Mary Grace and Tony just celebrated their one year anniversary this week, and here we are, just now blogging this beautiful beast of a wedding. We should have shared this set of photos months and months ago, but this day was just so unique, so mold-breaking, and we knew that choosing photos and finding the words was going to take some serious time.

How do you sum up the most weirdly wonderful wedding you’ve ever seen?

We’ll start with the basics. Mary Grace and Tony met through friends and began dating nearly a decade ago. They were living in Denver, Colorado, but moved back to Tony’s homestate of West Virginia in early 2015 to build a small farm with their dogs.

The whole day was just so beautiful and fun and nontraditional. Mary Grace and Tony effortlessly pulled off a wedding that felt like it was on a different planet than the typical white dress, wedding march type of day. It felt more like a bunch of friends & family dressing up in crowns & masks in the woods, celebrating life and the land around them.

From the tintype photo booth, to the Exquisite Corpse guestbook, homegrown flowers and food, tiny little animal figurines, crowns, masks, and wings (oh my), to the bonfire, wish lanterns, fireworks, and more — this woodland wedding was like something out of a warm and fuzzy dream.

(Vendor specifics at the bottom)

Their Save the Date + invitations were a riddle with a key that their guests had to solve and then find a specific page in the 2015 Farmer’s Almanac to read the message. The invitation was a “wish bottle” USB drive with tiny people in it — guests had to return the tiny people as their party count.

Mary Grace and Tony grew the flowers (that their floral designer friend, Sketch Garden Flower + Metal arranged) and lots of the food that was used for dinner (including a pig they raised themselves).

Guests paraded down to the ceremony area while a friend strummed “Where is my mind?” by Pixies. 

 Their wedding rings were dangling on a string from a tree for three days, to symbolize their connection to their land and each other.

Those tiny people from the RSVPs were placed in the wedding favors- tiny little terrariums for the guests.

They made an “Exquisite Corpse” table for guests to make a collaborative poem in lieu of a guestbook. Guests were instructed to write two lines, then scroll the paper upwards concealing the first line. 

“SIN-SATE-SHUN-ALEE YOURS, CADAVRE EXQUIS”

There was a tintype photobooth, which was super cool!!! Smelling all those darkroom chemicals again really brought me back in time.  

Food’s ready!!

WEDDING PHOTOS BY BEST WEST VIRGINIA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS, THE OBERPORTS
AVAILABLE FOR WEDDINGS, ELOPEMENTS & PORTRAIT SESSIONS IN WV & BEYOND
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Wedding Details
Wedding location: Couple’s homestead, Sandstone West Virginia
Bride’s Gown: Created by the bride and Denver artist Leslie Minnis
Bride’s Crown: Insubordinate Avantgarde Design
Bride’s Shoes: Irregular Choice
Rings: Dani Barbe, Andy’s House
Flowers: Grown by couple, arranged by Sketch Garden Flower + Metal
Catering + Pies: JM Catering
Tintype Photobooth: Lisa Elmaleh
Videographer: LockerPartners LOVE Cinematography (preview video here)