When it comes to a DIY wedding, it is not so easy. It takes blood, sweat, tears, and whole lot of love and energy infused into each and every detail. It can be fabulous or look like a craft project. But I have to tell you, this rustic urban wedding is no craft project. Oh no. This wedding is absolutely stunning. And all beautifully designed by the couple.   From the Marigold and Grey color scheme, the ridiculously gorgeous table settings, and the lovely escort cards, this is a true handmade wedding. It is all about showing the love you have for each other through the amazing details. When you have a lovely DIY wedding combined with an incredible photographer like Michael Segal Photography, then it is a pretty stellar wedding.  When the first image from this rustic urban wedding  popped up on my computer screen, within a nano second, I knew I wanted to feature this wedding. With each and every image that followed, my mouth dropped so hard, I had to force it shut! I could not believe the images I was viewing.  Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to browse through the stunning photos of this lovely affair.

From the Grooms, Joe & Sunny…

We wanted our wedding style to reflect our personalities and cultures. Our ceremony had a mix of Western and Indian traditions. We had a gospel choir to reflect Joe’s Christian upbringing and faith. We exchanged jai malas (flower garlands) to include Indian wedding customs since Sunny is Indian. We all walked out to the choir singing, “Seasons of Love” from Rent.

We chose a rustic urban theme and that’s why we chose SmogShoppe because it wasn’t your typical wedding venue and reflected our style. We also did a lot of DIY stuff, such as our escort cards and table settings. We worked hand in hand with our florist, Twig & Twine and we were able to find vintage hobnob vases for the centerpieces that guests were able to take home. We also found awesome vintage letter light up marquees that added a great personal touch to our reception.

We had a cocktail hour with a blue grass band and we served mac and cheese balls, samosas and vegan sliders. One of our favorite bands is Pink Martini, so we made sure there were plenty martinis during cocktail hour. In addition we had three other speciality drinks – Tipsy Arnold Palmer, Sita Margarita and the Bees Knees. Food is a big part of our lives, vegetarian food in particular. We had Cashew Creme Lasagna, Potatoes Au Gratin, Vegan Celebration Loaf, Quinoa Alfresco Greens with peaches and almonds. Not to exclude our carnivore friends, we had Boneless Apricot Rosemary Chicken with mango salsa. Our cake was 3 layered with strawberry, lemon and coconut flavors.

We really valued all our friends and guests presence at our wedding and didn’t want anyone to feel left out at the dinner table, so we set our tables as long picnic tables (in addition to the head table) where everyone sat close to each other and ate as one big family. We also had a surprise dinner performance by a local Bollywood Troupe that mixed together some fun Bollywood songs.

Our first dance was a mashup of Adele’s rendition of “Make you feel my love” and Gossip’s, “Men in Love”. This really got the crowd to the dance floor and they stayed there all night! We stayed away from the perennial wedding favorites like the chicken dance etc. we really collaborated with our DJ to come up with a list that reflected our eclectic taste in music. We had booked an ice cream cart and weren’t sure if it would be too much food, but in the end it was a good decision because it was one of the hottest days of the year! So with all the dancing, it was a nice touch. 

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