Chic Cleveland Botanical Garden Wedding

Andrea and Henry both live in Seattle, but they returned to her hometown of Cleveland to get married! Andrea grew up around the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, just down the street from the Cleveland Botanical Garden, so they had always planned to take photos in front of the stegosaurus there. Just under the surface of their chic and elegant celebration hid sweet little details that reflected their self-professed “quirky and nerdy” personalities: small plastic dinos hidden in the floral arrangements, Star Trek communicators for the groomsmen’s boutonnieres, reception tables named after dinosaurs and fictional spaceships, and wedding favors that were tins of Earl Grey tea labeled “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.” in reference to a certain Starfleet captain. The wedding cake featured designs from Charles Renee Mackintosh, in homage to Andrea’s Scottish heritage. In lieu of a traditional bouquet and garter toss, they replaced them with a stuffed animal toss, and guests were treated to boardgames and a late-night snack of milk and cookies. Lane Baldwin Photography captured their beautiful and charming celebration!

An elegant Cleveland Botanical Garden wedding with quirky details

We never wanted to overshadow the elegance of the venue or the seriousness of our vows, of course. And we didn’t certainly want to make anybody feel like they were missing out on an inside joke. Throughout the planning process, we constantly asked ourselves, “If you didn’t know anything about us, would this still make for a great evening?” We couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out. If you weren’t paying attention, you might have missed some of the oddball elements, but nothing would have felt amiss. The quirky details were as much for us as for everyone else, and they helped us take the evening just seriously enough! – Andrea