Budget Friendly DIY Wedding in California

From the bride: “Mike and I met January of my senior year of college up in Spokane, Washington. Since then, we have hiked multiple trails, seen dozens of movies, driven thousands and thousands of miles through multiple states, camped, and have gone to multiple concerts of our favorite bands.Our personalities align perfectly and we love experiencing life and what it has to offer us together.

“Mike proposed at Oceanside while we were eating dinner on the beach on September 24, 2011. We set the timer on my camera and took what seemed like dozens of photos before he worked up the courage to propose to me in the last photo, which was perfectly captured on the camera. After tons of hugging and tears, we drove back to Temecula to meet my parents, my sister and our friends at the Public House to celebrate. Then exactly 6 months later on March 24th we were married.”

Talk about the DIY Wedding Process

Kathryn: “We got married at an all outdoor venue that fit our personality perfectly. I decided to turn my wedding into my own personal art gallery (out of habit, since I was an art major), so I made all the painted wood signs, fabric signs and streamers, ceremony backdrop (borrowed the BE JOYFUL letters from a friend), photobooth area, center pieces and my sister made the hanging maps pinwheels on the dance floor. It was SUCH a blast making everything by hand and my friends were wonderful and helped me set it all up to create the look of the wedding.”

Tips for a budget friendly wedding

“My friends helped me the day before the wedding pick all the flowers for free from a lady’s property close by. They also helped me put them in the vases and jars and tin cans, and a couple of them put together all the bouquets for me the day of the wedding. Bread was donated from Mikes and my place of work, Great Harvest Bread company and Mike’s mom made the different butters and jams. And my sister made all the cupcakes and my dad performed the wedding!”