These two? They are amazing. Their love story leading up to the big day is one for their books, and we should place their big day in the same category. It’s perfectly them. And perfectly personal. Their “rustic-festive” vision for the day played out perfectly in the images from Photographs by Anjuli, and makes me want to break out my cowboy boots and join in on all the fun. Since I’m not able to do that, I’ll do the next best thing – cozying up with this seriously pretty gallery. See it all here.
From the Bride… After both living in teeny tiny Ocean Beach for many years just blocks from each other, it wouldn’t be until years later that Andrew and I actually met. Music has been the constant companion in our fun adventures of love. After several chance encounters at rock shows at the Casbah and the Belly Up, we both found ourselves at a screening of the rockumentary “It Might Get Loud,” which my awesome friend Mer convinced me to go to. Thanks, Mer! Andrew was sitting directly in front of us and on a date with someone else; he thought I was on a date with someone too, which I wasn’t. Then two days later came Street Scene, San Diego’s once awesome annual music festival. I found myself in the beer garden watching Modest Mouse when I looked over and saw Andrew with a solo cup of beer, and I am pretty sure he was only wearing one shoe. This is where we don’t agree about the story — even though I am 150% sure I walked up to Andrew, he will tell you he came up to me (NOT TRUE!). We talked about the rockumentray, both agreed Jimmy Page was amazing and that people should cut The Edge some slack ’cause he’s pretty amazing too. Andrew told me he was having a party the next night at the new house he had just moved into and that I should come, so this is where the exchanging of numbers officially happened. Thus began a week-long relationship of funny/ridiculous text messaging until Andrew got up the nerve to ask me out on a real date (via text message of course). Our first date was at a tiny little Mexican place called La Playita where we ate shrimp ceviche and drank Pacifico micheladas and both nervously talked way too much. I should mention that Andrew showed up in a unicorn tie-dye t-shirt that Amanda (bff/roomate of five years) did not approve of for a first date. But as I would come to find out, it would be one of many tie-dye t-shirt dates we would have.
Andrew and I got married on August 18, 2012, at the incredibly amazing Ranch at Bandy Canyon in San Pasqual Valley, just outside of San Diego. Andrew and I met through music, so we really wanted that to be the center of our big day. Our wedding invite included a CD (that looked like a record) with a playlist dedicated to California. We designed and handmade each of our save-the-dates and invitations, as well as the programs (that was quite a feat in itself!). Lots of glitter, scissors, glue and love. We had a live band play the whole night — our friends Rio Peligroso — and they were stellar. Andrew played a few songs with them, and my favorite moment of the whole day was when Andrew played and sang Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend” to me, which caused lots of tears.
We wanted our guests to just kick back and enjoy the evening; there was a lot of tequila drinking and boot stomping on the dance floor. We named the dress attire “rustic festive,” which we think we pulled off pretty well. We tried to reflect our personalities as much as possible in everything — the décor, song choices, food, and cocktails. We had many DIY projects leading up to the big day; our house was turned into a full on arts and crafts studio. Wrapping all of our table bottles in jute was probably the most time consuming project, but I loved it. Glittering horses and spray painting bottles was so fun! Making the marquee letters was a bit of a challenge, but boy, were we glad we had them! They set the backdrop for the whole reception. I found the metal letter shells on Etsy and then followed a DIY tutorial. Etsy was a huge resource for us; we found all the groomsmen’s bolo ties, as well as many other great finds there. Although we didn’t make them, our glass boot mugs were a hit! I got them from a chef/restaurant supply company in San Diego, and everyone got to take one home. Our guest book was a drawing of a VW bus where guests put their finger prints on it to look like balloons carrying us away. We had so many ideas and got really wrapped up in planning especially in the beginning that we tried to take a few days here and there to not do any wedding-related things — that was a huge help!
Wedding Photography: Photographs by Anjuli / Wedding Venue: The Ranch at Bandy Canyon in Escondido, California / Event Design: The Bride & Groom / Wedding Day Coordination: Jessica Gillon of Events By Design / Wildflowers: Impulsive Flowers / Catering: MIHO Gastrotruck / Cake, Cookies + Tarts: Sweet Cheeks Baking Company / Bartending: Event Beverage Solutions / Band: Rio Peligroso / Deer Cake Topper: A Fox Wedding / Guest Book VW Bus Drawing: bleu de toi / CD Sleeves For Invites: Kraft & Jute / DIY Supplies: Save on Crafts + Koyal Wholesale / Wedding Dress: Sue Wong / Bride’s Crown: whichgoose / Bride’s Boots: Vintage / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: After Six / Bridesmaids’ Earrings: love sexton / Groom’s Bolo Tie: A Family Heirloom / Groomsmen’s Bolo Ties: Various Etsy Shops / Flower Girl Crown: Untamed Petals
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