Today’s awesome real wedding is brought to us courtesy of the ever-talented Meg Perotti. We’ve featured her before, and it seems as though she always has the most fun and creative couples!
Meet Sarah and Brian. Their Huntington Beach, CA wedding was so unique and had so many DIY elements – we are delighted to feature them today on the blog. You can tell by looking at them that they are full of personality!
The wedding party took some time to visit the Huntington Beach Pier for some awesome photos.
Love Brian’s face in this shot:
Can we say “cool”? A vintage convertible is a perfectway to transport yourselves on your wedding day.
Sarah and Brianhad one ofthe ever-popular Paloma’s Nest ring bowls created for them – such a wonderful keepsake!
Some details… Sarah and Brian chose Shawni of Shawn Eden Floral Design to create all of the florals for their event. This wedding was held on October 25, just days from Halloween, and I love that Sarah and Brian were able to use the traditional orange and brown combination without making it look at all Halloween-ish!
One element that Sarah and Brian incorporated throughout their event was the typewriter. Here you’ll see their simple but beautiful wedding programs accented with typed lettering. So vintage and beautiful!
The ceremony was held at the St. Irenaeus Catholic Church in Huntington Beach. The church has a gorgeous interior.
The nighttime reception at the Newland Barn was truly stunning. Sarah says:
The Newland Barn in Huntington Beach was one of the best things about the reception. So much time went into selecting everything for the reception and we were beyond happy with the outcome. The barn looked beautiful and the lights, which we almost didn’t go with, really made it perfect.
And here comes that fun typewriter. Not only did the typewriter function as their guest book but they also used it for several other things along the way! Sarah says:
The Typewriter was actually something I had seen in a magazine (used as the couples guest book) and LOVED. Problem was, I didn’t have a typewriter and had no idea where to find one! We got lucky almost exactly one year before the wedding when we found a beautiful 1940’s Royal KMM at the Pasadena Flea Market for Ten Dollars! We spent quite a bit more having it cleaned up, but it was well worth it.
We used the typewriter for all the things I would have had a calligrapher do — the outside envelopes of the invitations, the place cards, the favor labels, and the PINS!
The PINS were our favorite part of the wedding — they were SO much fun! We almost didn’t do them at all because we got our button maker just a few weeks before the wedding. The inspiration came from a do-it-yourself mentality. We wanted to do something fun that had to do with us and our day but we didn’t want to do anything too cheesy or overly feminine. We did a ton of different pins, some with a small typewriter image (from our invitations) and date, some with the orange and white polka dot paper that was used throughout the reception, and then some for our immediate families and wedding party. We had a ton of fun making them and Brian and I actually did wear our “I’M THE BRIDE” and “I’M THE GROOM” pins at the reception. We hope our guests loved them as much as we did!
Sarah and Brian strung photos documenting their lives together at the entry way to the reception – I absolutely love this idea for any outdoor wedding. In one of these photos you will see their beautiful 1-year old!
The favors perfectly coordinated with the theme – blank notebooks packaged and laid on each place setting.
I love these painted wood table numbers – you can find wood blanks at most craft stores, such as Michael’s or JoAnn’s. A little sanding and a little paint and you have a beautiful decor element.
The couple chose to have Meg set up a photo booth at their reception, which their guests just ate up. I love these pictures and I’m sure they willtreasure them!
A couple of favorites of mine from the pier:
On planning a DIY wedding, Sarah had this to say:
Implementing our ideas on our own was challenging, but I think well worth it. Of course looking back there are some things I would have changed, but all in all it seemed to work out.
Budget was, of course, an issue. Isn’t it always!?! We ended up spending twice as much as we wanted to, but with such large families on both sides and a guest list of 260 there was just really no way around it. Still, we did the best we could by shopping around and comparing prices. We were upfront about our budget with vendors so that no one’s time was wasted, and this seemed to work out to our advantage!
Our photographer, Meg Perotti, was our first find and let me just say we will be life long clients of hers! She worked with us to give us the best package for our needs and wants and had an awesome team the day of the wedding. We had an amazing florist, Shawni Hartman of Shawn Eden Floral Design, who was able to work with us and still put together the most beautiful arrangements. Other than that we enlisted the help of family, and friends to help with most other things.
Overall we had a blast at our wedding! We have gotten so many compliments and our guests seemed to really have enjoyed themselves. Our goal was to have a fun, creative and classic wedding reception that reflected our artistic style. I feel as though we accomplished just that, and even if we didn’t, we sure had fun trying!
Meg, thank you so much for sharing this amazing wedding with our readers – we always love seeing brides and grooms infuse their own personality and creativity into the event, and it’s even better when they are able to do it without breaking the bank!
E.
