San Francisco DIY Gray and Yellow Wedding
Andrew and Carmela both love the city they live in, San Francisco! So, of course their wedding had to be there. They also knew that they wanted a DIY wedding filled to the brim with personal touches, and it had to be a big ol' party. As you can clearly see, they did all that and a bit more.
Read on to see more details from Carmela and as always click here to view the entire gallery captured by Brooke Beasley Photography.
From The Bride:Doing the decorations for the wedding was a little stressful at times, with lots of "Why did we think this was a good idea?" moments, but everything turned out great. The biggest challenge was probably letter pressing the save the dates and invitations. (The ladies at Paper Source made letter pressing sound so easy and fun. Thank goodness we only had 75 guests.)
For the save the dates, Andrew took impressions of our thumbprints, did a little magic on the computer with Photoshop and ordered the plates for the press. After several tries with various materials, we nailed it. My sister provided an extra set of hands and we were like a well oiled machine. When it came time to the invitations, we all knew our roles and we were able to whip them out pretty quickly. I especially love the Lanztinger piece (our last names combined) now hangs in our house and they are a great reminder of our awesome, big day.
We loved our wedding. However, there are two small things that we would have done differently. The first is to make sure the doors remain unlocked during the ceremony and reception. After the ceremony we walked outside and noticed a group of friends sitting at a table. It turns out they were running a few minutes late, and the door was locked so they couldn't sneak in for the ceremony. Luckily, some folks used their iPhones to record the ceremony so they were able to see it that way.
For the escort cards, we cut some scraps from the napkins and glued them on to pieces of paper and pinned them on a framed, fabric covered cork board. My sewing machine continued to get the workout of its life when I sewed the felt circles for the alter backdrop. The wall was plain and white and it added that little extra pop of color.
The other thing that I would have done differently would be plan your wedding day down to the last detail and be sure to enlist family and friends to help if you don't have a day of coordinator. While folks offered to help, we thought we'd have enough time to take care of the last minute details. While I was having a relaxing wedding morning (shopping downtown at the Gap and getting my hair and makeup done), Andrew was running around like crazy; picking up the cupcakes and flowers, delivering them to the venue, running back home to get ready and get picked up. It added a little chaos to the day, but friends came to the venue early to help with last minute set up.
Andrew and Carmela covered every detail — even this super cute photo booth sign paired with with matching bunting. Way cute!
Read on to see how much this wedding costs. Please note that costs change as the years go by, and prices are subject to change. This is just one couple’s breakdown to give you a rough estimate on how much a wedding like this may cost you.
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I'm sure you get this often, but I honestly don't know the breakdown of our spending. In fact, I'm a little afraid to know the final number. A majority of the budget went to the venue rental and food. Other big ticket items: Flowers $350. Dress $750. Cupcakes $250. Fabric for napkins, bunting, etc $325. Custom shoes $250.
Our wedding should have been partially sponsored by Apple. We skipped the DJ and opted for an iPod and the Wedding DJ app. We spent a bit of time on the playlist, but it was completely worth it. On the RSVP we asked people to request a song that would make them get up and dance and we were able to include just about every request (sadly the Spice Girls didn't make it into the rotation).
It was great to see folks that had never met, doing the Hammer Dance and having a great time. I looooove photo booths and we had to have one. So we set up a corner of the room for a photo booth using paper chains as the backdrop and an iPad and the Pocket Photo booth app (free!). We uploaded all, yes all, the photos to Facebook and it was fun to let some folks relive (and others, regrettably relive) the photo booth moments.
- Bridesmaid Dresses: White by Vera Wang
- Cake: Teacake Bake Shop
- Caterer: City Forest
- Groom & His Men: Hugo Boss
- Jewelry: Demoiselle Designs
- Photography: Brooke Beasley Photography
- Shoe Designer: Milk and Honey
- Stationery: DIY Letterpress | Flowers: DIY | Hair & Makeup: Scout DeBartolo | Officiant: Reverend Tim
- Venue: The Winery SF