Grecian Bohemian and Whimsical Desert Garden Wedding

Describe the bride/bridesmaids’ attire

“Simple and light. I wanted the girls to be in light silver from the start. When I found the TwoBirds infinity gowns on sale on Gilt I snatched 4 of them up as quick as I could. My girls were all beautiful (inside and out) and I knew the dress would be flattering on them. I like the wrapped Grecian look with the light color. They looked like Greek goddeses!

“I always knew I wanted a silk chiffon gown that flows, something similar to Grace Kelly’s white dress in To Catch a Thief (never out of style). When I found Tatyana Merenyuk’s pleated bustier gown on Etsy, I knew it was perfect. She worked with me to add straps/cap sleeves and made my matching veil as well. When I received my dress it fit like a glove and was the perfect length. Buying through her I actually saved a lot on alterations as well.

“For jewelry, I made the girls and I matching bracelets, which were made out of druzy pendants and long silk chords that we wrapped around our wrists. I wore an Enchanted Atelier headpiece that I found on sale and the girls wore flower crowns from Urban Outfitters.”

Challenges you faced planning your wedding

“I was always told, ‘This is your special day for you and your husband,’ which I couldn’t agree with more. I believe it’s important to keep in mind during the planning process, but it was difficult for me at times because our wedding was about our friends and family too. I struggled a few times to create a balance between what we wanted and what was important to our families. In the end, we really just did what we felt was right with input from the families and it turned out perfect – everyone was happy!”

Best advice you received while planning your wedding?

“A wedding is a party, not a performance. If at the end of the day you are married to the one you love – everything went perfectly. So much truth to that. It helped calm my nerves a lot along the way and even the day of. We enjoyed the moment, together. It can be so easy to get caught up with the little things, that I made sure to ‘enjoy the view’ with him on our special day.”

Any tips to share with other brides?

“I lived on Pinterest, Etsy and flash sale sites for a year before my wedding. I found that you don’t have to settle for anything when using Etsy. So often sellers can customize their product to fit your vision. We used Etsy for our invitations, my wedding dress, and for my bridal party jewelry. Between Etsy and flash sale sites like Gilt and Hautelook, I felt like I got exactly what I was looking for at a great price. It took a lot of time and patience, but I had so much fun with it.”

How many guests were invited and what was the final guest count?

“I think we invited around 150-160 and our final count was at 125 guests.”

Was it difficult to narrow down your guest list?

“When we found our venue and did our budget, it allowed for 125 to 135. It’s funny how precise that ended up being.  If we had had room for more, I would have liked to invited a few more friends of ours, but we had to be careful not only because of our budget, but because of the venue size. It was important to me that the ceremony faced the mountains (limited space for that) and that the reception be in one room with the dance floor in the middle.”

Which pieces of music did you use during the ceremony?

“The harpists played three songs: ‘Here  Comes the Sun’ by the Beatles, ‘Kissing You’ by Des’ree (Romeo + Juliet) and ‘Flightless Bird American Mouth’ by Iron and Wine. The first dance was to Ellie Goulding’s version of ‘Your Song.'”

What types of flowers did you have?

“I wanted a simple thrown-together wild flower look with a little white and a lot of green. For the bouquets, we had long stems and ribbons hanging to match the girls dresses and mine. I let the florist work with what was in season and she did a wonderful job. It was exciting to see what she came up with the day of the wedding. We matched the centerpieces with the same asymmetrical flower look. For the reception, thick draping leafy garland with scattered white flowers decorated the head table. For the ceremony we used bundles of baby’s breath tied to the end chairs with a ribbon and green vines hanging. I couldn’t be happier with our florist. She knew what I liked and went with it.”

Did you go over or stay under your budget?

“A lot of our cost was grouped into our venue and for us, the venue was the most important cost. When I found Spencer’s, it was love at first sight. I was going to make it work if we had to count pennies with everything else! And we did. From the start, I didn’t want anything over the top. I always pictured a simple wedding dress, simple flowers, etc. That’s just my personal taste and I feel it was easier on our budget in some ways.”

Wedding invitations

“We had them made by CricketPrinting on Etsy and they had black calligraphy on top of olive green watercolor. She was great with helping us customize the colors, wording and font. They had a simple, earthy and classy feel to them. I loved our invites and I felt they complimented our special day perfectly!”

Highlight from the ceremony & reception

“It was so much fun to see everything come together and more importantly our two families in one place,  for us! The highlight of the ceremony for me, was when I walked down the aisle. All I could see was him and he looked so handsome and sweet. I was so nervous leading up to that, but he helped me feel at peace. I had never been more sure about anything in my entire life. We got a moment after the ceremony to look down over the pool. Our family and friends were enjoying cocktail hour and it was just a nice breath of fresh air. The most important part was done and it was lovely. We got to enjoy our selves at the reception. I think the highlight of that was just seeing how good of a time our guests were having. Laughing, dancing, smiling. It was the sweetest memories!”

Where did you go on your honeymoon?

“We left for Acapulco, Mexico the next morning. We stayed at Las Brisas a long the hillside and it was outrageously perfect. The staff was so kind and helpful and we had our own private pool that overlooked the bay. Perfect honeymoon spot!”