Through the Looking Glass

Huzzah! We finally got our official wedding photos back from our lovely & very talented friend and photographer, Rebecca Fishman. My favorite part about looking at these photos--aside from seeing all the moments captured on that day--was the DIY details. Most people probably didn't notice the color of the vases or the stamps on the bag, but it gave me some satisfaction knowing my month-long searches through thrift shops and flea markets and eBay and Etsy had come to fruition at last, dammit!

Here are a few of my faves. All photos are by Rebecca Fishman.

Our groomsmen's boutonnieres: crespedia (billy buttons), blue eryngium, succulents, and seeded eucalyptus, wrapped in lamb's ear.

My bridesmaids' dresses were all the same infinity dress (purchased from a dressmaker off Etsy) tied different ways. Note my mom's 40-year-old wedding veil, which I cleaned and glue-gunned back to tip-top shape.

Can't take credit for this one, but I just love that big-ass rock and the towering ents trees around us.

My little nephew ringbearer. Note adorable grey hipster Sperry Docksiders, which I thought would be much more comfortable than kid dress shoes.

These flowers doubled as aisle bouquets and table arrangements. They included many of the same flowers as the boutonnieres, plus ranunculus, lisianthus, scabiosa pods, geranium leaves, and I forgot what those long green thingies are. The mason jars were bought on Craigslist and tinted with glass paint by me and my mom, as you may remember from this post.

The ceremony took place in the bones of an old greenhouse, overlooking a canyon.

My amazing bridesmaid Shianling hand-sewed this ring pillow in the likeness of my spoiled cat Pilsen. Kinda creepy, lots of awesome. Rowr!

Yay! We're a Mr. and Mrs. now. Exiting to the Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice."

One of our thrifted Pennsbury Pottery succulents and vintage books as decor for our cocktail hour. Note delish crostini in the back (which I missed, dammit!).

We saved some money by using ecofriendly bamboo plates for cocktail hour at the crostini station provided by our caterer and granddaddy of the lasagna cupcake, Heirloom LA.

Part of our crostini station...can't believed I missed this nomnom while we were taking photos...

Our BBQ pork sliders on ciabatta. Glugglgguguguugaglugugggg (that's the sound of drooling)...

 

Instead of traditional numbers, our table signs were cities that we had each lived in at some point in our lives. Eight of them were painstakingly created by Alex's mom, who is a fantastic artist and does these awesome collages. Each strip of paper was sourced from materials from our lives in those cities--old letters, programs, favorite books, scripts, etc.

To supplement our table arrangements that did double-time as aisle bouquets, we also used vintage-y bud vases and medicine bottles.

Those DIY honey jars came into use as more than favors that get thrown away! Because of the wind, our friend/wedding coordinator extraordinaire Sara used them as place card holders-weight-thingies-that-don't-blow-away. She also designed the menu, which was folded into the farmhouse-style napkin.

The lights flicked on as the sun began to set and the guests got drunk nursed their strawberry fixes by the pool...

Please note our Han Solo / Princess Leia cake toppers. Ahem. We also placed old family photos around the dessert table to remind us of ... our ancestry?

Our DIY photo booth. We used Sara's polaroid camera and threw a bunch of props on the table for people to use. That hat is from an acting class assignment where I played Annie Hall. [Not seen: vest, tie, and tennis racket]

...and this was our photo booth backdrop. I'd originally bought the paper pom poms to use as arch decor for the ceremony, but we ended up hanging most of them here. Sara ingeniously fastened some flood lights from Home Depot too to brighten up the area.

Feasting at dusk...like vampires.

who's got more lasagna cupcakes?

I love this photo. I mean, c'mon, everybody's clapping for us! No, actually I just love seeing our mishmash of friends and family in the same photo.

The groom's dad makes his speech. Again, I love seeing everybody's expressions in the audience.

My aunt and cousin using my hand-stamped dessert take-home bags! Yeeeaaaah! Those chocolate chip toffee and sea salt cookies in the foreground were the BizNess!!

regret pie

Ding ding ding ding! Kiss! Kiss!

The ol' balls and chains

And they lived happily ever after. Now that I've thoroughly exhausted all wedding-related stuff, I'm going to turn this blog back toward its original aim, hardcore nudity!  designing/nesting in your first home!