The Wedding Chicks

Andrew and Carmela both love the city they live in, San Francisco! So, of course their wedding had to be there. They also knew that they wanted a DIY wedding filled to the brim with personal touches, and it had to be a big ol’ party. As you can clearly see, they did all that and a bit more.

Read on to see more details from Carmela and as always click here to view the entire gallery captured by Brooke Beasley Photography.

From The Bride:
Doing the decorations for the wedding was a little stressful at times, with lots of “Why did we think this was a good idea?” moments, but everything turned out great. The biggest challenge was probably letter pressing the save the dates and invitations. (The ladies at Paper Source made letter pressing sound so easy and fun. Thank goodness we only had 75 guests.)

For the save the dates, Andrew took impressions of our thumbprints, did a little magic on the computer with Photoshop and ordered the plates for the press. After several tries with various materials, we nailed it. My sister provided an extra set of hands and we were like a well oiled machine. When it came time to the invitations, we all knew our roles and we were able to whip them out pretty quickly. I especially love the Lanztinger piece (our last names combined)  now hangs in our house and they are a great reminder of our awesome, big day.

We loved our wedding. However, there are two small  things that we would have done differently. The first is to make sure the doors remain unlocked during the ceremony and reception. After the ceremony we walked outside and noticed a group of friends sitting at a table. It turns out they were running a few minutes late, and the door was locked so they couldn’t sneak in for the ceremony. Luckily, some folks used their iPhones to record the ceremony so they were able to see it that way.

Andrew and Carmela covered every detail — even this super cute photo booth sign paired with with matching bunting. Way cute!

Photographer: Brooke Beasley Photography
Venue: The Winery SF
Cake: Teacake Bake Shop
Caterer: City Forest
Dress Designer: White by Vera Wang
Groom's Attire: Hugo Boss
Jewelry: Demoiselle Designs
Shoe Designer: Milk and Honey
Stationery: DIY Letterpress | Flowers: DIY | Hair & Makeup: Scout DeBartolo | Officiant: Reverend Tim

Read on to see how much this wedding costs. Please note that costs change as the years go by, and prices are subject to change. This is just one couple’s breakdown to give you a rough estimate on how much a wedding like this may cost you.
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On a sunny Seattle day in August Jenny and Mark said “I Do” in an outdoor ceremony at Ella Bailey Park overlooking Elliot Bay. While the temperature was unusually warm (near 95°F), the clear skies provided the happy couple with a stunning view of Mount Rainier as the backdrop for their ceremony.

The scenic views continued at the reception at Ray’s Boathouse, a well known seafood restaurant in Seattle located right on the Puget Sound. With coral and turquoise hues with hints of chevron throughout the decor, this beautiful wedding was full of coastal inspiration. View more fabulous details from this nautical northwest wedding in the full gallery here, all photographed by the truly talented Photo Elan and beautifully coordinated by Simply by Tamara Nicole.

From the Bride:
After setting a budget, we decided that a Seattle Summertime wedding would be the best way to show off our beautiful city to our guests — out-of-towners and locals alike! Water and city views were a must have for us, so our ceremony site and reception venue were pretty easily settled upon. We wanted the occasion to reflect us, so our neighborhood park, Ella Bailey Park, offering amazing views of Elliot Bay, was the perfect outdoor setting for a memorable ceremony.

To honor my dad, who passed away in 2007, the wedding party rolled up in classic Chevy Bel Airs…one of his favorite cars. My sister, the maid of honor, surprised me by attaching his rose gold pocket watch — complete with his photo — to my bouquet. He was there to walk me down the aisle in spirit and I couldn’t have been happier. The ceremony was my favorite part, conducted by the masterful Chaplain Dale. We did a Handfasting Ceremony to literally tie the knot!

Ceremony Decor: Each table featured a piece of coral holding the table number along with a seaglass bottle from West Elm. Instead of a traditional guest book, each place setting had a mini scroll wrapped around a mini pencil for the guests to write sentiments, wishes and advice to the bride and groom. The messages were dropped into the seaglass bottles as if they were leaving a message in a bottle at the beach — a super cute idea for any coastal wedding!

Check out the wedding film created by MEW Films below to get a closer look at this nautical northwest wedding!

Photographer: Photo Elan
Venue & Caterer: Ray's Boathouse
Hair & Makeup: I Love Blush
Cake: Divine Confections
Coordinator: Simply by Tamara Nicole
DJ: Marc Sense from Integral DJs
Dress Designer: Amy Kuschel
Flowers: La Belle Jardin
Jewelry: Ranjana Khan
Officiant: Chaplain Dale
Prop or Furniture Rentals: Miller Rent All
Ceremony Venue: Ella Bailey Park
Musician: Jennan Oaks
Transportation: Tom & Raquel
Rings: Tiffany & Co.
Bridesmaid Dresses: J.Crew
Cinematography: MEW Films

Chris and Helen were in the process of making a life changing move from Boston to California. Several days before their big move, Chris proposed to Helen among all their moving boxes, making it truly a new chapter in their lives.

With the move behind them they were able to have their dream up-cycled vintage wedding at Franciscan Gardens. It was styled to perfection by Simply Sweet Weddings & Events, and overflowing with some knockout florals designed by Queen’s Flowers And Gifts. We are not going to lie, the full gallery is bursting with more fabulous photos captured by Leila Brewster Photography.

From The Bride:
We love the upcycled-vintage look so much that we decided to incorporate our entire theme around the whimsical furniture and decorative pieces collected over the course of several months following our move to Los Angeles. Our guests were greeted with a variety of colorful flower arrangements (over 20 different types of flowers if someone took the time to count!) and numerous photo opportunities around the venue where we had strategically placed our props. All other details fell into place after much planning and deliberation with our wedding planner and florist, who are the true experts at knowing how turn our scatterbrained ideas into a reality.

We chose to get married in a Buddhist ceremony. Our families were more than happy to help us blend traditions and orchestrate one of the most unique ceremonies anyone at the wedding had ever seen. It was an exhilarating and brand new experience for the both of us, and one that we could never forget and feel grateful for.

We wanted our wedding to blend in with the historic and rustic scenery around the venue, yet maintain certain details that were unique to us. Much of our inspiration came from the abundance of upcycled furniture where we live, which allowed our imagination to run wild thanks to the many opportunities that we had to visit vintage and consignment shops in our area.

Helen and Chris continued with their up-cycled theme by using a vintage chalkboard to show guests which table they sat at. Bonus! They could easily use this in their new home together as well.

As you see, this wedding is chalk full of steal worthy ideas — including re-purposing the rustic hutch from the hors d’oeuvre station to the mini dessert station, and using a plant as a vessel for the dessert labels.

One of the main attractions at our event was the two-tier fig cake that Leila Brewster Photography beautifully captured. The cake sat on a red planter table that was hand-built around an original 1920′s window made by a local artist that we discovered.

Photographer: Leila Brewster Photography
Flowers: Queen's Flowers And Gifts
Venue: Franciscan Gardens
Hair & Makeup: Glam Oh Makeup
Cake: Simply Sweet Cakery
Caterer: 24 Carrots
DJ: Dj Sota Entertainment
Dress Designer: Ann Taylor
Groom's Attire: Men's Warehouse
Stationery: Minted.com
Linens: Designer Specialty Linens & La Tavola Fine Linen
Ceremony Musician: Sarah Maisel
Shoe Designer: Lulu Townsend