Our wedding day was amazing. It was everything we dreamed of and more. We had all of our family and friends with us, they traveled from near and far, just to be with us on our special day. My day started off with finishing up our wedding cake. I still had to cover the top cake with fondant and lace and put the flowers all over it. I was crazy for doing this, it took so long. While all my girls were getting ready, I was decorating our cake. This put me behind on getting my hair and makeup done, which then put us behind on leaving to our venue for pictures. This was my only stress on our wedding day. I am so happy that Sun & Sparrow was there. Tiffani made sure we were still able to get all the ‘getting ready’ shots, and then all of the shots at our venue. When I first saw Shon, during our “first look” all of my stress went away. I knew nothing else mattered that day, now that he was with me again. I couldn’t stop crying when I saw him. He was the man I was about to marry and spend the rest of my life with. Nothing could get me down that day. Once we did all of our photos with our family, we had a couple moments to ourselves before we said our I do’s. It was like the calm before the storm. It was so peaceful and magical. We said our I Do’s and we were finally married!! We could finally party and enjoy everything we had worked so hard to plan. Our reception was wonderful! Wonderful food, wonderful music, fun games, and loving people all around. It was everything we had dreamed it to be. It was the best day of our lives!!!

WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND YOUR WEDDING?  //  The inspiration behind our wedding was rustic/romantic. We wanted to get married in a forest and be surrounded by trees, since Shon is from Oregon, we wanted to bring a little of that into our wedding. We wanted it to feel very homey and like love was in the air.

WHAT WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE/FAVORITE PART ABOUT YOUR WEDDING DAY?  //  Shon: Seeing my bride, and getting married. I will always remember our first look.

Lena: Finally seeing Shon after being apart from him all day. And finally being able to marry him and call him my husband. I also loved that our dog Penny could be there, that made me feel more relaxed. I will never forget how loved we felt that day. Having our closest friends and family with us on such a memorable day, was amazing. It was also perfect weather, our whole wedding was all outside, we couldn’t have asked for better weather. We felt so blessed and so loved, we will never forget this day!!

WHY WAS PHOTOGRAPHY IMPORTANT TO YOU AND WHY DID YOU CHOOSE SUN & SPARROW?  //   I always knew I needed to have photography at my wedding. I can’t always remember the little details, so I wanted someone to be there to capture all the little things and moments I wouldn’t be able to see. Once I became friends with Ellie, and later Tiffani, and I saw their work, I knew I wanted them to be my wedding photographers.

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR BRIDES WHO ARE CURRENTLY IN THE PLANNING PROCESS?  //  It is never too soon to start planning! I can’t believe all the last minute little details that snuck up on us. It was crazy! We were blessed to have all of our family and friends around to help, but there are some things that only the bride and groom can do. Make sure all of your vendors are on the same page, and you have someone to be your day of coordinator. Mine helped so much! She took care of all the setup and communicating with the vendors. I didn’t have to think of anything on my wedding day!

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF BEING MARRIED NOW?  //  My favorite part of being married now is being able to call Shon my husband. We have since moved and we are enjoying married life, just the two of us and our dog. It’s been an exciting couple of weeks for us, being married has brought us closer together. It’s so amazing to be married, to have my best friend with me all the time.

VENDORS //  Venue:  South Coast Botanic Gardens   //  Photographer: Sun & Sparrow Photographers  //  Videographer: Janelle Warren Photography  //  Wedding dress: Bridal Elegance, Torrance  //  Caterer: Lucille’s BBQ  //  Day of coordinator: Wonderland Events  //  photo booth: creative photo booths