Right from the start you know this couple is different because they did their own bridal portraits, and as it turned out, their wedding was equally unique. There was no wedding cake, no dance floor, and no guestbook for the guests to sign. Instead, they did just what they wanted, and it was lovely. Thanks, Ian Photography, for capturing their big day so well. The venue and setup were beautiful, and yes, they did it all by themselves.

“I wanted our wedding to have a rustic and natural style so I bought a bunch of brown recycled cardstock. I used this cardstock to make all the paper goods for our wedding. This created a unifying earth tone scheme for our wedding as well as saved us some money.

“I’ve always wanted to DIY my own floral centerpieces but having the flowers fresh on the day of the wedding was a big challenge since I could only make a few at a time. That’s when I got the idea of using succulents instead, which are really resilient and long-lasting. This allowed me to make them all ahead of time. I bought different succulents from a local nursery, and, using some basic woodworking skills, we made all the centerpieces. These green succulent centerpieces were the perfect accent for our rustic and natural style wedding.

“To our pleasant surprise, the centerpieces were a big hit with our guests, who took all of them home. Even the florist, who created beautiful bouquets for me, has asked about collaborating with me to make them for other couples!

“Since we wanted a rustic feel to our wedding, we decided on a semi-casual look for our wedding party – no gowns or black suits! I also wanted to buy my bridesmaids something that wouldn’t be worn just once at our wedding and then stored in a closet forever.

Ceri: “A wedding is not just a celebration of love between the couple but also a celebration of love
between the couple and their friends and family that attend. The best wedding gift we received was seeing our friends and family come from different parts of the globe, taking time from their busy schedules to celebrate that day with us.

“We wanted to have our wedding as soon as possible to keep ourselves from being tempted into spending too much time over-thinking it and trying to make every single detail perfect. Due to a last minute cancellation, a popular venue that we liked had an available date two months later. We immediately reserved it. Since the clock was ticking and both of us were pretty handy, we decided to DIY a lot of stuff for our wedding.

“Our main desire was for everyone at our wedding to have fun! We wanted to make sure there was never a dull moment where guests had nothing to do. We also knew what we liked/disliked and so we tailored our wedding to our interests. Since we both weren’t really into dancing, we set up various activity stations instead – a photobooth, a button-making station and a postcard-making station. I provided used children’s books, comics and magazines for the guests to cut up and make their buttons and postcards. Also, since we weren’t really into wedding cakes, we had an ice cream sandwich station where guests could choose from a bunch of different types of cookies and ice creams.

“The buttons that the guests made became our wedding favours. This way, we could be sure they liked what they got! We also had the guests fill in their addresses on the postcards and decorate the front of them. They were collected at the end of the night. We then wrote a personal message on each postcard and mailed them from a post office near our wedding venue, sending the postcards back to our guests as our thank you letters.”

Tips from the bride: “As I write, I can’t help but remember the fun we had planning our wedding. We didn’t hire any wedding planners and I’m so glad that we didn’t. Planning a wedding together provides a foretaste of your crisis management abilities as a couple. You both have to work together to solve any problems or issues that will inevitably appear. This is the first real test that will either make or break you as a couple. However, the time spent together on wedding planning, if done with love and understanding, will become a priceless memory that becomes the foundation for the love and joy you will share as a married couple. Our wedding did not follow many conventional norms simply because we weren’t interested in them. Remember that it’s your wedding, so make it what you want and not what the norm dictates!”

CERI & DANIEL {US}

Photography by Ian Photography / Venue Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, California / Number of Guests 150 / Bridal Gown by Melissa Sweet / Hair and Makeup by Grace Lin Makeup (Bride) and Liling Chang Makeup (Bridal party) / Groom’s Attire by Topman / Bridesmaids’ Dresses by Oasis Fashion / Groomsmen’s Attire by Topman / Flowergirls’ and Pageboys’ Attire by ZARA Kids / Bridal Bouquet by The Flower Lab / Catering by Cool Haus (Ice cream sandwiches) and Bon Cafetit (Coffee & Espresso Bar)