We have a bit of a twist for you today here at Wholly Matrimony. Today we are featuring the awesome wedding reception, yea that’s right, I said reception, of Aubrey and Kaiao that was held at the Salt Creek Grille in Dana Point, California. Aubrey and Kaiao were married in their home state of Hawai’i but wanted to have a reception for family members in California that were unable to make the wedding. Their fantastic photography was by D. Park Photography.

How did the two of you meet?
We actually do not remember! It probably happened at our friend’s house while we were in college. A bunch of guys lived in a house at the top of the hill and I lived at the bottom. I was always baking and needed people to share it with, so I would bring cookies, etc up to the guys house for them to try. Kaiao was always hanging out up there and was the quiet, shy one. Finally one night I was talking about how I had gotten into cooking interesting dinners but had no one to share them with, and Kaiao volunteered to help me out! So I invited him over one night and we really hit it off. We ended up going surfing and studying together a few times before he finally asked me out on a real date. Our first date was really simple – stargazing at the beach. He brought his guitar and played me some songs and we talked for hours. It was super dreamy and our faces hurt from smiling so much!

Tell us about the proposal!
After I graduated from the University of Hawai’i, I went to culinary school in New York for two years. The long distance wasn’t easy, but God gave us the strength and patience we needed to make it through! About halfway through, I had a break and came to Hawai’i for a week to visit my love for our two-year dating anniversary. On my second day there, Kaiao said, “I want to make this the best day for you!” and I just thought it was because he had missed me so much. We went and saw the sunrise, went surfing, had a picnic lunch at the beach, I went paddling with some friends, he cooked me dinner, and then we had plans to go to the beach where we had our first date. This all seemed very normal to me and I had no idea of his plans to propose! It was a beautiful night – perfect weather, low tide, clear skies and a full moon. He brought his guitar and started playing it after we had settled in on the beach. He’d written me a song and said that there would be some audience participation at the end…After the beautiful song, he made me stand up and he told me all the things he loved about me, then got down on one knee, pulled out the ring and asked me to be his wife. I said “Yes!!” about twenty times while crying, hugging, and kissing him! It was too late to call anyone to tell them the news, so I had a hard time sleeping that night – I was so excited!

What made you choose to have a destination reception?
We got married in Hawai’i because that is where we both live now and it is beautiful here! But a lot of my family and friends from California couldn’t make the trip. So we decided to have an “at-home reception” a few weeks after the wedding. It was such a blast and I am glad we did that! Everyone was ready to celebrate. Plus what bride wouldn’t want to wear her dress twice? I had always wanted pictures of me in my wedding dress at my childhood home, so we decided to do a photoshoot before the reception. It was a lot of fun for both of us and our photographers did a fabulous job!

What was the most memorable moment about your reception?
I will always remember the love I felt from our guests when we walked in to our reception area. We felt totally “at home”. It was truly a celebration made possible by the ones we love! I will also never forget the incredibly fun dancing!!! Our party was supposed to be over at 4pm, but we didn’t leave until 6pm! My feet were definitely sore the next day, but it was worth it!

What was your favorite detail from your reception?
My shoes! Teal is my favorite color and I searched high and low for the perfect shoes. I stumbled across these accidentally at H&M in New York. I got so many compliments on them and they were really comfortable. I decided to dress them up with the cute shoe clips! Also instead of a guest book, we had a custom designed mailbox and used Orange County postcards for guests to write their well-wishes on. We loved reading them later and they are a fun keepsake.

What was the best part of having a destination reception?
Our at-home reception was definitely kept low-key and casual, and I really liked that. We didn’t have any formal wedding events to stick to. It made it very relaxed and allowed us plenty of time to visit with all of our guests (about 100) and have fun. We pretty much just had lunch, a few speeches, chatting and lots of dancing!

Did you honeymoon at your reception destination location, or go somewhere special after wards?
We did an eight day road trip up the coast of California, starting in Orange County. We wanted to do something that was a little different since we can lay out on the beach any day of the week at home in Hawai’i. We stayed at a different bed and breakfast every night, in places like Carmel-By-the-Sea, Half Moon Bay, Healdsburg, and Shasta. We also spent a few nights in Yosemite National Park, one of our favorite places! It was a fun trip and was very budget friendly. We must be meant for each other if we can spend eight days driving around in a car and still love each other madly!

Reception Venue: Salt Creek Grille
Photography: D. Park Photography
Florist: Lynn Moe (family friend)
Bride’s Dress: Allure Exclusives
Groom’s Attire: The Men’s Wearhouse
Stationery: Anna Griffin – The Wedding Studio (DIY from Michael’s)
DJ / Band: Mitch Devine (family friend)
Makeup Artist: Jamie Michelle
Hairstylist: Tiffany Loggins
Jewelry – Necklace and bracelet were the bride’s mom’s. Earrings came from Nordstrom.
Shoes: H&M
Any other vendors? Etsy goodies? Shoe clips and hair clip came from Etsy seller Mikiye Creations.

Related posts:

1. Newport Beach, California Destination Wedding – Nikki and James
2. South Hampton, Bermuda Destination Wedding – Janelle & Dana
3. Monterey, California Destination Wedding – Andrea & Joseph

Natalie & Claudio’s stunning wedding (look at that view!) took place at the exotic Khayangan Estate in Uluwatu, Bali Indonesia. Their beautiful photography was by Darko Sikman Photography. This Australian couple, who first met as flat mates, share the details of their wedding day with us.

How did the two of you meet?
We met as flat mates. We shared a large house together with four other people in Bondi, Sydney Australia. We were friends for 6 months – our friendship simmering until it blossomed.

Tell us about the proposal!
We went on holiday to Thailand. We went on a day trip to the River Kwai. There was a large waterfall there with 8 different levels to climb to with ascending views and beauty. I convinced Natalie to conquer her fear and climb to the highest peak. When she got to the top I was already down on one knee with the diamond in a clump of leaves. It was a like a vision out of a dream. Waterfalls, butterflies, sunshine and her saying ‘yes”

What made you choose to have a destination wedding?
We have spent more time travelling in our lives than we have being in Sydney. Sydney didn’t quite feel like home yet…We wanted to be in an exotic location and feel totally expansive and free.

How did you know your destination would be the perfect place to hold your wedding?
We have done a lot of travelling to many places in the world. We are jewellery designers and have a manufacturing workshop in Bali so we travel there doing business quite frequently. When we went to Bali we felt automatically at home, warm and loved by everyone and the beauty of the people and the place is unrivalled. We knew the Khayangan Estate was perfect because it was majestic and pristine. The staff lead by “made” were incredible. The architecture was historically Javanese wood carving. It was a private playground for us, our family and friends!!

What was the most memorable moment about your wedding day?
When Natalie walked out of the palatial villa arm and arm with her Dad. She looked radiant walking through an aisle of rose petals to join me at the alter where we stared out a panorama of ocean and sky on the cliffs of Uluwatu. A moment that is impressed in our hearts for always!

What was your favorite detail from your wedding day?
The laughter and crying during the speeches. The exquisite organic local Balinese food from Karen at Bali Good Food. The Buddhist ceremony lead by our celebrant Miranda 081 138 9432 (a beautiful, beautiful person). The fire twirling and dancing all night long to the funky sounds of Erin and his crew with tropical transit…

What was the best part of having a destination wedding?
50 family and friends got to have a holiday in paradise. Everyone was in holiday mode away from their responsibilities back home. The love in the air was intoxicating. Everyone was in love with life in such a perfect idyllic location.

Did you honeymoon at your wedding destination location, or go somewhere special afterwards?
We stayed 4 nights at The Khayangan Estate with special friends and then went to The Gilli Islands for a week to bask in the bliss of all the feelings and emotions of the wedding. It was definately the most sacred, special day of our lives.

Vendors:
Ceremony/Reception Venue: Khayangan Estate, Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia. 087860079721
Photography: Darko Sikman Photography
Florist: Gloriosa herni  -081 338 002803
Cake: Ixora Almirfa – 087 877170592
Caterer: Bali Good Food – Karen Waddell 0811385583
Bride’s Dress: Wendy Maiken
Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Hand Styled
Groom’s Attire: Tommy Bahama
Stationery: Hand Styled
DJ / Band: Tropical Transit – Erin 08123903621
Lighting: Provided by Gloriosa- Herni 081 338002803
Makeup Artist/Hairstylist: Bali Brides – Annie 0818356127
Jewelry: Kenyon Medel Jewellery + 61 424 069 659

We would like to thank Natalie & Claudio for sharing their beautiful wedding with us and also Darko Sikman Photography for sharing these photographs.

Related posts:

1. Puerto Aventuras, Mexico Destination Wedding – Kim & Sean
2. South Hampton, Bermuda Destination Wedding – Janelle & Dana
3. Barmouth, Wales Destination Wedding – Katrina & Paul

This beautiful Miami, Florida wedding held at The Deering Estate,  was submitted to us by Justin & Mary.

Irena shares with us the details of planning her destination wedding — Danny and I got engaged 3 months into our relationship (I know! super fast!).  We actually knew we were “the Ones” for each other on our first date.  We planned on wedding in “two years or so” in SoCal (home to us), but between meeting and engagement his father became paralyzed from the waist down.  Danny’s father insisted we plan near home, and he would “be there”, so we did a lot of initial planning in California, since 80% of our guests lived on the West Coast.  This last fall, we both moved to the Boston area, and while visiting his family, agreed that his Dad wouldn’t actually be able to travel, so we slammed on the brakes and redirected our efforts to planning in Miami — close to him, but a town neither of us knew very well.

We thankfully had a resource in the wonderful Tamara Cohen of TCEventDesign of Ft Lauderdale, who had been helping us in California.  She took on a lot of the coordination work of getting us in touch with some great local vendors: Fabius Events for decorations and flowers, Angel who did amazing work for hair/makeup, We Take the Cake — my design, their delicious cake — and Yuga Restaurant for our ridiculously good food…  I want to plug everyone because the results were so incredible!  And of course I can’t forget the location – the amazing Deering Estate with its epic oceanside location.

I picked a pretty common color scheme (blue and brown) but didn’t want to end up with a common-looking wedding.  I’m a designer by trade (I work in video games, but used to do a lot of graphic design) and I felt that my wedding was my chance to really bring my ability into the spotlight for my family to see firsthand.  It included a ton of handmade elements — all of the stationary items: invitations, menus, place cards, table names, water bottle labels, programs, the cake, and even handmade gifts for our wedding party.  All the crafting I did had to be transferable because it had to travel 1500 miles!

I wore Vera Wang, while he wore Burberry.  My bridesmaids wore J. Crew (from the clearance section!) in the palest blue color I had ever seen — it was divine.  The groomsmen wore a “pick your own” selection of suits, with one direction: “dark dark chocolate brown, almost black”.  Everyone wore a little gift of jewelry (earrings and necklaces for the girls, cuff links for the guys) from etsy seller by CJ.

I tried to go for a mix of modern and vintage, with a touch of “hippy earth mother” – so all of the decorations were simple dragonwood branches in a variety of configurations, with delicate hanging votives and bunches of blue hydrangea.  The tables were named for our pets and pets of our past that we love and miss.  My maid of honor was absolutely wonderful. She helped me craft the table names with leftover supplies the day before.

My wedding was the most intense and fulfilling experience of my life: a lot of effort for a lot of absolute joy.  The day itself had only one stress: the threat of rain.  All week the forecast was for 50% chance of “scattered thunderstorms”, and it had been raining for days.  I didn’t want to celebrate my wedding in a tent, and after watching the radar all morning I made the call to take the risk and set up outside.

The ceremony itself (my favorite part!) was an eclectic mix of cultures: we had a handfasting, an Apache wedding prayer, and the breaking of the glass – all with a storm threatening to break over our heads.  As Danny and I kissed for the first time as husband and wife, it began to sprinkle — like the weather was giving us a little blessing…  It was beautiful.  Over cocktail hour, the sprinkle became a rain.  The winds also opened up and began to thrash our guests, and the wedding party, as we took pictures.  However, the sun stayed with us as golden hour hit so the combination of elements at our coastal location became magical alchemy for some incredible moments.  I also got to play with some awesome equipment.

The reception was beautiful – elegant and refined, but full of the humor and silliness that is our life together.  It was the most informal formal event, we couldn’t have planned it better, and that is probably the reason so many of our guests said it was one of the best weddings they had ever been to.  We split the reception into two parts: dinner and an “after party”, where we moved our dancing indoors to where the cake, favors, and (the best) the photobooth was.  The party went from elegant to crazy night club where most of our 70 guests danced the night away to techno-remixed 80s songs.   I don’t think I got any cake because I was having so much fun dancing.  Though sad to leave, we left on a high note to a parade of sparklers into a classic Rolls.  A scant 5 minutes from the location, the night sky released a torrent of rain on the car, reminding us just how lucky we were.

The number one piece of advice we got from friends was that during our wedding, we needed to take a moment to “take it all in”, to enjoy this rare moment of everyone we love together in one place.  We did exactly that, and now are left with the gift of being able to remember every single second of the day and how wonderful it was.  The bit of advice I’d like to share with brides is: on your wedding night, before your fall asleep, chat with your new husband about everything that happened to you, to him, and even take notes – you’ll get some awesome stories, and you can relive it while it’s fresh so the memory is more solid.

We honeymooned in the Virgin Islands on St John, reveling in the post-wedding glow and learning what married life would be like. Justin & Mary and Carlos captured our memories with perfection and we can never be more grateful.

Ceremony/Reception Venue: The Deering Estate
Photography: Justin & Mary
Event Coordination: TC Event Design
Florist: Fabius Events
Cake: We Take the Cake
Caterer: Yuga Restaurant
Bride’s Dress: Vera Wang
Bridesmaids’ Dresses: J. Crew
Groom’s Attire: Burberry
Makeup/Hair: Angel
Jewelry – Necklace, Earrings, Tiara, Veil: CJ – Etsy.com
Other Goodies: Party Booths

We’d like to thank Irena for sharing the story of her beautiful day with us.

Related posts:

1. Adrian & Dino’s Wedding in Vancouver BC, Canada
2. Natural Bridge, Virginia Destination Wedding – Kathy & Matt
3. Getting Maui’d!

When you’re having a destination wedding, choosing the perfect bridesmaid dresses is important! You have so many more options these days – it is wonderful! Glamorous and more formal for a destination wedding somewhere like the wine country? Or maybe short & sassy for a beach wedding? Take your pick!

These are some of my favorite Bridesmaid dresses this season. There are styles of all types, a huge range of colors with some dresses, like the one on the left below, available in 42 different color options, and a wide range of sizes as well! One of my favorite things to see at weddings is when all the dresses match in color, and the bridesmaids get to choose the style that is most flattering for them – with all of these choices, it makes it so easy! Plus there are even travel-friendly fabric options, important for when you need to get your dress to the destination!

If you’re attending a destination wedding, Party dresses are a must! Perfect for a party or a night on the town as well, these dresses are as versatile as they are fun! I’ve picked out a few of my favorites below but it was so hard to choose, I love so many of them! Is it just me, or do you get a bit excited when you see dresses with pockets too? Handy to be able to carry around your lipstick and anything else you might need throughout the night!

So many beautiful Party dresses and Bridesmaid dresses to choose from!

Related posts:

1. How to Select the Right Wedding Dress For Your Shape
2. Everyone Likes Good Fluff!
3. Getting Your Dress to Your Destination Wedding

When I spotted these DIY Pom Poms yesterday at Justin & Mary Marantz’s blog, I knew they were too adorable not to share! Transporting decorations to a destination wedding for the reception isn’t always easy – but tissue paper is easy to pack, and you can always bring along scissors in your checked baggage! I’d do a few practice ones at home first as you perfect the craft, and you might want make them before having drinks poolside at your destination!

I asked Mary right away if I could share these with you, and she said yes! Super easy, super cute – can’t you just picture these floating above a wedding reception in the breeze? So adorable! Tissue paper is available in so many colors, the options are endless!

Here are Julia’s instructions (Julia is their amazing & awesome assistant, and has been sharing crafty goodness all week!):

We started with 8 pieces of tissue paper, string (you can also use monofilament), floral wire, and scissors. It all looks pretty harmless sitting there doesn’t it? The bright and cheery green has me thinking I might be able to do this after all!

We folded the tissue paper accordion style (each fold was about 1-2 inches wide). Then wrapped the middle with floral wire (about 20 inches long-). This is where I started to get scared. How do I get that derivative of a grade school fan to turn into a full, round, pom pom?!?

We trimmed the edges with the rotary trimmer just to make sure they were even. Then cut the edges so they were rounded on each end.

This is what it looked like right before I went into full on panic mode.

Next we pulled each layer out toward the center. We flipped it over and did the same thing on the other side.

Keep going! Word of warning, spread the tissue paper carefully! I may have ripped an edge or two while poofing it out!

Voila! A pom pom!! Not too shabby huh?!?

Keep an eye on Justin & Mary’s blog – they have been making DIY crafts all week because they are hosting an Old Fashioned Lemonade themed wedding workshop tomorrow, where several lucky photographers will get to walk through how Justin & Mary photograph a wedding with them. There will be lots of eye-candy, and Julia shared her DIY tips on how to make flag garlands, flags for guests to wave, fresh squeezed Old Fashioned Lemonade, and Mint Juleps. Ok, those last two probably wouldn’t travel very well to your destination wedding, but you could always sip on them while making the other goodies! There is one more DIY craft to come tomorrow as well on their blog – I can’t wait!

Related posts:

1. Notice Some Changes?
2. Contest Time! Wedding Paper Divas – El Dorado Royale!
3. Bride$hare™ – a Brilliant Idea!

Aren’t these shoes stunning? Who says brides need to wear white shoes on their wedding day? Have fun with it! Photographer Hilary Mercer from Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina sent in this photograph of these lovely shoes. The bride will be wearing them on her wedding day in October, and they have planned their whole color scheme based on the blue in these shoes!

Stunning!

Lots of fun, funky, wild, and all around beautiful shoes coming up over the next few weeks – along with the gorgeous weddings to go with them!

Related posts:

1. Call for Submissions – Funky Fresh Shoes!
2. Bride$hare™ – a Brilliant Idea!

We’re working on a feature about shoes that are anything but traditional for the wedding day. Not your average white heels, or the boring black tuxedo shoes. These days, people are letting go and going COLORFUL!

Had a client who wore something fabulous and you want to show the photos off? Or are you a wedding planner who had a client build their whole wedding color palette around the shoes? Or best of all — you’re a bride or groom, and you want to share not only what you wore on your big day, but also the story behind it? Fabulous! We want to hear all about it!

You can send them all my way – christine@whollymatrimony.com – and over the next few weeks we’ll be featuring some of the amazing shoes! Think of it as Shoe September!

We’ll have a whole new look next week too – so be sure to come back and check it out!

Related posts:

1. 15 Minutes of Fame Returns!
2. Map It!
3. Welcome to Fresh Friday!

While browsing blogs this morning, I spotted a post at Aisle Be Your Guru with the most adorable jewelry made by Kathryn Riechert! Aren’t these pieces just charming? And so affordable! Get yourself some diamond earrings, or have a custom ring or necklace made for your sweetheart! I just love them all!

[via Aisle Be Your Guru.]

Related posts:

1. Good Wedding, Bad Wedding
2. Always Saying I Do!

I was so excited this week to learn about Bride$hare™, the fantastic creation of Dana LaRue, the bride behind The Broke Ass Bride. If you’re looking for tips on planning your wedding on a budget, well … as you can guess, the Broke Ass Bride has them!

The inspiration for Bride$hare™ started like this:

Way back when, Rebecca saw a blog post of mine lamenting the desire for paper lanterns to spruce up the space at my venue, and she contacted me to suggest we go in on them together and share them. That was just the beginning. Together, we were able to co-purchase and recycle many items from our weddings, which went perfectly with Hunter and my mission to both save green and be green in our wedding plans! In fact, the reception venue owner likes them so much, she might even buy them off of us after the fact and keep them up, which means future brides can benefit from them, too! My bridal karma meter must be off tha charts, son!

Hunter & Dana were married back in May, and in early July they went back to their same venue to enjoy their decor all over again – as guests at Rebecca & her husband’s wedding! Dana & Rebecca shared $4000 worth of expenses – saving them each $2000, AND doing something good for the environment by not buying duplicates of the same items!

Dana knew a great thing when she saw it, and has since set up the BrideShare™ site as a way for other couples to save money on their wedding plans and have a wedding with a smaller carbon footprint at the same time.

The Bride$hare™ site is described as part social networking and part wedding planning. Bride$hare™ offers brides the opportunity to team up and share the daunting task, and costs, of wedding planning while creating less waste – addressing three top priorities of brides’ current economy.

While Dana is getting most of the mad props in this post, I want to share some with her fabulous husband, Hunter, as well. Because he has to be supportive and wonderful to stand beside her as she took on creating Bride$hare™, but also because this video he made cracks me up *every* time I watch it. He is mad creative, I tell you!

Related posts:

1. Confessions of a Bride-to-be: Beyond the Event
2. Confessions of a Bride-to-be: On Becoming Bridezilla
3. Confessions of a Bride-to-Be: Where Do I Go From Here?

Considering having your family member or friend photograph your wedding? You might want to think twice about doing that, and this post shares lots of the reasons why.

“Weddings are a “live” event where just about anything can and will happen to throw a wrench into the schedule. A professional wedding photographer knows this and can adapt to situations that arise with a transparency and skill that can only come from experience, skill, and training. “Uncle Bob” just doesn’t have anywhere near the experience, skill, and training of a professional wedding photographer.”

There is no do-over when it comes to your wedding day. If your photographs matter to you, invest in a photographer who is running a business photographing weddings. One that knows weddings and all the ins-and-outs that can happen on that day. One that can help you create the best images possible that your family can treasure for generations to come.

One of the biggest problems with having a friend or family member (or the college kid you found on Craigslist) photograph your wedding is that they do not have backup gear. If you talk to any wedding photographer they will tell you that sometimes gear fails when they least expect it. They drop a flash and it will no longer fire. Their camera suddenly has a weird error on it, and nothing will make it go away. They have to be able to think very fast to recover — and sometimes, they just have to set that piece of equipment down and pick up another flash or camera and move on. If someone isn’t a pro, they most likely will not have a bag full of backup gear.

If you truly value your wedding photography – the memories your family will cherish for generations – then make the most of it and hire a professional. Are you hiring someone with no experience to do everything else that goes into your wedding day?

Related posts:

1. Blue Bridal Shoes!