Real Wedding: Megan + Craig’s Fun School Themed Wedding

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. We are starting off the week with this fun wedding sent over from He and She Photography. I love Megan + Craig’s story! I’ll let Megan share it with you guys :)

Craig and my wedding was based on a school house theme. We chose this because our love began back in the 4th grade when Craig moved to Ramona and we were in the same 4th grade class at Barnett Elementary. After a tireless pursuit (on my part), we were the hottest couple in the 4th grade. We continued to be great friends throughout school and after high school graduation we drifted apart; but Craig stayed great friends with my two older brothers. Then, coincidentally we bumped into each other at a mutual friend’s birthday party and the love that we had 17 years prior was reignited.

museum wedding chalkboard

We really wanted to pay tribute to our history together and we made it our mission to have our wedding be funky, creative, and 110% us. Craig and I made a list of all things “schoolhouse” and then had a really fun time conceptualizing different ways to incorporate them. I designed classroom inspired invites and a wedding website, notebook stylized programs and paper planes, and illustrated alphabet card table markers. We worked with our caterer to serve childhood comfort foods and our baker made an amazing airplane cake with Jonathon Adler salt and pepper shakers for the topper. Our venue, New Children’s Museum in downtown San Diego had chalkboards everywhere that we took advantage of and tons of amazing child inspired art and sculptures.

wedding bow tie and veil

wedding couple bow tie

Don’t you love Megan’s wedding dress?! It was done by elyseREUBEN Custom Couture. From Megan, They took my mom’s wedding dress, deconstructed it and created a dress we designed using the fabric from my mom’s dress. The design process was such a fun experience and so special for my mom and I. What a cool idea!!

children's museum wedding san diego

school theme wedding invites

Most memorable moment of your wedding day? My favorite moment was walking down the aisle with my mom and dad toward Craig. Our musicians, Andrew and David were playing “Over the rainbow” on ukulele and key board. My dad got tears in his eyes, and made me cry! Walking down the stairs and looking out to see everyone we love in one place supporting us and to have the man I’ve loved since I was young waiting for me was an unforgettable moment. It truly was a moment I will always cherish. Craig’s favorite moment of the wedding was at the beginning of the ceremony when my dad put my hand in his (besides tearing up the dance floor, of course).

children's museum wedding san diego

children's museum wedding san diego succulents

Craig and I are extremely close with our families and the fact that we grew up together, it was really important to us to really honor them. One of my most favorite things we did for the wedding was have our families make the yummy desserts that Craig and I grew up loving for the dessert bar. We purchased beautiful white pedestals from Home Goods and I made signs so all our guests knew who the baker was. We had Craig’s step-dad’s individual Cherry pies (he even laced the tops of each pie!), my mom’s amazing pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and chocolate dipped rice krispy treats, my Meme’s raspberry topped brownies, my Auntie Darla’s pecan tarts and Auntie Shawn’s lemon bars. They were all a huge hit with our guests and it was so fun to showcase what amazing bakers our families have! Oh, and their cake – it was peanut butter and jelly! :)

paper airplane wedding cake

chalkboard wedding

Any advice for those planning now?
1.) Reach out to your family and friends for help… no bride can do it all alone! Being an illustrator/graphic designer, I made it my mission to create every detail, but I never could have done all the signage, programs, invitations, florals, etc if it weren’t for my amazing mom and my friends and family. They were not only the workhorses, but they kept me sane when I started to feel overwhelmed. And best of all, some of the most fun memories I have from planning the wedding was from the work parties we had.

2.) Don’t be afraid to take different routes! For instance, since I’m a hip hop dancer, it was really important for us to have a DJ who mixes beats and plays old school hip hop. Craig and I were lucky enough to find Gavin of Home Grown Blends while sneaker shopping at the Adidas store downtown. He doesn’t typically do weddings, but agreed to do ours and he was just as entertaining as we remembered him. We received a lot of compliments on the music selection and original beats both during and after the reception and the dance floor packed all night long!

3.) Find vendors you want to work with! When planning a wedding, so much of your wedding experience is based on the people you choose to work with. Craig and I were really lucky to find amazing, creative, on-it people, who were not only excited about our wedding, but loved our story and vision and were really into helping us tell it through every last detail.

Venue: New Children’s Museum
Stationary, Website and Event Design: Megan Manning (bride)
Photography: He and She Photography
Videography: Andrew Lang
Rentals: Anar Furniture Rentals
Ceremony Musicians: Andrew Sablan and David Manuel
DJs: Andrew Sablan Gavin and Rex of Home Grown Blends
Caterer: Water’s Catering
Beverage Caterer: Best Beverage Catering
Cake: Sweet Cheeks Baking
Wedding Dress: elyseREUBEN Custom Couture
Hair and MakeUp – Adrianna De Los Reyes & Jennifer Stein

If you want to see more from this fun creative wedding, be sure to check out He and She’s Blog – thanks Erin + Randy :)

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