Bonding through their mutual love of Disney, it was more than fitting that Brandon and Ashley were inspired by the happiest place on earth for their wedding. These guys went all out! The day was held at Rancho Las Lomas and they had a real life zebra in attendance and a mermaid… no, I’m not kidding!
“We love a good theme and retro was the way to go for us”, began the bride. “We wanted a 1940s jungle explorer feel. The venue had Bengal tigers, white tigers, alpacas, wild cats, zebras, exotic birds and other wildlife which made it perfect! We had custom jungle cruise fast passes that had the return time for dinner, Jungle cruise news playing on a vintage record player at the entrance and 1940s music all around to set the mood. We also went all out with our bright flowers. The flowers really did it for us and brought the jungle feel we wanted to the wedding.
“We wanted our wedding to be about family”, she continued. “We love children so we encouraged all of our guests to bring the kids too! Every child got a little explorers activity bag that my mom made filled with jungle animal bubbles, a little coloring book with scenes from adventureland, crayons, jungle print candy, and little animal figurines to help keep them occupied! They also got to meet a live mermaid and explore the zoo!”
The bride also knew there was only one thing she wanted to wear on her feet… Dorothy’s ruby slippers! “I love the Wizard of Oz and wanted nothing more than replicas of Dorothy’s ruby red slippers”, she explained. “Not sequinned but completely adorned in Swarovski crystals. With the help of my fairy godmother, Little Penny Lane, those dreams came true!”
“The food was another big cost. We wanted the menu to reflect the food served in Adventureland. We had BBQ skewers and the famous Dole Whip Cupcakes (my favorite!!) The favors were also Disney themed. We had chocolate and carmel covered marshmallow ‘Tiger Tails’ that they sell in the Disney park tied with a bow and a mickey shaped cookie cutter.”
