Intimate Oceanside Beach Elopement

What was your total budget? Please provide a budget breakdown.

Clothes – $750 for us and the four kids
Flowers – $35 at Trader Joes
Photographer – $550 I think? I can’t really remember
Makeup and hair – $350
Cake, Champagne and take out from YNot – $300
Brunch at Bay Local the morning of to celebrate with the kids – $200

Total: around $2250

If you throw in the justice of the peace we went to earlier in the week, haircuts for the guys, and some other things I’m sure I’m forgetting. Also, getting married on a Monday that just happened to be the solar eclipse day – priceless

How many guests did you have?

Our four kids and the dog plus 3 more who joined us for the after celebration.

How did you meet?

We met at the gym. He used to sit on the bumper plates interrupting my workout so I finally figured I would ask him if he wanted to go with my friend and me to grab drinks next door. He said yes and a couple of years later – I said yes. As you can see from our wedding, we aren’t really into a lot of pomp and circumstance.

What is your proposal story?

So the proposal story was no different. It is the second marriage for both of us, so our proposal story basically consisted of Ray saying, “Let’s just get married!” here and there while we were doing sexy things like shopping at the mall, buying groceries at Kroger and buying a house together. When you know, you know I guess. LOL.

Tell us about your attire choices.

Our wedding was just us and our four kids…and our dog, Cooper. So really the dog’s attire choice and our two daughter’s choices were the most important. The dog chose a hand-me-down Quicksilver shirt from my son and the girls chose to match each other in white. Ray bought the boys semi-matching Tommy Bahama khakis and shirts and, well, I splurged on a $40 dress that I paid $80 to get tailored in my favorite rose blush color.

What were your favorite parts of the day?

We rarely have all four of our kids in the same place at the same time. So our favorite part of the day was having them perform our ceremony for us and our reception afterward where we had cake, Champagne and watched Game of Thrones together. Oh, and also it was the solar eclipse day. So that just added to it all.

Do you have any advice for couples planning their wedding now?

My advice would be it’s about the two of you and your day. Do it how you want. I see too many brides let the wedding planning and all the ceremonial aspects associated with that consume them and I think the bigger picture can get lost. The wedding is all about love. The rest – the flowers, the cake, all of that stuff is just stuff. Go with the flow, do you, and have fun with it all.