Real Wedding:Renee & Jason’s Vintage Circus Wedding

I have some serious eye-candy for you today!  This gorgeous vintage circus-inspired wedding comes from Jessica from Jessica Lorren Organic Photography.  I pretty much squealed (yes, really) with excitement when I saw the gorgeously photographed and designed destination wedding of Renee and Jason in Sarasota, Florida.  What better place to have a circus-inspired wedding than the Ringling Brothers Museum- Cá dazing Mansion itself! So ummm…I live in Florida and admit never knew this place even existed and was pretty much located in my own back yard.

The Cá dazing Mansion was built between 1924 and 1925 for John and Mabel Ringling and is visually stunning inside and out.  The mansion sits along the Sarasota Bay so I’ll let you image what the view at sunset must look like and breeze feels like off the bay in the evenings. The grounds are large and include Mable Ringling’s Rose Garden which was completed in 1913 and is now the largest rose garden in the state of Florida. Sounds like a perfect venue, right?

Jessica, the photography ringmaster of this beautiful wedding, captured some amazing photos of the fun-loving couple and all the details that made their special day so magical!

From Jessica: Jason & Renee’s Wedding at Sarasota’s Ringling Museum Ca’ d’Zan Mansion made me feel like a kid again. This duo lives in the Washington, DC area and planned a destination wedding around Renee’s love of the circus and the history of the venue. Renee is a graphic designer and had total design control over all of the many detailed elements. The objective, theme and vibe for the day was just to have fun- so we did.

Enjoy ladies!

From Renee, the lovely bride: I use to work for Feld Entertainment who owns the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus and because of that grew fond of the history of the circus. On my 30th birthday Jason surprised me with a trip to Sarasota, FL which is a historical area for the circus. We went on a tour of the grounds of the Ringling Museum and we both fell in love with the area. Once we were engaged we just kept going back to how we both loved the museum and felt that it would be a perfect location for our wedding celebration.

First of all, I am a graphic designer so I knew from the beginning that I wanted to create custom made invitations, programs, table numbers, escort card etc. Basically anything that needed a graphic designers touch – I created it. Because we were going to get married at the Ringling Museum we thought that what better way to pay homage to the circus than to have a circus theme wedding. We both love the art and style of a vintage circus poster and that became a central part into the print design. I had a friend illustrate us – Jason riding his motorcycle through a fire hoop and myself as a trapeze artist (both past-times we actually do minus the fire hoop). The illustration along with a little design magic evolved into what is better known as the save the date. To ask the members of our wedding party to be a part of the wedding I created note cards and for the bridesmaids paper dolls with their names on it.

The invitations and centerpieces also showcased vintage circus posters. The escort cards used a whirly pop and a simple 3×3 paper printed with the guest name, table number and explanation of the number. I used numbers that represented a number within the circus, we had many different table numbers and the best part was to see the guests face when they saw they were at table number 90 (we only had eight tables). The table numbers used custom made wine labels.

My favorite DIY project and I had many, was creating a ring book instead of a ring pillow. I bought an old fashioned book and altered it so that when you opened it the rings were placed within the book.

We also had clown noses for the guests which was a huge hit. For 67 guests, we went through over 100+ noses.

The flower girls carried stuffed elephants instead of flowers, the ring barer received a strongman and the ringmaster was the hit of the reception.

The creator of the handmade stuffed is Laura Contemori who owns her own business contemori bottega creativa out of Italy. I was lucky to find her off the website Etsy.

Tell us a little more about you two as a couple and your personal love story.

Jason is originally from Radford, VA and I am originally from Santa Fe, NM. We both moved to the Washington, DC area in 1999 but didn’t actually meet until we were both playing on the same co-ed soccer team in 2002. Though we played for the same team we didn’t really hang out together unless it was a sports related event. Later that year a fellow teammate had a house party and we both showed up. It took thirty minutes until we started talking and had a shot of tequila.  Before I left I gave him my phone number and a kiss. From there you can say our story materialized.

In 2004 I was accepted to attend the Vancouver Film School in Vancouver, BC. Jason and I set off to experience not only living in another country but together.  If you ask either of us about that experience we both agree this was the first step that lead us to believe that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We learned to rely on each other and become the other person’s support system, best friend and anything else in between.

In 2006 after living in the San Francisco area we moved back to DC. Because we spent the last few years building a strong relationship it didn’t take too much longer until we were engaged. On January 23rd 2010 he took me to the Inn at Little Washington and proposed. It was one of the most romantic things he has done and we will both treasure that day for the rest of our lives.

What challenges (if any) did you face while planning your destination wedding?

The main challenge that we had is that our wedding is a destination wedding so we had to make sure to find a local wedding planner that could take care of the every day details. Nicole Kaney was amazing and helped us out every bit of the way. We only traveled to Sarasota twice before the wedding and each trip was packed with finalizing the details. Nicole was amazing and I felt comfortable having her take care of everything while Jason and I were back in the DC area. Other than that, there were no challenges that couldn’t be fixed or that we knew about.

What was the best thing about having a destination wedding? Share your best wedding weekend moment!

The best thing about having a destination wedding is that the people who attended the wedding wanted to be there and are not there just for the free food. We knew that we couldn’t have our wedding in either hometown so we decided they both sides of our family and friends should travel equal distances. What a great experience! The whole weekend was an amazing moment! Every person, vendor and guest that was there made it so special for Jason and I that we wish we could get married every year! We were very spoiled with the customer service that we knew we wouldn’t get in the DC market and for the price that we did spend we wouldn’t be able to half what we did in Washington, DC. The best moment for me was to see all the hard work that I did with all the print work and other details come together! Magic!

What is your best advice for other couples considering a destination wedding?

If you are going to have a destination wedding and have a wedding planner, trust the wedding planner. The wedding planner is there for you, you hired that person to do their job. We are so glad that we hired Nicole she took every worry away. Another piece of advice, if you are going to do it – do it 100% and do  not cheap out. Who wants to go to a destination wedding and it be mediocre – people  are traveling to see you, give them a wedding that they will talk about for a lifetime.

Thank you Jessica for sharing this lovely wedding with us and to Renee for your amazing DIY wedding inspiration!

Couple: Renee & Jason

Wedding Date: December 11, 2010

Destination Wedding Location: Sarasota, Florida

Approximate Guest Size: 67 people

Ceremony and Reception Location: Ringling Brothers Museum – Cá dazing Mansion

Photography: Jessica Lorren Organic Photography

Venue:  The Ringling Museum

Cake: Pastries by Design

Caterer: Fete

Flowers: The Naked Florist

Lighting: Affairs in the Air

Stationery: Renee Alarid

Elephants, Ringmaster and Strong Man: Laura Contemori

Brides Hair Ribbon: Belle Nouvelle Designs

Coordinator: Nicole Kaney

Music: Andres Colin and Fitz Otis (DJ)

Hair: d•cole hair design

Makeup: Amanda K. Makeup

Bridesmaids Dresses: JCrew

Brides Dress: Sestra Bridal

Printer: Balmar Printing

Other print materials: Paper Source

Custom wine labels and wine: Custom Wine Source

Officiate and singer: Joseph Spinella

This real wedding was submitted via Two Bright Lights