12

Aug

2016

Jill and Andrew’s Old Hollywood California Wedding by A. Blake Photography

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you are excited for the weekend, I certainly am! It’s been a busy week here on the blog, so I’m looking forward to family day on Sunday to chill out with my boys and spend some time (hopefully) enjoying the English summer. Today we are heading off to California for this sun drenched outdoor wedding. Jill and Andrew enlisted the help of On The Run Events to help plan their wedding and they were delighted with the finished results. An old Hollywood meets Bohemian glam styled day complete with photo booth and cigar and tequila bar. Thanks to A. Blake Photography for the images.

 It went by too fast and it was the most fun party with all of our favorite people. There was so much love and happiness in the air that day, it was an absolute fairy tale.

Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography

Jill and Andrew were married on July 2nd 2016 at  Avila Beach Golf Resort, Avila Beach, California. ‘We are both from California and wanted a coastal wedding. We wanted something that was walkable and laid back. Andrew went to school nearby as well, so we just love that part of the California Coast! We had 130 guests. We got engaged in August of 2014 but didn’t really start planning until the summer of 2015. We booked our venue in July of 2015 and got married in July of 2016.’

Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography

How they met
We met at a Friendsgiving potluck; Andrew was one of the hosts and I was invited by a mutual friend. Who was our officiant. That was in November of 2011, so this is our 5th year together.

The proposal
It was perfect! I’d always told Andrew that I wanted it to be personal and intimate, I didn’t need a ton of people around when he popped the question. He took me out to dinner to celebrate our birthdays on 1st August 2014, we’re both born in August. After dinner we walked to a nearby pier that was right in front of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. I LOVE the bridge when it’s all lit up, there’s a beautiful art installation on it. There was a street performer at the end of the pier playing the saxophone and I still had no idea what was about to happen. We chatted for a few minutes and then Andrew got down on one knee and proposed with live music and my favorite SF scene. After I said yes, we walked to a restaurant close by and 10 of our closest friends were waiting to toast to us with champagne!

Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography 7 Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography

How did you allocate your budget?
Food and libations were probably the most important to us. I think our top 3 spends were the venue, our caterer, and some rentals to set the mood and vibe exactly how we had wanted.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
I think we splurged on the rentals; we rented some really unique chairs for our sweet heart table and cool furniture for our cigar and tequila bar. We really wanted a live band but in the end it was more than we wanted to spend so we went with a DJ. Our DJ was wonderful, and we did not miss having a band at all!

Why did you choose your photographer?
This was actually our second photographer; we had some communication issues with our first, and decided a few months before the wedding to search again. We hired Ashley because when we spoke with her on the phone we immediately felt like we had known her forever. We’re both really into food and cooking and she was making her kids seasonal gluten free muffins while we were chatting. We felt we got so much value for the quality she provided.

Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography

The Dress
I had two dresses and I loved both of them SO much! Both of my dresses were by Nicole Miller. My accessories for the most part were borrowed; I wore my mom’s diamond earrings, necklace and tennis bracelet. I had my shoes custom made at Nordstroms by Shoes of Prey. They were a little pricey but worth it to me, as one of my dresses was true white and one was more of an ivory; I wanted one pair of shoes for both. I wore a vintage hair pin that I found on Etsy, and my Maid of Honour made my birdcage veil, which tied into the vintage-glam boho theme.

The suit and bridesmaids
Andrew got his suit from the Men’s Wearhouse, it was simple and well tailored, Egara. We wanted a clean classic look for our wedding party but we also didn’t want anyone to break the bank with their outfits so most of the guys wore grey suits that they already had but we bumped up the style with accessories like matching shoes, belts and waistcoats. I wanted the girls to be elegant in long black dresses but didn’t want them to wear the same one, so we decided to let them choose styles that fit their body shape best. They all felt beautiful and comfortable, which was so important to me.

Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography

Theme or colour scheme
We wanted an old Hollywood feel with some unique bohemian touches. I really wanted to encourage our guests to dress up and wear fun accessories, feeling glamorous. We kept the colors simple with grey, black and white, throwing in mixed metals and texture to make the style pop.

Flowers
We had all white and light peach florals like ranuculas, David Austen roses, peonies, veronica, dhalias, lilly of the valley, etc. they had a slight wildflower vibe. My friend mentioned using palm fronds, and I wanted to run with incorporating them as well. Danielle, our planner tied it all together with white king protea and blushing bride protea in my bouquet, and pink king protea for my bridesmaids, and in décor.

Decoration
We wanted to have some elegant, old world glam touches, while still being approachable and unique to our fun, lively lifestyle, so we trusted Danielle with On The Run to make it a reality. We chose a simple color palette, but played with texture, our unique florals, and mixed metals to relay our vision. We had décor from Archive Vintage Rentals making our cigar and tequila bar come to life, and Botanica Event rentals to infuse some vintage glass decanters, trifle bowls, and silverware.

Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography

Food
We LOVED our caterers, Flora and Fauna! We had great appetizers; salmon cakes, an eggplant byriani and a beautiful local cheese tray. For the dinner, we chose family style Santa Maria style tri-tip and chicken with seasonal grilled vegetables and some ranch style beans. All of their ingredients were local and seasonal; so much so that the chicken farmer was actually working as a server at the wedding!

The wedding cake
We didn’t have a cake. We went with a dessert bar of truffles and trifles!

Entertainment
We had a DJ and some highly entertaining speeches.

Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography

Personal Touches
We had quite a few DIY elements in order to keep budget manageable. Danielle our planner, did a DIY photo booth using an ipad, stand, simple booth (ipad app), and me and my entourage folded all of the paper fans that were the back drop of the photo booth. It took 5 or 6 of us 2 days to fold and glue 126 fans—but was such great quality time. We also did a seasoning blend, a Moroccan Chicken Spice rub, that we labelled our “love rub” and gave away as gifts. We’re constantly getting photos of friend’s dinners that they used the love rub on, which is great! Andrew and I give each other cards all the time, just to say I love you, so we also used our own greeting cards as our table numbers / markers. We incorporated them into our escort card wall, which was not only a seating chart, but also for guests to grab a mad lib, so they could send us their well wishes and memories of the day in a fun way! Danielle did all our florals, bouquets, and boutonnieres. Our centrepiece vessels were all salvage vintage finds that were spray-painted in beautiful rose gold, bronze, or silver, in unique styles, which was a special touch, and saved us hundreds off our budget.

Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography

Special moments or highlights
The whole day for me was kind of like a dream, just the way it kind of floated by. It was like everything was in slow motion until the reception. Andrew had given me a card to read later during the day and up until then there were all these times where I felt like I was going to cry happy tears but they just didn’t come out. Until I read that card. I lost it. I needed a good cry though, it’s just such a whirlwind of a day, and that card brought me there. That was really special. At the ceremony time was moving very slowly, and I was able to cherish just to be there with Andrew, all our friends and family there supporting us.

Advice for other couples
Maybe start early, depending on your venue. Our wedding started at 4:30 but there’s nothing wrong with a 1 or 2 o’clock wedding so dinner and reception can be a little longer. Nothing can prepare you for how fast your party goes by!

Biggest Surprise
How fast it was over.

Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography Jill and Andrew's Old Hollywood California Wedding by Blake Photography

 

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