A lot of couples say they want a wedding that “feels like them.”
Madeline May and Eli took that idea very literally.
Instead of booking a luxury estate, reserving a hotel ballroom, or flying guests to a destination venue, the Los Angeles-based lifestyle creator and her now-husband decided to turn the home they had just purchased into the wedding venue of their dreams. Not metaphorically. Physically.
Over the course of a year, the couple transformed their backyard from plain dirt into a romantic garden escape layered with flowers, pathways, lights, fountains, vegetables, and personal details that made the entire celebration feel less like an event and more like stepping into their world.
And honestly? It might be one of the most personal weddings the internet has seen this year.
Madeline documented the entire process online, showing followers how she and Eli slowly built the space piece by piece. What started as an empty backyard eventually became a fully realized wedding venue designed around intimacy, warmth, and intentionality.
“We spent the last year building our wedding venue from the ground up,” she said in one of her videos documenting the transformation.
The process was far from simple. According to Madeline, they first stripped the backyard completely down to dirt before beginning landscaping and construction work.
Photos | Emily Abney Photo
She shared on her video that they added multiple patio seating areas, a pergola, handmade stepping stone pathways, and a lush garden designed so guests could wander through the property during the celebration.
“I want guests to be able to take a garden walk during our wedding celebration,” she explained in the video.
That idea alone says a lot about the atmosphere they were trying to create. This was never meant to feel transactional or overly polished. The wedding was designed to feel lived-in, immersive, and deeply emotional. Guests were not simply attending a ceremony. They were entering the couple’s home, literally and emotionally.
One of the most charming details about the wedding was how much nature became integrated into the experience.
Madeline shared that they planted vegetables throughout parts of the garden and even created what she described in her video as a “secret garden drink station.”
The property slowly evolved into something whimsical and cinematic. There were window flower boxes, a custom fountain, jasmine-covered trellises, lanterns, fairy lights, and hidden lighting details scattered throughout the yard.
At one point, Madeline joked in her video that the garden had become so beautiful “that a neighborhood cat found its way into our backyard.”
Photos | Emily Abney Photo
That line perfectly captured the energy of the entire wedding project. It was ambitious, romantic, slightly chaotic, and incredibly heartfelt.
The couple also built a flower arch for the ceremony area and layered the property with blooms to soften every corner of the space. Instead of relying on a pre-designed venue aesthetic, they created one themselves from the ground up.
And somehow, despite all the pressure that comes with planning a wedding, the process still felt deeply tied to Madeline’s personal story.
Madeline’s connection to home and comfort is something she speaks about often online.
In her personal bio, she explains that she did not grow up with a strong sense of stability and spent years observing the warmth of other people’s homes, meals, and family rituals. Over time, she began creating those feelings for herself.
“Back then, I didn’t have a blueprint for what home looked like,” she shared in her bio. “But over time, I started building one of my own.”
That context makes this wedding feel even more emotional.
This was not simply about aesthetics or trends. Building the wedding at home symbolized something much bigger. It was about creating the kind of warmth, softness, and stability she once searched for.
And in many ways, the wedding itself became an extension of that philosophy.
As if building an entire venue was not ambitious enough, Madeline also helped create the wedding florals herself.
Photos | Emily Abney Photo
In another video, she revealed that she and her florist transformed their entire house into a floral workshop ahead of the celebration.
“My florist and I spent over 35 hours on my wedding florals,” she said in the video.
The pair visited the Los Angeles Flower Market the day before the wedding to source blooms in shades of blue, purple, white, and green. From there, the process became an all-night operation involving flower prep, arranging, soaking floral foam, and assembling installations across the property.
“All we needed was a lot of coffee, one long night, and a lot of delusion,” she joked in the video.
The honesty of that statement is probably why so many people connected with the wedding online. Beneath all the beautiful visuals was something refreshingly real: exhaustion, teamwork, creative obsession, and a couple willing to pour themselves fully into a meaningful experience.
Madeline also credited her florist Michelle for helping bring the vision to life.
“She really made all of my dreams come true,” she said in the video.
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