Krystal & Patrick's Happily Ever After Party

I've been inundating you with reader weddings of late, but I have so many good ones! Keep them coming. It's such a honor to get to share them with you all.

This uber-practical reader wedding involved the couple's children, a passel of adorable babies, and some of the hippest trends around. Krystal and Patrick got Weddinged at a 'Happily Ever After Party' at their home in Santa Cruz, after marrying last year at Patrick's parents home.
This wedding had many practical touches. The bride wore a killer BCBG dress (along with some beautiful ink!). The couple set up a registry with Global Giving, so people could give donations in their honor to various chosen causes, like the Boys and Girls Club in Baton Rouge, or, to build schools in Laos.
Their invites were posters made by etsy seller Unless Someone Like You.
They went to Trader Joe's the day before of the party and bought all the tulips in the store, and gave their guests mustaches on a stick just for fun.
For favors, the couple bought local honey and bottled it themselves, and tied them with family pictures.
Krystal says: "Patrick and I utilized the multitude of talent surrounding us. My son played guitar, Pat's friend BBQ's Oysters, other friends made vegan cupcakes and sushi, helped decorate, took photos, served food, sang. I worked at a local coffee shop in town and the owner graciously donated fabulous coffee for the evening. "
I love this picture of Krystal and Patrick enjoying their son's performance!
And here are their two sons chilling out. Check out that wee clip on tie!
They had a kids table set up with mad libs, clay, crayons, balloons, little toys, hula hoops (which the grown ups used more)...
And really, I'm not sure how you top this cuteness...
Except with THIS! Which just goes to show you, even a cocktail party wedding won't keep the cool babies at bay.

Sarah & Bryan's Over-The-Top Dinner Party

A few weeks back, after I posted this amazing wedding, lots of commenters did a little jig of joy, pointing out that there are very few resources and models for parents getting married. With that in mind, I am thrilled to share Sarah and Bryan's Seattle dinner cruise wedding. The pictures of the bride and groom with their son melt my heart.
Couples Names: Sarah & Bryan

Ceremony/Reception: Parsons Garden/Royal Argosy Cruises
What Made Your Wedding Creative: Since most of our guests were from out of town and first time Seattle visitors we thought it would be perfect to have the ceremony at a historic Seattle park and then a dinner cruise reception on the Puget Sound. It’s a fantastic way to take in the city. We had a view of the skyline, the breathtaking sunset and Mt. Rainier. Plus it was a full moon. Everyone was so grateful and commented on what a unique and creative idea it was.
What made your Wedding Thrifty: We concentrated on the Big Picture and nixed a lot of little details. We decided against a cake since our buffet included a dessert bar. Our ceremony flowers became the reception flowers. My shoes came from my closet and my best friend made my jewelry. The biggest money saver was the fact that our cruise was all inclusive. It included tray passed hors d'oeuvres , a dinner buffet, open bar and a DJ or band. Also, using a public park for the ceremony was very budget friendly. We were able to do the entire wedding for around $9,000.
What Made Our Wedding Sane: My husband and I had dated for 10 years prior to getting married so we already had a great deal of history together. We met when we were 16! We also have a 20 month old son, so the wedding day was more about celebrating our love and unifying our family than stressing over color schemes and monograms. Our guest count was 60, which was a very manageable number. It allowed for quality time with each person rather than an endless receiving line. We knew that we also wanted to kick back and enjoy ourselves so we opted against the traditional wedding events of toasts, cake cutting, bouquets/garter toss and the YMCA. Instead it was more of an over the top dinner party.
Congratulations to all three of you! I love the idea of thinking about a wedding as a over the top dinner party. I, for one, have a million ideas for wildly extravagant dinner parties that I'd love to throw, all of which would cost a fraction of the cost of the average wedding.

A Wedding With Kids

I love this picture of Ember and Ben's wedding, and after the comments about there being very few resources for parents getting married, I just had to put it up. This casual, spontaneous, loving moment during the vows made me so happy.

Photo by One Love Photo

Ember & Ben's Bainbridge Island Wedding

As you might imagine, I see a lot of wedding pictures these days. But some weddings take my breath away. When I was reading about this wedding, I kept having to stop, because the tears made it hard to see! Ember and Ben's wedding was thrown together in a month, and was shot by the bride's best friend, the super talented Heather Gilson of One Love Photo. This wedding between two long time partners and parents was a celebration of an existing family, which is such a powerful reminder of what weddings are really about.
This picture sums up the way I feel about this whole wedding! Me too, Ember, me too!
Ember and Ben said their vows a day earlier then planned, when they discovered the day before the planned wedding that the judge wasn't free the next day. This took some of the pressure off the vows, which were held in the backyard of a house they had rented for friends and family for the weekend. (talk about delightful imperfection).
This is, officially, my new favorite wedding photo. Their son Finn held the flowers they picked up at the farmers market that morning.
I'm not sure if there is a better picture to sum up family, love, and commitment.
Ember and Ben decided to finally get married after they saw the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, Washington. I assume they felt what we felt when we saw our venue, that profound feeling of arriving home after a long journey. The only problem? The Bloedel Reserve does not allow weddings. But, our bride did not see a road block! The rented a house down the way where they said their vows (a day early, whoops) and then they dressed in their wedding finery, gathered their guests, and took a wedding walk.
Their son Leo was extremely excited by his bow tie.
And of course they had cake.
Here is to love, to family, to friends, and to knowing what matters!

Now go read all about this wedding, as written by Ember's best friend, Heather.