A charming Huntington Beach barn wedding on a budget

Weddings, like everything else keep getting more and more expensive. According to this site, an average cost of a wedding in Southern California for a 100 guests is now costing approximately $30,000 - 35,000. That number astounds me.

So when I got a call from a darling bride-to-be with a very limited budget, my sister and I decided we would take on the challenge of putting together a beautiful event that would not put her into debt. 

There is a lovely venue in idyllic Huntington Beach, California called The Newland Barn. The barn sits on a large lawn behind the Newland House.  This beautiful white Victorian house is the oldest residence built in the city of Huntington Beach.

 The house was built in 1898 for Huntington Beach pioneers William and Mary Newland and their ten children. 1898 may not seem like much to my East Coast friends, but to us here in Southern California that is old. 

Today, the house is a museum and the lawn behind the house and the barn are rented out through the city of Huntington beach for events. The water tower and gazebo adds to the charm.

The barn rents for a nominal fee which attracts many brides who have a limited budget but still want a unique and beautiful wedding. The benefits of this venue is that you can bring in your own food and decor. The downside is you have to bring in everything and set up and take everything away in one day. We did this for my daughter's wedding a couple of years ago and although it was a lot of work it was very worth it. This was our second wedding here. 

My sister and I started styling weddings after my daughter's wedding. We figured since had done it once, we could do it again. Since then, we have styled other barn weddings but not at this one ... and it was great to be back.

We have many of our own props and accessories, some that were left from my daughter's wedding and many that we have added.  With each new event we acquire a few new items, and often we bring in things from our own homes too. 

 

The bride and groom wanted a sand ceremony which required a table. My sister had made this table for another event and it worked perfectly.

The cross was custom made for my daughter's wedding and we rented the column.

We didn't have room in the budget for petals ... or so we thought. When we got to the mart we found a vendor with a small bag for $15. It was just enough for a lovely sprinkling of color.

We used simple flowers and even more simple containers.

To cut down on costs we had a check in table but did not have escort tags or table numbers. 

I like to add a few "mock gifts" to the gift table so the first guests will know where it is and a lantern serves as a card holder.

Another way we helped the bride save money was we eliminated the need for a bartender or drink servers by setting up a self-serve bar and a help-yourself drink area.

The bride made the wine glasses from canning jars from Walmart and she glued on the "stems" that she found at a "dollar store".  She also made her invitations!

Simple details that don't cost a lot of money are key when you are on a small budget.

We made seating vignettes on the lawn and hung chandeliers in the trees.

And to eliminate the need for heat lamps, the bride bought inexpensive blankets to share with the guests. 

I love the tags the bride made for them. 

The food was served buffet style on family style tables ...

A simple self-serve coffee station was set up inside the barn ...

The bride's grandma made all the cupcakes ... and grandpa made the stand!

And we sprinkled family photos around wherever we could ...

Photographs are a great way to personalize any event. A grouping a family weddings was perfect for this one.

My sister, who is also a photographer, gave the bride and groom (and family) a one-hour photo shoot. It gave them some beautiful, professional quality photographs to remember their special day but kept them from having to pay thousands of dollars for a photographer for the entire event. They also asked family and friends to take photos throughout the event.

I made all the centerpieces ... and a few bouquets.

The bride's grandma made Mexican tea cookies and gave them as gifts for all of the guests ...

It helped to keep the budget down by enlisting a lot of family help. We had help from the bride and groom's family and even included some of our own. We had help from our husbands and our kids ...

 and even this little one who just celebrated her first birthday was on hand to help. 

Love never fails

I just got home from the most beautiful wedding reception. It was beautiful with flowers and all the lovely things we style weddings with of course, but what was the most beautiful was the genuine love that poured out from the bride and groom, the mother of the bride and all of their friends and loved ones who came to share this moment in time with them. It was one of those evenings where life is at its best.

All the sweet love reminded me of this story I found a while back (I found it here), and I'm not sure if it is a true story but I really hope it is.

"8:30, a man in his 80s arrived at the hospital. He was in a hurry, he had an appt at 9:00. I asked if he had another doctors appt. He said he had to go to the nursing home for breakfast with his wife, a victim of Alzheimers. I asked if she'd be upset he was late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, she had not recognized him in 5 yrs. I asked, ‘And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?’ He smiled and said, ‘She doesn't know me, but I still know her.’

"Love never fails." - 1 Corinthians 13:8

Setting up for a wedding reception

I started my day at the flower mart. Yes, back again ...

Do you remember this post about the wedding in London that I was not able to attend?

They are having a wedding reception tomorrow on this side of the pond ... and I am styling it.

This is the reception where I am using the cobalt blue vases I picked up at the flea market a few weeks ago.

Navy and pink were the colors for the London affair and I wanted to replicate it as much as possible.

The centerpieces were inspired by the bride's bouquet. 

And we will have a lot of photographs from the London wedding.

Along with some new touches to make this reception special too.

Right now it is all over my dining room table ...

And spilling into my living room too ... but I'm sure not complaining!

Newland Barn Wedding Flowers

I only have a few of the photos back from the Newland Barn wedding but thought I would share a few more of the details ...

My sister, who is my assistant on my design jobs, is my partner when it comes to the weddings we style. For this wedding (and many others), she was also the photographer. And while most of the time we consider ourselves wedding stylists rather than wedding planners, for this wedding we were kind of a two-woman show. Not only did we bring in all the decor, we also helped the client plan the entire wedding and we made the bouquets and all the centerpieces. 

© Prizler Photography

The set up for the wedding started on the day before with a trip to the flower market, and like I mentioned in this post, I like to go to the mart with a somewhat open mind. There are always nice surprises and I like to be flexible to change my mind be inspired. We had a general idea of what we wanted - a lot of white with a splash of "some" other color. The basic color scheme for the wedding was black and white so any splash of color would have worked. As it turned out, that splash of color was the perfect Autumn "tangerine orange" and peach.

Because of our tight budget for this wedding we had planned on using a lot of baby's breath grouped together. That in itself is rather ironic because I have always disliked baby's breath with a passion. But bunched together it can look quite nice, especially in this more casual and rustic barn setting. And it is inexpensive!

© Prizler Photography

And while we did buy some baby's breath, we actually ended up with a flower than can be cost prohibitive certain times of the year but this week was almost the same price as the baby's breath ... hydrangea! And in the most lovely shade of peach. 

I used the 49 cent pots I had purchased from Ikea and threw in a few carnations (yes, carnations!) for a very simple and cost effective centerpiece.

Transporting them to the barn was easy - I used a few low plastic containers lined with non-slip shelf liner.

We mixed the bouquets in with the the silver lanterns we had used for my daughter's wedding which had been held at the same venue.

The fruitwood ceremony chairs were moved to the tables once the ceremony ended.

The orange rose petals were the perfect finishing touch to tie everything together.

The bride's bouquet was white and wrapped in burlap just as she wanted, with just a hint of a peach hydrangea ... and it was almost as beautiful as she was!

© Prizler Photography

Aren't weddings the best?