Intimate Big Sur Beach Wedding — Planned in 90 Days!

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Weddings do not have to cost thousands of dollars, nor do they need to require years of planning. Today’s bride and groom, Jami + Charlie, are here to prove just that! The two got engaged in August of last year and wanted to marry before moving in together. They figured that a 90-day turnaround from an engagement to a wedding would be a lot of work, but worth it! The two came up with four values that they wanted their wedding to meet, and this helped them to figure out which things weren’t necessary. Those four things are: 1. Essential that the most important people in their lives be there (for them, this was about 45 people). 2. Get married outside in a beautiful nature-rich setting. 3. Invest in beautiful photography. 4. Be as frugal as possible while still creating something that they would look back on and LOVE.

Jami shares Our November goal really took both of our home states out of the question. Colorado would most likely be too cold to have an outside wedding and Seattle would be a wet, mascara dripping mess! So Charlie and I hopped on Pinterest together and started checking out alternative locations. Neither one of us had ever been to Big Sur but the moment we saw photos, we were sold. From there, we enlisted friends and family to pitch in and help plan a wedding somewhere none of us had been. 

The whole day came together with a lot of DIY magic + assistance from their support team. Let’s check out all the details captured by Cassie Rosch!

Hayley Paige Wedding Dress

Hello, GORGEOUS! Jami wore an ethereal Hayley Paige gown with a beaded bodice from Anna Be.

gray bridesmaid dresses

Abundant greenery with touches of creamy white florals, white anemones, and flowing ribbons — LOVE!

lush green bouquets

Jami’s aunt, Annette Coleman, is an artist and volunteered to do all of the florals for the wedding. Together, the two of them went to their local floral wholesaler and picked out exactly what she wanted. Annette arranged for all the florals be shipped directly to the hotel outside of Big Sur. Jami bought the ribbon off of Amazon and then watched plenty of YouTube tutorials on how to perfect it. The morning of, Jami + her gals put everything together… True teamwork! 

blue tie groomsmen

Keeping things within budget, Charlie went to H&M and found a navy suit that fit perfectly. How dapper do all these gents look?! That stylish chambray tie is from J.Crew.

first look

first look

anemone and greenery bouquet

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

 I walked down the ‘aisle’ to “Without Words” by Bethel. We had a friend lend us a big portable Bluetooth speaker and just played music from Charlie’s iPad.

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Our Favorite Memory From The Wedding

Our dearest family and friends stood around us while Charlie's oldest brother, Jeremy, married us with the waves crashing in the background. Right in the middle of Charlie reading me his vows, a big wave came crashing in and the whole wedding party had to run/shift 15 feet! It was this little break in the action that gave us a moment to stop and take it all in. Then we just started right back up as if nothing had happened.

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

ALL THE FEELS! All of them!!

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

So much joy emanating from these two, you can literally feel it flowing through the picture!

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

The day before the wedding, Mariel (one of my bridesmaids) and her husband, Brandon, drove down the coast and scouted Pheiffer Beach, where we thought we wanted to have the wedding ceremony. The tide was high when the four of us were scouting, so the space we we wanted to get married (based on photographic research) was well underwater. We picked an alternate spot and Brandon volunteered to get there early the next day to rake huge amounts of kelp + debris from the spot. When we arrived the next day, Brandon had raked a huge portion of the beach; however, the spot we initially wanted was no longer underwater! He was so kind as we last-minute moved the location and utilized none of the area he had spent hours raking… Someone got a very funny video of him raking and every now and then I send it to Mar and Brandon just to get a good laugh in!

wedding party

What a sharp looking crowd! Jami shares I found $32 Forever 21 dresses that I loved for my bridesmaids — the best part, they required ZERO alterations! 

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Holy smokes… That light!

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

My mom did my hair. She and I got together a few times before the wedding to practice. We had so much fun watching YouTube tutorials and trying different things. We finally decided on doing a bunch of different style braids and wrapping them into a braid crown for the wedding ceremony.

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

After the ceremony, Charlie helped unwind + unbraid my hair in the back of our photographer’s car, on the way to get our individual pictures taken, so I could wear it down for the rest of the day!

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

blue tie groom

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Our Advice To Those Planning Now

Don't sweat the small stuff. Our day was perfect and there were many things we left out. I determined early on that as long as Charlie and I were married by the end of the wedding day, that it would be considered perfect. Be organized up front, delegate to family and friends, then don't worried about it day of! We were very intentional about what we invested time and money into! Only the things we had deemed essential ahead of time got our attention. In a Pinterest world, we knew it would be easy to go overboard and endlessly add to a list of to-dos. We were committed to investing as much, if not more, time into preparing to be MARRIED and time we spent planning our wedding DAY. Another small but impactful detail: I found my bridesmaid dresses at Forever 21. I cannot tell you how THANKFUL my bridesmaids were that they didn’t have to drop a couple hundred dollars on a dress that they (probably) wouldn’t ever wear again.

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

Hayley Paige Wedding Dress

Intimate Big Sur Wedding

What a view…

big sur reception

big sur reception

The napkins on the tables at the reception were made by me + my best friend/bridesmaid, Mariel. However, we picked the wrong dye… If you get them the slightest bit wet, the color bleeds all over everything! So we had to announce before dinner that they were just ‘show napkins,’ and that we advised against anyone actually using them. Ooops!

big sur reception

big sur reception

Cheers to that and this reception space at Big Sur Bakery!! Congrats Jami + Charlie!

Thank you for letting us in on your intimate day and proving that you can achieve anything with a little creativity and help from your support team.

photography: Cassie Rosch // venue name: Pfeiffer Beach and Big Sur Bakery, Big Sur, California, USA // florals: Annette Coleman (Bride's Aunt) // wedding dress: Hayley Paige Style '6609 Teresa' // wedding dress boutique: Anna Be // bride's shoes: Steve Madden IRENEE // bride's ring: RosadosBox // bridesmaid dresses: Forever 21 // groom attire: J.Crew Chambray tie // groom's ring: Spexton // officiant: Jeremy Piehler (Groom's Brother)

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