Inspiration Nation: A SoCal Version of the Royal Wedding

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

A SoCal Version of the Royal Wedding

The bride, Erika knew exactly what she wanted for her Temecula-set wedding. “My inspiration was Kate Middleton with a bohemian garden rustic twist. After watching their fairy tale wedding, I knew right away that one day my dress will have the similar long lace sleeves and a tiara with a veil that covered the top of my head,” she said. “I even decided to wed on April 29 since that was the day Kate and Prince William wed!” Erika and Casey pulled off their own version of the royal nuptials and with one look at the captures by Anya Kernes Photography, you’ll be equally obsessed.

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From the bride, Erika… Casey and I met 5 years ago at Saint Mary’s College of California at a jocks and geeks party. My heel got stuck inside a cracked brick, and he came to my embarrassing moment and helped me. The party ended with a date, the date ended with more dates, and the rest, as they say, is history!

My inspiration wedding was Kate Middleton with a bohemian garden rustic twist. After watching their fairy tale wedding, I knew right away that one day my dress will have the similar long lace sleeves and a tiara with a veil that covered the top of my head. My dress, Varel, from the 2016 Pronovias Atelier collection, was the dress I envisioned. My mother made my veil, which added a very special touch and Tania Maras made the “Carla,” a beautiful white crystal and pearl tiara that complemented the back pearl buttons on my lace dress. I even decided to wed on April 29 since that was the day Kate and Prince William wed! A little obsessed! I also love the boho look, so I wore a flower crown made by Crown collective for a part of the day.

I chose a soft blush pink with a gold accent for the color theme with white flowers and greenery for the centerpieces. Europa Village is already so incredibly beautiful; I really didn’t need to add many flowers since there’s already a huge white rose garden near the reception and lots of greenery. Bridesmaid dresses were all different styles in blush pink. I gave all my bridesmaids gold necklaces from Express with the letter of their first name. I also gifted them pajamas from Plum Pretty Sugar – I chose different patterns to match their personalities!

I loved the idea of making our programs nontraditional. I decided to go with cootie catchers, which I ordered them from Etsy. Casey and I made our favors – they were white marble hexagon coasters, which we asked a local calligrapher Raymond to personalize for each guest. We also gave Europa’s wine glasses with our names and date of the wedding.

Casey and I are huge craft beer enthusiast and we wanted to show our love for beer throughout the day. I thought it would be so cute to drive off in one of my best friend’s little red 2002 BMW after the ceremony with traditional wedding cans of Casey’s and my favorite Monkish beers that we saved over our year engagement. I made our wedding cans, which was super simple – I bought ribbon from Michaels and tied a knot around the can opener topper. We also tied the theme into our reception by naming every table with all of our favorite breweries.

Casey and I are not a big fan of frosting, so we had a naked cake decorated with fresh berries and flowers. Even though we didn’t have time to enjoy and eat it, I heard it was delicious! But no worries, I’m so excited for our 1 year anniversary because as a gift, Love Cakes will be sending us a miniature replica of our wedding cake, so we can enjoy!

Casey and I are so grateful that we found our photographer, Anya, through Instagram. We met her for coffee to talk about the wedding and we fell in love with her right away. Anya’s personality is so lovely. Her presence made us feel so comfortable while we took our engagement shoot and during the wedding. She made us laugh, she gave us advice on how to pose, and she just took the lead, which is what we needed! We could tell that she loves and has a passion for capturing beautiful moments. Her work is soft lighting and romantic, which is what we were looking for and can’t be happier with the photos!