A Stylish Handmade Wedding: Annie + Harrison

here comes the bride sign

Today’s wedding is so personal and full of lots of hand-crafted details. Annie + Harrison love all things creative and wanted their wedding to be a classically beautiful event. They choose the Clarke Estate in Santa Fe Springs (Los Angeles) as the perfect location. The gorgeous expansive lawn and the classic architecture of the home was a gorgeous backdrop for their day. Thanks so much to He and She Photography for sharing the lovely photos here with us today!

handmade boutonniere

save the date handkerchief

From Annie, “Our wedding started with our Save-The-Dates, which were handmade from vintage handkerchiefs that we screenprinted on our Gocco machine. We also used our Gocco to screenprint the treat bags for the cookie desert bar. For the wedding programs, we used recycled seed paper to print the program so that guests could take the paper home and plant it to grow a wildflower patch.

wedding programs with plantable paper

doors as backdrop for wedding ceremony

doors as backdrop for wedding ceremony

wedding portraits

wedding portraits in bamboo

wedding portraits in bamboo

wedding portraits

For decor, we each had our projects that we sweated over to make the day unique. I made 6 foot tall chalkboards from plywood and chalkboard paint and some very careful chalky calligraphy. I made a few with romantic quotes about love, some for the entrances and one for our very special drink menu.

Harrison had an ambitious and creative idea of making our altar from vintage window panes that would be filled with flowers. He has always helped me see the beauty in the normal things in life and this was one of those instances. He made the most beautiful backdrop that was just 5 vintage, worn window panes that he added barbed wire too and strung flowers on. It was the perfect way to highlight the over 30 foot tall bamboo tree forest we were standing in front of during the ceremony.

chalkboard writing wedding

wedding place cards with clothes pins

It was important for us to have a family style dinner because we wanted all of our guests to be engaged with each other and to make memories together. Our caterer did a wonderful job of orchestrating an Asian fusion family style dinner for so many people outdoors. Many guests loved sharing food this way and told us it was such a unique way of dining at a wedding. We topped it off with an espresso bar and a cookie desert bar that was attacked by our guests with a sweet tooth!

burlap table runner wedding

vintage key as wedding favor

Our favors were a labor of love that seemed like a better idea when we made just a few. We eventually needed all of our friends to pitch in to get them done for all 200 guests! The ladies received a necklace made out of vintage keys and the gentleman received handmade cufflinks that Harrison and our friends made from map cutouts. Many friends received cufflinks with cities we knew would be special to them and they told us how honored they felt to get something so personal. Harrison and I always love making gifts personal and this was a great way to carry that out during the wedding.

map cufflinks

cake dessert table wedding

outdoor wedding reception

The big surprise we had for our guests was a performance by the acapella group Bruin Harmony. We are a Bruin family and in love with musical shows like Glee, so this was the perfect entertainment to celebrate our relationship! They sang a medley of modern and classic songs that wowed us and the guests!

Looking back to our wedding day, we both put in so much love and work to preparing because we wanted to make it special for us and our family and friends. But when the day came, we took everyone’s advice and let the day-of coordinator handle all the stress while we just enjoyed all that we had planned! As advice to other brides-to-be, hire vendors that you love and that you trust because this will make all the difference on how you feel the week before. Things will go wrong, but it won’t matter that day because you will be so happy and surrounded by so much love all of those little things won’t and shouldn’t matter. I loved getting ready for our wedding and looking at wedding inspiration on our favorite blogs, but nothing beats how you feel on the big day!

And their sweet video from Lovespun Films – congrats to Annie + Harrison!


Photographer: He and She Photography // Videographer: Lovespun Films // Venue: Clarke Estate // Catering: Beacon Catering // Wedding Coordination: My Bride Story // Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier // Bride Shoes: Christian Louboutin // Hair and Makeup: Theresa Huang Makeup // Bridesmaids Belts: Anthropologie // Groom's Tuxedo: Thick as Thieves // Groom Shoes: Salvatore Ferragamo // Groomsmen Ties: The Tie Bar // Bartender: In the Mix // Cake: Filigree Cakes // Flowers: Boulevard Florist

Explore: