Elopements have always and will always be my favorite type of fête. Wonderfully intimate, they always seem to allow the couples’ personality to fully shine through. This pretty party captured by The Hearts Haven is the perfect example. With fabulous woolen florals from Wooley Buddy, mismatched socks, because, why not, and the cutest boutonnieres I ever did see, this gallery is simply overflowing with fun.
From The Bride…To be honest, we didn’t have a big vision of what the overall style or theme would be, but we did know it had to be us; fun, intimate, artistic, and most of all low stress. Living in Los Angeles, we decided to semi-elope and get married in the Mural Room at the Santa Barbara Courthouse. Most of the wedding planning and ideas came from gathering inspiration from Pinterest and Etsy. As a matter of fact, I found our amazing photographer, Aimee on Pinterest, as well as Stephanie, who designed my dress. We set a date of 11/12/13, which was a Tuesday. Because of the time of year, we decided the color theme would be burnt orange and earth tones. With that, we had the women pick whatever orange dress they wanted and the men wore the earth tone vest of their choice. Dylan also is known for wearing mismatched socks, so we gave the men mismatched socks to wear as well.
We wanted to make our wedding as personal as possible by adding our own creative flair. Dylan designed our invitations and thank you notes. We made the top half of our cake at Duff Cakes Mix on Melrose; decorating it to our liking. Charm City Cakes made the bottom half the of cake to match the top.The last theme we integrated into our wedding was lobsters. We call each other “my lobster” because lobsters mate for life. This allowed for us to integrate our artistic sensibilities as well. We had Jackie, an amazing artist friend, make the boutonnieres, which were, of course… lobsters. Jackie also made my bouquet, corsages and the flowers that the women carried. The wedding day was perfect; it was everything I imagined it to be. Even if our plans hadn’t come together so well, it still would have been perfect – After all, I married my lobster!
From the Groom… As the sun crested the horizon over the San Diego Wild Animal Park, the elephants and lions weren’t the only creatures stirring. We had stayed the night alongside nature, lulling the animals to sleep with the gentle sounds of our snoring. It was 6:00am, the last day of the weekend, and I knew I only had a little time before the other campers would be up. We walked over to the railing of the elephant enclosure; Alison’s favorite animal. Once I had a clear shot, I set up our little camera and walked over to her. The setting was just right. Elephants milling around in the background, no chatty tourists around, and the girl of my dreams in front of me, I pulled out the ring, took a knee, and, now eye level (she is 4’11 to my 6’5), asked her to spend her life with me. She said yes!
Photography: The Hearts Haven | Flowers: Wooley Buddy | Wedding Dress: Stephanie James Couture | Cake: Us @ Duff’s Cake Mix | Hair: Marilyn Cole Elektrum Hair Studio | Grooms Suit: Ted Baker | Belt And Hair Piece: BHLDN | Court House: Santa Barbara Courthouse | Socks: Ben Sherman