This morning we shared Laura & Brad's tear-jerking wedding film with you guys, and now, we've got all the details and their gorgeous photographs by the amazing, Let's Frolic Together.
Held in the iconic Balboa Park in San Diego, their sunny day featured so much love, warmth and fun.
With a super sweet first look, a deeply personal Jewish ceremony, beautiful decor, and lively reception, this is one of those weddings you know would be so cool to be a guest at!
With a palette of ivory, blush, gold, and grey, Lauren and Brad adorned their garden wedding with fresh floral decor throughout, with votive candles and glowing string lights adding a little romance to the evening's events.
But even among the most beautiful decor, chic style, and dreamy setting, this wedding was really all about Laura, Brad and their adorable love story.
From their personalised vows, and their choice of music, to odes to family members who couldn't be with them, every last detail of their wedding was thoughtful and heartfelt.
Couples like Laura & Brad leave us with butterflies every single time – and when you read their love story below, we think you'll agree!
Wedding Day Snapshot
Our Love Story
We were set up by a mutual family friend but we actually grew up around the block from each other.
Our families were friends when we were young kids and our brothers played baseball together. We even have pictures together on the sidelines of their games.
Although we grew up in same neighborhood, we didn’t connect until later in life. But once we did, the timing was perfect, and we never looked back.
Brad proposed on a beach walk over Laura’s favorite bridge. One of his friends hid in the bushes and captured the whole proposal on camera.
After the proposal we walked along the coast and had a celebratory drink at our favorite bar. We then headed to dinner where our families were waiting to surprise Laura.
The Inspiration
We wanted a garden theme with a color palette of ivory, blush, gold, and gray.
We were looking for a place where the beauty of the venue spoke for itself and we could just accent it. The Prado at Balboa Park is one of the great gems of San Diego and had exactly that.
From stunning courtyards to the delicious food, the class, elegance, and warmth of the space helped us bring to life our vision for the celebration.
The Flowers
For the bridal bouquet, we had a soft and natural, stem gathering of pale peach garden roses, champagne roses, ivory garden roses, champagne dahlias, blush spray roses, ivory hydrangea and dusty miller united in an ivory satin stem wrap.
The wrap was pinned with the broach that belonged to the bride’s Nana. She is no longer with us so it was important to honor her memory in this way.
For the bridesmaids we had soft and natural stem tied gatherings of a soft peach garden roses, cream roses, ivory spray roses, champagne roses, ivory hydrangea and dusty miller foliage.
And the boutonnieres were a cream rose with a grey leaf backing with a matching stem wrap.
The Photography
Jasmine from Let’s Frolic Together is incredible at telling stories.
When looking through her portfolio, we were very impressed with her unique ability to capture a broad range of emotions from intimate moments to dancing shenanigans.
To add to her talent she is extremely sweet and easy to work with. Brad, the groom, got on his knee and asked her to be our photographer after our first meeting with her.
The Ceremony
The bride’s mom is a cantorial soloist and sang a beautiful Jewish blessing for the couple as the ceremony started.
The couple was wrapped in the groom’s grandfather’s tallit during a blessing. The groom’s grandfather is no longer with us so this was a very special moment for our family.
For the ceremonial entrance and framing, stands were set out at either side of the aisle entrance and held centerpieces upon them.
On the aisle, ivory, champagne and soft peach blossoms emerged from clear glass vases hanging from alternating ceremonial chairs.
The bride and groom were married under a chuppah (a canopy under which a Jewish couple stands during their wedding ceremony). The poles of the chuppah were wrapped in white satin ribbon and draped with a white and gold tallit (prayer shawl).
The chuppah was adorned with gatherings of hydrangeas in each corner.
Favourite Moments
Although the whole wedding weekend was very special, there are two moments that particularly stand out for us.
The first was the wedding ceremony as it was the first time that the everything slowed down and we were able to be in the moment with eachother.
Our rabbi led us through a traditional Jewish ceremony that was thoughtful, heartfelt, and sincere with just the right amount of humor. It was perfect for us.
Our other favorite moment was our first look into the ballroom after the guests had gone inside.
We peaked in and the band had everyone dancing before the bridal party even walked in. Everyone was having so much fun and we knew it was going to be a great evening.
The Music
Ceremony: Music provided by a string quartet
Processional: Hebrew song Erev Shel Shoshanim (Evening of Roses)
Brides Entrance: Rainbow connection (favorite song of the bride’s grandparents)
Bridal Party Reception Entrance: Groove Me by Etta James
First Dance: Trust in Me by Etta James
Father/Daughter dance: Isn’t She Lovely by Stevie Wonder
Mother/Son Dance: Good Day Sunshine by The Beatles
Last Dance: Best Thing by Ray Lamontagne
Budget Tips
When you are on a budget it helps to prioritize two or three things that you agree on as a couple to spend a good portion of your budget on.
Costs add up quickly, so knowing our priorities early on helped us make some tough choices about cutting cost later in the process.
We prioritized the venue, band and photographer. We knew that no matter where we were we wanted it to be a dance party and we wanted someone to do a great job at capturing the celebration.
To be able to do this we cut things like favors only had only beer and wine at the reception.
Cocktail Hour
A gathering of gold and silver mercury votives gathered in the center upon each table.
On the place card table, L.O.V.E mugs from Anthropologie were filled with flowers and surrounded by gold and silver mercury votives.
We had tray-passed hors d'oeuvres, with organic goat cheese, sweet basil, tear drop tomato, roasted cherry tomato bruschetta, basil, garlic crostini, black bean & corn quesadilla with cumin cream and mini deep dish pizza.
The Reception
We had footed glass bowl and vignette centerpieces , had lush arrays of ivory, champagne, cream and soft peach roses along with soft pink spray roses, café au lait dahlias, ivory hydrangeas and dusty miller foliage.
A mixed array of gold and silver votive candles surrounded each of the guest table centerpieces and a few soft peach garden rose blossoms lightly accent the top and side of the wedding cake.
Illustrious market lighting stringers embellished the ballroom to create a romantic and intimate atmosphere.
We had a formal sit down dinner with a pressed salad first course, and choice of Red Wine braised boneless ribs, grilled salmon, or open face ravioli for the entrée.
The Honeymoon
We went to Turkey and Croatia for two weeks for our honeymoon. It was the perfect mix of relaxation and adventure.
We chose places that neither of us had visited so we could experience something new together.
We were able to visit a range of landscapes from hiking through Plitvice Lakes National park to the hot springs and travertines of Pamuukkale. It was magical to say the least.
Doesn't that look like the most wonderful wedding – so fun, but so romantic!
Thanks so much to Let’s Frolic Together, and to Laura & Brad for sharing their gorgeous garden wedding with us.
Oh and don't forget to watch their awesome wedding film by Wonderland Cinema too!
Be inspired by more Chic Real Weddings.
