Joel and Danielle at the Fullerton Arboretum

Joel and Danielle were married on the first day of spring and their wedding was simply beautiful. I posted a preview a while back and am excited to share more details with you today.

I absolutely love this couple! I led a bible study at UCLA and Danielle was one of my girls. I was overjoyed to hear a couple of years later that she began dating Joel, who plays saxophone with my husband on occasion. They are whole heartedly genuine, wonderful people and their love for each other is amazing. 

Danielle was in Ethiopia for half of our planning and Joel was in his first year of med school but, even so, planning was a breeze. They were just so happy to be starting their lives together that all of the details fell into place. 

We designed a simple but charming and crafty spring wedding. I am so happy to get to share the beautiful photos, taken by one of my favorites, Jenetta Penner.

Bouquets:

Ceremony:

We used some of the reception centerpieces as aisle decor for the ceremony:

Hello poppies:

Escort cards on beds of wheatgrass, accented by little arrangements I made:

A cute arrangement I made for the guest book table:

Reception:

Centerpieces by Flower Allie:

 

I made the table numbers to make it look almost like a patch of flowers, noted by a sign. Each was a little different: I used many different prints of paper (the back side of each sign was the same printed paper as the number on front) and then made little flowers to accent them.

I also cut out hundreds of flowers with my cricuit and scattered them around each centerpiece. Each table 's cricuit flowers matched the paper used on the table number.

The sweetheart table:

Fun candy bar:

Linens from Wildflower Linens. (Thanks Desiree!)

I loved these little accent pieces I made with cookies from Sweet and Saucy Shop:

The beautiful cake, to be featured on The WE Network's "Amazing Cakes" (more details here).

Gorgeous linen from Wildflower.

We had bubbles for guests to blow while the bride and groom left for the night. This cute little guy found the stash and blew bubbles for a good hour during dinner.

I will leave you with a few shots of the adorable couple:

The Arboretum is so picturesque!

Danielle and Joel (and family too!): You know I love you guys. Thank you for letting me be a part of such an important day in your lives! I had such a great time helping you plan, envision and dream. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for you two!


Our vendor line-up:
*Church: EastSide Christian Fellowship
*Reception: Fullerton Arboretum
*Florist: Flower Allie
*Photo: Jenetta Penner
*Catering: Country Garden Caterers
*DJ: Fly By Night DJs
*Linens: Wildflower Linens
*Rentals: Create-a-Party
*Cake: Merci Beau Coup for Amazing Wedding Cakes

I want a Bat Mitzvah!

I saw this event posted on The Bride's Cafe yesterday and about died. The most elegant bar mitzvah I have ever seen! Each table was named after a different city and the centerpieces were created to represent that location. This could very easily be transferred to a wedding. The centerpieces are amazing- I adore creative ideas like this!

Planned by Eclatante Design, Florals by Beautiful Blooms and photos by Marie Labbancz.

All I have to say is that Bat Mitzvahs have come a long way since I was in Jr High. Thanks for sharing this Janie!

I have a fun wedding to post tomorrow! Yay!

Also, I have received such a great response to the April Showers Series that I am going to share shower tips more regularly from here on out. I have a cute DIY favor project coming up in the next couple of days.

By the way, thanks for all of the love blogworld! Miss Duckling shared on WeddingBee, 30 Handmade Days linked to our series, Lindsey gave a little love and Sweeter Still wrote a super sweet post about us. *this is me blushing*

See you tomorrow!

Dress Envy

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Kristin asked me if I was going to cut out little sombreros with my Cricut- I wish I had a cartridge for that- it would be awesome!

Nothing cinco de mayo themed here today though.... instead, prepare yourself to be jealous.

One of my favorite Orange County photographers, Boutwell Studio, just posted photos from her wedding this past weekend and my jaw dropped. This dress has to be one of my most favorite wedding dresses ever. And I have seen a lot.

Beautiful bride + Stunning Monique Lhuillier Dress= One awestruck Courtney that wants to get married to her husband all over again just to wear that dress.

Oversized balloons too? Seriously? Just gorgeous. 

Thanks for sharing Chenin. The pictures are stunning!

Blogging and Facebook and Twitter, oh my!

We have officially joined the social networking age (about time, right?). We now have a Facebook page and I have a  Twitter (joyfulweddings).

Join and follow along if you would like to keep up with us! 

Have a great Sunday!

Aprils Showers: May Flowers

Happy May! If you have missed our series this week on baby and bridal showers, please feel free to take a look back at our week full of inspiration and tips.

I.am.so.bummed! Tomorrow was supposed to be our spring party and... it is going to rain! It has not rained at all lately and the one day the skies decide to open is the day that we planned an outdoor picnic! We decided to push it back a week, so I will be sure to share all of the details with you in a few weeks. 

Earlier this week, a reader asked about tips on making crepe paper flowers. The shower is an eco-friendly theme and the bride has requested that the shower attendees make flowers out of crepe paper to use at her reception. I think this is a great idea! I love crafting activities at showers. 

Martha Stewart Weddings has a tutorial online for how to make these beauties:

To make it a little easier, Martha Stewart Crafts sells a Crepe Paper Peony kit on their website. I am not 100% sure, but I believe that you can purchase kits like this at Michaels as well.

If you want some fun gigantic flowers, there is another tutorial on Martha Stewart that shows you how to make these:

I found instructions for a cute crepe paper rose on The Fab Miss B's blog.

I know that these are not crepe paper, but I am a huge fan of Paper Source's paper flower kits:

I was in one of my favorite antique shops in San Clemente the other day and they had these adorable tissue paper balls placed in urns. I think this would be so cute for shower decor! 

Two good places to buy sheets of crepe paper are Blick Art Materials and Crafts Etc. You can also find some more unique colors and textures on Etsy (including this beautiful flirty ruffled crepe paper):

It has been a fun week of showers. I guess the sky just wanted to take part.

Have a great weekend!