Alex and Brad are some of my favorite people. Throughout their entire engagement, they’ve been upbeat, fun, full of love, and so great at every meeting. We laugh, we cry, we’re attached. That’s why they were one of our first couples to feature on our “In The Mix” sessions- here, and here [for a peek at their florals], also here [with a sneek peek at their linens and decor]. Of course, who could forget their engagement session from just last week, here, taken by the amazingly fabulous Jan Garcia!
Their wedding yesterday was a dream. In the weeks prior to the wedding, life kind of exploded for Alex’s family and I was honored to be able to help them pull this wedding together at the last minute to truly make this day as joyful, beatiful, and amazing as possible. It went off without a hitch. And Jan’s “same day slideshow”, which is always an epic part of his services, was TO. DIE. FOR. Seriously! I can’t wait to see the rest!
Now, the ceremony was held at Lake Hills Wedding Chapel and was truly and simply gorgeous. I totally spaced and forgot to bring my camera along for the fun at the church, so I snapped this mid-ceremony with MiPhone:
A couple swags of white chiffon and we were done. This chapel is such an amazing sight in person- the natural stone, the wood, the modern, sleek design. It’s amazing! Since we knew that going in, we opted for a simple ceremony focusing on the couple, and dolled up the reception site to the nines!
The reception was held at the Art Gallery in Soka University. A two-story space of uniqueness that provided us with a blank slate to play in! The white walls and hardwood floors are perfection. To top it off, the gallery was displaying a black and white photography exhibit for Alex’s black, white and aqua wedding!! An amazing and thankful coincidence! Onto the pictures.
The cocktail hour took place upstairs [and the upstairs of the gallery actually has a large cutout area that looks right down to the lower story. We placed our dance floor right in the middle with their custom designed gobo on top!!]. Our sleek all-black dance floor was SUCH a hit. I seriously cannot wait to get pro pics back because mine just don’t do justice! Okay, I’ll stop… more pictures!!
Since the linens downstairs were black with aqua runners, we reversed them for the cocktail tables. Mini arrangements were the perfect accent.
These escort card boards were my labor of love! The family gave me this task a bit last minute [Thursday afternoon!!] and I knew I couldn’t just take the easy route. Alicia and I [love you Leashy] put our heart and souls into these little cards and boards! Since the black and white damask was a huge part of our theme, I carried it into their cards!
Alex and her mom, Debby, set up a beautiful “heritage table” for their loved ones.
They decided on a “signature drink” in honor of their honeymoon and it was a HIT! People had margarita glasses all over the place! It was too cute!
[Of course I made all of the custom and ever-so-darling signs!!]
Then we headed down for some downstairs details….
The gallery was LITERALLY the perfect setting for their event!
The lighting in the gallery played a perfect roll in our dramatic impact of the event, but the rest was taken care of by the FABULOUS team at Carcano DJ [Stefani is the best!!], who also provided our gorgeous brand spanking new white chiavaris through their sister company, Chiavari Chairs 4 Rent! Their team swept into our space and transformed it in a matter of hours!
The flowers were provided by a friend of the family and they combined the traditional with the modern by using warm flowers with funky blue painted manzanita branches dawning large crystals!
Black Forest Bakery made this lil’ beauty. I looooved their blingin’ cake topper with actually was the SAME font they used for their monogram [you guys know by now how deeply in love with a monogram I am!!].
A couple more detail shots for you:
Their favors were shot glasses filled with m&ms and tied with black tulle. Perfectly simple and matched our decor, to boot!
Check out those Waterford toasting flutes!!
During dinner, our sugary sweet sweetness of a groom played and sang a song he wrote for his bride. Before starting this he told the guests all about the night they got engaged how that prompted him to write the tune. This was all a surprise to Alex and she was waving tears away with her napkin before the song even started. SO cute!!!
Straight into their first dance [this was taken from the 2nd story, looking down, and I looooove that I could get this angle. Gives it such an intimate feel]:
Great shots of their gobo, too. And now, father/daughter [and let me just say that Alex is Daddy's girl! Her father had a hard time letting her go, and their dance was SUCH a unique expression of that relationship. It was fun, upbeat, and totally "connected". I love the heart that I saw out on that dance floor!]:
Time to cut the cake!!
And just in case you hadn’t noticed- Alex is a KNOCKOUT! Just wait til you see more pictures from Jan and Tey. I’m not kidding. You’ll cry!
Fave picture of the whole night:
[... and she MEANT it!]
Tossing, tossing, tossing….
Also a great shot of Alex’s dress, which fit her like a GLOVE [despite her stress level rising and her losing 2 INCHES two weeks before the wedding... thank goodness for last-minute alterations!]!!!
Alex basically threw it purposefully RIGHT at her best friend and Maid of Honor, Megan, who has been with her boyfriend for 9 years. This is her rejoicing at getting the correct angle, right to Megan:
And this is Alex being embarrassed by her husband [already and it'd only been a few hours!]:
Alex: there’s nothing wrong with modesty! :)
She was a great sport, though, and Brad definitely had fun with it! The last shot of the evening I snapped while walking around during open dancing. When the lights in the gallery were turned down, we relied on the candles and up-lighting to set the tone. The result was truly magical. It was such a warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart. I totally loved it!!!
A&B: I miss you two already! I know I said this already but I’m truly happy/sad about all of this. So, so, SO happy that you two are married. So happy that it went perfectly, that the stress is over, and that this new chapter in your life is beginning. I remember how excited you two were when we first met and to see it all fallen into place and to have lived it with you two… wow- truly remarkable. I’ll have to learn how to live without our monthly laugh-fests [err, meetings] and without our daily emails! You two have a love that will last a lifetime, I just know it. I am so thankful that I got to be a part of your story. It’s something I treasure very much. I hope this week is full of so much love and happiness, and memories to last a lifetime [but hopefully none similar to your parents' honeymoon stories, A!!!]!
xoxo,
A.
