Our Wedding

Here is a little tour of our big day on 8.9.08

We had a small wedding (about 150) at a historic beach cottage in the San Clemente State Park.  Jon and I dated for 6 years before we took the plunge so needless to say it was a long awaited and joyous day.

So obviously I have to start with my dress, which I LOVED. It was made by Pronovias and was the number 1 pick of my Mom and Maid of Honor.

Ok, I admit it.  I was a bit of a bridezilla.  Case in point was what my bridesmaids wore, I had them all match from their shoes to their hair – I was a little bit of a control freak. But at the end of the day I loved how it came together.  The dresses were by Dessy with ivory lace and we found orange sashes that we added to each dress. Ps. How cute are my two sisters as the flower girls (more on them later).

As for the fellas, they wore linen pants and cuban-ish shirts from Banana Republic.  We gave all the guys Rainbow Sandals as a thank you gift at the rehersal dinner.  My husband was so relieved that he didn’t have to wear a tie and honestly between you and I, I wouldn’t have had it any other way – he looked soo cute. This is Jon with his best man Neil.

The girls all recieved custom purses from Moda Viajando.

As for the flowers they were from The Vine’s Leaf and I wanted them to look like a sunset (red, fading to orange, fading to yellow) and I wanted them to have brooches sewn into them to give it some sparkle.  Problem was, I only had 2 or 3 of my own brooches.  So we had all the guests of my bridal shower bring one as a gift and we sewed them into the bouquet.

We were going to have the girls just carry their purses but at the last minute I decided I really wanted them to have flowers too. So we added these:

The lil’ sisters were so excited and cute they were both about 8 years old which was at the peak of their interest in princesses -so you can only imagine how cute they were.

Jon and I were limited with the amount of time we had due to the rules at the state park. So we opted to take most of our pictures before the ceremony.  This is a debated issue, but for us we loved taking some of the pressure off before walking down the isle.

Here is a shot of the whole crew:

Now for the fun part – the details!  When guests walked into the cottage they went to our sign in table where there were fans, a photo book to sign, and a framed picture of Jon and I.  We also had a backdrop of about 100 photos from different stages in our life and our relationship.

It was really important to me to not waste money on centerpieces that would die within a week. So our florist created square wood boxes planted with orchids, succulents and surrounded by green moss and starfish to give it some beachy flavor.  The box was then tied with a coordinating orange ribbon.

I made our table numbers by taking vintage hawaiian post cards and using photoshop to add numbers.

We also printed our table numbers ourselves and then stuck them in seashells.

It was sweltering in August in Southern California so we provided our guests with parasols and personalized sunscreen.

We saved some money by using white linens and opted for coordinating napkins that we stuffed with Envelopements.  We had used these same envelopments for our invitations but for the reception we put in a menu, a ceremony program, and a thank you that included a picture of us holding a thank you sign.  We sealed each one with a sand dollar.

We used red and orange rose petals to decorate the isle…oh did I forget to mention that we held the ceremony right in the midst of all the tables – so no one had to get up and move which helped us capitalize on the limited space that the beach cottage offered.

For food we did passed appetizers and a cheese station, followed by a buffet of “home cookin”, basically all our favorite foods (Mac n’ cheese, tri-tip, Salad, etc.).

It was also important to us to have an open bar as our friends know how to keep a wedding, shall we say lively!   We also did some signature drinks, one was a mai tai served in a hurricane glass.

To decorate our cake table area I had mustered up some craftiness and made letters using various shades and textures of orange paper and some de-coupage glue.  They turned out great and hung right over our delicious cake.

During the ceremony we did a “sand ceremony” taking sand from Santa Cruz and San Clemente and pouring them in a glass vase with a candle to symbolize the unity of our marriage.

I just had to post this pic of the kids in the wedding, they look like models.  Also, I just realized I never showed you my ring bearer, my brother Spencer.  My other ring bearer was my young nephew Logan, who was too afraid to make it all the way down the isle.

One of the nice touches we had for our guests was the bathroom, we had it stocked with all kinds of extras to make it cushy.

Ok, so this is not the greatest picture but it is the only one I have that shows the cute little sitting area we made.  We used a bed spread from Ikea I had found and my Mom sewed a bunch of orange and white pillows.  The tables are also Ikea and were less then $10 each.

We had the best time and so far we are living quite happily.