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Katie and Ethan’s Modern Coastal Wedding at Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas

Modern Coastal Wedding at Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas

Katie and Ethan had an elegant wedding. Their Modern Coastal Wedding at Alila Marea Beach Resort Encinitas is all anyone is discussing today.

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Vince & Leigh get married // Covid-wedding fairytale stories

LOVE STORIES vinceleigh 1

Hello all of our beautiful Sparrow readers,

We are currently living in a very unique time in history. In March of 2020, an executive order throughout the country for every person to “Shelter in Place”. This order closed businesses, cancelled outings, meetings, and caused many weddings to be put on hold.  Covid-19 has affected every life all over the whole world. As the world paused, many brides and grooms made painful decisions to postpone wedding festivities from their spring, summer dates to later in 2020 or early 2021. But through this uncharted time, we have seen beautiful glimpses of what true love is made of!
We have been blown away by the beauty of our client’s love stories. Even though client’s have moved their wedding celebration dates, they haven’t given up on getting married. We have seen brides and grooms get married right in their living rooms and backyards! Nothing is going to stop them from starting their FOREVER!  Being fairytale story-tellers, we are determined to share true-love’s fairytale stories!
We are encouraging all brides and grooms to keep telling their stories, keep sharing love, and remember that #LOVEISNTCANCELLED! If you have to postpone your wedding, reach out to us! We want to tell your love story!
*As a disclaimer, we were not in attendance to any of our client’s COVID-Weddings. We only feel that their stories deserve to be shared and told. Personal photos were provided by the clients. Thank you for allowing us to share such a special moment in history. We can’t wait to photograph weddings when we are able!


Below is the story of Vince & Leigh, and the beginning to their fairytale wedding…

From the Bride (Leigh):

April 19, 2020 was supposed to be our wedding day! But the COVID-19 lockdown came on March 19 and everything was postponed, including our wedding. We were so devastated to have to postpone our wedding celebration, but we were determined to have our planned wedding day be special despite the situation.
On the morning of April 19, 2020 we were in line at Sam’s Club for disinfectant wipes. We couldn’t believe we actually found some! We met at Sam’s and basically  had our “first look.” It was so funny to have a special moment at a store! After our Sam’s trip, we went home to celebrate our “COVID wedding day.” We took a few moments to get ready. Then, I walked down the staircase wearing a veil that I received during my bachelorette. I carried a mini bouquet of flowers that my mom made that morning. I walked down to my groom waiting at the end of the aisle… or should I say, staircase. Haha! We had a beautiful moment together with our families. We laughed and cried and were so grateful to celebrate such a beautiful moment on our planned wedding day!
Afterward, we had an intimate dinner with our family. Vincent prepared the dinner and I made chocolate covered strawberries. We also received some wonderful desserts from family and friends. My mom ordered us a 2-tier cake and she beautifully decorated it with flowers. April 19, 2020 was a happy day. I’m grateful that we have our family. I’m grateful that we have each other. It’s all we need and it’s enough. Our love is not cancelled, and it will never be. ♥️♥️♥️ Thank you to everyone who is reading our story!


You can see a few photos from their engagement session in December here!

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See their full engagement session, CLICK HERE! 
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    Specialty Flatlay Styling with Sun & Sparrow and Bowties & Bouquets

    Hello Loves!  We hope we can put a bit of light into your hearts this afternoon!  Today, we welcome Naomi of Bowties & Bouquets to the blog as we go behind the scenes of Specialty Flatlay Styling. We recently put together a flatlay marathon and had such an amazing experience styling together. We are so happy that we can share some thoughts and tips from our experience.


    What is a Flatlay?


    A flat lay is essentially a compilation of items laid out on a flat or leveled surface and photographed from above. They tell a story, evoke emotion, and remind you of a memory.

    Flatlays are so important to us because of the memories and feelings of nostalgia that they create. A flatlay isn’t merely just a photograph of your wedding items. Oftentimes, it contains details about your wedding day, it holds heirlooms passed down from generations, it has a special gift that you received from your partner. Yes, it does contain beautiful details from your wedding, but it is more than that. A flatlay encompasses all of the heirloom items and special wedding details that will fade or die — never to be seen or worn again.

    What Do We Include In Our Flat Lays


    For our Brides, the details that we love sharing consist of your beautiful wedding dress on a romantic hanger, beloved wedding shoes, that special ring he picked out just for you, a ring box, the gift of perfume & more. For our Grooms, we love to include cuff links, your watch a loved one gifted you, wedding shoes, socks, your necktie, and well-loved cologne. The special heirloom items we include are the jewelry your grandmother passed down to you, your handwritten vows, a love letter, your veil, any special details you may bring from past dates, your hand-selected wedding invitation & save the date.

    It may feel like some of these items aren’t heirlooms and that’s because as of right now, maybe they aren’t. Maybe you just purchased them recently, well in 20 or 30 years when your children are looking through your photo albums, they absolutely will be heirlooms. These photographs are to preserve that memory, that feeling you get in your chest of love, that smile that starts to creep up on your face as you are reminded of the best day of your life, the day you pledged forever to your best friend.

    What are my favorite items to add to a flatlay?

    We love to add loose florals from your wedding. Flowers always seem to dress anything up, so we like to photograph your luscious and beautiful bouquet, his gorgeous boutonniere, and any extra loose florals your florist sends along. Silk ribbons add a little bit of whimsy to the flatlay, we arrange it in a flowy way to add movement. Escort cards are a fun addition especially when they say “bride” and “groom” or “mr” and “Mrs” or it has your new last name, it’s always beautiful to see that up front and center. Having your beautiful sparkly encased in a velvet ring box just gives me all sorts of excitement and can we talk about seeing your rings together? We love that moment; it feels so official and it ties your union together. Laying your invitation out on a vintage tray or styling surface is the best! Sometimes invitations get thrown away so having this photographed and captured is the perfect remedy for that. You’ll never lose this keepsake when it’s inside a photograph.


     

    Here is where you can get some of our favorite items from.


    One of our favorite features to include in a flat lay is a custom designed element that really tells your story. Often brides have sentimental items included in their wedding and we love to use those items to highlight your wedding and make your photos feel more personal.

    We are a huge fan of silk ribbons from Ling’s Moments. They have so many different styles to choose from and their quality is superb, it will last you a lifetime!

    You can work with your calligrapher or invitation designer to include bridal escort cards. Some of my favorite designs would be vellum, letterpress, wood, or acrylic. Different mediums can be fun too, like eucalyptus leaves, agate slices, seashells, marble, etc. Who are my favorite calligraphers? Honest TypeLortz Lettering, Paper Mint Press, Written Word Calligraphy.

    We have always been so obsessed with ring boxes. There are many options out there. You can choose velvet, acrylic, or wood. You can have a square, hexagon, or round ring box. It can be a single size (fits one ring) or double size (fits 2 rings). My favorite affordable ring boxes are from StylingArchives and Lacebyrd.

    If you’re looking for antique items, you can rummage through your grandmother’s drawer to find heirloom items or you can head to a local antique store to find something that fits your fancy. We always love lockets with old-fashioned pictures of parents or grandparents.

    Why We Love Using Styling Surfaces


    Now this is for fellow photographers, creatives, designers/planners. We love using styling surfaces to get those pretty flatlays. Why do I use a styling surface? Not all venues will have a clean and bright space for you to lay all the items on. Sometimes you’re dealing with carpet or wood or uneven tones. A beautiful flatlay consists of having a bright, light surface. The surface must be large enough to lay all of your items on. My favorite styling surface to use is Chasing Stone. It is big enough to lay all of my items on, it rolls up for easy transportation, it is easy to clean in case you spill perfume or pollen and it comes with a bag so you can just throw it in your car.

    And there you have it, guys! These are our tips for flatlays as well as where to get all of our favorite items! Thank you for joining us on this Wedding Wednesday!

    with love from Sun & Sparrow & Bowties & Bouquets 

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      Tips for choosing wedding vendors that you’ll love // With Sun & Sparrow


      Three tips for choosing wedding vendors that you’ll love!

      Choosing your wedding vendors may seem like a challenge. There are so many people out there that have so many offerings and prices. How do you choose amongst them all?!?  Here are a few tips that we have learned over the years to help in making decisions for all wedding vendors and venues.

      1. Falling in love.

      We always recommend that you work with people who you connect and fall in love with on a personal level. When we talk about falling in love, we are talking about falling “in love” with your vendor as a person.  Having someone who you connect with on a personal level, as well as a professional level, is so important! You want to be able to communicate your vision clearly and feel heard as well as feel championed! When you choose someone you love, you can be confident in knowing your vendor team is going to execute your vision, be there for you, and create something beautiful with their expertise.

       

      2. Trusting in a vendors portfolio.

      What you see in a vendor’s portfolio from “real weddings” is what you can hope to expect on your wedding day. Take your time to look through a portfolio from “real weddings” they have worked on as lead vendors (i.e. coordinators, florists, photographers, hair & makeup artists, etc) to see consistency in their artistry. It’s always beneficial to dig deeper than first glance. One of our favorite things we can hear from a potential client is that they have spent hours browsing our instagram or blog, and are completely IN LOVE with our work. I’m sure every wedding vendor would tell you the same thing! We love when our clients have taken time to immerse themselves in our work and fall in love with what we do!

       

      3. Connecting with the vision.

      Connecting with their vision for the design of your day is super important.  When choosing wedding pros, it’s important to be able to trust their artistry, but also connecting to your vision for your day. It’s always a good idea to ensure your vendor’s design style, their values, and their vision lines up with yours, so you can be confident you are on the same page on the deepest level.

      Wedding vendors are creatives and each person has their own voice in artistry.  With any artist, it’s very important to see if their voice is “harmonious” with yours. Some questions you might consider are, “In their past weddings, have they designed a wedding that I absolutely die over?” “Can they design something similar for me?” “Does my vendor have my budget in mind?” “Does this vendor seem interested in hearing my vision?” “Do they seem like a team player?” “Are their values for family, friends, details, hair, makeup, florals,  romantics, etc. in sync with mine?”

      Once you’ve found your dream team of vendors that care about your dream day, we hope that you can relax with confidence! Your dream team will be connected and confident about your dream wedding day coming to life.

       

      We are so privileged to be able to share these three tips for choosing wedding vendors with all of you! One thing that we absolutely love about the wedding industry is that we get to be creative with our clients through our process. Why is this awesome? …Because you get to trust each coordinator, florist, photographer, calligrapher, etc in their own craft and watch each element unfold within your vision. It’s our dream that you will be able to look back and remember your love story beautifully. Hopefully, these 3 tips are essentials to helping your vendors collaborate and make dream wedding become reality!

      with love, Ellie & Tiffani

       

      Click here to see a few amazing wedding vendors that Sun & Sparrow recommends...
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