Our Wedding

After 11 months of engaged bliss, Andrew and I got married! After going back and forth may times about if we should elope or not, we decided on a small mostly-family backyard wedding. My parents live on 2 and 1/2 acres and have a beautiful backyard, so we knew that would be the perfect spot. We wanted to keep things simple but beautiful, so we really tried to let that lead our decision making.

In the end, we had around 100 people who traveled from Hawaii, New Mexico and even Australia to celebrate with us. We served organic wood-fired pizza from Stella’s Pizza Pie for dinner, and had the best cherry pie and apple pie for dessert. We did not have bridesmaids or groomsmen, just some cute flower girls and a ring bearer for good measure! M dress was $500 and it was hand-made to fit me – and I didn’t even order it until 2 months before the wedding!

Here are some of my favorite snapshots of our night, thanks to our AMAZING photographer Emily of Palinka Shots. She is seriously the funniest, sweetest and most talented photographer I know. She made everyone feel so comfortable – they loved her – and she caught the magic of our night so perfectly.

The tables we rented are from Circa Vintage Rentals and they were perfect and simple – no table cloth needed! I had our florist make simple eucalyptus garlands to go down the center of the tables. My parents actually have a HUGE eucalyptus tree in their front yard, so a few days before the wedding my Dad cut a few buckets of branches and took them to our florist. I was pretty much the only one who knew, but it made the night just a little extra special. We also used battery-operated candles so they would stay lit in case it was at all breezy – but it wasn’t. It was the most perfectly clear, calm and warm night.

We got married under this chandelier that hangs in my parents backyard under an arbor covered in Wisteria. The wisteria was not blooming in October, but was still beautiful.

We added flowers to the eucalyptus garlands on the sweetheart table, which was more cost-effective tan doing that for all the tables and it also made our table a little extra special.

We decided not to do a first-look and I was nervous about that, but ended up being really happy with that decision. The anticipation of seeing each other at the ceremony was so special, and when we finally did see each other as I was walking down the aisle we were both so overcome with emotion. It was so special seeing my soon-to-be-husband crying with happiness and it’s a moment I will never forget.

Our ceremony was written and performed by the pastor of our church, where Andrew and I have been attending since a few months into our relationship. I’m going to keep a lot of the ceremony pictures to ourselves, but here are some from after the ceremony!

I wanted my flowers and flower crown to be “backyard garden fiesta” and I have to say our florist nailed it. They were beautiful and also MAN THAT BOUQUET WAS HEAVY. I love the pops of pink and light peach and I felt like a bohemian princess all night in that flower crown.

My dress is from Kite & Butterfly – they are two sisters and designers from Australia and those are actually their names – Kite and Butterfly. Working with them was a dream. I wanted a simple, comfortable, bohemian dress than didn’t break the bank and they more than delivered. My dress arrived by mail and it slipped right on & was so comfortable that I could have worn it as pajamas. I wore gladiator-style lace up sandals that were from Target and cost $20.

The extent of our wedding party. SERIOUSLY THOUGH. How freaking adorable are they? The flower girls wore flower crowns too and carried miniature versions of my bouquet. Our ring bearer, Eli, is the son of one of my best friends and he took his job VERY seriously. It was adorable.

We had so much fun at the reception, it was amazing to be surround by so many friends ad family. I love that Emily got so many amazing and fun pictures from the reception, including OUR FOOD!

We were originally thinking of having a taco truck serve at our wedding and I still love that idea (because TACOS) but one day I was driving on the 405 freeway (okay, sitting in traffic on the 405 freeway) and I saw a truck pulling a pizza oven and it said Stella’s Pizza Pie on the side. I told Siri to remind me to look them up later and when she did, I discovered that they cater weddings! I contacted them and it was a match made in heave. They have so many different options for pizza and salad, and they could even do gluten-free crust for my Mom, leave the cheese off for our vegan friends, and vegetarian pizza is easy! Plus, pizza and salad felt very “backyard garden party/fiesta” don’t you agree?

Everyone from Stella’s was amazing and the pizza was a hit. My personal favorite was The Fig Fantastico pizza – it was DELICIOUS. Being the bride and groom, we got one of each kind of pizza delivered directly to our sweetheart table. THANK YOU JESUS.

And then before we knew it, it was TIME FOR DESSERT. Early on in the planning I knew I wanted a donut wall, but it took some convincing my family. My mom thought it was a weird idea and that no one would eat the donuts. I kept telling it was a GREAT idea and that “of course drunk people will eat donuts off of a wall”. In the end, my Dad custom build the donut wall and I ordered the “All You Need is Love and Donuts” sign from Etsy. I added faux flowers and greenery from Michaels to complete the wall.

Donuts are from Krispy Kreme and I am happy to say that we ordered NINE DOZEN donuts and at the end of the night, there wete only 7 left. Boooooyah!

We also opt

ed to serve pie instead of cake BECAUSE IT’S SO MUCH BETTER. Especially these pies. Sweet Lady Jane makes the best deep-dish pies I’ve ever had the pleasure of tasting – and Oprah agrees with me too. Their cherry pie is one of Oprah’s Favorite Things and also one of my favorite things, so it was a no brainer, really.

The “I Love You. I Know” cake topper is also from Etsy and is a nod to Andrew’s beloved Star Wars.

Everyone danced, drank, ate donuts and feasted on cherry pie and apple pie. It was pretty fantastic, in my opinion. We even had some pie left over and it was just as good the next day.

My Dad, Andrew’s brothers and Andrew’s best friend all gave toasts that were hilarious and touching and made everyone laugh and cry. They were so incredible special and we will never forget them.