Green Wedding Shoes Wedding Blog | Wedding Trends for Stylish + Creative Brides

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!

Tell us a bit about your music…
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)

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! :)

Most memorable moment of your wedding day?
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.”

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.

Any advice for 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: Marvimon // day of coordinating + 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) // 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 + makeup: 10.11 makeup // groom suit: Bar III suit (from Macy’s), Sperry Top Sider loafers // invitations+ paper goods: invitations from Letter Box Ink // catering: Huntington // 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 // dj: Don Covel Entertainment // valet: jeffrey valet // rentals: Archive Vintage Rentals

This Modern Romance and Archive Vintage Rentals are featured vendors of Green Wedding Shoes. Check out their vendor profiles to see more of their work or discover other GWS recommended vendors for your wedding day in our Vendor Guide.

Sophia + Peter were married at Jalama Canon Ranch between Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez wine country. They were very inspired by 1920′s vintage fashion and nature – a gorgeous combo! Sophia found a beautiful 1920′s French wedding gown (she actually had 3 outfit changes including a red dress for their traditional tea ceremony) which helped set the tone for the day. Designing + planning the wedding themselves made their day feel very personal and special to them. They crafted almost everything – wedding invitations, hairpieces, bow ties, all the floral decorations and much more. They did have lots of help from friends and family of course, and for that, they are so grateful. :) Big thanks also to Bwright Photography for the gorgeous photos!

From the couple, We also love nature and the great outdoors, so when we visited Jalama Canon Ranch for the first time, we fell in love right away. With a ranch as beautiful as Jalama Canon Ranch, everything just fell into place. We rented the ranch for three days and were able to fully enjoy the ranch, before and after the wedding as well. The night before, we played games all night with our wedding party and it helped us loosen up and forget for a moment about our nerves for the next day. What really made it feel intimate and special, was the fact that there was no cellular reception, no traffic, and no neighbors, it was a perfect getaway for everyone!

Tell us about your music:
Processional: Canon in D, as played by Peter’s cousin, Raymond Lim on keyboard
Recessional: The Beatles – All You Need is Love
First Dance: Frank Sinatra – Love and Marriage

Most memorable moment of your wedding day?

We love our parents dearly, so it was only natural for us to host a Chinese Tea Ceremony in the morning to pay respects to them. We hadn’t planned it out very well, and weren’t very familiar with all the traditions, but in the end, it was beautifully intimate and touching, plus lots of tears were shed.

Any advice for those planning now?

You’ve probably heard this a million times, but really, enjoy the process. Figure out what you guys want early, and go out and hunt for it. As you get closer to the end, remember, there is only so much you can plan for. Once your wedding day arrives, don’t forget to enjoy yourselves. We had quite a few details missing, people were late because Kim Kardashian decided to get married the same day, causing ridiculous traffic, but in the end, it was still the most amazing day.

Congrats to Sophia + Peter and thanks so much for sharing your beautiful day with us! :)

Do you guys remember that fun Beatles inspired wedding I shared a few months ago at the Smog Shoppe? Well, today I have another Beatles inspired wedding – and it takes place at the Smog Shoppe also! So, I thought it would be a great way to show that two couples can have the same theme, at the same venue, and if they put their own touches on it – each wedding will be completely different. Oh, and these two weddings happened a few weeks apart so neither of them were inspired from the other – just a love of music + the Beatles. :) So, today we are sharing Melissa + Chris’ Beatles inspired wedding photographed by the lovely Ashley Rose! Congrats to Melissa + Chris!

From Melissa: There are two things Chris and I love more than anything (besides each other, of course!) One is the Beatles. I don’t know any bigger Beatles fans than us. When we started discussing the theme and feel of the wedding, it seemed like an easy decision to choose a band that’s made such a huge impact on our lives. Plus, Smog Shoppe has such a unique, retro-feel that we knew it was perfect. It also gave us an excuse to play an obscene amount of Beatles music…and who doesn’t love the Beatles?

The second thing is In-N-Out. Honestly, prior to getting engaged, this was the only thing we discussed about our wedding. We knew we wanted a casual wedding with a dinner we’d actually look forward to eating. We live in San Francisco, so we initially looked at wedding venues in the city. But soon after, we discovered that the In-N-Out cookout truck only caters in Southern California. So we opted to get married in LA, where we both grew up, but more importantly, with In-N-Out!

Melissa and her bridesmaids made all the flags and bouquets! Super fun. :)

Most memorable moment of your wedding day? Our first look was most memorable. It was such a busy day and there was so much anticipation, and it was very emotional and exciting to finally see each other. It was the only alone time we had all day (well, with our photographer!) to talk and soak up the moment. We had a moment where I looked at him in his cute suit and he looked at me in my dress, and we both really realized the day was really here. After that, I was relieved and ready for the ceremony.

But it’s so hard to pin down one moment! My Aunt’s reading of my grandparents’ old love letters during the ceremony, along with an amazing moment where every single person at the wedding was dancing to “Twist and Shout,” are tied for our second favorite moments.

What song did you walk down the aisle to? I walked down to “Calico Skies” by Paul McCartney and we exited to “Oh Yoko” by John Lennon. We kept it all Beatles! The bridal party walked in to “Two of Us.”

A friend of Melissa’s made the cake – so cute! Cool Haus ice cream sandwiches AND In-and-Out? Total winner in my book with the food! :)

Any advice for those planning now?
Trust the vendors you’ve hired. They’ve done hundreds of weddings and they know what they’re doing. There were certain things you think you’ll have time to do on the actual wedding day, but guess what? You don’t. All you have time for is getting ready, mingling with your guests, and taking pictures. Don’t even try! Just let the vendors take care of it.

And you know all those tiny details that keep you up at night? Yeah, you don’t even notice them the day-of. I really wish I would have known this – it would have saved me so much time. I’m really lucky to have had so much help from my super-crafty friends. I told them my vision and they took care of the rest. They made and set up most of what you see here: flowers, candy table, pom-poms, pennants, they painted the Abbey Road photo booth background, and the list goes on…

vendors:
photography: Ashley Rose Photography // venue: SmogShoppe // wedding dress: Saja // shoes: Not Rated // hair + makeup: 10.11 makeup // groom suit: Hugo Boss // cinematography: Chris Parisi // invitations+ paper goods: Wedding Paper Divas // catering: In-N-Out, Monrose and Coolhaus // music: Waveform

Ashley Rose and Smog Shoppe are both featured vendors of Green Wedding Shoes. Check out their vendor profiles to see more of their work or discover other GWS recommended vendors for your wedding day in our Vendor Guide.