past and hearing that some people felt intimidated by the people/guests from the other table haha :) The LCD TV in each function room for the live feed (instead of setting up a couple's table and/or "stage") added a really homey feel --- it was as if guests were just having family brunch and watching TV--- only that we were on TV haha :)
 

Rebellious Brides: What were the challenges that you had to face during your wedding preps and how did you overcome it?

Apple: We had the usual wedding preps challenges--- name it, we’ve gone through it hahaha; from budget constraints to “pasaway” people. However, we just kept our cool because we really think that most, if not all of them were also experienced by other couples. What I really consider as a major challenge is explaining to wedding suppliers and to our family and friends that we are having a VERY unconventional wedding. :) Well, we were able to overcome this major challenge with a lot of prayers and an absolutely, bright/sunny disposition! :)

Rebellious Bride Apple

RB: Any advice you can give to other brides who are having second thoughts about having an unconventional wedding?

Apple: BE AUTHENTIC so that you will be happy! Don’t be afraid to go with what feels like “you” no matter how unconventional it may be. I’d say, go for it and have fun! Don’t be afraid to be different, be playful and include your audience in as much of the day as you can, after all they’re an integral part of your story too. Don’t get let yourself be overly concerned with other peoples’ preferences, wants, opinions and never ever compare your wedding with those featured in that stack of wedding magazines on your desk! All weddings are beautiful---keep that in mind!

A Rebellious Bride is one who can strike a lovely balance between feminine and masculine, sweet and cheeky, playful and beautiful. While a Rebellious Bride respects tradition, she will not let tradition dilute her real personality.

Indeed, there are a lot of wonderful new ideas to be had in Brian & Apple's wedding! From Apple's advice, to the couple's new rules, they are all so very new and exciting! Let this be an inspiration for everyone out there that there is nothing wrong with developing and improving on your own wedding traditions and rules. This is also a great example that being rebellious need not be the obvious in-your-face rough and edgy wedding--rebellious weddings come in all shapes and sizes! To borrow from Rebellious Bride Apple's words, the important thing is to be AUTHENTIC.

Congratulations Brian & Apple! :)

XOXO,

Kai

*follow us on Twitter! @RebelliousBride

PS. In one of our correspondence with Apple, she also had these sweet words to say about us: 

Thank you very much for inspiring brides (and grooms, too!) to be brave enough to say NO to "cookie cutter type" weddings. You definitely changed the way people (even those who already got married) view weddings. Wedding suppliers look up to you, too! (I recently found out that even our wedding coordinator follows your blog). You are indeed two of the best wedding scene movers and shakers.

I'm really excited to be called a rebellious bride because behind every rebellious bride is an even more rebellious groom haha :) Kidding aside, I really am honored to have our wedding become part of your wedding blog.

This means SO MUCH to us! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!--RB

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