When I heard this was a Beverly Hills wedding, my mind instantly went to a swanky celebration with over the top decor, extravagant wedding gowns (plural), towers of Champagne, and an ornate white ruffled, ten-tiered wedding cake.
But this wedding is so much more special than that.
One of those occasions with equal helpings of style and substance, Marciel & David's garden wedding was not only insanely gorgeous and understatedly stylish, it was also entirely authentic, meaningful and romantic, from start to finish.
Their Greystone Mansion bash was captured (oh so beautifully) by Priscilla Frey Photography.
Despite their iconic location and plush surroundings, David & Marciel managed to pull off their stunning wedding within budget, with some expertly executed DIY projects (watch out for the chair signs and table numbers!) and clever planning.
Keeping things traditional, yet stylish, Marciel opted for a glamorous long-sleeved lace wedding dress, and wore her hair down with a statement flower crown and gorgeous bouquet. David tied in handsomely with the relaxed garden feel, in his pale grey suit.
The kind of wedding where the bride and groom look just so smitten they can't take their eyes off one another, we defy you not to have fallen head over heels for Marciel, David, and their wonderful wedding day, by the time you scroll to the bottom of the page!
Wedding Day Snapshot
Our Love Story
David and I first met at our church. We were both in the same worship team. I wouldn't say it was love at first sight. We were barely acquaintances.
It wasn't until the summer of 2013 when our friendship truly began. We were both randomly put in a group to work together as cabin counselor leaders for our church's summer youth camp.
David was a quiet and observant young man, and while he says at first he thought I was just a crazy loud gal, he began to see I possessed qualities he was looking for in a wife. And the more our friendship grew, the more he was falling in love with me.
I on the other hand, just saw him as my friend. He didn't ever tell me he liked me and he didn't show it either, so I really had no clue! The great thing about that was that we were really able establish a strong friendship.
When he finally muddled up the courage to tell me how he really felt about me, it only took a short time for me to realize I had fallen completely in love with David!
Since then we became inseparable and I could not imagine living my life without him!
He proposed on September 26, 2015 at Laguna Beach. He prepared a picnic basket with some of my favorite goodies tucked inside, and he then took me on a walk along the shore.
We ended up on a little reef island, just the two of us. With the water splashing on our feet and the sun setting behind us, just barely peeking through the beautiful ocean horizon, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!
It was the greatest feeling in the world knowing I would spend the rest of my life with my best friend!
The Inspiration
Our inspiration really came from the venue itself. Greystone Mansion is so beautiful on its own.
We wanted to keep everything soft but moody at the same time, a romantic garden wedding with a hint of rustic accents.
Our colors were blush, rosey pink, and deep reds along with ivory and grey for our neutral colors.
The Attire
I found my dream dress at David's Bridal, it was a beautiful Galina Signature lace gown. While searching for my gown I knew two things I wanted for sure, long sleeves and lace! It had a gorgeous lace scalloped neckline that I fell in love with.
The girls wore long dresses with a high neckline in a blush color and my maid of honor wore the same dress in a wine red color.
The groom wore a light grey suit with light pink suspenders and the groomsmen wore medium grey tone dress pants with an array of different pattern suspenders (the groom chose each pattern for each guy to match their own personality)
The Flowers
The bouquets where composed of pink roses, smaller white and red garden roses, seeded eucalyptus leaves accented with a very cool protea flower.
Boutonnières were made with roses and seeded eucalyptus. Our centerpiece were made with the same roses and seeded eucalyptus leaves along with some additional filler plants.
The Ceremony
We started with a special bible reading Genesis 2:18-24.
It's a custom in a Mexican religious ceremony to place “Lasos” over the bride and groom symbolizing the union and new pact being made as husband and wife.
Typically they are made out of beautiful crystals and come with a hefty price tag, however, we opted to make our own “lasos” out of faux greenery. It still held the same representation, it looked beautiful and matched our garden theme perfectly.
We also did a traditional “coin ceremony” where the groom presents 13 silver coins to the bride.
The Music
For the ceremony, a quartet played classical music. Bride walked down to ‘A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri.
At the reception, we had an iPhone playlist and our first dance was ‘Oceans' by Hillsong.
The Photography & Videography
We think it's so important to meet your photographer before you book them for your wedding.
We set up an appointment with a photography company but we didn't actually get to meet the photographer that would be shooting on our wedding day, it just felt too “businessy” for us.
When we found our photographer Priscilla Frey, we instantly fell in love with all her work. Her style and the way she edits everything on her blog is so cohesive and beautiful. It felt like we were looking at art.
Once we met with her it sealed the deal. She was so sweet, professional, and one of our top vendors we got to work with on our wedding day.
We almost didn't hire a videographer, just to save a little more, but we are so thrilled we did!
Our videographer is a friend of one of my bridesmaids. He is just starting up his business so he gave us a great deal. We were so happy with the outcome.
Sometimes you can score big with new up and coming talent.
The Venue
The venue was one of the most important part of our wedding for us. After deciding what our theme would be we were looking for something that had beautiful scenery and gardens.
As soon as we walked Greystone Mansion we knew that was “the one.”
We don't regret spending a single penny on our venue because that's what really set the tone for our wedding. It was our dream venue!
The Decor & Details
We wanted to keep our decor simple to not take away from the venue. In order to stay on budget we did a lot of things ourselves.
In the ceremony area we used a large mirror that I borrowed from my mom and had one of my bridesmaids (that happens to have amazing calligraphy skills) write a quote on it; she also did the chalk art for our favors and menu signs.
We DIYed our favors. They were so simple to make and looked so cute.
I also DIYed the chair signs on our sweetheart table. I didn't want the typical ‘Mr and Mrs' or ‘Bride and Groom' instead I went for something that really pertained to us. David always calls me gorgeous and I always call him handsome so I came up with the concept of the two arrows pointing to each other and writing ‘his gorgeous' and ‘her handsome; they turned out better than I imagined.
For our tables, we bought lace fabric and we just cut it up to make our runners. It was a great money saving project. Also our moss table numbers were another fun DIY project that was easy and came out beautifully to fit our garden theme.
We bought the vases for our centerpieces at a great price online and simply gave them to our florist to use in order to avoid those high priced rental vases; it worked out great because our guests were able to take the centerpieces home with them.
Additional DIY projects include our seating chart and our invitations.
Ballpark Budget
$20,000 we splashed on our venue, food and table rentals but really saved on everything else.
The Refreshments
We had a buffet style dinner and because we had a smaller guest list, it really went smoothly with no complaints of a long wait.
We had non-alcoholic beverages only. Our guests enjoyed sweets from our dessert table which included cake shooters, cookies, mini cupcakes, caramel pears, and a two tiered cake we cut into for tradition.
Favourite Moments
Our first dance was one of our favorite moments. We got lost in each other and felt like it was just the two of us floating on clouds.
Also, hearing his vows was so romantic and beautiful. I definitely recommend writing your own vows, if you are up for it.
Advice for Other Couples
My number one advice would be to budget your honeymoon into your overall wedding budget. The wedding day is beautiful but the honeymoon is really when you get to enjoy each other.
Plan something fun and adventurous or relaxing. Whatever it is that you like to do together, go ahead and plan for it now.
I have friends that have spent everything on their wedding day and didn't have any savings left for a honeymoon. So I would really encourage to maybe cut back on some unnecessary expenses and really stick to the budget you've set for yourself.
You can have a beautiful wedding on any budget.
We had a European honeymoon. We went to Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Venice, and Paris. We would absolutely recommend it. We had the time of our lives exploring all those cities together.
Such a wonderful wedding – I just love how you can just see the palpable love this pair have for one another. And those flowers – so beautiful, right?
Thanks so much to Priscilla Frey Photography and of course, Marciel & David for sharing their intimate garden wedding with us.
Be Inspired by more Real Weddings.
