santacruz

Do-It-Yourself | Welcome Wedding Sign

ALL THINGS WEDDINGS, Do-It-Yourself Wedding Projects

For this project I went to my local Goodwill and purchased the cheapest frame in the size and color that went with my wedding theme. 

I then used my Silhouette Cameo 3 to create and cut out the design using gold Cricut vinyl. Measured the width of the glass frame to determine how large to cut out the design. Choose your favorite font and design, cut, weed, and place the design on your frame.

My father build a redwood stand to hold the frame and I had the florist add a nice floral wreath to add the finishing touches. 

The one thing I absolutely loved is that it definitely set the tone for guests arriving to the wedding ceremony. 

The downfall is that the glass made the wording a little challenging to see at a distance. Looking back, I wish I had either used a different color vinyl so it would’ve been easier to see at a distance or placed a plain paper in the frame so it wasn’t clear. But regardless I still love the welcome sign!

Photography: Danyelle Dee Photography

Wedding Venue | Chaminade Resort and Spa

ALL THINGS WEDDINGS

Our beautiful wedding ceremony location! Once I visited I knew instantly that this is where I wanted to say “I Do”.

There were certain things that I knew I wanted in a wedding venue. First I wanted the venue as outdoors as possible. We got married in August so it’s still very warm at that time of year in California. His venue was great because the ceremony was under this beautiful floral arbor and then the cocktail hour was outdoors as well. The reception was technically indoors but we had access to the courtyard where the cocktail hour was held which was outdoors. The courtyard was just through a double set of doors so you could still see the dance floor even if you were outdoors enjoying the nice evening weather.

Wedding Venue: Chaminade Resort and Spa


Location: Santa Cruz, California

The second most important thing was obviously cost. This venue was a little more costly than my original budget BUT the wedding coordinator did everything she could to make my dream wedding happen. We had an alternative menu and I diy’d most of the decor so I was able to stay on budget. I also didn’t do any upgrades that were offered in the wedding packages mostly because I didn’t think they were necessary but to also stay on budget.

Those were really my only two top priorities. Location was important but most of our family and friends are local or within a couple hours so I knew Santa Cruz was already a good location. Santa Cruz also offers so much and since we got married on a Friday that gave our guests the opportunity to make a mini vacation out of the weekend.

The staff, resort amenities and accommodations, and our overall experience at Chaminade Resort and Spa was phenomenal. I would do this day 1000 times over if I could!

Do-It-Yourself Ceremony Programs

ALL THINGS WEDDINGS, Do-It-Yourself Wedding Projects

I found this awesome free printable for our wedding programs via Pinterest. I loved how when it downloads it’s a Microsoft program so you can completely personalize the programs to your liking. The only things I changed was the wording and the font style. Other than that the design worked great with our wedding style! 

Photo Credits: Danyelle Dee Photography

Items purchased:

– Heavyweight card stock. Choose a weight that you’re comfortable with. Remember the thicker the paper the harder to get a crisp fold. I used a boning tool to help create a more defined crease. My cardstock is the color ivory and purchased at Staples.

– Print/photocopy the programs. I printed one copy at home and had Staples make copies.

I combined the programs with a wand to wave instead of throwing birdseed. Unfortunately no one used the wands once we were announced Mr. and Mrs. but it was a fun piece for children to play with while formal pictures were being taken. 

– Dowels: choose a width that suits your preference. I purchased mine at Walmart. 

– Ribbon: I chose two different ribbons to incorporate my wedding colors.

– Bells: the bells are to help make a cute ringing noise while they’re being waved. 

– Spray paint: I spray painted the dowels gold to help tie in my color scheme. 

Hot glue all the items together and you have a super cute wand!

Overall thoughts

Since I had a decent size wedding (approximately 140 guests) these programs were kind of a pain to make only because I had to produce a large quantity. I would definitely recommend either a girls night with wine and create an assembly line to help get these finished in a timely manner or for a smaller sized wedding. That being said I absolutely loved my programs and if I had to do it all over again I would probably deal with the carpal tunnel and make 140 all over again!

Bridesmaid Shoutout

ALL THINGS WEDDINGS

Like most brides I completely fell in love with my wedding gown the second I put it on. It really was one of those moments where I just knew this was the one. But probably unlike most brides the day of my wedding I couldn’t wait to take my gown off after 5 minutes of it being on!

On the Tuesday before my Friday wedding I went to pick up my wedding dress from the seamstress. It fit perfectly. After a few adjustments I took my dress home so excited to actually wear it in just a few days later. When the moment finally came to put it on there was an immediate sense of something wrong.

I’m not sure what the seamstress did in the hour between trying it on and taking it home that Tuesday before but it somehow became tighter around the hips and the clasp in the back was put on backwards!

It took my entire bride tribe approximately 15 minutes to clasp my dress!

With the clasp being backwards that meant it was also tighter around the chest so I couldn’t sit upright. I always had to lean backwards or just stand throughout the night. It was also so right around the hips that I couldn’t use the restroom! My sweet cousin offered to hold a cup down there but even a cup couldn’t make it past my knees. Can you imagine not using the bathroom?! And I wasn’t about to take the dress completely off because it took 15 minutes to clasp it the first time.

So as much as I love my dress and love this picture, it’s funny that at this exact moment I was actually stressed and irritated that my seamstress messed up so badly!

Behind the Veil | Wedding Story

ALL THINGS WEDDINGS

My husbands mom never had a daughter of her own so once we got engaged she told me she is so excited to finally have a daughter. When it came time to plan our wedding she offered me this round box. I opened the box and it was a veil. Her veil that she wore 30 years ago. She said if I wanted I could wear it on my wedding day.

Since she got married in the 80’s, I showed the veil to my mother who is amazingly crafty and artistic and she was able to modernize the veil by taking off some floral beading to create a broach instead of a headband. The removed flower beading was put to good use. Take a look at husbands boutonniere on my previous post! My mother also added lace from her wedding dress that she also wore 30 years ago which added not just detail to the veil but a whole lot of symbolism. I was wearing 60 years of proof that a long and happy marriage can exist.

When people ask me what my favorite part about my wedding day the first thing I say is saying “I do” to the man of my dreams. The second would be to have worn a veil that meant a whole lot more than just enhancing my wedding dress.

Photography | Danyelle Dee Photography

Choosing Wedding Shoes

ALL THINGS WEDDINGS

Loving my Toms wedding shoes!

I was looking for something comfortable, stylish, but also something more like a sandal because of our August wedding near the ocean. I thought these were perfect! These are the Champagne Grosgrain Women’s Clarissa Wedges via the Toms wedding line. I bought them online for a little over $70. Pretty inexpensive if you ask me! I love how the material goes all the way down instead of cork (which they have also if that’s your style). I feel like I can stay in these shoes all night long! I cannot wait to wear them!

My mother puchased another pair of wedding shoes and I was originally going to wear the ones she got. They’re actually the ones in my wedding photos but I didn’t actually wear them. I ended up wearing my Toms.

Here’s a slideshow of the shoes in my photos and the ones I actually wore.