MAGICAL REDONDO BEACH ENGAGEMENT SESSION // KRISTI & JAMES @ 2023 Sun & Sparrow
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Los Angeles fairytale engagement // ©2017 Sun & Sparrow Los Angeles fairytale engagement photographers
From the groom: I never imagined that any of my teenage dreams would come true, let alone my dream of marrying my high school sweetheart. From the moment I laid my eyes on her, I knew she would be the one that would forever change my life. And, if I might add, she has changed my life for the better. For many years Crystal and I had dreamed about the idea of marriage. We planned about our future home with children and how we would grow old together. Unfortunately, in the midst of our dreams, we had news that would change our lives forever. When we heard the diagnosis that Crystal had breast cancer at such a young age, our dreams were put on hold to fight for her life. We battled and had an up and down fight, but Crystal finally won! After 8 years of loving my girl, through all the pain, and a hard fight with breast cancer, I knew it was finally time to take hold of our dreams of marriage and a family that we had put aside.
My plan to propose was simple, but stealthy. I contacted her aunt and asked if she would take us out to a field and take photos. I posed to Crystal that her aunt just wanted to “try out her new camera.” But in reality, I wanted to have the moment when I get down on one knee and ask Crystal to be my wife. The day we went out, it was a beautiful spring day with the flowers for miles. Now, I do want to mention that I had the whole event planned out, but none of the plan happened. Ten minutes into our “photo shoot” I couldn’t contain my composure as my nerves had been getting to me. Before it was time, I dropped down to one knee and the question had come out, “Will you marry me?” To my surprise, she (and I) was absolutely shocked! She had no clue that I would pop the question! But without a beat, she answered, “Yes!” My heart pumped at one million beats per minute and everything was blurred. I couldn’t come back to my senses and even put the ring on her finger. I would almost say I was in shock, but to more accurately put it, I was in complete awe. The day and my proposal could not have been more perfect. I can’t wait for the day to come, to give our vows before our family and friends and officially become Husband and Wife.
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Etherial destination wedding in Paso Robles // ©2016 Sun & Sparrow Southern California wedding photographers
FROM THE BRIDE & GROOM // We could not have asked for a more perfect day or location to get married. We got married at the beautiful Calipaso Winery in Paso Robles. It was the most beautiful and etherial destination wedding in Paso Robles, ever. On our day, the sun was shining and the temperature was a perfect 78 degrees. Our wedding party stayed with us at Calipaso Winery & Villa. My girls came over to our “Winemakers Suite” to get all dolled up and more importantly, to spend quality time with me drinking bubbly in our matching robes while the boys relaxed by the pool. The hours before the wedding turned out to be better than I could have imagined. Knowing I would likely be anxious, Nick surprised me with little notes, cards and meaningful gifts throughout the morning. We both finalized our vows and prepared for a moment we had both dreamt about for our whole lives— the first look.
Even ‘Mother Nature’ was excited during our “first look” moment as gusts of wind swept through the property as I approached my husband-to-be. Although both my veil and hair we a bit unruly due to the wind, it made the moment even more memorable. My heart was racing from both nerves and excitement. Despite instructions to tap him on the shoulder, I was too eager to his smiling face and decided instead to run and hug him. One of the most incredible moments was when we took a moment to look around to see our vision come to life. After a few romantic photos, we went to our staging areas before the start of the ceremony. It was surreal walking down the aisle to see all our friends and family sitting there, dressed to the nines, to support us on our special day.
Our flower girl was adorable, our ring bearer waved to the crowd while cruising down the aisle in his red Radio Flyer Wagon and our dog, Nala, stole the show when she came down the aisle in in her white doggy wedding dress to the “The Circle of Life” song from the Lion King. Our best friend presided over the wedding and knocked it out of the park. Listening to the beautiful vows we wrote to each other for the first time was the highlight of the ceremony. Before we knew it, we were kissing as husband and wife and heading off to party. The appetizers, the food, the specialty cocktails were perfect…even better than we imagined. Another special moment was when we got to sit together at our sweetheart table, alone, looking around at all of our closest friends and family, together at once, to celebrate with us. It was magical. After beautiful toasts from our siblings, cake, and an amazing donut bar we all danced the rest of the night away. The entire day was a dream from beginning to end. In fact, everyone had so much fun they have asked us to get married every year.
If I could say I had one favorite moment from our day was our first dance. Neither of us is the best dancers and only got to practice a few times before the wedding. But when our song came on, we forgot everything we practiced and just had fun with it. We sang the words to the song to each other and just danced as if nobody was watching. We even did the “Dirty Dancing” lift at the end.
The theme of our wedding was lemon and lavender. Calipaso is a beautiful Tuscan inspired yellow villa surrounded with vineyards and lavender. Being that my mother’s side of the family is from Italy, and lemons are plentiful in Italian decor, it was a fitting theme. Our cocktails, food, cake, invitations, decor etc. all drew upon our lemon-lavender theme. It all came together so beautifully. The best part about wedding planning was spending a year planning every detail of a wedding together brought us so much closer. Often times, we thought to ourselves, “if we can plan all of this together, we will be able to do anything together. We were there for each other every step of the way. Nick even helped with the arts and crafts!!!
I would love to offer a little advice to upcoming brides planning their weddings. Organization is critical…especially if you are not going to have a full-time coordinator. We created spread sheets to track invitations, guests, budgets and we also created a very detailed itinerary and style board to help our vendors understand our vision. Most importantly, although it is no doubt stressful, try to enjoy it all. It truly is the most exciting time of your lives. If it gets overwhelming, step away and share a bottle of wine or go on a great date with your fiancé…it will help to remind what all the hard work is for.
MY VENDORS:
Wedding Venue: Calipaso Winery
Photography: Sun & Sparrow www.sunandsparrow.com
Dessert: The Cakery www.slocakery.com
Event Coordinating: Kramer Events www.kramerevents.com
Transportation: Slo Safe Ride Transportation www.slosaferide.com
Hair & Makeup: Twist Hair Salon and Spa www.twistway.com
Donuts: Slo Donut Company www.slodoco.com
©2015 Sun & Sparrow Photography // Whimsical Los Angeles Styled engagement
FROM THE BRIDE // Quan and I first met 5800 miles away from home in South Korea. We were both there for a summer study abroad program that lasted 8 weeks. Funny enough, it wasn’t until the last week of the program when we finally started hanging out. That was 6 years ago and we’ve been inseparable since.
One day, Quan sent me an email at work and told me to solve the riddle within. I didn’t think anything of it as he is really into mind games. After failing to resolve the riddle, I gave up without much thought. Fast forward to a week later and Quan wanted to cook us dinner after work. I got off of work two hours earlier than anticipated and he was just getting home with a bags of groceries as I was pulling up the driveway. He whipped up dinner and after a great meal, he pulled the box out of his pocket and asked me to marry him. I’ve never him so shy and nervous in our entire relationship! I said “YES, of course!” and here we are today. It wasn’t until a few weeks later when he confessed that the riddle was his first attempt!
VENDORS THAT MADE THIS SESSION POSSIBLE
Stylist – XO & FETTI assisted by PURSUE DESIGN CO | Photography – SUN & SPARROW associate, Vanessa | Wedding Coordinator – WITH LOVE B EVENTS | Florals – THE PINK DAFFODIL | Vintage Bike Rental – SWEET SALVAGE RENTALS | Hair & Make up – JENNIE KANG
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Dreamy California Coast Engagement // © 2016 Sun & Sparrow – Southern California wedding photographers
HOW HE ASKED // Ever present and endlessly inquisitive Aubrey proved nearly impossible to surprise with a proposal. Needless to say, Ben enlisted the assistance of Aubrey’s best friends, Stefenie and Tye, and devised a plan to propose at Huntington Gardens, the site of an important milestone in their relationship. The plan was a picnic in the rose garden, some champagne and a life changing question that would come full circle.
Both Stefenie and Tye were going to be in Los Angeles, a rare occurrence and each pledged to help and keep the plan secret. As the big day approached, Aubrey became more suspicious and inquisitive, finally cornering Ben and asking why all her friends conveniently wanted to see her the weekend of the planned proposal. After what felt like hours of questionable interrogation practices outlawed by the Geneva Convention, Ben finally admitted what Aubrey already suspected, he was planning to propose at the Huntington that Saturday. Ben then proceeded to tell Aubrey the plan was off, that she’d just have to wait until he could surprise her another time.
Resourceful and undeterred, Ben came up with an audible worthy of Peyton Manning to propose Friday, the day before the original plan. That Friday morning he journeyed to the downtown flower market and told the vendor he wanted “all the roses”. Twenty dozen roses and hundreds of tea candles later Ben, Stefenie, her fiancé Simon and Tye were ready to surprise Aubrey in their shared apartment.
Tye was flying in from San Francisco and Aubrey was picking him up from the airport. Ben knew he had a window of opportunity to transform their apartment and execute his plan. Ben sat camped outside their apartment, air conditioning on full blast, praying the roses wouldn’t wilt. Atypical, Aubrey was running late, first ten, then fifteen minutes, slowly eating away at the precious time Ben, Stefenie and Simon needed to transform the apartment. Finally, 30 minutes late Aubrey departed to pick up Tye.
Ben rushed into the apartment and together Ben, Stefenie and Simon began transforming their shared space into the canvas for the proposal. All the furniture needed to go, the thorny long stem roses all needed to become rose petals and the candles needed to spell out marry me. With only 45 minutes to accomplish everything they needed to hurry.
Ben’s phone rang, it was Aubrey. Aubrey was only 15 minutes away and they hadn’t even begun lighting the candles. They needed more time. Ben asked Aubrey to pick up ice, and Tye stalled. A broken lighter, dozens of matches later and two minutes to spare everything was finally set.
Aubrey walked into their apartment and was instantly overwhelmed. Clutching the ice for dear life, she exclaimed “I can’t even.” Aubrey explained to Ben later that this was a good reaction. After what seemed like the longest 30 seconds of Ben’s life, Aubrey dropped the ice and raced through the open flames to Ben’s side. Ben dropped to one knee and asked the question Aubrey had been hoping he would ask for a long time. Aubrey of course said yes
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