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

You might remember Nata + Jess from their stunning engagement photos we shared last year… Well, today we have their beautiful handmade wedding photographed by the super talented Studio Castillero. Nata + Jess came up with a few requirements for their wedding including…

• No matter what, it had to reflect them together. This meant that they could set traditions aside.
• Budget. Jess is a financial analyst so this was a hard-fast requirement. And they spent about 1/3 of the average American wedding. Congrats on that!
• It’s a PARTY. They definitely don’t take things too seriously and love a great shindig!

The most important part of the wedding for them was the photography so the largest percentage of the budget was dedicated towards that. After crunching the numbers, Nata realized she didn’t really have room for a wedding planner, flowers, cake or caterer. But hey, who doesn’t like a challenge? :) Since her entire bridal party lives out of state, Nata pretty much made + planned everything herself, which literally took the entire duration of their one year engagement – but you can see by these photos it was totally worth it! Congrats to Nata + Jess and thanks for sharing your beautiful day with us!

Our ceremony was super intimate – about 30 of our closest family and friends. Because we try and spend as much time outside as possible, the botanical garden was an ideal setting for us. My friend, Keoki played us down the aisle (an acoustic version of one of my favorite Dashboard Confessional songs) and our friend Chad was the perfect officiant. My favorite DIY projects for the ceremony were the giant paper flowers I made – the bouquets were made from crepe and tissue paper; the wedding arch was made of cardstock. Because the ceremony site was so simple, I wanted to contrast that with the graphic appeal of bright, oversized flowers.

And those gorgeous huge paper flowers! Don’t you all just LOVE them!? I fell in love with them too and Nata is sharing a DIY on how to make the giant paper rose right here!

“Til Death Do Us Party” was the theme of the evening and around 100+ people. We thought an art gallery/museum would best suit our tastes and I was so lucky to find San Diego Art Institute. They don’t normally advertise as a wedding space so there was a bit of legwork to find it, but so glad I did! The gallery had a ton of great art already and we opted out of a sit-down dinner, which meant I didn’t have to do much with the decor (though there was no shortage of things to do!). It took us 5 hours to prep the reception space before the wedding…I definitely had no idea how much work it’d actually be.

The BIGGEST DIY project and the hit of the party was the photobooth, made by myself and my buddy Geoff (software engineer extraordinaire). The backdrop was made out of PVC pipe and some chevron fabric. The photobooth props were acquired throughout the year. And the photobooth was run on my Canon DSLR, photobooth workflow software, a photo printer, and the Geoff-custom-programmed Staples “easy button”. To run it, someone hits the easy button, takes 4 photos and prints out a nifty 4×6 print that I designed myself. 

It was honestly the best day ever…even though I was up for 24 hours straight! The best memory of the day was when our officiant was telling us the meaning of love as told by a group of 4 to 8 year olds.

• Carl, age 5: Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cream and they go out and smell each other.
• Emily, age 8: Love is when you kiss all the time. And when you get tired of kissing you still want to be together and talk more. My mommy and daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss.
• Jessica, age 8: You really shouldn’t say “I love you” unless you mean it, but if you mean it you should say it a lot…because people forget.

Love is such a simple concept and I think as adults we sometimes over-complicate things. I love how Chad reminded us how important the little things are.

If I had any advice for future brides to be, I’d remind them that as much as this day is about you and your fiance, it’s also about including all the people you love and care about…so don’t be a prima donna or bridezilla. You’ll just make yourself and others miserable.

vendors:
photography: Studio Castillero // dress: Brides By Demetrios // hairpiece: Twigs and Honey // bridesmaid dresses: Coralie Beatrix // groom’s suit: Banana Republic Outlet // groom’s tie: Good Heavens // ring book: Conduit Press // ceremony: San Diego Botanic Garden // reception: San Diego Art Institute // lights, audio, dj: RED Audio // cupcakes: Have Cake! // food: Heather Aaker // thumbprint guestbook: bleu de toi

Ambre + Todd wanted their wedding day to be a reflection of their personalities and love for each other. On their first date, Ambre still remembers Todd’s Modern Amusement shirt with brightly colored birds all perched across his chest. She’s always loved anything with birds, owls or peacock feathers, so what better way for them to express themselves than having a “love bird” themed wedding. :) They incorporated feathers, bird cages, and anything vintage (another love of theirs) into the day. I love that Ambre was inspired by GWS and you can see how personal + fun their wedding was in the stunning photos by Priscila Valentina.

Love that Ambre even had Peacock feathers on her shoes + in her bouquet!

Just had to share these photos of what the groom and his groomsmen were doing while the gals are getting ready – so not fair! :)

Most memorable moment of your wedding day?
Ambre: We didn’t want to see each other before the ceremony, so we held hands around a corner before saying “I do.” As the curtains were pulled open, and the music started playing, all I could see was my future husband. His smile and the look in his eyes will be engraved in my mind forever. Expressing our love to each other in sight of God, with family and friends will be a memory to cherish forever.
Todd: The most memorable moment of the day was the last dance. The entire wedding was so amazing and it really sank in at that moment that I was going to be able to spend the rest of my life with the girl I love more than anything in the world. I would have given anything to make the world stop so that dance wouldn’t have had to end.

Such a beautiful moment captured above…

What song did you walk down the aisle to? The song we walked down the aisle to was “Marry Me” by Train. The song brings so much emotion, and we loved it the first time we heard it. We exited as husband and wife to “Beautiful Day” by U2. It truly was a beautiful day.

And check out their sweet wedding trailer from Falangas Productions!

Any advice for those planning now?
My most important advice for wedding planning is to remember that your wedding day will be one of the best days of your lives together. Also, if you want to have a DIY wedding, focus on what details are most important to you. The last thing you want is to dread over having to do a project while hating every minute of it. It should be fun! You’re probably not the only creative one, so get your family and friends together because they would love to help you.

The wedding day should be all about you both. It’s your time together! Don’t feel pressured into having something you guys don’t want. Our wedding wasn’t the traditional idea of a wedding, but the entire day was about us. So enjoy every minute of it!

Congrats to Ambre + Todd!

vendors:
photography: Priscila Valentina Photography // venue: The Darlington House, La Jolla, CA // event planner: Day of Coordinator Kelly Instone Weddings // floral design: Organic Elements // wedding dress: David’s Bridal // hairpieces: Bride DIY made hairpiece // shoes: Modcloth // bridesmaid dresses: Alfred Angelo // hair + makeup: Sister-in-law, Allison Williams // groom suit: Zenetti // cinematography: Falangas Productions // invitations+ paper goods: designed and printed by the bride + groom // catering: Cafe Athena // cake: Sweet Cheeks Baking Co. // music: DJ Daniel Peterson

Since Paige was literally raised all over the world, their wedding had many different cultural influences that played into their day. Both Paige + Kyle are also very creative and worked with the lovely ladies at Carter and Cook Event Company on the perfect design for their day. They incorporated lots of color + texture inspired by their travels across the world and the years Paige lived in the Middle East. The couple chose Condor’s Nest Ranch which ended up being the perfect backdrop for the colorful details they brought it. Some of the custom details included country table names painted on zinc with gold fringe, custom Ikat table runners, gold bottles, textured dessert backdrop, and hand painted signs. Paige created a custom design, pulled from the rug they were married on, that was used on their save the dates, invitations and throughout the wedding details. And all the gorgeousness was captured by the amazing Studio Castillero. Congrats to Paige + Kyle!

The ceremony was held under the ranch’s large oak tree and the couple stood on one of Paige’s favorite wool rugs from her family’s travels.

The day was full of surprises! Paige surprised Kyle by hiring their favorite videographer (Craft House Productions), and Kyle surprised Paige by singing to her and playing the keyboard during the ceremony. Be sure to watch their gorgeous video by Craft House Productions below…

Congrats again to Paige + Kyle on their gorgeous wedding with lots of personal details!

vendors:
event design: Carter and Cook Event Company // photography: Studio Castillero // videography: Craft House Productions // venue: Condor’s Nest Ranch // flowers: Buds and Blooms // invitations + paper goods: Paper and Thread // desserts: Petit Madeline Bakery // makeup: Morgan Gates // hair: Krystle Gersztyn