When you live in Pasadena, California, selecting a wedding location is a serious no-brainer.  You stay right where you are.  Which is exactly what this stunning duo chose to do, marrying just a few miles from their childhood homes at the beautiful Annandale Country Club with 340 of their closest friends and family on hand to celebrate every last moment.  Also on hand?  The ever-wonderful JAC Photography, who captured minute after minute of pure pretty in the form of beautiful blooms by Flowers by Sharen and one very stunning Monique Lhuillier gown.  Join me in the gallery to see it all.

 

From the Bride… For Robert and me, friends and family are paramount, and we knew that we (along with our two very social sets of parents) would want to be sure to include everyone in the celebration. With that in mind, we opted to marry locally in Pasadena, within a few miles of where our families live and near where we both grew up. We were married at Robert’s family’s church, St. Bede in La Cañada Flintridge, with the reception following at my father’s golf club, Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena. We were honored to have 340 guests (plus a few crashers).

As with any wedding and the planning process, there were tense moments, as well as lucky breaks. Four of my 10 bridesmaids were eight months pregnant (or further along), and one ended up not being able to fly to make it. We face timed with her while we got ready at the Blo-Out Lounge in Pasadena. On the flip side, we were blessed with a beautiful 80 degree day (no small feat in Pasadena in August), and the rolling San Rafael Hills cast long shadows at sunset, making for some dramatic photos. Some things we splurged on, some things we saved on, and some things we did just plain differently. We went all in on music and alcohol, featuring the nine-piece band High Rize from the deBois agency in Los Angeles and arranging for our favorite local craft beer (Craftsman’s 1903) to be served alongside a selection of premium beer, wine and liquor. We saved on menus at each place setting and simply jotted down food and booze choices on rustic style chalkboards I made myself. Finally, in lieu of your standard wedding mementos, we ended up bringing in the In-N-Out truck for fourth meal. I think guests probably enjoyed chowing down a double-double late at night more than a votive candle to take home, but that’s just a guess.

All in all, it was easily the best day of our lives; a day spent, as we had pictured it, with friends and family and each other. Now when we go to church on Sunday or join our parents for a round of golf or dinner, we’re reminded of that day, all within just a few miles of where we’re beginning our lives together.

Wedding Photography: JAC Photography / Ceremony: St. Bede the Venerable in La Cañada Flintridge, California / Reception: Annandale Country Club in Pasadena, California / Floral Design: Flowers by Sharen / Late-Night Catering: In-N-Out Burger / Wedding Invitations, Programs + Paper Goods: Vellum & Vogue / Music: High Rize via deBois Entertainment / Rentals: Elegant Designs / Transportation: Big Woody Limos / Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier / Bride’s Shoes: Kate Spade / Hair + Makeup: Blo-Out Lounge

For two people who love to garden, craft and spend weekends scouring fab finds at the flea market, a DIY affair at Descanso Gardens couldn’t be a more perfect fit.  So, that’s exactly how this talented duo decided to tie the knot – in crafty vintage style surrounded by amazing furniture from Found Vintage Rentals and an awesome sweets table from Sweets Indeed.  (Yummy.)  See every beautiful moment captured by Garrett Davis Photography in the full gallery right here.      

 

From the Bride… After an eight-year courtship, Scott asked me to be his wife and made me the luckiest girl in the world. While I knew exactly how I wanted to design our day, I never could have imagined how truly magical it would be! The months leading up to our wedding were filled with days and nights of hand crafting specific details for the ceremony and reception. Our home is filled with vintage finds and crazy collections that we were able to incorporate into the decor. I’m a flea market junkie with a love for vintage furniture, and an avid crafter, so I knew I wanted to be hands on with most of the decor details. Knowing that the invitation was the first item guests would receive, I knew it would set the tone for our big day. I worked with Shannon of The Pixel Studio to bring this design to life. Our color palette was gray, pink, ivory and white. 

The flowers were tough. I really didn’t want to spend a large part of our budget on flowers, as they don’t last. In an effort to incorporate something that could be kept and replanted, we chose a few varieties of succulents that were complemented by white garden roses, ranunculus, and scabiosa pods. To this day, my family and friends are still enjoying the succulents from our wedding day. Scott and I love the outdoors and enjoy spending many hours in our garden and decided we wanted our wedding to take place at an outdoor venue. We fell in love with Descanso Gardens and chose the location because of the lush walkways and natural scenery. When we decided on a vintage look and feel, I knew I wanted to bring in Jeni from Found Vintage Rentals. We did not want to take away from the beautiful surroundings, so we chose a simple piece as an altar, which displayed a flower arrangement and our sand ceremony vases. We chose Pandora on Green in Pasadena for the reception because of its exposed ceilings, brick walls, polished concrete floors and wide, open layout. Having an open layout provided a blank slate for us to create the perfect atmosphere. 

We chose not to have a traditional cake for our wedding guests and decided instead to go with a dessert table. It was important that our dessert table included some of our favorite desserts and candies to be shared with our guests. Lucky for me, a good friend of mine is Marie of Sweets Indeed. She and I collaborated on the design of the dessert table and together picked vintage furniture pieces from the Found collection. Scott’s grandmother passed away a few months before the wedding, and we wanted to find a way to include her in our wedding day. Her milk glass cake stand was perfect for our bride and groom cake, which was the focal point of our dessert table! Our cake toppers were purchased through Etsy and not only included the bride and groom, but also included all of our fur kids. We desperately wanted to include our pugs in the ceremony, but Descanso Gardens did not allow animals. What better way to include them! Marie, my mom and I spent several days making the enormous backdrop for the dessert table. It was constructed from various fabrics and strung on a PVC pipe frame made by the groom. By the time the backdrop was finished, our house was covered in oodles of fabric remnants. Without the help of Sweets Indeed, none of this would have been possible! We are incredibly thankful to each and every person who helped us create and capture a day that was more amazing than we could have ever imagined!

Wedding Photography: Garrett Davis Photography / Ceremony: Descanso Gardens in Pasadena, California / Reception: Pandora on Green in Pasadena, California / Floral Design: Primary Petals /  Ceremony Beverage Station + Dessert Table Design, Staging & Signage: Sweets Indeed / Supplemental Desserts: Vanilla Bake Shop + Porch Pies / Wedding Invitations + Paper Goods: The Pixel Studio / Vintage Furniture + Lounge Styling: Found Vintage Rentals / Mr. & Mrs. Fabric Bunting: The Polka Dot Pickle / Peg Doll Wedding Cake Toppers: Knottingwood / Striped Paper Straws: Shop Sweet Lulu / Ring Bearer Pillow, Garters + Shoe Clips: DIY by the Bride + Her Mother / Guest Book + Seating Chart: DIY by the Bride / Bride & Groom Silhouettes: Cut Arts / Wedding Dress: The White Dress / Hair: Ericka Cole of Beauty Within / Makeup: Shay Halton / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Jack Forrest Couture

Vanilla Bake Shop and Found Vintage Rentals are members of our Little Black Book, Love what you see? Take a look at their portfolios.

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I must admit, I struggled putting together the post for this pretty-little backyard Pasadena wedding. There were too many handmade details to share that I simply couldn’t narrow it down! Almost everything at this celebration was handmade by the bride, her Mr. and their family + friends…and the result of hours upon hours of thrifting and crafting? Pure perfection. See the rest from Studio 28 in the full gallery!

Click here for the FULL wedding!

From the Bride… Every since I was a little girl, I have dreamed of getting married in my grandparents’ backyard. The home holds so many special memories for me, and is where my parents got married 32 years and two days before us. It’s also just a few blocks away from where Chris’ parents were married. My grandmother so graciously agreed to open her home and garden to us, and she even planted flowers in our wedding colors!

We wanted our wedding to be the best day ever, focused on our love and the love around us. My dad, who is an architect and home beer brewer, was the brains behind the set up (and the yummy home brew!). Chris and I came up with some ideas of how we wanted to separate the space into ceremony, cocktails, reception and games, and my dad designed away. The boys (Chris, my dad, my brother and Chris’ dad) took to building, while the girls had plenty of crafting and thrifting days. I had my grandfather’s wedding ring stitched in my dress to keep him close to me on my big day, and we drove off in the classic Cadillac that Chris’ grandfather gave to him, in his memory. From invitations and collecting mason jars to creating a fabric backdrop and hand-painting names on window panes, we were overwhelmed with the love and help from our family and friends. For our invitations, I painted flowers that we digitized and printed on our stationery, along with kraft postcards for RSVPs. We kept the rustic elegance theme that our invitations set in the décor, using mason jars, flowers in shades of coral and blush, burlap runners, bistro lights and lots of candles. I spent most of my weekends crafting with friends and family (and Chris!) and will be sharing many of my DIY projects on my blog, including the hand-painted rustic table numbers, custom place cards and flower girl tutus.

The best piece of advice that we were given was to be present and take it all in – and we did just that! Chris and I didn’t stress the small stuff but instead made sure to enjoy each and every moment of the biggest day of our lives. We wrote our own vows (along with the traditional vows), laughed at our own jokes, stood on the same sprinkler head my parents did on their wedding day and took it all in. And we had a day-of coordinator — get a day-of coordinator! It was such a relief knowing that we had a go-to person to handle anything that would come up (and that I wouldn’t know about it!).

Wedding Photography: Studio 28 Photo / Wedding Venue: The Bride’s Grandparents’ Home in Pasadena, California / Floral Design: Donna Embree / Wedding Day Coordination: Mary deSilva (A Family Friend + Retired Event Planner) / Catering: Royal Court Catering / Wedding Cake + Cupcakes: Sweet and Saucy Shop / Wedding Invitations: KC Hopper / Paper Goods: Designed by the Bride / DJ: High Resolution Productions / Wedding Dress: Pronovias “Harlem” via 2000 Dreams Bridal / Bride’s Sash: Enzoani “Diana” / Makeup: Liz DeRose / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Bill Levkoff