Wedding Recap

A glimpse into our wedding day, all the details, and diving deeper into my "wants."

Oct 30, 2024

HI, I’M MARRIED!!! Corey and I thought long and hard about what we wanted our wedding day to look like. Luckily, neither of us had to compromise on a simple, immediate-family-only wedding of just 14 people. Although my choice was clear, sometimes I would catch myself thinking “Should we hire someone to do a splashy tablescape? Do we need a champagne tower?!”. But then I would think a little deeper. Why did I feel the need to have these things? It wasn’t because I thought they would make our day more special, it was because of what I saw on social media. And when I really did some thinking, the source of all of this “want” was to show off to… who? People I don’t know? It’s all so silly when you really think on it. Now, if a champagne tower was something I had always wanted at my wedding because I thought it would be such a fun moment and really set the tone for the rest of my wedding, then absolutely I would have done it. This is not to put down anyone’s choices, but to really think harder about our “wants” and who we are doing them for.

All of the decisions we made for our wedding day were things we personally felt were important and it turned out to be the most beautiful, special day. I think it’s easy to get wrapped up in social media, what your family wants, what your friends think you should do… etc. But if you really stay true to yourself and what you want, your day will be better than you can ever imagine!

The Details

We always knew where we wanted to get married, so that was immediately checked off the list. We set our date then got working on the details. We planned it all (stress free might I add) in about 3 months.

Order invitations & stationery. As soon as we secured our venue, we started designing our invitations and day of stationery on Minted. I think doing this first is a great first step to establish the colors, feel and overall vibe of your wedding day. Minted has so many unique designs that are easy to customize and make your own. My code CARISSAWED gets you 15% off wedding stationery and 25% off save the dates + free shipping (*exclusions apply).
Finding the dress. This was my least favorite part if I’m being honest. I found trying on dresses to be exhausting, I didn’t like the pressure of finding the “perfect” dress, and I didn’t feel like myself in a lot of the dresses. I had the best experience at En Blanc in Santa Monica and Sarah Seven (where I ultimately got my dress).
Find vendors (florist, catering/staff, photographer, video). Finding vendors was pretty easy. We got our flowers from a farm across the street from the venue, the food was from a nearby restaurant that also provided serving staff, and I found our photographer on Instagram. We also did a Super8 video instead of a traditional wedding video which I’m super excited about! A lot of vendors offer “elopement packages” for like half the price of a regular wedding which was great!
Small details. We wanted a couple small special details like the wiener dog embroidered napkins and personalized embroidered napkins at the table that they could take home. Etsy is great for anything custom!
Get wedding bands. We got our wedding bands from Marrow Fine in Lido Village (they have a few stores throughout the country or you can order online!). They helped me build my dream stack and Corey got his wedding band there as well!
Hair and makeup trial. I used my girls in LA for hair and makeup and flew them out day of which made it easy! But make sure to book your hair trial before you schedule your pre-wedding cut/color in case you need to trim your bangs or color your hair in a way that looks the best for the style (nothing drastic of course).
Welcome bags. We ordered some of our favorite things for our welcome bags like our favorite candy, snacks and drinks. Just a little gift to say thank you to our guests! These bags are the perfect size and great quality.
Write vows. With the madness of wedding planning (and launching a business in my case), I am so glad I carved out time to write my vows. If I didn’t, I feel like I would have had to rush and do it last minute so make sure you schedule some time to do it if it’s not done the week prior to your wedding. I highly recommend taking the time to write them on a pice of paper or notebook instead of reading from your phone. Just looks better and god forbid your boss calls you halfway through…
Map out your day. Play out the day hour by hour and skip no details. How are you getting home from your venue? Who is setting up the table? What are you going to do if it rains? ;)

The Day Of

9 am: Vows. Corey and I read our vows to each other the morning of our wedding over coffee and it was so special. We repeated them later at the ceremony, but having that intimate moment just us too felt necessary. We talked about our vows, reminisced on our relationship, and had a deep discussion on what marriage meant to us. It was the perfect way to start the day!

12 pm: Get ready! I got ready in my hotel room with my mom, sister, and nieces. We took turns getting our hair and makeup done, and ordered a nice lunch. Corey got ready at his parent’s house down the street.

4 pm: First look, photos & mingle. Corey & I did our first look around 4/4:30 pm then took some photos around the property. Our guests arrived at 5 pm and had some wine and charcuterie before the ceremony. When we were done with our photos, we mingled and had some food before the ceremony began. It was super casual!

5:30 pm: Ceremony & family photos. The rain let up right at 5:30 pm, so we quickly went over to the area where the ceremony took place. My dad walked me down the aisle, we had our ceremony with my brother-in-law officiating, and said our vows again in front of our families. Afterwards, we did a toast, took family photos, and Corey and I took our “golden hour” shots while everyone mingled.

7 pm: Dinner time! We sat for dinner around 7 pm and had the best meal of our lives! We enjoyed each course then ended with cutting our wedding cake. When the wedding was over around 9:30 pm, we went back to our hotel and called it a night. It was just perfect.

I wanted to talk about things we would have done differently and if I am being 100% honest I would say not one thing. We stayed true to ourselves throughout the whole process, had so much fun planning, and truly had the best day of our lives!

xx, Mrs. Dutina