This real wedding of Cortnie and Donny had so many amazing and gorgeous personal details that both 100 Layer Cakes and Green Wedding Shoes, with its 3 part feature, shared this wedding on their blogs.
Wildflower Linen, of course, couldn’t resist the chance to share this unique and utterly breathtaking wedding as well. With it’s “shipwrecked on the high seas” theme came everything from: rustic wooden fixtures, custom paper goods reflecting the “lost at sea” scrolls and natural organic floral arrangements to modern ghost chairs, a crystal boat chandelier and even a floating wood table hung from giant nautical ropes intertwined with florals!
Below are photos from Jose Villa Photography who truly captured the essence and beauty of the wedding, giving us viewers a small glimpse into that magical event! Cortnie, the bride, is also an event designer and planner of Canvas and Canopy Events and designed all the details to her own wedding. The “shipwrecked vibe, a washed ashore, nautical, ethereal almost ghostly feel” was made possible with the help of her good friend and coordinator, Carolyn Chen of The Special Day. Carolyn and her team made sure that every single detail was perfectly placed and executed. You’ll also see excerpts from Cortnie as she describes her design concepts and vision for her wedding day.
Cortnie wore a custom gown created by Joan Shum which included a mix of blush and beige tones; perfectly suited for a soon to be matron on a voyage!
From Cortnie: One of our personal touches that appeared on the invitations, menus, programs, and cakes were the silhouettes of bears. My nickname for both Donny & our dog Bubba are my bears. Even the ringBEARers wore lapel pins with bears on them, and my bouquet had a necklace that had a bear locket wrapped around it with photos of Donny and Bubba inside.
The bear and boat Chinoiserie pattern that Kristy Rice of Momental Designs designed was printed onto large long scrolls that spilled to the floor and wrote each guests’ name on them.
From Cortnie: Guests were taken down to the beach by Pedi Cab with large signs on the back that had our bear logo and our favorite Dr. Suess quote “oh the places we’ll go” on the backs of them. As guests neared the ceremony location there was a rustic wooden sign that said “Little Chapel by the Sea”. Then guests walked down to the sandy beach in which we had Lucite ghost chairs for them to sit upon. I loved the idea of ghost chairs on the sandy beach bc literally nothing was blocking the gorgeous view.
About the reception decor:
The bride used a mix of wooden tables and Wildflower Linen’s most popular lace overlay called Carolyn Lace in Champagne color. It was paired with the Homestead Collection in the stone color; simple linens with an organic raw feel to match the rest of the wedding decor palette. The napkins remained a beautiful neutral tone made of natural organic “linen”. We just mentioned a “Vintage Style” Real Wedding earlier this week that used the carolyn champagne lace overlay . It’s great to be able to show how beautful and versatile this linen is in different wedding designs!
From Cortnie: I love the long wood feasting tables that were flanked by both modern ghost chairs and wooden tree stumps (keeping with that mix of modern + rustic) for guests to sit on. They also had large round dining tables mixed in with gray linens and delicate lace overlays that were surrounded by the lucite ghost chairs to keep the space open and ethereal. The tables were set with a mix of modern and vintage dinnerware and flatware.
From Cortnie: Our head table was literally floating! I designed our head table to be hanging from a structure with nautical looking ropes so that it was floating. I had found an old ship on Craigslist and my talented friend from Urban Barn (a vintage furniture store), strung it with crystals to create a ‘ship chandelier’ we hung from the center of the structure, over the floating table. Again it was surrounded by the Lucite ghost chairs to keep the feeling of it floating. Studio Fiore Design created a beautiful floral runner that hung off both ends of the floating table.
See their lovely video by Elysium Productions:
VENDOR LIST:
photography: Jose Villa // event design + styling: Canvas & Canopy Events // event planning + coordination: The Special Day // venue: private estate in Carlsbad, California // floral design: Studio Fiore Design // hair + makeup: Alexis K Brows // wedding dress: Joan Shum // shoes: Jimmy Choo // bride + flower girl hair pieces: Lo Boheme // groom attire: Theory Suit from Bloomingdales; shoes from Salvatore Farragamo // paper goods: Kristy Rice of Momental Designs // videography: Elysium Productions // vintage furniture rentals: Found Vintage Rentals // vintage dinnerware, glassware + flatware: Casa De Perrin // modern furniture rentals: Hire Elegance // table linens: Wildflower Linen // event containers + props: Canvas & Canopy Events // wedding invitation: Printed Palette Ink // cake + cookies: Cupcakes Couture // mixologists: Snake Oil Cocktail // canopy bed ceremony structure: Designed & Constructed by Canvas & Canopy Events //custom floating table: designed by Canvas & Canopy Events; constructed by The Timber Library // catering: Toast Catering // lighting: San Diego Events Lighting // calligraphy: Laura Hooper Calligraphy
I began Wildflower Linen in 2001 after a career in fashion design. In that world, one goes to a lot of events and it seemed that although textiles are very important to that industry, that so much more could be done with the most important (and abundant) elements in the room -- tables and chairs. So, I literally brought all my ideas to the proverbial table and haven't looked back.
