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.
I love a good bridesmaids reveal. Unfortunately, it doesn`t happen every wedding... BUT if the timing is right and the setup favors a moment like this, the bridesmaids showing their truest emotions, it never disappoints. Look at all these reactions right at the peak of anticipation! Can you imagine starting your day with this kind of encouragement? Gawd, its the best.
I`m so excited to be at Descanso Gardens next week for a gorgeous spring wedding. Cant lie, I love Descanso in the spring. I really hope its showing off like it was in these pictures. Fingers crossed for all the blooms and a beautiful day for the lovely couple we get to capture.
Gosh its been a while since I have gotten to put together a proper Flaylay. Coming from a wedding photographer, seems that a lot of couples are recently opting out of these precious little setups and allotting time towards other things like mingling at cocktail hour and late night photos. It makes so much sense to me that (if they were pitted against the choice) anyone would choose to spend time on their precious day with people that traversed from out of town to celebrate with them. But selfishly, I wish they might add time or sneak in some way to include flatlays like these. In any case, I love how my clients choose to spend their time and love their people, their wedding day, and the moments that fly by with haste. THOUGH, I would never want to convince someone to give up any of those warm memories for a more decorative moment. BUT... if we can add it in, then I will absolutely be all over styling these shots faster than you can say please.
Outstanding!!! Big Tree Little People amazingness.