Real Wedding: Annie and Brandon in Carmel

So after plenty of leading you all on, and after two years, I'm finally sharing our wedding pictures! From the start, Brandon and I knew we wanted a wedding in Carmel, and we wanted it to have a vintage, timeless feel. We both love history (Brandon was actually a history major when I met him), and our venue, La Playa Hotel in Carmel, is on the list of Historic Hotels of America. Taking cues from the 40's and 50's, the hotel and Carmel itself, I put together an ivory, light blue and mint green color scheme with hints of peach. Magnolia garlands, hydrangeas, garden roses, freesia and verbena visually enhanced (and scented) the whole day perfectly. Above all, I wanted a timeless look and feel for our wedding so I could have something I could look back on 10, 20, or 50 years from now and not think "that was so 2008". I'm so happy with how it turned out, especially since we were on a budget. ♥

My aunt gave me this locket at my shower, it had belonged to my grandmother who passed away before I was born, and the bracelet (and all my jewelry) was made from pearls my grandfather had given my aunt. Inside she put pictures of my grandparents on their wedding day in 1947 which took place in Carmel.

My bouquet had white garden roses, freesia and hydrangea in an antique silver bouquet holder.

Brandon and the groomsmen's boutonierres all had hydrangea, freesia and lemon verbena in them - they smelled amazing!

My maid of honor Morgan wore the green color of the girls' Jim Hjelm dresses (which had pockets!), and the best man Jesse wore a green Robert Talbott tie.

The bridesmaids' bouquets had blue and green hydrangeas with peach Juliet garden roses.

The girls all wore knockoffs of my Manolo Blahnik shoes ♥

The ceremony gazebo was decorated on both sides with magnolia garlands, blue and white hydrangeas and white garden roses.

Everyone laughing because I rushed my vows and cut off the priest by saying "I do" too early ♥

My favorite picture of the day ♥

To save money and serve something yummier than punch, I bought fresh strawberries and mint at the farmer's market, cut them up and had the hotel add them to water that morning. I saved over $30 doing this, and everyone loved it.

Our signature cocktail was a key lime martini - our favorite cocktail from the restaurant where we had our first date. Using extra invitations, I made signs for the bar, seating chart, and table numbers.

During cocktail hour, we snuck away to Carmel beach for a few pictures.

All of the table centerpieces were heirloom silver bowls and tea sets from my grandmother's, mother's, aunt's and my collections. It helped add to the vintage feel and cut down on costs.

Pictures of our grandparents on their wedding days ♥

Our favors were Sand Dollar lemon sugar cookies from Grandma LuLu's - a nod to Carmel.

Our guest book was a photo coffee table book about Carmel - guests signed pages and we have a great keepsake that we can keep out and look at now.

Our first dance to "Baby I Love Your Way" by Peter Frampton ♥

My brother Charlie getting down. Literally.

This 1940's vintage cake topper was the first item I bought for our wedding (about a month before we got engaged).

Our cake was literally the most amazing wedding cake I've ever tasted - not even trying to be biased here. It was covered in marzipan (mmm!) and had two flavors: Lemon sponge cake with fresh lemon curd and raspberries and Vanilla sponge cake with vanilla custard, almond meringue and Kirsch.

Our ribbon wand getaway ♥

Vendors: Photography - Tom O'Neal and Marc Howard of TGO Photography, Venue - La Playa Hotel in Carmel, California, Florist - Flower Farm Design Studio, Invitations - Invitation Consultants, Cake - Patisserie Bechler, Hair - Kim Larson, Dress - Watters, Shoes - Manolo Blahnik, Veil and custom jewelry - Meghan Lawlor Collections, Birdcage veil - Brenda's Bridal Veils, Bridesmaids dresses - Jim Hjelm, Men's ties - Robert Talbott Carmel