The bride and her mother worked so hard to coordinate all the planning beforehand and I had so much fun bringing it all together the day of and pulling off their vision. Depsite this, it was also one of my most difficult weddings as well. It was set in beautiful Ventura, California, but between a combination of hot, hot sun that kept me in a constant sweat, gusts of winds that brought down some of the lighting and the seating chart during set up, and lots and lots and lots and lots of endless (but fabulous) details that needed to be set out in a short amount of time; I had my work cut out for me!
The wedding was partly inspired by the location, a lovely lemon grove. Guests were invited to pick lemons during the cocktail hour and the candy bar was set up on a vintage lemonade stand.
The rest of the wedding used lots of other vintage and rustic touches. There was:
vintage bird cages
music sheets
old books
mercury glass centerpieces (created by the bride)
antique style art
and vintage furniture
Mercury Glass! I love mercury glass, I love it so much. All my Christmas tree ornaments for the past five years have been Mercury Glass and I knew I wanted to have the look of it in my wedding. Lucky for me the reproduction stuff was popular and I was able to easily find vessels for my center pieces, and make clear glass look like Mercury glass with mirror paint. Burlap was another must have for the wedding, and I was able to find the stuff for cheap on Craigslist another great resource for DIY brides. I found table runners and an aisle runner already trimmed with lace for a steal from an ad on Craigslist. Overall I knew I wanted my wedding to have a vintage feel and went with: mercury glass, burlap, lace, bird cages, vintage furniture and vintage sheet music.
And a final word from the bride regarding hiring a coordinator for her big day:
I hired my coordinator for the month of since I had all the major things planned, and I was able to hand over everything to her so she could follow-up with vendors and make sure everything was on track and she helped me think of things I didn’t think of since I am not a wedding planner and she was able to procure those vendors or items for me. My photographer couldn’t believe how relaxed I was.
Vendors
Event Coordinator: Enchanted Events & Design
Photographer: Meagan Ramirez of The Collective Photographers
Catering: Plated Events by Jason
Cake Baker: Marie Shannon Confections
DJ: The Wedding Music DJ's
Lighting: Ideal Lighting & Sound
Equipment Rentals: Ventura Rentals
Specialty Foods: Taco Man George
Specialty Foods: The Cappuccino Club
Event Venue: Limoneira Ranch