Home / Weddings / REAL {CALIFORNIA} WEDDING – IVY & SCOTT

REAL {CALIFORNIA} WEDDING – IVY & SCOTT

I couldn’t wait to feature Ivy & Scott’s GORGEOUS wedding story….there are so many beautiful images and I wanted to feature every one of them…so, I’ll be featuring their wedding in two parts today. I don’t know where to begin to tell you how sweet Ivy & Scott are…the love between them and their families is just so special and you can truly see it in the beautiful images…all captured by the AMAZINGLY talented and oh-so-nice, Tom Tomkinson of Tom Tomkinson Photography….Tom’s work is AWESOME y’all…he seriously ROCKS and I’m so excited to have him stop by the cafe….I’m happy to be sharing Ivy & Scott’s beautiful day with our friends at Essence Magazine Online…let’s check out all the magic captured by Tom…and I’m loving Ivy’s beautiful Monique Lhuillier gown…simply STUNNING …Enjoy!

Ivy shares their wedding story with us…..’Our wedding was outdoors. There was a carnival/games area, popcorn and cotton candy for the ceremony, a photo booth, balloons, bingo, and a raffle. After the ceremony we had a cheese, nuts, and veggies station, prepared by Scott’s mom and cousin, followed by some of the best BBQ. For dessert we had about 9 cakes and pies. The idea was to have all of our favorite things at the wedding, and have events which would keep people entertained and encourage them to talk to one another.

We saved for the whole 2.5 years of our engagement for our wedding and our goal was to not spend more than $20k on both our wedding and our honeymoon (not including attire), and we did it (thanks in part to some generous wedding gifts and tons of help from our friends and families)! I was amazed! I’ll try to remember all of our money saving tips because I think it could help lots of folks! 


Instead of a florist, we bought flowers wholesale from an online retailer and our family members arranged them for us the day of the wedding. Scott’s mom made the boutonnieres from the wholesale flowers and grasses found on the venue property. Scott’s dad built the ‘arbor.’ We decided to use confetti instead of rose petals on the aisle from a company that was able to give us confetti customized to our wedding colors.

And instead of a traditional wedding cake we did regular cakes and pies from a highly regarded local bakery. Things like that really saved us thousands, I’d say. Oh and our hay bales were loaned to us by the venue and a local hay bale seller who offered them as a wedding present even though he didn’t know us!

We also did a lot of DIY. We designed, printed and crafted our own invitations and envelopes I painted the table runners, made the cake/pie flags, cut the streamers for the backdrop for the ceremony, and made a little more than half of the pennant flag garland. Scott made/built/painted the carnival games and all of the signs, and he made the I & S carnival light signs that were hung on the barn. After we were burnt out, we enlisted the help of our friends and family members. 

My sister and bridesmaids, filled balloons for carnival games, made my bouquet and theirs from flowers we bought at the San Francisco Flower Mart, and my cousin made most of the ribbon wands and ‘Yay!’ flags. All in all it was pretty exhausting, but well worth it. It also really helped to have an awesome day of planner (we didn’t hire her to plan the whole thing, just as a coordinator for the big day).’

I love this image of Ivy…totally priceless!

What a little cutie pie!!

And two more little cutie pies….the kids are adorable!

Don’t you just love Ivy’s bouquet…(and so does my bride for next year…I know she’s checking out the feature)!

I love this image of Ivy with her mom…’image of the week’!

Ivy with her mom and her sister….such beautiful ladies!

Ivy made these colorful streamers for the backdrop…AWESOME!

Ivy share her ‘wedding blooper’ of the day…’My veil was on backwards while I walked down the aisle. I remember thinking, wow, I really feel hidden. Also, during my vows I referenced an Andre 3000 song saying that I would scratch Scott’s dandruff. Unfortunately I was the only one who got the reference and it came off as a dis.’

I’m so loving all the black and white images Tom captured!

Now, aren’t you just loving Ivy & Scott’s wedding…and we’ve got more beautiful inspiration coming up shortly, so make sure you stop by the cafe in a bit…..Tom, thank you SO much for sharing your GORGEOUS work with us today…guy, head over to Tom Tomkinson Photography and check out more of Tom’s lovely work!

We’ll be back with Part II in a few….you don’t want to miss it!!