Wedding

Josh and I knew right from the start we didn’t want a ‘typical’ wedding. Being from California and Josh from Minnesota, we had met and now lived in Colorado. So, we wanted to include as much of the rustic, outdoors, vintage look as we could to our Southern California wedding. Plus, burgers and fries for dinner were a must. Execution was the tough part. Hands down, the hardest part was finding a venue. I contacted nearly 50 venues, and visited the few that I could on my several weekend trips to Southern California from Colorado. Finally, about three months before the wedding, we visited Highland Springs Resort in the pouring rain. They had one of our dates open and even though we didn’t get to see much, we knew this venue was exactly what we were looking for.

A lot of our ideas came from blogs…a few favorites were Green Wedding Shoes, Grey Likes Weddings, and Ruffled. It’s pretty easy to see the weddings posted and get discouraged about your own, but finding a few good ideas and deciding to go through with them really helped. I can honestly say, I LOVE how our wedding turned out and the fact that one particular detail didn’t make the cut, doesn’t even cross my mind now.

Looking back over our photos, my favorite details were our tree planting ceremony, our butterfly release, our paper airplane send off!, our father-daughter ping pong game, and seeing how well our handcrafted décor turned out. We absolutely transformed the space on a budget well below the average wedding cost. It was also extremely special for us to have so much of Josh’s family at the wedding. A week and a half before our wedding, his aunt who he was extremely close to passed away. The morning of our wedding his grandmother passed away. It was so special to have everyone together for what was both a sad, and a joyful time.




Early on, I decided that planning my wedding (which I really did pretty much hate) wasn’t going to be stressful. I did so well (my family can attest to that!) and even the day of I was calm and relaxed despite our venue’s large mess-ups. But…I know, I know it’s cliche but…I’ll never forget walking down the aisle. It was at that moment my dad and I met to stand behind what I felt was such an outpouring of love…our friends, our family, our bridal party, my future husband waiting for me, our faith at the center of it all, and all our hard work in what was a beautiful ceremony…all just hit me. I lost it…cried the entire walk down the aisle. I also loved when we released butterflies after the ceremony. It was so beautiful and because it was a surprise to the guests and fun to see everyone’s reaction!


Josh and I loved the work that Honey Heart Photography did!  I normally am pretty awkward and shy in front of a camera and people I don’t know well, but I felt so comfortable with Mary and Gabe.  We love how these shots below turned out.






We took on several DIY projects. I was so blessed to have an involved and very hands-on fiancé along with a few extremely creative friends. After explaining the look Josh and I were after, our friends completely took our ideas and made them a reality. Planning a wedding long distance is certainly not recommended, but without a doubt I know that tons of our DIY projects wouldn’t have happened without them.

Hearing from family and friends that our wedding was one of the most unique and beautiful wedding they’ve been to, makes it all worth it. I did literally hate planning it…but I love the memories I have, the love I felt, and the photos and video we have to remember it in the years to come.






Projects included:

  • Save the Dates (designed by Josh)
  • Invitations (designed by Josh and made by us)
  • Programs (designed by Josh and made by us)
  • Wedding video (filmed and made by Josh)
  • Decorated mason jars as glasses, then as flower pots as favors
  • Word search & Crossword Puzzle
  • Photo booth back drop
  • Candles in mini jars
  • Light design for reception site
  • Thumbprint guestbook tree (made by Josh)
  • Wire hangers (we purchased the wire from etsy and put together ourselves)
  • Centerpieces (that doubled as ceremony décor)
  • Bridesmaid bouquets

Vendors:

Other details:

  • Bridesmaid Dresses: Alfred Sung styles D441, D434, D437 in appletini
  • Maid of Honor Dress: Alfred Angelo style 7138 in mocha
  • Wedding Gown: Maggie Sottero
  • Groomsmen Suits: JC Penney Stafford Essential Khaki Linen Look Suit
  • Groomsmen Ties: JC Penney
  • Groomsmen Socks: Macy’s
  • Etsy seller ‘lilafrances’ for hanger wires
  • Butterflies from A Butterfly Affaire
  • Bridesmaid hair flowers from esty seller ‘nightowldesignstudio’
  • Bridesmaid earrings from etsy seller ‘froshjewels’
  • Brides hair flower from esty seller ‘brickhousestudio’
  • Dog tuxedo collar from Amazon
  • Paper from Paper Source
  • Cupcake stand from etsy seller ‘jessydirk’