Real Wedding Saturday: Ria & Jesse

As soon as I saw this wedding posted on Jenna Walker's blog, I knew I had to share it with you! It is exactly the sort of inspiration that I think so many brides need - a reminder of what a wedding is all about. For example, who says you need a long engagement to plan a wonderful wedding? Jesse proposed to Ria on May 9, and they were married on June 21 of the same year! Says Ria: We were so in love that we didn't want a long engagement - we wanted to celebrate out love with our nearest and dearest. The most important part of the whole wedding for us was the ceremony and keeping it as intimate as possible - I didn't want to have such a big wedding that I needed to project my voice into a microphone for my guests to hear me! I wanted it to be organic. So we decided on 50 to 60 guests. Jesse and I aren't the type of people to wear suits and ties, so with this in mind we decided on a casual backyard wedding with a barefoot bride, great beer from a local brewery, wonderful authentic Mexican food and of course 'George' our tequila filled pinata!


Ria decided on the second dress that she tried on, found in a small local shop.






Ria bought her favorite flowers and made her own bouquet, which she tied with lace from her sister who was unable to attend the wedding.


Though their wedding was small and casual, Ria and Jesse decided to hire a wedding planner, Ashley from Table Six Productions. "Get a wedding planner/day of coordinator," says Ria. "You will not regret it. Ashley took care of everything so that my day went by smoothly and perfectly. On the wedding day we didn't want to be worrying if the food had arrived, or whether there was enough alcohol. We just wanted to enjoy each other and the bliss of the day."


Paper Bird performed music for the ceremony.


Ria shares some of her favorite moments: My favorite moment was seeing Jesse waiting for me. Even though I am not a traditional bride, I decided not to see Jesse before the wedding, so that the moment I saw him my heart would beat even faster. Also, my sister and niece couldn't attend the wedding, which broke my heart, so my family arranged for my sister to watch the whole ceremony online via Skype. My best friend from South Africa Rashaad, flew over to give me away - it was so wonderful that my best friend walked me down the aisle.






Most of the decorations, and many of the other elements of the wedding, were purchased from various Etsy vendors, from the customized papel picado to the tissue paper pom poms.


Each guest received a mason jar, which they were asked to use for their drinks that day.






A mariachi band started playing as soon as Ria and Jesse had their first kiss as a married couple.











Congratulations Ria and Jesse! Wishing you a lifetime of love and happiness! And thank you so much to Jenna Walker Photography for sharing these beautiful photos with us - you truly captured the feeling of this special day. You can see even more photos and read even more about the wedding over on Jenna's blog. Also, check out Fight With Tools, the community organizing foundation started by Jesse's band, The Flobots.