Trying to Make a Wedding out of 15 cents...

Yes, yes...I am a Mrs. As my cousin Bobby said via phone, not too many baby mamas end up marrying the baby daddy. Seriously, it has been a long hard road and I know that the success of our union depends on my constant prayer as a wife.

The ceremony was lovely. We had a small ceremony and reception on the shores of a LaJolla beach. Initially given our unique situation, we had planned to have a quiet ceremony at the courthouse in our downtown area and tell family members afterwards. Then we told our mothers and they were not having that! A conversation with his dad who suggested a simple barbecue at least convinced us that perhaps we could have a celebratory event without going overboard because after all: a wedding is a wedding and every one of them deserves a little bit of fanfare if no more than to celebrate the love between the couple and the two families joining together.

So we were able to swing a delightful outside event with a Carribean theme. Our outside venue overlooked the Pacific Ocean and had steps down to the beach. We had three gazebos/canopies with swags of tropical silk flowers hanging from them. We rented white tables and chairs from Abner, the owner of a local party rental place at http://www.bounce4you.com/. They were great about setup and pickup. I made jerk chicken and jamaican rice and beans. His mom bought platters of fried plantains and lumpia(filipino eggrolls). His dad hauled over his grill and barbecue. I made my dress and the outfits for our children. My mom and I made the wedding favors which were small decorated mini bottles of bubbles. My mom also made the bouquets for myself and my Maid of Honor(which was my sister).

With all of this crafting going on, I decided to splurge and have the cake made. Thankfully I stumbled across a local baker in the San Diego area by the name of Jen Drury at http://www.nomoreboringcakes.com/. She mixed up a delightful two tier cake with a tropical theme for a very reasonable cost. She really worked with me and got the final product to me in a timely manner. The DJs were my teenaged brother-in-laws-to-be who kept calming calypso and jazz melodies going throughout the event.

We had around 30 guests who had a great time...and we don't have any residual debt from the wedding to give us any regrets about the day...lovely.