This week we’re highlighting some of the amazing vendors in the brand new Snippet & Ink Select vendor guide! Today’s wedding comes to us from Rad + In Love, which is appropriate since this wedding is totally rad, and the couple is clearly in love. A little about their unique choice of venue: “We love to travel (we were engaged in Paris), we are huge aviation fans, and we’re especially into vintage aircraft. The Planes of Fame Air Museum has such a wonderful collection, and it’s run by people who are really cool and really passionate about their preservation efforts as well as the promotion of general aviation. We got the absolute perfect wedding venue that felt totally ‘us’ and it felt great knowing that we were supporting a good cause at the same time.”

Says the bride, “I had a photo of Audrey Hepburn in her wedding dress from Funny Face taped to the fridge for a year during planning.”

Everyone from the bridal party to the guests dressed in vintage fashion.

The couple took on numerous DIY projects, including the taxiway light stands that the groom made to line the aisle for the ceremony.

Instead of one large cake, each table had its own individual Princess cake (white cake layered with raspberry compote, custard and whipped cream with a marzipan shell) that acted as a centerpiece.

The couple used books and aeronautical charts from their private pilot ground school class, as well as vintage items from their home, to decorate the guest sign-in table and gift table including a vintage pilot’s log book used as the guest book.

SEE THE FULL GALLERY FOR MORE VINTAGE AIRPLANE WEDDING INSPIRATION

 

What inspired you when you were planning your wedding?  Once we knew where the wedding was going to be we drew inspiration from old movies, especially ones that involved WWII planes or Paris. We also looked at vintage pilot training films, photos and memories from our trip to Paris where we got engaged, and we spent a lot of time just walking around the museum and driving around the airport getting excited about all of the amazingly cool things laying around there.

What was your favorite moment or part of the day?  There were so many little moments that stand out… our grand entrance when we pulled up to the reception hangar in our friends Korean War era Jeep… the moment when it was my turn to walk out and down the aisle and I got so nervous I thought I was going to pass out or throw up or both… But I think my favorite part of the day was at the end of the night. It wasn’t planned, it just sort of happened almost as if we’d just had our normal Christmas cocktail party at our house. We were hugging people and saying goodbye and looking for shoes and purses and then suddenly we looked across the hangar at each other and found ourselves to be the last ones there. We had been living together for 9 years, the last 3 we had just spend being engaged and planning this huge event, and now I looked at this man who was now my husband, and he looked at me, and we laughed and hugged and looked around and marveled at what we had just done. It really felt like the beginning of something new.

Did you include any traditions in your wedding?  I really wanted to throw my bouquet from a biplane. I imagined putting a little parachute on it and making a low pass over the crowd to drop it over the side, but that didn’t work out and I just did the traditional toss over my head. We also did a cake cutting and sort of squished it in each others faces, although when I tried to wipe some whipped cream off of the cake cutter and onto my husband’s cheek, I realized as I was doing it that the cutter was serrated and I almost cut him!

What was the best advice you received as a bride?  My cousin had recently been married and she was adamant about hiring a coordinator – and I am so glad I did! It was expensive but it was worth every penny. Laura and her team from Rebel Belle made it a wow wedding that went smoothly and left me with nothing to worry about except the blisters from my shoes.

What advice do you have for other brides?  Stay out of the sun. I had a strapless dress, and THE WORST tank top tan ever and I couldn’t blend it away in time for the wedding. Thankfully our super pro photographers were able to capture me at angles where it didn’t show. Also, if you’re going to spend money on anything, definitely splurge on a photographer you love and a coordinator you click with. We did both and I owe my wonderful memories of that day to them. Lastly, you will find it very difficult to have a moment to yourself on this day. You will be the most famous person in the universe at your wedding and everybody is going to want to talk to you constantly, so if you can slip away either by yourself or with your new spouse, do it. Just for a few minutes, get somewhere where you can be alone and just look around you and let it sink in. Look at the faces of your friends, watch them laughing and drinking and dancing, listen to the music, look at all of your décor and just appreciate for a little bit by yourself.

Do you have any budget tips for other brides?  We saved a lot of money by doing a few things differently. Instead of a traditional wedding caterer, which was way out of our league price-wise, we hired a food truck. We bought all of our alcohol and sodas from Costco and hired a licensed bartending service to serve it. Also, instead of a traditional wedding cake, we saved several hundred dollars by having small cakes that acted as centerpieces on each table and that guests could cut and served themselves whenever they felt like it. That was our baker’s idea and it was brilliant!

 

Rad + In Love is a Snippet & Ink Select vendor.

Photographer: Rad + In Love / Event Planner: Laura Guerrie with Rebel Belle Weddings / Venue: Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino, California / Dress: Whirling Turban / Shoes: BC Footwear / Wedding bands: Saturn 5 Studio / Vintage Hat: Material Memories Lane / Suit: Calvin Klein / Bridesmaid Dresses: Heartbreaker Clothing / Rentals: Baker Party Rental / Music: Jetset Quartet / Savory French Crepes: Crepes Bonaparte / Cake: Berolina Bakery / Wait Staff: Kevin's Bartending