Real Wedding: Cristina & James

I have the most wonderful readers, and it is so fun to get an email from one sharing her wedding with me - especially when I get to share it with the rest of you! Cristina and James were married in the small fishing village of Trinidad, where redwood trees meet the rugged Northern California coastline. Their wedding was full of thoughtful details and special moments, and they were kind enough to send some over.


Holy Trinity, an historic church built in 1873, is perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.


Cristina suggests buying wedding party attire just after the winter holidays - her bridesmaids' dresses were marked down more than $100! Also, listen to her clever way of making custom letterpress invitations fit their budget: We were convinced we couldn't afford letterpress invitations until a spark of creativity hit me when I saw this stationery desk set by Elum and discovered it could very easily be converted into a wedding suite. I used the floral cards as invitations, the faux bois cards as response cards, the gift cards/envelopes to hold our favors, and the sheets of correspondence paper as our programs. A talented friend created the type design as her wedding gift to us and we asked Egg Press to do one-color impressions on the Elum pieces - making our dream of custom letterpress invitations a reality.




Cristina's bouquet included greenery that could root and then be planted, allowing her to have a sweet reminder of her wedding day. Says Cristina, "September 5 also happened to be the one-year anniversary of losing my beloved Nonno. I fastened a photo of him to my bouquet to honor him and keep his memory close on such an important day. He would have loved it."




One of Cristina's favorite parts of the day: The forecast called for rain and wind, so it was a wonderful surprise when the clouds parted and the sun came out minutes before our ceremony. The sunset that evening was fantastic. We loved that at some point, most of our guests had their shoes off and were splashing in the ocean (including us!).


Cristina sewed 100 feet of bunting flags to decorate the reception site!




Favors were keepsake buttons designed by a friend of the couple and made by Busy Beaver Buttons




For music, the couple made a playlist of musical requests that guests sent in with their response cards.





Photography: Amy Kumler

Ceremony venue: Holy Trinity Church, Trinidad, CA

Reception venue: Moonstone Beach House, Trinidad, California

Stationery: paper from Elum / letterpress by Egg Press

Bride's dress: "Vivien Leigh" by Siri

Groom's suit: Duchess Clothier

Bridesmaid dresses: J.Crew

Flowers: Flora Organica

Catering: Celebrations Catering, (707) 826-1224

Cristina and James, thank you so much for sharing this beautiful day with us (and for making me even more homesick for California), and for sharing all of these clever ideas, too. Happiest wishes to you!