Overjoyed to be blogging this wedding from back in June 2017. I was waiting because the lovely Grey Likes Weddings just featured it yesterday (you can see the live publication here).
Rebekah’s wish was to have her wedding at a private estate, and I was able to secure a gorgeous venue in Bonny Doon, CA. Rebekah and Adam both work full time jobs and had no desire for the nitty-gritty planning, so they brought me on as both their planner and creative director for all the design elements of their wedding. This is obviously a planner’s dream! They did, however, have a pretty tight budget (13k), but together with the other incredibly gifted vendors they achieved exactly that. BONNY DOON GARDEN CO. designed the loosely flowing greenery of the tablescapes, the bride’s sweet bouquet of anemones, and the pop of color on the arch which brought a simple but elegant vibe to this lovely wedding. And my bestie, Amanda Az was there to photograph all the special moments of Rebekah and Adam’s big day (one of my favorite parts of the day!).
Some of my favorite tips and takeaways when planning on a budget:
- This was quite the challenge as you come to learn that nice weddings are never inexpensive. I was beaming when I showed them our final budget checklist, coming in right at their mark. My hope is for all new brides who see this stunning wedding is that they can remain hopeful in knowing that you don’t have to break the bank for the wedding of your dreams.
- Hiring a planner who has connections is key — and knowing where to spend and what to splurge on, vs. what to forego.
- We opted for a buffet dinner for guests, but were able to splurge a bit on gorgeous chargers to adorn the tables, along with thank you tags I personally designed, attached to a greenery sprig.
- I wanted to include simple yet special elements to the wedding details, which included personalized honey pots and succulents for guests to take home as favors. Huge shout out to Andrea of Wilde Script for making my other vision come to life in her design of some gorgeous signage to accent the entire venue. I think one of my favorite touches were the seaglass blush escort cards!
