Today’s wedding is so personal and full of lots of hand-crafted details. Annie + Harrison love all things creative and wanted their wedding to be a classically beautiful event. They choose the Clarke Estate in Santa Fe Springs (Los Angeles) as the perfect location. The gorgeous expansive lawn and the classic architecture of the home was a gorgeous backdrop for their day. Thanks so much to He and She Photography for sharing the lovely photos here with us today!
From Annie, “Our wedding started with our Save-The-Dates, which were handmade from vintage handkerchiefs that we screenprinted on our Gocco machine. We also used our Gocco to screenprint the treat bags for the cookie desert bar. For the wedding programs, we used recycled seed paper to print the program so that guests could take the paper home and plant it to grow a wildflower patch.
For decor, we each had our projects that we sweated over to make the day unique. I made 6 foot tall chalkboards from plywood and chalkboard paint and some very careful chalky calligraphy. I made a few with romantic quotes about love, some for the entrances and one for our very special drink menu.
Harrison had an ambitious and creative idea of making our altar from vintage window panes that would be filled with flowers. He has always helped me see the beauty in the normal things in life and this was one of those instances. He made the most beautiful backdrop that was just 5 vintage, worn window panes that he added barbed wire too and strung flowers on. It was the perfect way to highlight the over 30 foot tall bamboo tree forest we were standing in front of during the ceremony.
It was important for us to have a family style dinner because we wanted all of our guests to be engaged with each other and to make memories together. Our caterer did a wonderful job of orchestrating an Asian fusion family style dinner for so many people outdoors. Many guests loved sharing food this way and told us it was such a unique way of dining at a wedding. We topped it off with an espresso bar and a cookie desert bar that was attacked by our guests with a sweet tooth!
Our favors were a labor of love that seemed like a better idea when we made just a few. We eventually needed all of our friends to pitch in to get them done for all 200 guests! The ladies received a necklace made out of vintage keys and the gentleman received handmade cufflinks that Harrison and our friends made from map cutouts. Many friends received cufflinks with cities we knew would be special to them and they told us how honored they felt to get something so personal. Harrison and I always love making gifts personal and this was a great way to carry that out during the wedding.
The big surprise we had for our guests was a performance by the acapella group Bruin Harmony. We are a Bruin family and in love with musical shows like Glee, so this was the perfect entertainment to celebrate our relationship! They sang a medley of modern and classic songs that wowed us and the guests!
Looking back to our wedding day, we both put in so much love and work to preparing because we wanted to make it special for us and our family and friends. But when the day came, we took everyone’s advice and let the day-of coordinator handle all the stress while we just enjoyed all that we had planned! As advice to other brides-to-be, hire vendors that you love and that you trust because this will make all the difference on how you feel the week before. Things will go wrong, but it won’t matter that day because you will be so happy and surrounded by so much love all of those little things won’t and shouldn’t matter. I loved getting ready for our wedding and looking at wedding inspiration on our favorite blogs, but nothing beats how you feel on the big day!
And their sweet video from Lovespun Films – congrats to Annie + Harrison!
Photographer: He and She Photography // Videographer: Lovespun Films // Venue: Clarke Estate // Catering: Beacon Catering // Wedding Coordination: My Bride Story // Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier // Bride Shoes: Christian Louboutin // Hair and Makeup: Theresa Huang Makeup // Bridesmaids Belts: Anthropologie // Groom's Tuxedo: Thick as Thieves // Groom Shoes: Salvatore Ferragamo // Groomsmen Ties: The Tie Bar // Bartender: In the Mix // Cake: Filigree Cakes // Flowers: Boulevard Florist
So beautiful! It’s so rustic-chic!
wow, what a beautiful and talented couple – so unique, personal, and stunning!
Beautiful! Love the string of lights at the reception :-)
I love the seating and table decor! Rustic & casual!
The window divider is great!
Rog was here
such a gorgeous wedding with lots of great detailing. Its like an inspiration shoot because i’m now very inspired by this wedding!
The first video that has made me teary eyed…. So beautiful, these two radiate love.
I adore all of the gorgeous DIY aspects of this wedding. Holy wow. I wish I was that creative!
Thanks so much for sharing Jen :)
Totally adore it! Such attention to detail
Wow, I love this. The backdrop is so great, I can’t believe he made it himself! This couple will surely inspire many future brides with all their handmade details.
Omg, I looove the cufflinks idea! Can you pretty please get the bride to give us a DIY lesson?! I’m dying to know exactly how she did those :]
Could you start posting the budget & estimated time spent preparing for the weddings you post? It’d be interesting and helpful for folks trying to plan their own wedding.
Such a darling wedding!
I love Bruin Harmony!! Go Bruins :)
Congrats to the bride and groom!
What a beautiful wedding! I love the silk-screened handkerchiefs! What a lovely touch. Thank you so much for featuring this. Green wedding shoes is such an amazing site!
Ummm, that video turned the waterworks on over here! So so so beauitful and touching! Wish you two the very best in life and love!
oh wow, crazy! annie’s engagement ring is actually the inspiration for my own! i did a double take when i saw their names, that’s awesome that you’re showcasing their wedding :) love it, it’s beautiful!
Oh my goodness, this is so beautiful. I actually swooned.
i love this wedding! we used a very similar idea for our centerpieces – the flower boxes from ikea and filled them with live plants, which i wrote about here: http://equalitywedding.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/weddings-by-ikea/ thanks for sharing – this looks like such a sweet day!
Annie and Harrison were a dream to work with… they were also super organized and detailed! Christine and I, with the help of the rest of the My Bride Story team, were able to set up all of her DIY projects and everything turned out beautifully. Thank you to GWS for featuring this wedding!! I believe that Annie started on her projects months in advance (probably 4-5 months.. and worked on stuff a little bit at a time.. ) It was truly a labor of love… :)
I love it! I was just meeting with a bride today that wants to use burlap in her wedding, thanks for the inspiration!
What a beautifully simple wedding! I love the feeling of the rustic textures, the burlap, mosses and papers with little pink accents throughout the wedding. So cute!
beautiful wedding! I like these old windows..
Thanks soo much to everyone for the kind words! We loved every minute of planning (well…there may have been a few tiring minutes along the way)! We loved all of our vendors and it was a labor of love. I’ll be blogging about how we did all of the DIY things on my new blog: http://www.theshinylife.com. Good luck to all future brides out there!