Nautical Wedding at Carbon Beach
When the Bride just so happens to be the creative force behind Toast Party Rentals, you know wedding goodness is about to come your way. And lucky for us, my dears, we've got it all in perfect fashion from Lulu Photo. Think traditional elegance meets beachy ease, with a few ruffles, balloons and stripes sprinkled in along the way. Want even more? It's all sitting pretty right here.
From the Bride... I wanted our wedding to be about us and reflective of our love and who we are today. My husband and I met at work. Before we were an official couple, he used to bring me heart cookies from a place he would eat lunch at - so, I had to have those cookies as a memento of the beginning days of our relationship. We dated for three years. We traveled to India and Indonesia for three months - we've had some amazing times together.
Shaun proposed to me with a video he made and it was more than I could have dreamed. After spending weeks editing the proposal video and telling me he had to work late at the office, one night, he asked if I wanted to see a photographer's video style that he admired - it was late, but I wanted to be supportive, so I said yes. The video began and then suddenly shifted gears and turned to pictures of us synchronized to Bruno Mars, Just the Way You Are. It was edited so perfectly that the song played "...her laugh her laugh", there was a photo of me laughing. I was amazed, yet, did not expect a proposal. I actually thought he was practicing his own editing skills and showing me what he had made.
Strangely, he was wearing a rather baggy sweat-pant, sweat-shirt outfit, but I didn't really notice at the time how unusual it was. In the middle of the video, he got up and started taking this strange outfit off to reveal a suit and tie underneath. He was wearing the sweatsuit because I was out to dinner with a girlfriend and he was waiting for me to get home - a suit would have been even more strange. He made his way over to me and got on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I started to cry immediately - never even looked at the ring until after our hug fest. It was so sweet, I will always remember how I felt. Shaun designed my ring with his dad, who recently took up jewelry making as a hobby. His dad designed and made Shaun's ring as well and we saw it for the first time on our wedding day! It's a circle of our initials - I thought it was so perfect!
Prior to our wedding, while traveling in India for a month, I collected some crystals for my wedding jewelry and Shaun's mom made me a necklace and a bracelet out of the crystals I got on our trip. The rest of my jewelry was from Swarovski. We planned our wedding in about eight months. We knew we wanted a beach wedding. We live at the beach, we vacation at the beach, we dive, snorkel, we love it. September in Malibu could not be more beautiful. The weather is perfect and the sunsets are generally amazing. We got lucky and had one of those perfect weather days coupled with a picture perfect sunset.
I got ready at the Malibu Beach Inn with my sister and my very best friend from 8th grade. They were my bridesmaids. Shaun couldn't decide and didn't like the idea of leaving anyone out, so he opted for no groomsmen. He got ready at the Malibu Motel with friends.
We saw each other for the first time before the ceremony. We requested a moment all to ourselves. No photographers, no one. We wanted that time to be totally organic and all for us. The waterworks quickly began and we were a mess before anything even started! We were just so ecstatic and excited and so happy. It was off the charts. We would look at each other with so much love and so much sweetness - that moment will forever be in my heart.
We decided to write our own vows - we did not want to wear microphones, so instead, after the ceremony, we put our vows in an area for guests to read if they were unable to hear us. Afterward, we were told that even though it was hard to hear, it was so personal and so touching just to look at our faces - they said they could tell something wonderful was happening. My fiances cousin married us - this was very meaningful and special for both of us. I was raised Christian, but my fiance was raised liberal Jewish - and we enjoyed embracing both traditions at our wedding. It was so fun to honor both families.
We opted not to have a schedule the night of our wedding so we conveyed to our guests that the night would be free flowing through a personal message we had printed on coasters. Our favors were Italian sparkling or still water called Sole. We felt it was perfect. I made a lot of the signage for our wedding and detailed the large balloons with tons of ribbon. I had three balloons, but one broke in the car - two turned out to be the perfect number anyway!
We made the flower arrangements with the help of Shaun's cousin. I wanted them to be soft and inexpensive. I ordered raw cotton from a cotton grower and then we paired them with balsa wood flowers and some white berries and feathers. It was awesome because we were able to create the flowers two weeks in advance because they were all dried. For fresh flowers, we used cut blush carnations both for their color, texture and low budget value. My favorite DIY project was my vows. I wanted them to be pretty so I got special paper and tied ribbon tails to the paper.
We rented the standard folding chairs and a few tables. But we splurged on some Shabby Chic furniture and it really made everything look amazing. I think the furniture made the whole event take on a different, more romantic vibe.
Shaun proposed to me with a video he made and it was more than I could have dreamed. After spending weeks editing the proposal video and telling me he had to work late at the office, one night, he asked if I wanted to see a photographer's video style that he admired - it was late, but I wanted to be supportive, so I said yes. The video began and then suddenly shifted gears and turned to pictures of us synchronized to Bruno Mars, Just the Way You Are. It was edited so perfectly that the song played "...her laugh her laugh", there was a photo of me laughing. I was amazed, yet, did not expect a proposal. I actually thought he was practicing his own editing skills and showing me what he had made.
Strangely, he was wearing a rather baggy sweat-pant, sweat-shirt outfit, but I didn't really notice at the time how unusual it was. In the middle of the video, he got up and started taking this strange outfit off to reveal a suit and tie underneath. He was wearing the sweatsuit because I was out to dinner with a girlfriend and he was waiting for me to get home - a suit would have been even more strange. He made his way over to me and got on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I started to cry immediately - never even looked at the ring until after our hug fest. It was so sweet, I will always remember how I felt. Shaun designed my ring with his dad, who recently took up jewelry making as a hobby. His dad designed and made Shaun's ring as well and we saw it for the first time on our wedding day! It's a circle of our initials - I thought it was so perfect!
Prior to our wedding, while traveling in India for a month, I collected some crystals for my wedding jewelry and Shaun's mom made me a necklace and a bracelet out of the crystals I got on our trip. The rest of my jewelry was from Swarovski. We planned our wedding in about eight months. We knew we wanted a beach wedding. We live at the beach, we vacation at the beach, we dive, snorkel, we love it. September in Malibu could not be more beautiful. The weather is perfect and the sunsets are generally amazing. We got lucky and had one of those perfect weather days coupled with a picture perfect sunset.
I got ready at the Malibu Beach Inn with my sister and my very best friend from 8th grade. They were my bridesmaids. Shaun couldn't decide and didn't like the idea of leaving anyone out, so he opted for no groomsmen. He got ready at the Malibu Motel with friends.
We saw each other for the first time before the ceremony. We requested a moment all to ourselves. No photographers, no one. We wanted that time to be totally organic and all for us. The waterworks quickly began and we were a mess before anything even started! We were just so ecstatic and excited and so happy. It was off the charts. We would look at each other with so much love and so much sweetness - that moment will forever be in my heart.
We decided to write our own vows - we did not want to wear microphones, so instead, after the ceremony, we put our vows in an area for guests to read if they were unable to hear us. Afterward, we were told that even though it was hard to hear, it was so personal and so touching just to look at our faces - they said they could tell something wonderful was happening. My fiances cousin married us - this was very meaningful and special for both of us. I was raised Christian, but my fiance was raised liberal Jewish - and we enjoyed embracing both traditions at our wedding. It was so fun to honor both families.
We opted not to have a schedule the night of our wedding so we conveyed to our guests that the night would be free flowing through a personal message we had printed on coasters. Our favors were Italian sparkling or still water called Sole. We felt it was perfect. I made a lot of the signage for our wedding and detailed the large balloons with tons of ribbon. I had three balloons, but one broke in the car - two turned out to be the perfect number anyway!
We made the flower arrangements with the help of Shaun's cousin. I wanted them to be soft and inexpensive. I ordered raw cotton from a cotton grower and then we paired them with balsa wood flowers and some white berries and feathers. It was awesome because we were able to create the flowers two weeks in advance because they were all dried. For fresh flowers, we used cut blush carnations both for their color, texture and low budget value. My favorite DIY project was my vows. I wanted them to be pretty so I got special paper and tied ribbon tails to the paper.
We rented the standard folding chairs and a few tables. But we splurged on some Shabby Chic furniture and it really made everything look amazing. I think the furniture made the whole event take on a different, more romantic vibe.