Real Wedding: Christie + Josh’s Elegant Backyard Wedding

I met Josh almost a year ago. We both have graphic design backgrounds and had a blast talking about design, photography and weddings. I remember Josh talking about his then girlfriend and how he was about to propose and that she already loved reading Green Wedding Shoes. Of course I loved that and was so excited once he finally proposed. Well, Josh + Christie were married last month and I’m so excited to share their wedding today. They hired the amazingly talented Hugh Forte to photograph their day and I’m in love with their photos – just so sweet! A bit about their day from the couple:

We wanted our theme to be “backyard elegance” but we didn’t want to worry about it too much partly because we had a smaller budget. Our venue was so pretty on it’s own that we felt we didn’t need a lot of flowers or details to distract from it. We came across the heart idea kind of by chance and Josh’s mom ran with it making all of the cloth hearts. It turned out to be a symbol of the overall theme – love. Not only our love for each other, but the love shared, expressed and felt by everyone of our guests.

wedding dress hanger with name

Did you notice the hanger says “Mrs. Elliott” – how cute!

yellow wedding bouquet

yellow groom tie

wedding under a tree

Most memorable moment of your wedding day? When we finally got to see each other! We had been waiting all day for this moment and when it arrived, we couldn’t keep it together… we both teared up with joy and excitement. Because of the venue layout, Josh had to turn around until Christie was at the end of the aisle and then he took his cue from the DJ to turn and see his beautiful bride.

wedding hearts sewn

bridal party
wedding photography hugh forte

wedding reception table

wedding daisies

yellow billy balls

wedding photography hugh forte california

wedding cakes

wedding dance under lights

Any advice for those planning now? 1. HIRE A COORDINATOR… even if it’s just for “day of”, trust us, it is completely worth it to not have to worry about anything the day of your wedding. 2. Take your time to enjoy the process… yes, it can be VERY stressful at times, but for us it was all worth it. We called in a lot of favors from family and friends including borrowing all vases for center pieces and cake cutters for all the cakes. You’d be surprised at how many of your friends WANT to help and let you borrow their stuff. ;) We had our dream wedding and we couldn’t have done it without everyone involved.

We feel so blessed that our wedding was so perfect and we want to thank Green Wedding Shoes for providing A LOT of the inspiration for us. So many of our guests shared that it was the most beautiful wedding they’d ever been too and we just feel so lucky that everyone including us enjoyed it sooo much! We left wanting more which is a good way to end the celebration.

Vendors
Venue: The Tea House On Los Rios, San Juan Capistrano, California
Photography: Hugh Forte AMAZING! You can see more from their wedding here on his blog.
Wedding Dress: Nicole Miller
Hair and Makeup: Hair: Jenna Moody, Makeup: Megan Fowler
Shoes: Lucky Brand
Bridesmaid Dress: BCBG
Hairpieces: Handmade by the seamstress out of left over material from the dress
Groom Suit: Alfani RED Slim Fit (Macy’s)
Event Design: All ideas and implementation were designed and created by Josh + Christie with inspiration from Green Wedding Shoes. The cloth hearts in the center pieces, aisle and hanging in the trees were all hand made by Josh’s mom – 50+ in total.
Event Planner: In The Now Weddings
Floral Design: Rebecca Taylor (friend’s sister who just does this for fun)
Invitations/Paper Goods: designed and printed by Josh
Cake: Christie’s mother made ALL of the cakes including a gluten-free bride and groom cake. :) We had several varieties of flavors to give our guests a choice.
Music: DJ: Peter Merry, Merry Weddings. Live music during communion: Jadon Lavik
Catering: AMAZING mediterranian food by California Kebab… highly recommended if you’re looking for a casual yet elegant menu. It worked out perfectly with our outdoor theme and venue.

Thanks so much you guys and best wishes for an amazing life together! Josh is also a talented photographer. :) Be sure to check his work out here.

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