Real Wedding: Robyn & John

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September 6, 2011
Written by: Kathryn
Real Weddings

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend! You might recognize this adorable couple from Sunday Edition a few weeks ago, and I’ll tell you what – the rest of their wedding just as charming. From the delightful invitation by Rifle Paper Co. to the awesome pics from One Love Photo, you’re going to love it!

After their temple ceremony, Robyn and John took some photos on the Balboa Island Ferry. Robyn’s favorite part of the day? “We got chocolate covered strawberries from a farmers stand right before we were about to board the ferry. Neither of us could eat that morning because our nerves got the better of us, but right before we were about to board the ferry, we got chocolate covered strawberries from a farmers stand. John got chocolate all over my face feeding me one of the strawberries. It was such a sweet moment of bliss and chocolate!”

After their photos, 150 friends and family members joined the couple at the home of the bride’s family for a ring ceremony and reception – I love that Robyn and John walked down the aisle together!

Guests enjoyed a simple (and affordable!) meal of panini, kettle chips, pasta salad, strawberries, and retro sodas. For sweets, Robyn wanted a dressed-up bake sale feel. “Plus,” she says, “I’m obsessed with dessert – I interned with a pastry chef in college!” Dessert included wedding cake, carrot cake, orange cake, angel food cake with fresh cream and berries, toasted coconut German chocolate cake, pillowy white coconut cake, mini fruit tarts, mini banana cakes, chocolate chip cookies and heart-shaped sugar cookies.

Robyn very kindly answered some questions about the day…

What inspired you in your planning?  I’d been dreaming about this day ever since I could remember. I hate admitting that because then people usually assume that I knew exactly what I wanted. Nope. The complete opposite. I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t know where to start. So, why not start with the ring? It’s a bit unique with a blue sapphire as the main stone instead of a diamond, so “something blue” became an underlying theme throughout the wedding. On our wedding website we invited people to wear “something blue” for good luck to our wedding. We wanted it to be fun, not stuffy or pretentious, playful, comfortable, whimsical, gentle and full of love. Maybe funny words to describe a wedding, but it worked for us!

Tell us about your darling dress…  I ordered a designer dress months and months before the wedding, and found out two weeks before my wedding that the order had been lost! I had no dress! Time for (a last minute entirely unplanned) Plan B. My dress was made two weeks before the wedding, using a 1956 Vogue pattern, with gold threaded fabric that looked vintage. It was all a happy accident, and the whole thing cost just $250!

Do you have any budget tips for other brides?  Decide what’s important to you. Having a DJ wasn’t a big deal to us, so we saved a lot of money by plugging in our iPod for dancing. We also saved by skipping on china rentals – dinner was served buffet style with sturdy plastic plates and silverware instead. Granted there’s no stunning shot of a head table all decked out in fancy tableware, and our tables might have looked a little bare without china on them, but the whole affair felt very handmade and full of love, and I don’t think anyone minded it at all. Also, we saved money by making a website with all the information our guests needed, instead of having a million various print-outs stuffed into the envelope with our invitation.

What advice do you have for other brides?  I’m gonna be honest – sometimes I wanted to rip my hair out from the stress of planning this thing. There were days I wanted to ditch it all and just elope. But the best advice I got, and the words that kept me going were: Remember the day is about your love for each other. That kept me in check and reminded me not to get caught up in all the expensive details. When I walked into the reception, it was so beautiful, but I got distracted. With so much planning, I wanted everything to be perfect, and I started straightening up the party favor bags on the table because the wind had blown them out of place. Then I realized what I was doing, and laughed out loud and left the bags the way they were. So my advice to future brides? Learn to love the imperfections of your day – it’s what makes it all better than a magazine picture, because it’s real! And it’s all yours! Like the chocolate all over my face, muddy heels, or falling favor bags.

 

Vendors

Photography: One Love Photo / Ceremony venue: Newport Beach Temple / Ring ceremony and reception venue: private home in Tustin, California / Invitations: Rifle Paper Co. / Bride’s shoes: Kate Spade / Vintage hair pin: Ban.do / Bridesmaid dresses: Shabby Apple / Flowers: Dandelion Ranch / Ring pillow, felt boutonnieres: Llubav / Cake: Michele Coulon Dessertier / Rentals: Classic Party Rentals and Found Vintage Rentals

 

 

Congratulations Robyn and John! Oh, and check out Robyn’s sweet blog right here! And see tons more awesomeness from this wedding over on the One Love Photo blog. 

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