My sister's wedding
We relived the highlights on the eve of her first anniversary
One of the perks of being the last of three daughters to have a wedding at the same venue is that you begin the planning process with a very clear sense of what you want to repeat — and where you want to get creative. When my sister Lizzy got engaged to her now-husband Will, I was excited to see how she’d put her own stamp on things. (She’s the middle child, so the possibility that she wouldn’t never even crossed my mind.)
We’re coming up on their one-year anniversary this month, which felt like a sweet moment to revisit some of Lizzy’s favorite details from what was, objectively, one of the most fun days of our collective lives. (I should note that just two weeks ago Lizzy gave birth to my perfect niece after 70 hours of labor and took my call for this interview while in the middle of a sitz bath, one of many reasons why I love her.)
In her own words below, Lizzy reminisces on everything from designing her own wedding dress to the fantastical escort cards that became a runaway hit of the evening. We’ve included plenty of photos — a mix of professional shots by her photographer Charlotte and iPhone shots from behind the scenes.
—Harling
On “getting ready” (outfits and hair)
I found my “getting ready” outfit on Etsy — it's a vintage nightgown from the 1960s, from this seller based in Italy. I found it by searching “vintage cream silk nightgown.” It doesn’t have a zipper so I was worried about getting it back over my head after doing hair and makeup. It was tight, but I managed to shimmy it off with some group assistance.
I knew I wanted to wear my hair in an updo because at Tully’s [our other sister’s] wedding, with the humidity, wearing my hair down ended up looking so bad [laughs]. I wanted to control for that, but I feel like a lot of updos can look kind of cheesy or too slick. I found this photo on Instagram and loved it, so that was my main inspiration. I liked how it looked loose and dreamy but not in a way where a million pieces were falling out.
My four bridesmaids all got ready in nightgowns from If Only If. Three of them were from Harling’s collection that she designed with them, which felt very sentimental and special. I also invited some additional friends to get ready with us, and gifted each of them a Liberty print dress to wear. I bought the majority of them on Poshmark.
On designing her own wedding dress
