Stylish San Juan Capistrano Wedding

There are so many places I could start when describing what I love about this wedding, but I think it’s best to begin with what immediately caught my eye when I peeked through the images: the bridesmaids. Bride Jordan had her maids pick cream-colored dresses and then gifted them with black tights, making the overall look chic yet unexpected. In fact, we think that’s the perfect way to describe Jordan and Landon’s whole wedding day, brilliantly captured by Whitney Darling Photography!

From the bride, Jordan: My husband likes to say the feel of the wedding was “magical realism.” He’s somewhat joking, but it’s a pretty good description of the feel we were going for. We played off of the beautiful outdoor setting so that our decor would enhance, rather than overpower, the venue. I liked the idea of picking a few key elements and using A TON of them so that the wedding didn’t feel cluttered with too many different DIY projects.

We never really had a theme; I just started with things I knew I loved-like glitter, stars, and candles-and went from there. We used a lot of gold, cream, and seafoam because we didn’t want to overpower the natural beauty of the location. Pretty much everything at our wedding was DIY! Luckily, so many family friends and my bridesmaids got together for craft days. We “glittered” (a new term we made for my wedding) 8,000 wood coffee stirrers (and put them all in hundreds of gold glitter foam spheres) for the gold stars that we hung in the tree at the ceremony and all around our reception. My dad helped me build a giant white frame for the backdrop of the ceremony and I used ribbons, gold and silver foil curtains, and paper flowers I made with coffee filters that I hand-dyed.

We tied ribbons on the back of all the chairs lining the aisle at the ceremony and one of the bridesmaids put together the giant white balloon with ribbon and a silver star garland. For flowers, we went to the L.A. flower market a couple days before the wedding and picked out all of my favorite in-season flowers. A family friend, who happens to be a florist, helped my stepmom and some friends create all of our bouquets and the flowers for the centerpieces. I designed little halfsheets of paper that we had on the tables at the reception for guests to write notes and doodles rather than a guestbook. We glittered probably 25 mason jars and used small pieces of wood and paint (obviously with more glitter) for the table numbers. My stepmom and I painted some 250 coffee cups with chalkboard paint so that guests could write their names on their drinks (and because it looked so cute!).

A dear friend designed and created our wedding cake, along with another dear friend designing our programs. My freshman roommate from college made a bunch of delicious pies for our dessert bar, and other friends brought additional desserts for people to munch on. We actually got all of our cokes for the toast from Mexico (a family friend travels back and forth a lot and graciously picked them up) because my husband and I LOVE the vintage feel and taste of Mexican cokes. One of my best friends (and bridesmaid) did both my hair and makeup. This was entirely on a whim, we hadn’t even practiced the makeup or hairstyle that ended up being my final wedding look! My mother passed away two years ago, so it was important to me to have a “Wish You Were Here” table with pictures and a prayer for family members who have passed away.

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? Don’t be afraid to play it by ear! I found that it was much more stressful to have too many concrete ideas because they often just didn’t work out or ended up costing more than I had originally imagined. For me, it was nice to be able to adjust my vision for the wedding as I went along because almost everything was DIY. Glitter makes everything so much more fun, but beware, it also will find a permanent home on everything in your house. I still find specks of glitter on my clothes, and every now and again I’ll see a small glimmer managed to make its way onto my face!

See Also

A Bold Berry-Colored Vallejo Wedding

Be creative with ways to save money, especially prioritizing what matters most. We didn’t want to cut corners on photography, and I am so glad we didn’t. Whitney Darling was absolutely fabulous and made our wedding day significantly more fun and relaxed. However, we decided food wasn’t the most important to splurge on, so instead of a traditional sit down meal, we hired the In N Out truck. We saved money and got to eat a California favorite at our wedding. Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Doing projects and crafts with other people provided great memories and inspired even more creativity.

Wedding Music:
Bridal Party Processional: “Ten Feet Tall,” Stephen Wrabel
Bridal Processional: “Through and Through” (a song my husband wrote for me when he was in a previous band)
First Dance: “Love on Top,” Beyonce
Father/Daughter Dance: “Everything I Own,” Bread (my mom’s favorite song)

Wedding Location: San Juan Capistrano, CA / Wedding Photographer: Whitney Darling Photography / Second Shooter: Cory Kendra Photography / Wedding Venue: Rancho Capistrano / Wedding Coordinator: Shawn King / Wedding Flowers: Nancy Anderson / Wedding Dress: Sue Wong / Wedding Shoes: Kimchi Blue Gretel Suede Pump via Urban Outfitters / Hair and Makeup: Yazz Fulton / Groom’s Attire: Zara / Ceremony Musicians: Stephen Wrabel and Dearborn / Officiant: Josh Pease of Saddleback Church / Wedding Caterer: In ‘N’ Out / Desserts: Bride’s friends / Wedding Invitations: Wedding Paper Divas / Videographer: Grant Jensen