Karina & Taylor’s vintage style, music, and zombies wedding

Posted by
 | Photography by The Hons Photography
Casa Feliz

The Offbeat Bride: Karina, Subcontracts Administrator

Her offbeat partner: Taylor, Internal Asset Review

Date and location of wedding: Casa Feliz in WInter Park, FL — October 13, 2013

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Taylor and I love music. LOVE. We reunited at a Rise Against concert years after meeting in college. He proposed at a Tiger Army concert. We try to incorporate music as much as possible into our lives because it makes our world go 'round, and we thought we should showcase it in the wedding as well.

Bouqets!

IMG_0040

I purchased a large stack of seven-inch records, and my best friend's husband made us a wedding invitation label that I cut and glued to each record. There were a few casualties, but most made it safely to their destinations.

Tables

Casa Feliz Driveway Arch

I also love vintage-style from the 1930s to the early 1960s. So music and vintage became the basis for our wedding, but we also wanted it to be casual (like us). However, zombies are kind of my thing since I was about seven years old. So we found ways to incorporate a bit of zombie love into our wedding as well. I hired an amazing artist in the UK, Philip Hynes, to create a zombie topper of me, my husband, and our kitties. Then we decided to incorporate a bit of music and the movie Shaun of the Dead, so we added a Shaun topper, bought a plain cake, threw some shards of records and blood, and topped it off with a “you've got red on you” sign. I was in love with that cake. And if any of you can afford to buy a statue from Phil, DO IT. He's so talented and really nice!

Bride and her topper

Zombie Cake Topper

Rings

My favorite moment:
The best moment of the wedding (after saying “I Do”) was being able to hang out with everyone. We had moved to California one year prior and it was amazing to get together with mostly everyone we love in one spot. We made sure our ceremony was short and sweet and then got down to partying.

Casa Feliz Wedding Door

It was also super special to have my aunt officiate the wedding. We wrote the speech together and made it special. We're not religious, so I wanted something that fit us better. My “offici-aunt” even customized the ending to be “Until Death or Zombies Do You Part.”

Photobooth table

We also rented a photo booth, because I have always loved them. Taylor even tried proposing in a photo booth at the concert, but it unfortunately was broken.

Tables

Our biggest challenge:
Planning a wedding 2000+ miles away is quite the challenge, but we made it work. We had to trust online research because vendors book quickly; so I had to book every last one before ever meeting them. Luckily, they were all fantastic. They helped me get through planning and made enjoying the evening a breeze.

Welcome Pumpkins

Once we got into Florida, I did get a call from my planner that apparently our venue lawn had been dug up. In front of Casa Feliz's front door (where we had planned to do the ceremony) is a long, windy sidewalk next to a golf course. The venue doesn't own most of the sidewalk that leads to the property, and the city of Winter Park decided, in the middle of wedding season, that they needed to install sprinklers! They took up everything right before the front of the venue — ugh. After a few deep breaths, we decided to buy some bales of hay and pumpkins to cover up the ugly. It was perfect for October and ended up making it even more festive. Halloween is our favorite holiday anyway!

String Quartet

My funniest moment:
I was so excited to surprise Taylor. I spent months planning a musical tribute to him, which had already been challenging. The first idea was to hire a bagpiper, but at two failed attempts, I had to ditch that idea. About one month before, I hired a string quartet to play “Swing Life Away” by Rise Against, since that was the concert that started our relationship. He had NO CLUE.

So after Taylor and the bridal party did their parade down the aisle to “Swing Life Away,” they switch it up to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” for me. Everyone recognized that song and a few people got very emotional. While walking back from the altar, I exclaimed “So? Did you hear it? Did you love the song?.” The poor guy didn't even realize there was live music, let alone that they were playing a strings version of “Swing Life Away.” And, of course, no one recorded it. Wedding fail!

In Loving Memory

Hot Air Balloon Centerpiece

Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?

Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!

Meet our fave wedding vendors

Comments on Karina & Taylor’s vintage style, music, and zombies wedding

  1. SO. MUCH. LOVE. the bride and her red hair! her dress! the bridesmaids’ dresses! the groom (hellooo!). the chuck taylors! the fall foliage! the MUSIC everything. le sigh. and props to the “offici-aunt.” love that.

  2. This is SO much of what I have been trying to accomplish with my wedding! The bride and groom pulled it off exceptionally well! Beautiful! And it is so nice to see a fall wedding done in Florida!!

  3. WHERE is that ring from??? I love the vintage ladies beautiful style of it. Also well done on long distance planning, your wedding was beautiful!

    • Hubs found this guy Tim Meier to help him design one in San Fiego. He also ships I believe. He’s a bit of a free spirit. Great prices & he’s not trying to sell sell sell which was nice

      (619) 236-1618

  4. OH. MY. GOD!
    those centerpieces. i died a little. so perfect!!!
    beautiful wedding guys, congrats!!!

    • Thank you! They were tedious but fun to make! I found a tutorial online & added my own twist with the succulents. Yay DIY!

  5. Grandparents are proud of their grandchildren for so many reasons, and this was one of my moments that I was filled with pride for Karina. Karina was a gorgeous bride and had a very handsome groom standing beside her. xoxo

  6. A gorgeous wedding for so many reasons. Another great wedding with some cheerleading for people who are long distance wedding planning and who need to deal with last minute curveballs.

    • Aww thank you! Being an A type personality, it made long distance planning THAT much harder. But all I have to say is checklist everything to death and mail things direct to the location when you can. And then make sure to just enjoy the day once it’s in motion.

      Not everything goes perfectly, but the bride will be the only one to notice, so why worry yourself out of enjoying your day?!? Only smiles are allowed once you arrive at your venue (and maybe a few sentimental tears).

  7. Would you care to share the centerpiece tutorial? I just can’t figure out what the actual balloon parts are made of. You did a great job!

    • Hi Ashley! This link should bring you direct to the tutorial, let me know if it doesn’t work. It’ll show you the balloon portion, then I used wooden kabob skewers (halved) for the “legs” & small ceramic pots with succulents for the “basket”. The legs were pushed into the soil & place under the flags on the balloon (we didn’t adhere them for fear things would snap under pressure. I pre-cut the balloon paper pieces well before construction like an assy line for efficiency; helps if you are doing a lot of them. Thanks!!!

      http://blog.basicgrey.com/?p=3531

Comments are closed.