California Wedding with Leafy Decor

We hope you’ve got some time to spare, because this wedding from Erica Houck Photography is a doozy – in the best way ever. Bride Chelseah planned her wedding day around the theme of vintage-antique-meets-boho, and the result is surprisingly timeless and absolutely breathtaking. Don’t you just love her cascading bouquet with heaps of eucalyptus?

From the bride, Chelseah: Making my day happen on a budget was not only important to me, it was my only option. I went full commando mode to make our beautiful wedding happen on a non-existent budget. I wanted our wedding to be fun and laid back. Everything spurred from there. Fiddy and I are both very into antiques and items chucked full of patina so we centered our wedding theme on that shared love (the bohemian aspects were all me though… guilty as charged). I went from flea market, to thrift stores and even to some sketchy parts of town (wouldn’t recommend it) to collect all of the items. It took about a year but came in under $1000 total for all of our vintage décor.

Most everything was made or assembled either by myself, my mom, her best friend Debbie, or my rock star Matron of Honor, Andrea. There was so much painting and assembling involved it took nearly our entire engagement to complete all of the projects. Though Pinterest is a wonderful thing, do your research. Sometimes Pinterest doesn’t always warn you about the potential problems, like the health concerns related to sanding lead paint or that making a door table really isn’t that simple. A wonderful friend from church, Erin and her amazing crew, did all of my flowers for me. We bought wholesale and my method for picking flowers was based on three things. 1. What is in season? 2. What do I like? 3. Which flowers will give me the best bang for my buck? We used a lot of silver dollar eucalyptus, a tree which we had access to, which saved us tons.

Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? The greatest most helpful lesson I learned is that anything with “wedding” attached to it is likely going to cost at least three times more. Sometimes we as brides get so caught up in what a wedding is supposed to be we lose track of not only our budgets but what we really want. Taking the word “wedding” out of most of your searches will not only give you more options but a better variety of prices. This is particularly helpful when you are looking for vendors. Look for non-traditional vendors who are excited to be a unique addition to your event and are willing and motivated to work with you. Never be afraid to negotiate.

See Also

A Bold Berry-Colored Vallejo Wedding

Wedding Location: Sanger, CA / Photographer: Erica Houck Photography / Venue: Private Residence / Wedding Dress: White by Vera Wang / Caterer: Ortega’s Taqueria / Bakery: Shey’s Sweets / DJ: Expo Party Rentals / Tent: Tent City Canvas House