If you need a little spring in your step before heading off into the weekend, this downright darling Miami wedding by 13:13 Photography will do just the trick. Completely DIY and completely adorable, it is as budget-friendly as it is beautiful. All the friends and family involved had a hand in making it such a memorable affair, and I think they can most definitely pat themselves on the back for a job very well done! There is a weekend worth of wedding in the full gallery, so stop on by!
Our wedding, after a lot of work, turned out to be exactly what Dustin and I had envisioned. At first, I had wanted to get married on the beach since I’ve always been fond of the ocean. But once I started looking at the costs of Miami venues I knew that option was out of the question. I then resorted to the internet for venue options and happened upon this beautiful image of a wedding ceremony under a great old oak tree. It was stunning. Breathtaking. When I saw this, I knew this is what I wanted.
Dustin and I were high school sweethearts. We have been together over eight years so we have lots of memories all throughout Miami. One Valentine’s Day we had a picnic at Matheson Hammock Park in Coral Gables. And it just so happens to be filled with great old oak trees. Flash forward a few years, we visited the location and after wavering back and forth we decided to have our wedding ceremony in front of one of the oak trees. Our vision was a bit difficult to understand, especially for our family, but once November 14th came around, everyone LOVED the ceremony location. It was described as being very “us.” Easy going, rustic, and full of natural inspirations. I had ordered our save the dates prior to booking our venue. I followed our color scheme of aqua, tan and white and purchased scratch-off save the dates from unlesssomeonelikeyou on Etsy. Our guests thought it was fun and unexpected.
Our invitations proved a little more difficult. My friends and family say that I don’t like to make decisions, and they were proven right when I wavered back and forth between 3 or 4 designs. It finally came down to the tree design and our “logo.” I wanted to introduce our guests to the theme of our wedding, so I included an oak tree in the design with a “carved” heart and Y+D in the trunk. I designed every piece in the suite with the exception of the map which was designed by finelinestationery, another Etsy find. The pocketfold was actually a mistake. I had designed the invitations around a specific pocketfold, but used the measurements of another one with the wrong paper. So what did I do? Ordered the right paper and made my own pocketfolds! It came out for the best because Dustin was able to punch out a heart on each pocketfold showing part of the design. We wrapped the invitations in blue and white bakers twine with a tag and the guest’s name. Even after going through the ups and downs of this whole process, I’ve decided to open my own Etsy shop, ylovesd!
Attire-wise, I kept my dress flowy and fun, with a simple one-shoulder flower dress from David’s Bridal. My something blue was a gorgeous set of earrings from lulieyal– which I still love and wear today. The bridal bouquet was made up of white hydrangeas with bear grass and willow bark, with the handle covered in blue and white bakers twine. I had my something borrowed (from my sister)–2 lockets, each with an image of my father and grandfather that were tied to my bouquet. It was a beautiful way to remember them. For my bridesmaids, I only had two requirements –their dress had to be short and tan. My vision turned out perfect, because all four dresses were completely different but looked beautiful side by side. My hubby, Dustin wore a tan suit from Men’s Warehouse, while the groomsmen wore khaki pants and a white button down shirt. The best man opted to wear a khaki vest to set him apart, and all them adorned matching aqua ties. The ties were a nice pop of color. The cutest member of our wedding party was our beautiful niece, the flower girl. Of course me being “non-traditional”, her outfit needed to be fun and different. I ordered a tutu from TheDressUpChest–my fourth Etsy find so far. Being only three, she loved “dressing up” and the tutu was a perfect choice.
As far as the ceremony decorations, I wanted to keep it clean and simple. My wonderful brother and cousins woke up bright and early Sunday morning and brought the location to life. We hung white paper lanterns through out the branches of the massive oak tree. Following inspiration from our invitations, Dustin carved out a heart from wood and hung the heart with a Y+D (props used in our engagement session) at the base of the tree. A week before the wedding, we decided to scope out the location. My brother and Dustin thought it would be best to build a wedding platform to place in front of the tree. It turned out to be a great idea, as we were slightly elevated during our vows and it served as the perfect location for family portraits. We also placed lanterns at each corner of the platform and spread rose petals around the tree to complete the look. Down the aisle we placed shepherd hooks with hanging buckets filled with fresh blue and white hydrangeas. I also made “Tears of Joys” tissue packets and placed them in a basket for our slightly emotional guests. At the entrance of the park, we had Sarah from sarahedesigns create a rustic hand painted ceremony sign marking it’s location. It matched our theme perfectly and we plan on hanging it on the wall of our first home.
If you thought the ceremony was filled with DIY projects, the reception topped it all. The biggest, labor intensive project was our custom napkins. Each guest at our wedding would have their own dinner napkin along with a matching place card. Over the course of months, I purchased a total of six different fabric designs. My wonderful and amazing mother sewed every single napkin. Once all the sewing was done, I assigned each guest a napkin and table number and went to work on the place cards. The cards were punched on one side with a heart cut-out and the guest’s fabric swatch was glued in the place card. I printed the place cards and then stamped the table number a couple days before the wedding. We purchased a large corkboard and Dustin covered it with tan fabric. We slowly and painstakingly hung each place card in alphabetical order on the board. It was….breathtaking, a masterpiece. I can laugh about it now, but that project was well worth the time and effort. When our guests arrived at the reception venue, the Red Fish Grill (which was on the water!) they would locate their place card/hangtag, go to their table number and find their corresponding napkin. This was my favorite project and well worth the time spent on it.
For centerpieces, I had purchased aqua mason jars from ebay along with clear mason jars from my local grocery store. We arrange them on the table with blue and white hydrangeas and tied bakers twine along the rim with a tag featuring our Y+D logo and our wedding date. We cut and arranged all the flower centerpieces two days before the wedding. The table numbers I designed and printed and stuck them in white Ikea frames. I decided not to have just one guest book. Instead, I made 15 guest books, one for each table. Each book featured an image from our gorgeous Everglades-themed engagement session and a question. “What’s your favorite memory of us?” and “What is your hope/wish for us?” were a couple of our guest book questions. Looking back, each of our guest books offers more then a signature, we can laugh and cry about everyone’s message to us. For our cupcake table, Dustin helped me make a “Love is Sweet” sign out of dollies which we hung on the front of the table. Around the dance floor, we continued the theme by hanging white and aqua paper lanterns throughout the canopy.
Aside from a few details, we let nature serve as the major decoration. We were outside on a beautiful sunny day with palm trees swaying gently above us and the ocean wind gently breezing by. Both my hubby and I can attest that our wedding day was perfect. It was very us, and we did things the way we wanted, not what was expected. We couldn’t have done it without both of our families, who really helped us throughout the whole experience. For having a wedding budget under $12k in Miami, it was a great accomplishment on everyone’s part!
Photography: 13:13 Photogtaphy / Hair: Rose Mejia / Video: Marty Reinhardt / Band: Dexter Hurtado and students from UM’s School of Music / Cigar rollers: On-Site Cigars / Cupcakes: LA Sweets / Custom hand painted ceremony sign: Sarah Elizabeth Design / Ceremony Venue: Matheson Hammock Park in Coral Gables / Reception Venue: Red Fish Grill / Flower Girl Tutu: TheDressUpChest / Dress: David’s Bridal / Invitations: Fine Line Stationery / Save the Dates: Unless Someone Like You
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So adorable!! Love the pop of blue, and the floral detail in the bridal gown and some of the bridesmaids dresses. Really pretty.
This is a COOL wedding! Lanterns, light hued maids' dresses, twine... swoon! And onsite cigars... just Cool.
Love the ceremony decor!
Pretty! Just wondering where the bride got the "guest books" from. I'm thinking of doing something similar for my wedding and had a hard time finding small hardcover books.
Love those napkins! Gosh I wish I could sew!
Love all the paper goods! Did you design and print them yourself? Or who did you use? I am looking for something just like that for my wedding...Thanks!
Love the color! So pretty!
QUestion, what kind of fabric and what size should i purchase if I want to make my own napkins, too?
Beautiful wedding!
An amazing and beautiful wedding as it seemed to be exactly what the Bride and Groom wanted, Very Them. Absolutely wonderful.
I love how you captured all of the details so expertly! It's so much fun seeing all the little things that made a couple's wedding day so beautiful! All of the colors in this wedding are so gorgeous!
Loved the details in EVERYTHING...The pictures are gorgeous!! Stunning Bride and Groom
Love the details on the bride's bouquet!!! The couple are so cute!!
Oh, that's all so gorgeous!
I love all the details. I'm also sewing the napkins for my wedding, and would love to include hang tags with each guest"s name. Can you tell me how you were able to print names on the small hang tags? I've been searching for printable tags, but no luck so far. Thank you!
Love all the little details. So vibrant and just the right amount of blue!
Love the soft color tones--cool stuff
Thank you to everyone including my amazing photographers, Ashley & Phillip, as well as SMP for this wonderful post. It feels great to have people appreciate our wedding after so much labor and love went into it. :)
I'll try my best to answer everyone's questions...
@ Sharon - I ordered the guest books from Blurb. It's actually an empty "photo book" but they came out to less than $5 a piece. It was a fun twist to the traditional guest book.
@ Brittany - I designed mostly everything including my wedding invites. With the exception of my invites (printed with a professional printer), I printed everything else at home.
@ Jules - For the napkins, a typical dinner napkin is 18 square inches so one yard of cotton fabric gave about 4 napkins. My mom folded over the edges twice before sewing it with her sewing machine. If you have any other questions, just let me know. :)
@ Liset - the place cards weren't too hard just time consuming. I actually printed the names on a horizontal piece of paper, about 6 per page. Then I folded the page in half and cut out the rectangle, making sure the name remained centered. Then beneath the name, I used a heart punch. We pasted little strips of the fabric and closed the tag with glue. Then we just punched little holes at the top and pinned them on the board. If you need more directions, just shoot me an email. I took pics of the whole process. Visuals usually help me!
Thank you everyone for your amazingly nice comments - my hubby and I appreciate it!!!!!
how beautiful!!! we love the heart shape is so nicely used in the decor!
Hi Yessy,
Your wedding looked so personalized and fun!! I'm planning a wedding in Miami at the end of the year and I'm shocked at how you pulled it off for under $12k. That's amazing. Any pointers??
Such a pretty blue!
xo
I can't think of anyplace more romantic for a wedding
@ Eleanor - the biggest cost was the food. The wedding was on a Sunday during the day. Red Fish Grill is only open for dinner so having a lunch wedding didn't require us to buy out the restaurant which would have been very pricey. The food was still phenomenal. Another big saver was the ceremony location. We had it at a public park and all we did was rent out a pavilion nearby the oak tree. Sure there were still people walking by but they kept their distance and were respectful of the wedding going on. Those 2 things helped out with the budget big time - if you have any other questions, ask away! :)
Can you please tell me where you got your save-the-date cards? Thank you.
ashley + philip did a great job capturing this beautiful wedding!!
Such a fresh, beautiful wedding! I love the modern, gorgeous colors and all the romantic hearts!
Hi Yessy!
What a gorgeous day. It looks like it was such a lovely affair. Your guests were probably so happy! May I ask where you got the adorable "Mrs" hanger that your dress is on in your "getting ready" photos? I'd love to get some pretty and meaningful momentos for a dear friend who's getting married this summer and the hanger would be perfect!
Thanks!
Maureen
I love all the printed details, easpecially the save-the-date.
This is lovely. great wedding with great photography, makes me want to click more to see the rest of the beauty. Great details and color tone. So much fun and cheerful.
@ Ashley Dotson - I ordered them online from Unless Someone Like You. They have an Etsy shop.
@ Maureen - I ordered my hanger as well as hangers for my BMs from lilafrances on etsy. It takes a while to produce but she's the original and the best.
Thank you again for all the compliments! :)
Blue twine and hearts...sigh.....love
I absolutely love every detail of your wedding! Truly beautiful! One question, was it a small wedding? How many guests? Just wondering how on earth you were able to keep your budget around 12,000!
What a beautiful bride!
@Yessy,
Your wedding was just beautiful, very creative. My stepmom which works with your mom was telling her about your day and how everything came out. I just have a question, how did the liquor work out @ red fish?
Hi Yessy! Love your wedding! So perfect! :) How did you make your "logo" on everything? Was it a custom made stamp? Also- how expensive were the mason jars? I would LOVE mason jar center pieces, but I've noticed the colored ones can be really expensive. You're so impressive. An inspiration! :)
Hi Yessy- Sorry to post again! But, do you have the heart you used for your logo saved somewhere? I was looking for a similar heart and can't happen to find one on the computer. I thought about ordering a stamp, but I don't think that will have as clean of a look. Thanks!
Hello ladies!
@ Patricia - Red Fish Grill supplied the alcohol. I had mimosas and beer. I don't think they can do hard liquor.
@ Angela - Thank you Angela for your wonderful comments. The mason jars I purchased online from ebay. They weren't too expensive but I only bought about 10. I mixed it regular, clear jars which were much economical. You could get the same effect if you just have a few aqua jars in strategic locations and then use clear ones everywhere else. As far as the heart, I actually created it myself using Illustrator and just printed it on everything--I didn't use a stamp. How are you wanting to use it?
I was planning on using it for our ceremony program cards and possibly on our seating cards. I just want something to tie my colors into my ceremony, since I want my girls to wear a neutral color.
Tentatively speaking, I'm going to try to print all my own paper items- I'm usually pretty good with the design aspect and like to take on tasks to stay busy (my fiance is deployed). I saw on etsy that there are tons of cute custom stamps that I thought could possibly do the trick as well. Do you have any pictures of your overall table? I'd love to see how it looked from afar. :) Thanks so much for your help! I really appreciate it.
Hi Yessy!
Gorgeous wedding! Congratulations. I am very curious about your bridesmaid dresses, they would be perfect for my wedding. Where did you purchase them? Thanks! Danielle
Hi Yessy
Love the name tags on your napkins - I have some exactly the same but in a different colour from Scrapbits on Etsy. I was planning to handwrite the names, but yours look so great. How did you print the names on these tags?
Thanks!
Hi Yessy,
Goreous Wedding Congrats! I'm planning a wedding on an extreme budget and looking into Red Fish Grill. Evening Weddings are pricey there but now I'm considering a day wedding. Were you able to have a DJ there? Did your under 12k Budget include the photographer as well? Thanks for sharing!
Hi there! I am considering Matheson Hammock Park for my February wedding and the Red Fish Grill for my reception. I am expecting approx. 40 people. Do you have any words of wisdom or advice about either venue?
Hello Yessy! I am planning my wedding at this same location and absolutely LOVED what you did with the place :) My problem is.. I will have a little under four month to do everythig :S and we are under a very restricted budget.. but it's great to see that it can be done :) did you have the reception at the park as well or at the Red Fish grill restaurant? Do you have more overal pictures posted somewhere so I could pay attention to the details but at the time see how it all looked together? If possible please shoot me an e-mail :) Thanks!