All photos by the ultramagnificent Jane Heller.
One of the signs around the house indicating locations of the ceremony/reception/house/etc. With the help of one of my cousins and my maid of honor, I just sketched the rough letter outlines in pencil and we filled them in in black sharpie! Very simple and easy, and no one could ever tell it wasn’t handpainted without getting up really close and staring.
Three of my six lovely bridesmaids.
…and me!
The basic set-up. We stood up front with my aunt, who was ordained so she could officiate our wedding, the maid of honor, and best man. The bridesmaids stood along either side of the aisle, and you can see the seats for the parents/elderly on the left. There were about 10 more chairs than we “needed” there so everyone who really wanted to sit got to, but since the ceremony was only about 10 minutes long, we didn’t feel bad having the others stand. After all - we had to! 
During the reading.
There was one really magical moment during the reading (a love letter written in 1907 by a Palestinian scholar to the woman he would later marry). Just as the reading goes “and when springtime comes with its fair flowers and you feel a breeze, that is my greeting to you” - this perfect gust of breeze gushed around us, and everyone laughed a little, and then we just all started crying, including the reader herself! It just sent chills down our spines.
A nice overview shot - you can see a bit of the view, and the bottles in the tree here!
Maid of honor!
This was one of our favorite parts of the wedding. Mr. Bluebell’s dad plays the gaohu semi-professionally, so he agreed to play a piece during the ceremony!
Then, as a relatively last minute surprise, it turned out that Mr. Bluebell’s great-aunt, a professional opera singer in Hong Kong, was able to come to the wedding! She sang a piece accompanied by Mr. Bluebell’s dad, which made our 45-year-old never-saw-any-reason-to-get-married caterer cry! 
Here come the rings!
…and The Kiss!
We’re married!!!!
Immediately following the ceremony, we took some family photos, then mingled for a while at cocktail hour, then slipped away for our portraits by the lake. More pictures of food and fun to follow!
there is so much peace in your photos. such a sense of calm and happiness.
Love your dress and veil. It looks like it was a bwautiful day… I agree, very peaceful and intimate.
*beautiful*
your dress is a dream, and I love the way it floats just so!
And your aunt who officiated is a handsome woman! I think you have her brow and cheekbones so look forward to going grey as beautifully as she has.
wow! I second everything said above… your dress is stunning on you, the veil is spectacular, and you have this grace about you in all of these pictures. You look so at ease and happy. 
Your dress is gorgeous! May I ask who the designer is?
Beautiful!
May I ask where you got your veil?
what a beautiful wedding. congratulations!
Thanks everyone!!! 
First, Miss Popcorn, my aunt and all her sisters (including my mother) are so beautiful! I BETTER get their graceful aging genes!!
For those who asked, the dress is Jaguar, by Pronovias. The original Jaguar has a weird neck piece that we cut off and used some of the edging from to go along the top of the new edge. This was relatively easy to do and my seamstress said that virtually EVERY TIME she has worked on this dress, the bride has requested pretty much the same alteration.
MJ - I had the veil custom made at Sposabella Lace in NYC. They are AWESOME! My review is here: http://www.weddingbee.com/2007/05/21/veil-a-riffic/
The reading from a scholar to his love interest sounds beautiful! Do you mind sharing the author’s name or where to find a copy?
What an amazing ceremony, I have tears in my eyes! How wonderful that your family is so talented!
Ah, it was a Sposabella veil. I recall reading that now. Thanks for repeating the info. That’s it, I must get mine done there!
wow, I love your dress. It’s just… perfect.
That bit about the breeze during the reading… chills… It just all looks and sounds so authentic and lovely! What a wonderful wedding!!!
I love your dress, I tried on this dress and it was in my top 2 before I decided on another one! Gorgeous! Can I ask you where you got that aisle runner/mat, I am having an outdoor wedding and have been searching for something just like it!
LOVE the BM dresses - specifically the light blue v-neck sleeveless - what is the designer?
Love your wedding.. Love how natural everything seems. Beautiful dress and lady!
I second Mrs. BoP’s comment about your photos looking so peaceful. The part about the reading that made everyone cry makes me tear up just thinking about it!
Gorgeous setting too–I love the view of the water beyond and the “casual” grouping of your guests around you. The picture of you leaving the house with your veil flowing behind is ethereal. Congrats.
Thanks everyone!!!!
Kris - the mats are from Pearl River (which has a store in NYC but also a website although I’m not sure if shipping on large objects might be cost prohibitive… http://www.pearlriver.com We used two kinds of mats, the bamboo ones where we were standing and then…reed or something? ones for the aisle leading up to it. The reed ones were something like $16 each for 5×6 feet, and the bamboo were I think $13 for 3×6 feet on sale. If you get the reed ones, you definitely need to duct tape them together on the underside so they don’t slip apart/fly up in the wind when people walk on them! Also, they’re still in great shape, so we’re keeping them for picnics and my parents are keeping some for their deck, etc.
HamiHarri - the maid of honor’s dress was from Banana Republic and the bridesmaids’ dresses were from J Crew. I didn’t want them to look too formal, so I let them choose their own styles as long as they were all blue, and the bridesmaids had the same fabric.
What a LOVELY wedding! I really like the colors and simplicity, as well as the multiculturalism that was incorporated.
[...] the ceremony, we took a few quick family portraits before enjoying cocktail [...]
I know this is very belated but I was looking through the archives and came across this post and was wondering if you would mind sharing the name of the author of your reading - it sounds so beautiful!
Mrs. Bluebell, New York
Age and Occupation in 07: 26, Finance Manager
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Playing with the cat and/or Consulting
Engagement Date: December 25, 2005
Wedding Date: June 2007
Venue: Bride's family summer home in the Adirondacks
About Me: Trying to find the perfect balance between family tradition (marrying at the house everyone else in my family gets married at), making our's modern, interesting and different from everyone else in my family's, and incorporating some Chinese tradition for my Chinese fiance. I really have no idea what it's going to end up looking like!
Also, I picked Miss Bluebell for my name because I have blue eyes and I'm a loser like that.
you look beautiful mrs. bluebell. i love your dress.