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James and Gemma’s Pampas and Dried Flowers Tipi Wedding in Sussex by Phoebe Rossi
Today I am sharing with you this delightful Sussex wedding, full of DIY charm. Gemma and...
14
May
2013
I have a fabulous wedding for you today. Set on an idyllic stretch of beach in Costa Rica. With the bride and groom meeting while working at a circus and with a rainbow theme running throughout the wedding, you just know it”s going to be a day full of personality and a little bit of mischief! With brightly coloured parasols, rainbow bridesmaids, 2 horses for the bride and groom to ride off into the sunset on AND a massive pool party, this wedding screams fun! The couple also put together their own wedding video, which can be watched HERE Thanks to the incredibly talented Gabriel Gastelum who is a based in Los Angeles for the fabulous images.
Jessica and Mark married on 24th February, the ceremony and reception a beachfront vacation rental in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. ‘Mark only made 2 requests: 1-not to wear ties and dress shoes, 2-to have a coconut drink in his hand. So a beach seemed obvious. International was important as well. We wanted an excuse for our friends to have a wild vacation together. It makes for invaluable memories.We had 34 guests and it took 10 months to plan.’
How they met
I was an aerial acrobat for the circus and happened to be doing a silks performance when I caught the eye of my innocent engineer. He never stood a chance.
The proposal
We were in Istanbul returning from a recon trip to Azerbaijan (where we now live). Did he ask during one of our numerous magic moments throughout the trip? No. He waited till the absolute last moment. Our last night in Istanbul he was dragging me EVERYWHERE. Finally, I told him we needed to return to our hotel because my bladder was getting impatient. So, between the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque he got down on one knee and said, “ Well, ….I better ask you this now then.”
Why did you choose your photographer?
Easy. We chose Gabe because he is the TITS!!!! Am I allowed to say that? We met Gabe while he was shooting our friends wedding in Hawaii. The pictures were incredible, but besides that, he was so fun and funny. We knew we didn’t want that creeper photographer just sort of looming around our intimate gathering. We wanted someone who would bring life to our party as well as capture candid memories.
The dress
The rainbow ruffle train and little butterflies were all handmade by me from 13 shades of organza fabric. What a fun project!! The white base dress was from David’s Bridal for $240.
Theme or colour scheme
I am obsessed with rainbows! I found it so fitting for our colour scheme to be rainbow since we were melding a circus family with an engineering group. Lots of colour to be found there!!!
Food
Fresh salad rolls, seared ahi tuna, grilled beef tenderloin with chimichurri sauce, and tres leches cake. Mmmm mmm mm!
Entertainment
I asked my banjo playing girlfriend to learn “Rainbow Connection” for our dinner. From there we had playlists made by myself and the groom to accompany our raging pool party. Afterwards we let off wish lanterns on the beach. Semi drunk people playing with fire is plenty of entertainment!
Flowers
Each bridesmaid chose their own dresses to accentuate their individual personality and style. Each was a different color, so it seemed fitting to have different flowers. Red gerbera daisies, Orange roses, Yellow mums, Green orchids, Purple/Blue Irises. My arrangement was a bright mixture of all!
Decoration
Very minimal decorations since the rental home we were in was so beautiful. We used some colourful scraps from my dress making project, strings of rainbow party lights, homemade craft stars and colourful paper lanterns.
Personal / DIY touches
• I spent months slowly gathering photos of each guest and mounting them on solid colored scrapbook paper. We hung them at the wedding with an assortment of pens so people could sign the back of their photo. Plus, the wedding party had silly bios next to their picture. I will now use that as our guest book.
• We also created a ridiculously fun scavenger hunt for our rehearsal dinner as sort of an icebreaker, and BOY did it work!! People were raging with giggles after their mad dash around Tamarindo, and barriers had been broken down!
• The only other thing we invested in were colourful parasols for our guests to hold during the ceremony. We anticipated the sunny beach being a bit hot for some, so we figured bright parasols could serve as a shade, a gift to our guests, and a great way to liven up our photos.
Special moments
Jumping into the pool with my dress on, and setting wish lanterns off into the night sky. After the wish lanterns were drifting away, Mark and I went out for a moonlit swim in the ocean alone. We listened to our loved ones back on the beach, laughing and enjoying themselves. Priceless.
Biggest surprise of the day
Having horses waiting for us after the ceremony. Nothing says cheesy bliss like riding off into the sunset, ha ha! It was awesome!
Advice
1~Plan it to be your own and reflect you as a couple. If you want elegant, be elegant. If you want fun, be fun! If you want trashy, be trashy!
2~GET A GOOD PHOTOGRAPHER. That day only happens once.
3~Don’t get hung up on all the little details like menu options, etc.
4~Here’s the BIGGEST, MOST IMPORTANT piece of advice: FIND ALONE TIME WITH YOUR MAN. Before, during and after the wedding. Have sex, make love, whatever you want to call it!! You are there for one reason~ LOVE. If you are running around like a chicken with no head and maintaining your guests and relatives, just stop, find your man, steal away for some zen time.
Http://gdxweddings.com
http://gdxphoto.com
[email protected]
facebook.com/gdxphoto
@gabrielgastelum
206.383.5520
This is just too beautiful. That IS the perfect wedding. Thank you for sharing. Happy Ever After
stunning wedding! love it!
really love this rainbow theme wedding. wanna a wedding like this.
Digging this funky wedding dress. What a great irreverent vibe, love when people take the “serious” out of getting married.
Can you please tell me where you got the rainbow detachable train I have looked all over the internet and nothing comes close, Was it made by someone?
I’m in love with the rainbow ruffle train u made youself.. can i know any tips about how to make a similar one?
I agree with Amber G. I have been all over the internet to find a detachable rainbow train, an no luck in finding if it may be purchased online or where it was made. I am getting married june 20th 2015, an would love to have this with my dress. thank you!
Heya,
this wedding was beautiful! I love the ideas!
Could somebody tell me how to make the butterflies on the dress? I’d like them as decoration for my nieces room!
Thanks a lot!
Looks like fun wedding!
Stunning!
oh costa rica, went there on my honeymoon, would love to shoot a wedding there for an excuse to go back!
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