Megan and Andrew’s wedding at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum

Megan and Andrew both industry professionals—Andrew works in special event production and Megan is a co-founder of Wild Roots floral design—so and the bride says “we kind of had the perfect set of skills to make our wedding beautiful and unique!” We could not agree more and are having a hard time peeling ourselves away from these magical images by Hannah Beth Photo of a day filled with spectacular tropical florals and more monstera leaves than a girl could dream of! The Santa Barbara Historical Museum provided a lush backdrop and the rainy weather made it all the more magical. We know you’re going to love it!

What made the wedding special and unique?

Everything! Andrew works in special event production and I work in the wedding industry as a photographer, florist, and designer, so we kind of had the perfect set of skills to make our wedding beautiful and unique! More importantly, we had am amazing team of friends, family and professionals who were committed to helping bring our vision to life. The support and connectedness of everyone throughout our planning process is truly what made our wedding feel so right and special! Also, our wedding was entirely outdoors and a few days before the big day, the forecast said “RAIN.” We scrambled to get a tent in place for the reception, order ponchos for our guests for the ceremony, get more blankets and heaters, but everything came together! Andrew and I felt so loved, cared for and believed in throughout our entire wedding process, and for that we are so thankful!

Tell us about the gown and where/how you found it!

I wanted a dress that was really elegant, but felt totally relaxed. I tried on about a million but the moment I slipped into my Johannah Johnson gown at Dress Theory, I knew it was the one. I felt completely like myself in it, and didn’t want to take it off! I paired it with a matching tulle skirt that I ditched just before the reception for an evening look. I also LOVED my veil by Sara Gabriel; it was a tulle cathedral veil that trailed behind me as I walked down the aisle. It also made for the most amazing intimate portrait shots!

What were some touches added to make the wedding personal?

Our vision for our wedding was to create an event that really brought our people together and made them feel at home and totally able to enjoy the day. We incorporated our home states, FL & CA, in our guest book set-up by designing state-shaped cutouts for our guests to sign. We love food (who doesn’t?!) so we chose a lot of our favorites from our hometowns, like pulled pork sandwiches (for Florida) and a fresh guacamole bar (for Southern CA). Since I (Megan) am a florist, we really cared about our florals and wanted them to reflect our love for tropical, beachy culture and places. We chose tons of leafy, lush greens and exotic blooms to make our venue feel like a tropical garden, or maybe a jungle.

 What was the most memorable part of the day?

Our first look is one of them: As I was walking over to surprise Andrew, I glanced down at my dress and noticed blood on the front of it.  Yeah, you’d better believe I panicked. I had cut my finger and not even noticed because it was so cold out! SO, our first look started out with me crying and Andrew spitting on my dress to get the crimson disaster off. Thankfully, it worked!
And then we laughed/cried it off and recreated the moment so that amazingly romantic first look pictures could still be a thing. This moment has stuck with me as such a sweet reminder that real life is actually really messy. Sometimes you get blood and spit on your Australian silk dress before you even get to walk down the aisle in it. And sometimes you fight when you’re *supposed* to be “honeymooning” still. But there is so much grace! Let’s allow ourselves and each other to be in the middle of it, working through the messy and learning how to receive extravagant help and radically big Love. It’s gonna all be worth it.

All of the little moments are especially memorable for us – taking a moment during the ceremony to just look at all of our guests, our family, best friends, all gathered to support us and love on us. Cocktail hour was amazing – we finished photos before the ceremony so we got to be with our guests during dusk. Some of our best friends gave toasts during this time and we will never forget the sense of togetherness, love and magic we felt in those moments!

Tell us how you met and became engaged.

I (Megan) am from Southern California. Andrew is from the east coast of Florida. I moved from the east side to the west side of Los Angeles on November 3, 2013. Andrew arrived in Redondo Beach from Florida one month later, on December 1, 2013. While Andrew surfed and began working for IMG, I worked at a coffee shop, took photographs, and worked on building my business, Wild Roots. On Easter Sunday, 2014, a mutual friend introduced us at our church, and I knew that this guy was special. Sounds crazy, but I knew the first time we spoke that I would marry him! We went on our first “date” the following Friday morning, before work. Our second date was later that same Friday, after work.

Over the next months, our love for each grew like crazy. Our friends became each others’ friends and so many new ones joined the crew, as well. We are so amazed at the kindness of Jesus towards us. He gives the best gifts and has been so faithful to place us in a community that loves each other intentionally and deeply. Andrew’s work caused him to be on the road for 100 days the first summer we were dating (and the second), but we believe that God nurtured our relationship immensely in that time, giving us courage, endurance, patience, and community to support us.

Our love grew as we spent time with our families together and learned about where one another came from. And it just kept growing as we played, camped, laughed, cried, fought, forgave and listened to Jesus together.

On May 26, 2015, Andrew was still supposed to be in New Orleans for work. Instead, he flew home a day early and surprised me by knocking on my front door! I was shocked and couldn’t stop smiling and laughing. We went to our favorite, regular happy hour spot on Santa Monica pier, played some air hockey in the arcade next door, then walked toward the ocean to watch the sunset over the water. About a minute after sitting down on a bench, Andrew turned toward me and I knew something serious was happening. He fought through the tears, got down on a knee, and asked me to marry him.

I couldn’t believe what was happening. I wasn’t expecting a proposal until much later this year and was caught completely off-guard! In the same moment, I felt so much peace and excitement, but also so much fear and confusion. The reality of what it means to say “yes” to one man for the rest of my life was so heavy and real in that moment of choosing for me. I was delighted to say yes to Andrew, but felt the grief that comes with major transitions and with saying no to many other potentials and pasts.

I scribbled this down in a blog post soon after we became engaged, and we both think it is so expressive of the way Andrew and I understand this amazing, exciting decision:

“Our choices are so powerful. On May 26, 2015, we chose to say yes. Yes to commitment, yes to teamwork, yes to partnership, yes to brave and honest love, and yes to sacrifice. This is going to be wild.”

Credits: Photography: Hannah Beth Photo // Coordination: SB Weddings by Holly // Floral Design: Wild Roots // Cinematography: Stillwater Cinematography // Venue: Santa Barbara Historical Museum // Makeup: Kasey Russell // Hair: Katie Lee // Catering: Woody’s BBQ // Officiant: Jason Lomelino // Dress: Johanna Johnson // Veil: Sara Gabriel // Cake: Beka Breneman // Cupcakes: Crushcakes // Production Assistant: Brittany Bagwell // Day-of Styling: Samantha Miller // Vintage Rentals: Circa Vintage // Rentals: Discount Party Rentals // Lighting: Bella Vista Designs // Chalkboard Art: Bre Young