Ideas to Make Your Wedding More Personal

As the biggest workforce and the next big generation to get married, Millennials are changing the rules of the wedding game – and not just through the colors they use for the décor or the kind of attires they prefer to wear on the Big Day, but through the very way they see their weddings and the way they make them happen.

Personality and uniqueness are key words for Millennial couples – so it should be no surprise that most of the weddings are taking the road less walked on and leaving behind many traditions. And that is totally OK – after all, your Big Day is yours and you deserve to plan the kind of event you will look back at and genuinely smile every time.

What are some tips to make your own wedding more personal? Here are some of our top recommendations.

• Decide which traditions work for you, and which of them don’t. Do you want a bouquet toss? Only about half of Millennial couples choose to have one at their wedding, so you wouldn’t be much of an exception if you chose to toss the bouquet toss. The same goes for pretty much every other wedding tradition – the First Dance, the Last Dance, the Cutting of the Cake, or, why not, the white wedding dress itself.

• Skip the elements you’re not very keen on. Not a huge fan of the classic multi-tiered white wedding cake? That’s fine, you can find a million and one alternatives for it. A chocolate cake, a tower of cupcakes, a wall filled with doughnuts, or simply a table of your favorite pies – any of these are totally acceptable these days. The key here is to choose something you actually like.

• Bring in your personality at every opportunity you get. Walk down the aisle alone, or to a heavy metal song if that speaks to you. Hold a bouquet made of paper roses. Get away on a bicycle. Go on a honeymoon six months after the wedding. Make your own rules – your generation is changing the landscape and creating a world of weddings that’s more diverse and more personal than ever!

More than anything, do everything with a smile on your face. Your wedding is one of the happiest days of your life and you deserve to do whatever makes you feel good – and if that’s eating burgers in a designer wedding gown, then so be it!

Creative Team
Venue: Rockwood Women’s Club
Design, Planning, floristry: Burlap & Bordeaux
Photography: Rewind Photography
Gelato Cart: Tondi Gelato
Catering/Cake: Catering Connection
Dj & Photobooth: DJ Zeke SB
Rentals: Amigo Party Rental
Invitations: LaurenLaurenLauren
Linens: Dream America Linens
Hair & Makeup: Kiss the Bride

How to Make Your Mom Feel Special at the Wedding

You are more than thankful for your mom and everything she’s ever done for you. She is the one who gave life to you – and the one who sacrificed her own life to make sure you grow up into an amazing human being.

Of course, she will be more than emotional on the Big Day – and of course, you will want to make sure she feels just how much you care about her.

What are some of the tips you can incorporate into your wedding to make your mom feel really special? We have gathered them below – so continue reading if you want to find out more.

• Have her walk you down the aisle. Traditionally, the father walks his daughter down the aisle, but that doesn’t mean your mom has to be excluded from this moment. In some traditions (such as the Jewish one, for example), it is actually customary that the bride is walked down the aisle by both her mom and her dad. Including your mother in this moment will make for such a beautiful, emotional memory!

• Have her do a reading during the ceremony. Another great way to make your mom feel special during the wedding ceremony? Ask her to do a special reading. It might be a passage from the Bible or her favorite book – whatever it is, it will be meaningful and unforgettable, both for you and for every other guest present at the wedding.

• Take her shopping for her dress. It is quite likely that you have included your mom in the wedding dress shopping entourage. How about making her feel special by taking her to buy a dress for the Big Day too? Pamper your mom with a shopping session that’s bound to be fun and emotional at the same time – she will love it.

• Ask her to bake her cookies. Or any other recipe she makes better than anyone under the Sun. Include this in your wedding menu with a note that tells the story behind this secret family recipe. It will surely make for a sentimental touch during the wedding dinner!

Your mom deserves the very best. Allow her to help you, allow her to advise you, allow her to be part of the Big Day. This is as big a moment for her as it is for you!

Creative Team
Ceremony Venue: Santa Barbara Courthouse Mural Room
Reception Venue: Villa and Vine
Photographer: Anna J. Photography
Planner/Designer & Floristry: Burlap & Bordeaux
Cake: SusieCakes
Macarons: Sugar Lab Bake Shop
Flatware: Otis + Pearl
Linens: Dreams America Linens
Entertainment: DJ Zeke

5 Wedding Planning Tips Every Couple Should Know

Truth be told, planning a wedding is not in any way easy: there are hundreds of details to consider, which can put a lot of external pressure put on you, and there’s a lot of internal anxiety as well.

Combined with a race against time, planning a wedding can easily become one of the most stressful things in some people’s lives.

What are some of the essential tips you should keep in mind when planning your Big Day, so that you make sure to plan a perfect event without losing your mind? We have gathered them for you to hopefully take some of the stress out of planning your wedding.

• Keep things organized from the very beginning. Given the large number of details you have to handle when planning the wedding, it is very easy to lose track of some things (and sometimes, these things might be quite important). Put it all on paper. Create a timeline. Take things in their natural order (e.g. first you find a wedding venue, and then you establish the décor details).

• Get the big tasks out of the way first. The budget, the guest list, the venue, the catering, and the entertainment come before the napkins, the shoes, and the boutonnieres. There is a reason they should come first: they lie at the very foundation of building the ideal wedding day, and without them, you are very likely to plan a lot of details that won’t make sense all together when the day arrives.

• Your seating chart is important. It may not be the most pleasant thing to plan, but it is essential when you want to make sure everyone will feel great attending your wedding reception. Even a small slip or a mistake in putting incompatible people together can ruin the atmosphere (not just for those people, but for everyone around them too).

• Don’t forget about the lighting. Even the simplest, most inexpensive wedding venue can turn into a fairy tale-worthy space if you use the right lighting. Twinkle lights are especially popular for their whimsical vibe, but you can use gobo lighting (for a modern and elegant wedding), lanterns (for a casual, boho-chic wedding), or even candles (for an ultra-romantic wedding).

• Go beyond trends, go beyond rules. This is YOUR wedding and it should reflect YOU. Let your personality shine through. Think out of the box, even when that means doing something most people don’t do (like wearing a colored wedding dress, if you feel that’s more suitable for you than a classic white gown).

Most importantly, though, smile through it all – your wedding planning is a time just as unique as the Big Day itself. Enjoy it and seize every beautiful second of it!

Creative Team
Ceremony Venue: Trinity Episcopal Church 
Reception Venue: Elings Park, Santa Barbara
Photographer: Sara Weir
Planner, Designer and Floristry: Burlap & Bordeaux
Catering: Taqueria Movil
Lighting: Bella Vista Designs
Rentals: Elegant Event Rental 
Hair & Makeup: La Rouge Artistry
Bakery: Sugar Lab Bake Shop
Linens: Dreams America Linens
DJ: Music by Bonnie