Real Wedding | Jesse and Tyler

This week I’ve got a bright and summery wedding with lots of great DIY details! The bouquet is absolutely stunning, and so is the bride! And I’m just loving the beautiful shots from Jacob and Christin of We Heart Photography!

The gorgeous Jesse gives us the details:

For Tyler and me, priorities included 1) facilitating as many people as possible (within the scope of both budget and space) 2) creating a atmosphere of free movement (we wanted people table hopping, not confined to one seat) 3) GREAT music 4) Excellent photographers. I am happy to say that we were able to facilitate all of these things!

When we were looking for a wedding venue we were hoping to find a place to facilitate 250- 300. This led us to the Rancho Bernardo Courtyard and The Village Church in Rancho Santa Fe. Both have similar structural themes (Old yet modern Spanish/ mission style) and seemed perfect for our number of expected guests. The courtyard is built for movement, but to further create the atmosphere, we had food tables, and a open bar. These became places where people would gravitate, mingle and move.

In planning there was much conversation regarding the comfort of our guests, and how to ensure them a fabulous time. This is where some of my favorite details came into play, my Mom (a creative genius) made cozy wraps (out of fleece blankets from Ikea) for guests to use after the sun went down, guests were encouraged to take the wraps home. She is currently making these wraps for a dear friend’s wedding next week. They were a huge hit. As for the fabulous time, Tyler is a guy who is always ready and able to bring life to a dance floor, he and his mom shook things up with a mother son dance to Rockin Robin, this dance was followed by choreographed surprise groomsmen dance to Party Rock. Our guests were welcomed onto the dance floor by the groomsmen and continued to dance the night away.

Many of the decorations at the wedding were DIY. My favorites are listed below:

Large paper “fans” hanging in the trees, trio of small paper “fans” hanging in trees, white Ikea lanterns with circular paper decorations/ribbon on belly bars, doily “streamers” hanging on balcony of courtyard/ laid as table runner, wrapped vintage books with lace ribbon for centerpieces, Pacific Sun Olive Oil guest gift – labels created by my mother, oil bottled by my younger cousins and Aunts- (It is a family company), and paper circle garland for the pews at the Church, sewed by my mother.

Although I loved these projects, my favorite decorations from this special day were the flowers. We had an absolutely fantastic florist, Minnette Nichols-Roy of Organic Design, created the most beautiful bouquet I have ever seen for me to carry down the aisle. She created gorgeous arrangements for the table centerpieces, church, and the bridesmaid’s bouquets. At the base of my bouquet my Mother sewed earrings from two of my great grandmothers, and Tyler’s grandmother Van (this was my something old).