Tag Archives: love

Edson & Vanessa // Fairytale South Coast botanic garden wedding

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Our wedding day came and went in a blink of an eye! I cherished those moments where time stood still and I could just breathe everything in and focus on just what our day was all about, Love. While getting ready for my day, I remember watching my mother get her hair and makeup done as I sat on my bed with one of my 13yr old dogs, petting her and listening to some Alicia keys was just the perfect start to my day! My heart just felt so overjoyed in that moment. Everything else was just a fast forward and pause kind of day. My favorite pause was our first look, my nerves were thru the roof and I knew as soon as I saw Edson I would not be able to control my emotions. Sure enough, one look at him and I just couldn’t hold back my tears, here in front of me was standing the love of my life moments before becoming my husband, it just felt so surreal! So many talks about getting married, to being engaged and then the crazy planning phase and the day was finally here! All my morning nerves were at ease after that, I felt so relaxed and ready to just enjoy our wedding day together and finally be married.

I’m a simple kind of girl! I love natural light and beautiful soft colors so from the get go I always knew I wanted a garden wedding. I didn’t want anything to take away from the natural beauty our venue had to offer. My amazing florist, Laura was the mastermind behind it all. She just knew exactly what made me happy and made my wedding a dream!

Brides to be, take it all in as much as you can! Do not worry about a single thing on the day of because something WILL go wrong or at least not how you planned and it’ll all be ok!

Enjoy it all as it comes and bask in all the love that surrounds you two. Truly treasure those moments alone with your husband because those come so little. People really weren’t kidding when they say your wedding day comes and goes, I am so glad I have all these beautiful images to help me relive such an amazing day in our lives.

Venue: South coast botanic garden http://southcoastbotanicgarden.org/

Catering: Chipotle https://chipotle.com/catering

Florist/Coordinator: Laura Barraza https://www.instagram.com/laura_instyleblooms/

Hair and Makeup: Cynthia Rodriguez https://www.instagram.com/sinsix_/

Dress: Vivienne Atelier http://vivienneatelier.com/

Suit: Express http://www.express.com/

Video: Jackie Arevalo

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Oliver James // Torrance Newborn photography

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Nick & Heather // Etherial destination wedding in Paso Robles

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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

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SB
Outstanding!!! Big Tree Little People amazingness.ReplyCancel

Ryan & Kate // Romantic Palos Verdes Estates wedding

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FROM THE BRIDE // Both Ryan and I enjoyed our wedding day in Romantic Palos Verdes Estates. Looking over my whole day, we loved seeing how everything pulled together—especially since most of our wedding planning was long distance. We loved our first look, getting to share a moment together just the two of us before the day of celebration began. Since the wedding is really about the vows and the commitment we’ve made to each other before God, we both loved our ceremony and appreciated getting to take communion together. Another memorable moment for us was sitting at the sweetheart table at the reception and looking out to see all of our friends and family enjoying each other. We loved sharing the day with our loved ones.

Our decor was centered around the combination of olive branches and silver geometric pieces. I love the organic look coupled with a clean modern feel. While wedding planning is big undertaking, I felt so supported through all the help by my family and friends—it would not have been possible without them. It was a huge blessing to be able to work with such incredible local vendors, many of whom are friends with me and my family. We had a truly special group of people making our day possible and we are incredibly grateful for each person involved.

My advice for anyone planning their wedding is that if you’re normally pretty shy about what you like, feel free to speak up and make your voice heard while remembering that the day should reflect both the bride and the groom. I hope you don’t feel pressured to have the “pinterest perfect” wedding and feel the freedom to do what’s right for your situation.

MY VENDORS //

Wedding Coordinator: http://www.canary-events.com

Ceremony Venue: Rolling Hills Covenant Church, http://www.rollinghillscovenant.com

Florals: Laceroots Floral, http://laceroots.com

Bride’s Attire: Dress from Bella Sera Bridal, Danvers, MA: http://bellaserabride.com, Dress designer: Essense of Australia, https://www.essensedesigns.com, Shoes from: Keds for Kate Spade New York, https://www.katespade.com

Hair and Makeup: Wild Orchid Hair & Make-Up Studio, http://www.wohair.com

Bridesmaid Dresses: Azazie, http://www.azazie.com

Groom’s Attire: Suit from J. Crew, https://www.jcrew.com, Shoes from Cole Haan, http://www.colehaan.com

Groomsmen Suits: The Black Tux, https://theblacktux.com

Reception Venue: DoubleTree Torrance, http://doubletree3.hilton.com

Wedding Cake: Torrance Bakery, http://www.torrancebakery.com

DJ: Night to Remember DJs, http://needdjs.com

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Justin & Kristen // Destination wedding at Mandalay Beach Resort

Justin and Kristen’s Destination Wedding at Mandalay Beach Resort was dreamy and magical and left us feeling warm and fuzzy.

Sun & Sparrow is one of the leading engagement and wedding photographers in the Los Angeles area as well as Santa Barbara and Orange County. — **FROM THE BRIDE //** Our wedding day was so perfect and exactly how we had imagined. We knew from the start we wanted a destination beach wedding. We were lucky to have found an awesome resort and vendors that were so helpful along the way. We were so happy to have all of our family there to be part of the celebration. The day of wedding seemed to go by so quickly and we were both filled with so much joy. Saying our vows in front of the ocean is something we both will never forget. It felt so surreal that the day we had been waiting for had finally come. We were so excited to get married and start our journey in life together.

A Bride and Groom kiss at their destination wedding at Mandalay Beach Resort

We got a lot of decor inspiration by looking at beach weddings on Pinterest. Knowing that our wedding would be held on the beach, we wanted everything to have a soft/romantic look.
-Kristen

Our Favorite Moment of the Wedding Day

Kristen: My favorite moment of our wedding day was the ceremony as a whole. When the sun came out and blue skies appeared it was such an incredible experience. We were both filled with such excitement and couldn’t wait for our first kiss as husband and wife.

Justin: It’s hard to pick just one favorite moment, everything was so great. But if I had to pick one moment it would be when I got to see Kristen for the first time. She just took my breath away in that dress. It’s a moment I’ll never forget.

Kristen and Justin’s Wedding Vendors:

Venue: Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach Resort

Photographer: Sun & Sparrow

Videographer : Sun & Sparrow

Wedding planner: Michelle Hirrel

Florist: Shells Petals

Makeup/hair: Brides by Diana

Wedding Dress: Marie Gabriel Couture

Barefoot sandals: Etsy: ByVivienn

Earrings: Givenchy

Groom shoes: Aldo

Grooms suit: BarIII

Groom tie: Michael Kors

Officiant : Kimber Wilkes

Bakery: Siblings bakery

Kristen and Justin’s Destination Wedding at Mandalay Beach Resort Gallery:

Inquire today to book your Destination wedding at Mandalay Beach Resort

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Hi, I’m Ellie, a dreamer, and lover of romantic moments and unrelenting connections. In over 15 years of photographing weddings, my interest in photography has grown from simply making pretty pictures -to creating the most wonderful and powerful moments for kind and loving people, all the while capturing those permanent memories. Creating awe-inspiring imagery to match those unforgettable moments is my dream come true and I hope that by creating your wedding imagery together, we can make your wedding dreams come true too.

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Welcome To The Blog

Tag Archives: love

Edson & Vanessa // Fairytale South Coast botanic garden wedding

Oliver James // Torrance Newborn photography

Nick & Heather // Etherial destination wedding in Paso Robles

Ryan & Kate // Romantic Palos Verdes Estates wedding

Justin & Kristen // Destination wedding at Mandalay Beach Resort

Table of Contents

Our Favorite Moment of the Wedding Day

Kristen and Justin’s Wedding Vendors:

Kristen and Justin’s Destination Wedding at Mandalay Beach Resort Gallery:

Inquire today to book your Destination wedding at Mandalay Beach Resort

Schedule a Call