Backyard Union Ends with a Bang

What we’ll remember…
Joanna Martin and Jim Dickinson were married on June 1, 2013 in an intimate backyard ceremony set in Cape May Court House at Jim’s parents’ home. The reception was also held in the tented backyard.
Joanna recalls…
It was such an amazing day. There were countless moments I cherish. The look on Jim’s face as I came down the aisle (seems cliché), but it was amazing.
We decided to have the ceremony in my in-laws backyard, and the setup was beautiful. We were surrounded by our closest family and friends under these natural, tall pines. The fact that I pulled it all together (with the help of my friends) was awesome. Planning the ceremony and reception ourselves made it that much more memorable for us. Selecting my Wedding Belles dress was also definitely a highlight.
For my bachelorette celebration, my friends, a few family members, and I went to a Phillies game. We followed it up with a night in Atlantic City! TD Limo provided transportation for both my bachelorette party and the wedding day.
The reception was held under a huge tent rented from Jersey Shore Party Rentals which they set up in the backyard. My sister-in-law, Courtney Reynolds, made the cake. It was so impressive! It was three separately stacked tiers of red velvet cake with vanilla frosting and yellow and lavender accent flowers. It matched perfectly with the bridal party and groomsmen’s yellow dresses and vests.
We decided to do our own personal twist on a guest book and stuck with the backyard theme of the day. One of my close friends is an extremely talented artist and I had told her about this awesome idea I had seen on Pinterest. She actually hand drew the trunk and branches of an oak tree and personalized the drawing with Jim and I’s names and the date of our wedding. She gave it to me as a bridal shower gift! Then, we propped up the sketch on an easel at the entrance to the backyard and asked that each of our guests select a green paint color and make their thumb print around the branches, forming its leaves. They each signed beneath their thumb print so we could always look back at our “Wedding Tree” and remember who shared the day with us!
Another really special memory for me was my father-daughter dance. DJ Rich of Palko Entertainment played “Stand by Me” for us to dance to. My brother stepped in so I got to dance with both! Jim and I had our first dance to “In Love With You Forever” by Elliott Yamin. The music was great!
To finish off the night, we did fireworks! They looked so cool.