People. Have I got a wedding for you today. Sent in by the fabulous and inspirational Jasmine Star, this wedding has captured my heart. You all know I’m a big fan of not overdoing it; there’s nothing better than keeping it simple and meaningful. And our bride Sarah and I seem to be on the same page. This girl went through a lot to get to her wedding day, including having to postpone the date due to sickness, so to see her Big Day become a reality is something truly beautiful in and of itself. The loveliness you’re about to behold – like her bouquet of peonies, dahlias and garden roses, and her daisy garden escort card table – it’s all just the super tasty icing on top, wouldn’t you agree? If you’d like to see all the pretty at once, hop on over to the gallery. — xoxo, Alison of The Knotty Bride
See the entire wedding in the gallery!
Here’s the story on the couple and their gorgeous wedding from the lovely bride, herself:
Chris and I met in college at UCSB five and a half years ago. We attended a mutal friends birthday party. It was a lingerie party, but I was the only girl in jeans and a long sleeve shirt. Chris spotted me when he walked in, later that night he came over to talk to me. We went a date three days later, and have been together ever since. Chris proposed to me in Santa Barbara. He took me to Santa Barbara on my birthday. We went on a hike that we used to do all the time in college together. At the top of the hike there is a beautiful view of Santa Barbara. There Chris got down on one knee in the midst of all the dirt and asked me to marry him. Our Invitations were made by a friend of ours that is an amazing graphic designer. She also designer our slurpee logos, Dandelion napkins at cocktail hour, and table numbers. I came up with the idea of an ethereal garden summer romance wedding and I wanted to invites to reflect that. I decided I wanted the invites to say summer romance and give a beautiful ethereal feel. We all worked very hard on perfecting the invites and we were very happy with them! Chris and I then did the printing of the dandelion on the back of the envelopes. We had a dandelion theme that we carried through out the weddings in little places. There were also seen at the wish table for cocktail hour and our grey cocktail napkins. We had around 140 guests What was your vision/style/theme/color scheme for your wedding? Colors: The colors were soft, romantic, summery colors. Peaches, different hues of pink, butter yellow, and touches of ivory. Vision/Style: The style was a whimsical and ethereal summer romance.
My search for my gown was an extensive one. We originally had our wedding date set for July 2009. I looked at several stores for a dress, and had one in mind I planned on getting at a trunk show the following weekend. I ended up getting sick and hospitalized and we had to postpone our wedding a year. I had to start my search all over, but ended up finding the PERFECT gown. When I put it on I immediately knew it was my gown, and It was definitely worth the wait! It had the perfect mix of romantic, feminine, glamorous appeal. It was a Vera Wang dress from her Luxe collection that I bought from Saks Fifth Avenue. I felt amazing in my gown on the wedding day. Our wedding took place at Hotel Del Coronado. Chris and I first fell in love with the del during a visit for our second anniversary. We then went back the following year for our three year anniversary. It is a special place for us with happy memories, and it just seemed like the perfect place to get married. The ceremony was held on the Windsor lawn in front of the beach. We wanted our ceremony to focus on our love for each other instead of all traditional vows. We each wrote letters to each other expressing our feelings. The letters were read at the ceremony by the officiant. It was very personal which made it extremely special for us.
Lavonne and her team at Adorations did our florals. Mostly dahlias, garden roses, peonies, lavender, and hydrangea were used. Bridal bouquet: I wanted my bouquet to be soft and romantic. Soft hues of butter yellows and pinks were used. My favorite flowers are peonies, dahlias, and garden roses. They were all used in my bouquet to make it full and fluffy. Ceremony: I wanted the wedding to look like an ethereal garden. Pots with sprouting lavender and dahlias lined the aisle with rose petals. There were also hanging pantina containers with dahlias and hydrangea spilling over. The alter was made with birch wood and had flowers trailing up the posts. Butterflies were suspended from the top of the alter to look extra whimsical. We carried the theme of ethereal garden to the reception. All of the elements used added to the whimsical feel. I really wanted to use trees for the centerpieces. For six of the tables birch wood trees were made. I wanted the trees under the tree to look like they were growing, and mushrooms and lavender were placed under the tree as well. The second centerpieces were in low pantina containers and had roses, hydrangea, peonies, and Dahlias spilling over with pashion vine. I love poppies so those were placed on top of ribbon on each napkin. Place card table: I had the idea of making the place card table look like a garden of flowers and butterflies. The peach and yellow butterflies were purchased on Etsy and placed among wheat grass and pink Daises. We had the name tags with table numbers made at a invite store in Manhattan beach. The tags were attached to green post that were put in the wheat grass.
I think the attention to details helped carry out our theme. We had a large dessert station, which went along with our tea station. Next to our tea station we had a tea cup tree. We collected all the tea cups throughout the year of wedding planning for different places we went to. Our signs for dessert were held up by sugar cubes to go along with the tea station. We had a variety of tea flavors. Our cake also had a ton of details. All of the sugar flowers and critters were had made. The thing that of course made it stand out the most was how much fun everyone had. The dance floor was filled all night! Everyone danced, laughed, ate, and had an amazing time. The starter soup was tomato bisque with pesto and bread rolls. The salad was a spring salad with field greens, walnuts, and strawberries. For the main course we served filet mignon with potatoes and asparagus, stuffed chicken breast with potatoes and veggies, or a veggie option. All of the sugar flowers were made by Yuko. I wanted the cake to look like an ethereal garden with flowers, butterflies, dragon flies, and dandelions. The sugar flowers were then constructed on the cake by the girls at CAKE. Our cake was carrot and red velvet. Entertainment: Our Dj was Mike Hogan. He did an amazing job keeping everyone on the dance floor all night!
Thank you, Sarah and Chris, for sharing your Big Day with us! It’s truly inspiring, and we wish you all the love and happiness in the world!
xoxo, Alison of The Knotty Bride
Photography: Jasmine Star / Flowers: Adorations / Event Design: Mint Weddings & Adorations / Event Planning: Kelly Aull Mint Weddings / Ceremony Location: Hotel Del Coronado, San Diego / Reception Location: Hotel Del Coronado / Shoes: Valentino / Dress: Vera Wang Luxe collection / Jewelry: earrings and bracelets from Nordstrom’s / Groom’s suit: Armani from Saks Fifth Avenue / Bridesmaid dresses: Vineyard / Hair: Sheila Stone / Makeup: Tracey Taylor