The Wedding That Started It All

Mar 11

Or, in other words, our wedding! Long before I became a wedding planner or opened my wedding planning business in California and Savannah, Georgia, I married my best friend!! We were citizens of two different countries with very little money to spend. We were struggling with jobs because of our constant traveling back and forth and so everything we had went to paying for the required government visa. My parents had to pay for the whole wedding and so by today’s average wedding spend, we got married on the cheap!!! It came to about $8k in total for 45 people. This meant that we all had to get crafty and cut corners where we could…

bride and groom kissing in garden ceremony

Matthew and I got married in the sleepy little beach town of La Selva Beach, California. A longtime family friend (and my “fairy godmother”) who had a love of gardening, the ocean, and sparkly things offered us her backyard when a local beach wedding spot fell through. I was silently jumping for joy when she kindly offered up her home, as my dream was always to have a backyard ceremony. I loved the idea of a quaint, intimate, family-oriented gathering in a backyard shaped by love and hard work.

We had another family friend register to officiate our wedding and since I was very particular about what was said, I basically wrote everything for him! Matt and I exchanged personal vows and 15 minutes later, the deed was done! We were married! To all engaged couples, I cannot stress how much time flies on your wedding day! As my fairy godmother mentioned to me, make sure you stop every now & then to take a mental picture of your day so you have memories to last you a life time. I followed her advice and I’m so happy I did because all those candid, intimate mental snapshots are now my treasured memories.

As our guests travelled 20 minutes down Highway 1 to our next venue for cocktail hour, the lovely Majesta Patterson captured our couple portraits on the nearby beach cliffs that are covered with giant eucalyptus tress. Just look at how breath-taking the location is!

The cocktail hour and reception were held at a boutique restaurant with AMAZING food in Moss Landing, California called the Haute Enchilada. The restaurant itself is filled with vibrant colors and garden art. In the back, they also have a small Social Club which can be rented for a very reasonable fee and includes local art along the walls. We entered to the English national anthem waving our hands as if we were the Queen and King, themselves! Everyone had a laugh and then it was time to dig into the food and boogie! The Haute Enchilada really went above and beyond. The food and open bar were my main focus for the evening. I wanted to make sure everyone left with a full belly and a bit of a buzz. Our menu included fried squash blossoms, empanadas, a taco bar, chicken mole, and more!

We didn’t have much to entertain guests during cocktail hour which was a lesson learned. For all my couples, I highly suggest some fun activity to occupy guests’ time such as: lawn games, photo booth/Polaroid selfie station, strolling magician, or other any cool idea. For our guest book, rather than actual book with signatures, we choose to have guests create a bucket list for us! Examples included swimming with dolphins, sky diving, and more!

My aunt has a baking company and crafted all of the desserts. Our wedding cake was chocolate with a raspberry puree filling and a groom’s cake shaped like the English flag, made with Victoria sponge. She also created brownie pops as our party favors and I couldn’t be more stoked with how those turned out! The whole evening was perfect for us and at the end, a handful of us went to Downtown Monterey to hit up Alvarado St. in full dress for some more drinks and fun. Looking back, the only thing I would change would be to hire a videographer. Photographs are certainly well worth the money but video captures all those heartfelt little moments and energy from your friends and family. If you are getting married soon, 100% hire a videographer, even if it’s a local kid in college because those moments are priceless.