Wedding: Theme and Inspiration

This one goes out to the newly affianced.

Congratulations! You are probably in this whirlwind of bliss. I never expected to love the engagement period as much as I did. Growing up, I knew I always wanted a wedding but I was not by any means saving a plethora of ideas onto the Pinterest board prior.

During the wedding planning process, it’s important to sit back and realize, this is probably your first time ever planning a wedding. You won’t know everything you have to cover, so it’s okay if you miss something along the way. Family and friends know me as the most as an organized, planning obsessed, itinerary making guru — but I stayed sane and grounded through the process by coming back to the fact that this is was going to be a first time adventure. One thing that helped was coming across genuine wedding planning tips from fellow past brides.

Here are some of my thoughts on planning my wedding + my own personal tips listed at the end:

*the overall ‘inspiration’ for their wedding design/decor We knew immediately that we wanted a romantic garden wedding with the slightest modern touch. Our inspiration came from our first romantic vacation together, Paris and San Sebastian. The ethereal touches of ivy in our reception reminded us of the ivy scaling Parisian homes and businesses. When we toured Scripps Seaside Forum for the first time, the hilltop seaside venue and beach backdrop reminded us of our summer nights in the French-Spanish city, San Sebastian. After seeing the modern architecture building in person and playing out the logistics of having our wedding there in our heads, it was quickly decided that the venue was the one. We really wanted to achieve the minimalist “less is more” feel to not take away from the uniqueness of the venue. Not a lot of venues can offer a panoramic view of the ocean from ceremony to sunset to reception. 

*any DIY touches Believe it our not, we did our Save the Dates, Invitations, Menu, and Wedding Signs all ourselves! All stationary and calligraphy done by yours truly, bride and groom. It was very helpful to have a groom with a masters in Architecture and be savvy and have friends with acrylic laser cutters. I can recall several fun nights after work, sitting in our living room, thinking about what we wanted our stationary details to look like. We stumbled upon a sign that said “You Look Thirsty” for the bar and that inspired us to make our Seating Chart table read “You Look Hungry”, it was also fitting since our friends and family know we are food aficionados. One thing I had a lot of fun but also sleepless nights doing was researching and collecting vintage stamps for our Formal Invitations. The theme I went with were places where we have lived or our families live. The collection ranged from cable cars of New Orleans, to North Carolina state flower, a vintage Florida Stamp and last but not least, the famous Seals found in La Jolla, San Diego, California. That was probably one of my favorite touches. however… now greatly appreciate that stamps nowadays have adhesive on them. Vintage stamps however, don’t.

*their favorite moments of the day Our favorite moment had to be our surprise bridal party dance that broke our from the bride and groom First Dance. We had a friend of ours help choreograph a dance to one of our favorite songs, Fleetwood Mac “Everywhere”. The dance involved a solo moment for the groom, the groomsmen using a traditional Vietnamese hat as a prop and a whole lot of disco fingers. Tied for favorite moment had to be our family and friends coming to us raving about the most amazing sunset they ever saw during our entire wedding reception introductions and first dances. If you live in Southern California and you know about Fall sunsets, you know what we are talking about.

*advice for future brides/grooms
– have fun during the planning process, it doesn’t have to be stressful, find a couple of things that you both want to tackle together and make time for it

– remember this is your day, no matter what happens, everyone is there to celebrate the two of you and its going to be great no matter what

– bounce around ideas with each other on how to incorporate personal touches about each other. It can be anything! Be creative or get inspired by something you see. It’s your day, you can do whatever you want.

– your wedding day is going to be better than you planned. That is a fact. Trust me, you’ll know what we mean after.

Cheers! xx