A Sweet School Themed Wedding: Stephanie + Jarred

bride and groom

Stephanie + Jarred are both high school teachers and met while working at the same school so of course they wanted to incorporate some school details into their day! After discovering the composition book invites from Letter Box Ink, the ideas just started to flow – right down to the last-minute discovery of the awesome green school desk they found on craigslist the day before the wedding. Stephanie + Jarred spent countless hours crafting together before the wedding – Stephanie made the hairpieces, boutonnières + bouquets, and scouted out lots of glass jars. Since Jarred is an art teacher, he made their cake topper, designed + folded the paper plane programs, and built the teal arch and planter boxes for the centerpieces. Such a personal + creative wedding! Congrats to Stephanie + Jarred and big thanks to This Modern Romance for the super gorgeous photos!

school notebook wedding invites

glitter heels with feather shoe clips

peacock bridal accessory

bride

bride and groom

bride

Our Musical Choices

Processional: Vitamin String Quartet’s instrumental version of “In Your Eyes”

Recessional: “The Dog Days Are Over” by Florence + the Machine

First Dance: “Make You Feel My Love” by Adele’s (Bob Dylan cover)

bridal party walking

succulent and striped ribbon bouquet

bride and groom

bride and groom

wedding map

succulent bouquet

paper airplane wedding programs

marivon wedding

The paper plane programs were designed by Jarred and printed at Staples on colored paper for around 20 cents/each. Only downside was that they had to fold them all but it did dave a lot of money – and they look super cute! :)

paper airplane wedding programs

marivon wedding ceremony

Our Favorite Memory From The Wedding

Walking down the aisle. It felt completely surreal having my parents on each arm, being surrounded by my close family and friends in such an intimate setting, and of course, Jarred waiting for me at the end of the aisle. I kept wishing I could press “pause” and just soak it all in for a minute.

Reading our vows. We wrote them ourselves but did not share them with each other until we were reading them in the actual ceremony. We both cracked each other up (and our guests) by recounting our first date, thoughts about each other, why we loved each other, and also made some very important promises – both fun and serious. Now, Jarred likes to remind me that I promised to try to accept his video games (he taught me how to play one on the plane ride to our honeymoon) and always clean the house up right before our guests come over. I like to remind him that he promised to stay awake past 9 and to always be patient with me, even when he is frustrated. He has yet to break his promise to make me laugh everyday.

I also have a very vivid memory of the very end of the ceremony, right as my grandpa said, “By the power vested in me…”, Jarred looked at me and said, “Holy shit, we just got married.”

marivon wedding ceremony

hello my name is...escort cards

reception space, wood tables

wood box centerpieces

pencils in a jar

old school desk

indoor/outdoor reception

The phrase “Love you forever, like you for always, as long as I’m living” had a very special meaning to me from one of my favorite childhood books, Love You Forever. We used it in our vows, on our invites, had it printed on red pencils for favors, and my Maid of Honor strung painted wooden letters around Marvimon with the words.

marivon house

first dance

Our Advice To Those Planning Now

There are a lot of details, pieces, and emotions coming together on your wedding day. Make sure you have a really competent coordinator who takes the time to understand exactly what you want because they can really make or break your experience. Also, never underestimate the amount of work that goes into DIY projects. It was really fun to have everything so personalized and meaningful but I was also up at 11 the night before my wedding, wiring together my bouquet.

Things will likely go wrong and you just have to roll with it. There were a lot of things that didn’t go as planned but for the most part our guests didn’t know. One of my friends told me later that she felt so comfortable at our wedding because it was so catered to our guests. We grouped our same-age cousins and friends together at tables, had Polaroid cameras at the costume photo booth, served tacos buffet style, and hired Huntington’s barista bar to serve drinks on the patio. We just tried to make the vibe as relaxed as possible and our family and friends caught on to that. My dad’s shirt fell in the toilet at Marvimon as he was getting dressed but I didn’t even know until the story came out the day after the wedding. Luckily, he had an extra (although a different color) on backup and he handled it without stressing anyone out.

vendors:

photography: This Modern Romance // venue name: Marvimon // bride's shoes: bridesmaids from Nina; bride's ceremony shoe: custom-dyed Badgley Mischka (turquoise heel); reception shoe: Stuart Weitzman (grey glitter heel) with feather shoe clip from Feathers and Frills // bridesmaid dresses: Donna Morgan and Adrianna Papell (both from Nordstrom // hair stylist: 10.11 makeup // makeup artist: 10.11 makeup // groom attire: Bar III suit (from Macy's) and Sperry Top Sider loafers // paper goods: invitations from Letter Box Ink // catering: Huntington // music: Don Covel Entertainment // day of coordinating: Jesi Haack Design // partial design: Jesi Haack Design // wedding dress: ceremony dress (long) from Maggie Sottero (purchased off-the-rack from Bridal Elegance in Torrance); reception dress (short) from Priscilla of Boston (purchased second hand from recycled bride) // invitations: invitations from Letter Box Ink // cake and desserts: DIY by Deirdra Clark (my awesome sister-in-law whipped us up a Champagne cake the day before the wedding). All other desserts were homemade by my mom Michele, sister Amanda, Grandma Doris, Great Aunt LaVerne, plus two cakes from Cheesecake Factory // valet: jeffrey valet // rentals: Archive Vintage Rentals

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