WE'RE MARRIED!!!
PRO PICS
Getting Ready
The Boys Prepping
The reveal!
The Ceremony
After the wedding
An Attempt at Bustling
After a broken button, The Pros take over
Formals
Reception
Toasts
David making the entire room cry with a wonderful toast to me. I had no idea he was going to say more than thank you for coming!
Dances
Yummy Cake!
Fun!
Not sure what this was about, but I hope it works out!
Knottie Details
Flowers
My new niece! I didn't have flowergirls but if I had, she would have been one!
My new MIL came up right before the ceremony to give me this handkerchief that was her Grandmother's. We were both tearing up! I wish I had a picture of that moment, but at least I got a picture of it on the bouquet.
Paper
The Tree motif wrapped from the front onto the back of the program with the quote " Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction." Unfortunately we didn't get a picture.
Other stuff
Hair & Bustle
Food!
NON- PRO PICS
The Cutest nephew ever... no, I am not biased...;)
His little sister and my brother.
My new nephew and my husband!!
the cake! & a semi-bustle shot...
engrossed in our cake... it really was good! So glad we went with chocolate!
the beautiful ladies before....
and with their spouses/SOs after... I think I tired them out..
Pops! Couldn't have done this without him.
Both of us talking about "how I should have taken dance lessons in high school", and "don't I know a simple box step..."and "how long is this song??" pretty funny stuff! I think we were supposed to be saying how much we loved each other etc, but we already knew that stuff... Also not a bad shot of Octavia doing her thing and my hair by Lisa Zomer!
Just a little fun as we were waiting for the ceremony to start....
MORE TO COME!!!
REVIEWS!!!
CEREMONY: Elliston Vineyards - Great location, really nice people and pretty inexpensive, especially if you want a vineyard look to your wedding ceremony. We only wanted it for the ceremony and were ok with a morning time, so it worked out great. Erin, our coordinator, was very easy to work with. The site however, has some limitations. The vines on the property are technically dead, so if you want the lush green vine thing, don't go to elliston unless they choose to invest in them. Erin said that she has tried to get them to understand this, but so far no luck. Check back though, as the owner has just moved back into the top levels of the mansion and may think about them more since she sees them daily!
RECEPTION: Bridges Restaurant - OUtrageously highly recommend!!!!:) What a great experience! We had the whole restaurant for the day which worked out great. Huge raves from all of the guests. Bridges GM Lisa (loved her!!!) is great to work with. She made sure that every one of my requests happened. SHe has really good taste as well, so it was as if I had hired a day of coordinator, I didn't have to think about a thing past the moment I dropped off everything with her the day before. She coordinated the linens and the dance floor with her vendors and just passed through her cost. She did weddings for years back on the east coast, so she gets the wedding mania that brides go through. She's very clear on what she offers and what she doesn't, so there isn't a need to haggle. She was very giving from the getgo. The food was amazing. With a foodie father, the bar was set pretty high, and Bridges made him really happy. I can't say enough good things about her, the chef, and Bridges as a whole. On our way out of the event, Lisa presented us with a beautiful basket of wine, glasses, truffles and pastries to nibble on that night. They have a great pastry chef so we devoured them pretty quickly! They also gave us a gift certificate to come back for a free first anniversary dinner.
OFFICIANT: Hank Visscher - Highly recommend. We got tons of compliments on Hank's ceremony from friends and family. Hank is sweet, personable, kind and straight forward. Good at following up to make sure you and he have the details correct. He memorizes and adlibs his ceremonies, so you truly feel as though he has known you for years. Highly recommend the extra session beforehand to get to know him, and to let him get to know you. It just makes everything easier on the day of, and he can customize the ceremony to you a bit better.
DRESS: Justina McCaffrey Rosalynne, One Night Affair, LA - Highly recommend. I rented my dress from One Night Affair in LA and it turned out great! I got a designer dress for a week for less than $1000 including the alterations. Highly recommend this route! The place looks a little sketchy when you walk in, but they do most of their business with studios & award shows so brides are a side business for them. That said, they have a pretty wide selection of high-end brand names. I have 2 friends who also used them and their gowns were Ulla Maija and Vera Wang. Check them out if you are in LA!
VEIL: Erica Koesler Outlet - North Hollywood - Great experience! Very nice staff and they added a comb in just a couple minutes after I decided which one I wanted. Didn't hurt that the price was a bargain too!
SHOES: Ann Taylor - Great customer service and exactly what I wanted, on sale!
JEWELRY: Jest Jewels & Robinsons May
MOH DRESSES: Alfred Angelo through Netbride - Highly recommend. Great service and price!
PHOTOGRAPHER: Octavia Hunter- Outrageously highly recommend!!!!:) We loved our epics with her and are now waiting to see the pro pics! SHe's great! I've only gotten compliments from family and wedding attendees that she was working very hard and seemed to get all of the shots. She's very responsive via email and quick to turn around the pictures she takes. My DH and I were uncomfortable at first getting pro pics taken, but she's very quick to make you feel at ease and to give you just enough direction to make you take great shots! SHe deserves all of the great praise on the NorCal board.
FLOWERS: Flower Bowl - My dad uses Flower Bowl for all of my mom's flowers so he suggested them for the wedding. JR is very nice and gave us a great price. He takes a little while to get a quote back, but if you have the patience, I would recommend him.
LINENS: California Linens - Great linens, coordinated through my venue.
PARASOLS: Oriental Trading Company - Highly recommend. Very quick turnaround and a great product! My guests loved them.
GUEST BOOK: Adesso Photo Guest Book
PAPERGOODS: Papersource
DANCE FLOOR: Bickner's
CAKE: Jen's Cakes - Highly recommend. - Both Jen and Anthony were very easy to work with. We ended up getting just the main cake and not doing a sheet cake in back, so I think ours was more expensive than some of the other knotties on this board, but it was a great cake! The cake was even more moist at the wedding than at the tasting! We had the Dulce de leche filling and the white and chocolate kahlua cakes on different layers. We had wanted chocolate ganache frosting, but at the last minute the humidity or something in the environment had made the ganache not work, and so Jen covered the whole thing in dark brown fondant with no extra cost! They definitely went above and beyond to give us the cake we had dreamed of! It was beautiful!
GROOM'S CUPCAKES: Love at First Bite - Red Velvet - Highly recommend. Great cupcakes! They didn't get the frosting color I requested right the first time, but they fixed it and gave us a discount to make up for it.
RINGS: Debbie Cope - Highly recommend. I can't rave about my jeweler enough. She works out of her home and so there is no overhead costs to you. She has great prices and inly deals in great quality diamonds. She'll design anything you want. She is up in Northern CA a lot as well as down in SoCal where she lives, so its easy to work with her. email me at prickitt at hotmail if you want her contact info!
FAVORS: See's Bordeaux & Bayley's Boxes - Highly recommend. Bayley's boxes had great service and a great product! See's was of course amazing. I love Bordeaux!
CALLIGRAPHY: One of my closest friends
INVITATIONS: Tru Wedding
HAIR/MAKEUP: Lisa Zomer - Highly recommend. her Lisa is great! She only books out about 2-3 months ahead of time for brides as she has a full time job working on fashion, film and TV shoots. She is great. Very low key, mellow and sweet and she got my look the very first time. I was really really happy with her and her service! SHe got to my hotel at 5am and worked like a mad thing to get my bridal party and myself done by 8:30am, perfectly on-time!
RECEPTION MUSIC: Denon & Doyle - Tim - Highly recommend. I know Denon and Doyle has had a hiccup in the normally great reviews they get on the knot, but we had only a good experience with our DJ. We picked Tim due to another Knottie's recommendation, and we wanted someone who was really low key but kept everything moving, and he did just that.
HOTEL: Marriott Walnut Creek - Highly recommend. The Marriott was very helpful and the rooms were above standard. I was suprised at how nice the linens were and the service was very attentive. I've heard nothing but good things from guests that stayed there. Their Valets are a bit hyper about getting cars out of the way, but they are more than nice about it.
WEDDING NIGHT HOTEL: Westin St Francis - Highly recommend. What a great experience. We had a great corner room overlooking Union Square in the old section of the hotel. Having grown up in the bay area, this was an awesome experience. We were whisked right out of the line to check in and given first rate service up to the room. They even sent us a complimentary bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries with a special note from the manager!
HONEYMOON: Spain! Ronda, Grenada, Cordoba and Sevilla!
REHEARSAL DINNER: Bocce Cafe - SF - Highly recommend. Bocce Cafe is like the Perfect Storm. There was no site fee, minimum, or set menu requirement and they gave us their private outdoor area. Everyone could order what they wanted and we still got out of there for approx half of what I estimated! Would suggest having someone get there early to get the heaters turned on, since it took a while to heat up. It was enclosed but its still SF!
We are doing a Sky Blue and Chocolate Brown wedding.
If I took your picture (I started collecting before I knew the etiquette.), please let me know so I can give you credit!
Just recently found this bio and its great for anyone planning a BlueBrown wedding like me!
Blue Bio
EPICS! Just got a few previews from Octavia!
THE RING! I finally found a picture that looks like my ring. My FI did great! ALso just found a picture that looks like all of our rings together!
CEREMONY: Sunol. I originally wanted a vineyard wedding, so I am more than pleased with the change. The original chapel we had didn't have enough room for everyone.
PARASOLS From knottie 2beMrs.Stone and others...
RECEPTION: We are having our reception in Danville. The cocktail hour will be outside under the arbors, with a wine station, photo guestbook, card/gift table, cake table and passed appetizers.
The reception tables will all be inside but all of the beautiful windows open out onto the arbored patio for plenty of light and air. They are all long tables of ten.
TABLE IDEAS: I like the blue linens which will go well inside the venue (which is mostly brown/neutral) and go nicely with the blue Hydrangea arrangements. I'm thinking that the tables of 10 will need more than just the 1- 2 long hydrangea arrangements in the middle, since I am seeing lots of tables with an arrangement for every 2-3 ppl on each side, so I am going with bronze boxes with blue ribbon stacked with See's bordeaux candy inside (our favorite) towards each end.
Here are the favor boxes. In bronze shimmery boxes that match the invites, with a blue favor tag and ribbon. This will add the brown to the end of each table that I was looking for.
Polaroid GuestBook: in light blue, of course!;)
THE FLOWERS: Orchids, Callas and Hydrangeas in White and Blue!
Arbor: I like the header arrangement on this arbor. I think I need one like it to go along with the 2 side arrangements that will be on pedestals.
Love this bay leaf garland! Not sure where to use it yet, maybe down the sides of the arbor, or suspended down the stairs like a rail.
Aisles: The aisle flowers will be exactly like these but with all blue hydrangeas, galvanized pails and a blue ribbon. They will double as the cocktail hour table centerpieces after the ceremony.
Bouquets: My bouquet will be handtied and wrapped in blue with the callas, ranunculus and mescari/muscari blue flower bouquet below, MOH bouquets will be handtied in blue with light blue hydrangeas and some white mixed in. Flowergirl/niece bouquet will be white hydrangea nosegay about the size of the little girls below.
Bouts/Corsages: The bouts will be callas, the corsages dendrobium orchids.
Centerpieces: The reception centerpieces will be long rectangular glass vases with a wide brown satin ribbon and blue hydrangeas.
THE CAKE: Its going to be a cross between these pictures, round, chocolate, no fondant, with the sunburst pattern in sky blue.
GROOM's CUPCAKES: These will be red velvet and decorated like the ones below. Just need to find a good cupcakery in SF!
THE DRESS! Its a Justina McCaffrey Rosalynne rented in LA. Why is it that the model pictures are so much better for inspiring you to love a dress? I just found the newly posted images on the Justina site, and they make me love my dress again (I was wavering)!
BUSTLE IDEAS from Deblossio2: Love the broach on the back!
THE VEIL! I just got a waltz-length veil from Erica Koesler's Outlet in North Hollywood for a steal! Its got silver thread but no ribbon edge, and embellishments that match my bodice at the edge, since my train is just silk with no beading etc. Since it was a circle, you can see through the veil to the details on the back of the bodice. The comb is attached at the top of the circle like in the pic. I'll post pics soon, its really hard to take them of yourself!
THE UPDO!
HAIR & MAKEUP TRIAL PICS Lisa Zomer Rocks! I think my wedding day hair will be lower on the nape of my neck, but we got the main idea down.
OTHER IDEAS
Hair and Other Jewelry!
And the veritable Reese for makeup...
THE SHOES: Ann Taylor, on sale! I may decorate the toe area since its such a plain shoe. Depends on if I can find pretty shoe jewels!
THE MOH Dress: The ladies picked a brown Alfred Angelo Dress.
Here's the winner~~~ hate her pose. not sure why she has to stick her rear out, but the dress is nice!
My second MOH is pregnant! Here's the dress that we will shorten. It will be in chocolate too.
I got a dress like this from Ann Taylor for the Rehearsal Dinner. You can also see it in the E-pics.
MOB Dress
INVITE:
This is it! Just need postage and then they can go out!...
Other ideas.
Thinking this might work for the rehearsal dinner now that I ditched the DIY invite thing. I'm still in love with my mockup though!
Love the Oak tree stamp! Makes me think of the east bay. Taken from CreativeMontage.
OOT Boxes & Valet Tags: Hope I can make something this cool!
Thanks fabriezy!
MONOGRAM EXPERIMENTS
NOR CAL SHOWER PICTURES: MY MOH made the coolest cake, right from the cover of Bon Appetit! It was great, and the shower was a ton of fun. We had 4 pregnant women and 2 brides-to-be, so its a big year for all of us! I can't wait to throw them a party in October.
BACHELORETTE PICS
MY MOHs suprised me with 12 of my friends at a private Sur La Table class, It was a lot of fun and we ate and drank tons! We went out to tapas afterwards to preview my honeymoon cuisine (we are headed to Sevilla!) but I have to admit that we took home a lot of leftovers after we got stuffed in the class earlier. It was the perfect event for me and I was so thankful for such great friends who took the time to travel far from home and kids to be there!
Thanks for looking!