cheap, inexpensive, affordable, elegant

I was researching various keywords on google today to see how my web pages www.marcyann.com and www.allcaliforniabeachweddings.com come up in preliminary searches.  In most keyword searches, I still come up on the first page of google, Thank God!.  But it was interesting to see what came up when the keywords "cheap" and "inexpensive" or "affordable" were used.   To me, the word "cheap" sounds cheezy - not something you would want for your wedding!   I think you can have an affordable or an inexpensive wedding without being cheap.   In considering a "cheap" wedding, I would just go to the courthouse.   Most counties in California, and I think in all of the 50 States,  offer a 5 minute I Do Ceremony for somewhere around $35.00.  You can even have a few guests and wear a wedding dress.  And then you could all go out to dinner afterwards, maybe someplace where there is music and dancing and celebrate.  The places that were listed under "inexpensive" and "affordable" in Orange County California were a joke!   Most of the venues that were listed all start around $25,000 and go up from there.  Perhaps $25,000 is considered "inexpensive" these days.  So I guess my under $1,000 on-the-sand beach wedding would probably be considered cheap!   Definitely inexpensive and affordable.  My gazebo wedding at $795.00 offers the exact same view as the "affordable" venue down the street that starts at $7,500.00 just to stand on their deck!   So, I guess my mother is right.  She always said that how a person thinks about something is dependent upon their teaching, their beliefs and their experience.  I remember when my husband was in law school and I was working to support us, and the girl I worked with's husband was also in law school.  And one day she said, "Oh my gosh, we are under $100,000 in the bank!"   She said it like they were practically bankrupt!  Wow, my husband and I would get down to $1.25 cents in the bank before my next pay check!   So, it's all according to what you are used to.  Like I said, for some, a $25,000 wedding would be cheap and for some it would be expensive.   I specialize in simple and very inexpensive beach wedding ceremonies and I consider them elegant! 
Perhaps I should say on my web sites:    
elegance is not cheap but it can be inexpensive and affordable!     
xoxoxoxox
Marcy Ann   
949-433-3129.   

BAREFOOT IN MINK at Laguna Beach

Take a look at the slide show prepared by my photographer
Shanda @ Ace Photography -

The Father of the Bride

When a bride gets married, she is usually given away by her father.  This is an old, old custom that needs a little updating for the 21st Century.   In the olden days, the bride's husband was chosen by her father.  He had made a deal with the father of the groom.  It usually involved getting some land so that's how the word "husband" came about.  A "husband" is a keeper of the land or farmer and the woman went with the land, so she was husbanded!   Can you believe we still call the man a "husband" today?  I think we need a new name - like Partner for Life or Significant Other or "My Man!"    But what happens if the bride's father isn't in the picture, or he has passed?   I have had bride's given away by:  step-fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles, grandfathers, children, bosses, best friend, and many have just walked alone down the aisle.  Yesterday, I had a beautiful wedding at the ocean in Laguna Beach.  The bride's father had passed and her step=father walked her down the aisle, but she had a beautiful flower memorial placed at the head of the aisle in remembrance of her Dad.      

love at sunset

This is the perfect beach wedding senerio -  2 people - very much in love - being married with their bare feet in the sand at sunset  and then cutting the cake & having their toast together on the sand.   They stood in the heart to say their vows and then I spread out the sand colored tablecloth for the cake cutting.  

Here is the personal statement the bride made to the groom:

Who could imagine that together we would transform our lives into this wonderful adv enture?  An advednture that has become a living dream.  We came a long way, making every second count.  We have grown together and learned from each other, spending time together, going to the movies, watching TV and missing you while you're at work, enjoying and sharing your happy days and supporting you in the bad ones.  Understanding our misunderstandings and resolving our differences because we care.  Making you smile with my silly ways.  It's been all a wonderful adventure and now after seven years of living this wonderful dream with you, w3e are taking this big step, our hearts will become one:  one life, one soul and one love.  A love so valuable that no treasure can compare, a love so strong that no person in the world can tear us apart.  I will always love you and I am ready to be your wife - to protect you, to respect you, to take care of you, to support you, to be always there for you and I give all of my heart and love to you.

We get the sunsets in the ocean in southern California from Oct. 15th to March 15th.