Shutters on the Beach Wedding: Holly and Steve

Although I’m just back from the beach, I see the Santa Monica Pier, a seashell necklace, and the bright colors in this wedding and want to go back now! This beautiful beach wedding from John Partridge takes me to such a happy place. =) Holly and Steve had an intimate wedding on the beach at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, California. I absolutely love this venue (was one on the list for my own wedding). I especially love how they incorporated their own children and had them serve as their wedding party and created such a ultra fun, laid back classy affair!

A quick snapshot of our Oceanside Couple from The Oceanside Bride, Holly: Steve was born and raised in SOCAL and I am from Colorado.  We met about 5 years ago – Steve was my son’s all star baseball coach.  He has 3 kids and I have 2 so we are a little like the Brady Bunch;-)

How and why did you choose your destination/location? This was the only place we looked!  We knew we wanted to have the ceremony on the beach and we knew we wanted a classic venue and one that would take care of everything for us, food, rooms for out of town guests, etc…

What unique elements or DIY projects did you incorporate into your big day to help make it extra special? Our invitation was simple and white but it was from the kids – inviting our guests as we brought our 2 families together – I think they really liked that as well! We put a playlist together for us as well as the kids – the music was perfect.  I love bright colors – so we used orange, yellow and hot pink. We had a basket of brightly colored flip flops for guests if they wanted to kick off their heels.  I had a friend, who is also a pastry chef make assorted chocolates in seashell shapes for guest to take home with them.  We had the kids (3 boys and 2 girls) as our wedding party – they were part of the whole ceremony and they thought it was extra special!!

What challenges (if any) did you face while planning your wedding? I didn’t really have any challenges – from what I experienced and what guest told me  – it was the most comfortable, and casual but completely classy wedding they had been to. Because we were not uptight or worried about what might go wrong. The day went off without a hitch – I would do it again tomorrow!!   We picked the venue in one day, bought the 2nd dress I tried on, and let the wedding planner take care of all the other details.

Please tell us about your favorite wedding moment! My favorite wedding moment was walking down the isle with my feet in the sand!
I also LOVED getting ready with the girls in my suite while my fantastic photographer took shots – John Partridge was AMAZING!!
Oh, and the SHOES!!  ;-)

What is your best advice for other couples planning a wedding right now? It’s so natural for the bride to want everything perfect – for everyone else, right?  Make it perfect for you.  If you’re happy and stress free (relatively) – your guests will have a good time and remember your day as perfect!

Fun no? I think Holly and Steve are absolutely adorable and John Partridge never disappoints in sharing the photography goods!

Bride and Groom: Holly and Steve
Wedding Date: Sept 25, 2010
Location (City, State, Country): Santa Monica, CA  – US
Ceremony and Reception Location: Shutters on The Beach, Santa Monica, CA  – on the beach

Photographer: John Partridge Photography / Cake: Vanilla Bake Shop / Wedding Planner and Flowers: Stephanie Grace Designs / Venue: Shutters on the Beach / Dress: The White Dress / Pastry Chef and Chocolates: Darcy Bowen

This wedding was submitted via Two Bright Lights!