Two and a half years of planning, 4 postponements and a major downsize later, we finally had our big day on August 14, 2021 and it was pure magic. Here’s a look into our special day and a little more about how we planned it.
THE VENUE:
LA JOLLA BRIDGE CLUB
After having to downsize our wedding, finding an affordable venue in San Diego was daunting but we ended up finding the perfect spot right on the water in La Jolla cove. The setting truly spoke for itself and was just the right size for our intimate wedding. Getting married in La Jolla was so special since its a place very close to my heart but its also one of the most expensive places to find a wedding venue so we got really lucky finding ours!
REHEARSAL DINNER:
PIATTI
We had our rehearsal dinner at one of my absolute favorite restaurants, Piatti in La Jolla. It has the perfect romantic vibe for a rehearsal dinner and is located close to the venue and hotels everyone was staying at in La Jolla which was perfect. We had all the cousins attend which was so fun and made for the perfect night before the wedding.
THE MORNING OF
We stayed at The La Jolla Cove Suites the night before and night of our wedding. Its immediately across from our venue and has the most spectacular view of La Jolla Cove. Staying right on the water and so close to our venue made the morning of the wedding so much easier and I don’t know if it was the ocean air or gorgeous views but I was so calm and relaxed. I did my own makeup then had my stylist start on my, my mom and sister’s hair. The bridal party joined us for some fun photos and a pre-wedding cheers and then we were off to start photos!
FIRST LOOK & CEREMONY
I wasn’t totally sure if I wanted to do a first look at first, but being able to see Alex and just have a moment together before all the craziness of the ceremony and reception really was such a special thing and I’m SO glad we had that moment just us two.
This may go against popular opinion but I really didn’t want my ceremony to be a sob fest. To be quite vulnerable, there was so much sadness surrounding my whole time wedding planning after losing my dad months after getting engaged and having to postpone so many times due to the pandemic that I wanted the ceremony to be as happy and upbeat as possible. I knew he would be there with me as I walked down the aisle in his own way so I decided to walk down myself and meet my mom at the end. I didn’t want that walk to hold any sadness or the ceremony itself to be something I remember as just trying not to cry through so we wrote a program with our officiant that was upbeat, short and sweet and captured our love perfectly. We also chose more upbeat songs than what you’d typically play at a ceremony and I have to say I’m so happy we did.
RECEPTION
More than anything we wanted our reception to be a GOOD TIME after all the obstacles we faced planning and wow was it just that. We enjoyed the most delicious dinner, had a few heart warming toasts, shoved cake into each others mouths and then danced our first dance. We also really wanted to incorporate something from Alex’s Greek culture so after the first dance ended we started the Greek Zorba and had everyone join in! We also had a photobooth which was so fun. We danced until the end of the night and then had our send off and drove off in the 1956 Porshe speedster which truly felt like a dream.
THE DRESS
I chose my wedding dress in 2019, purchased the very start of 2020 and got it altered way too many times to count as we kept postponing. My dress is the Adara gown from Rue De Seine at Lovely Bride. Its all gorgeous handmade lace. The way the seams fall and how the stitching is done is so incredibly unique and hit me in all the right places, it had such a gorgeous train and couldn’t have been more flattering. When we started planning I actually was going for an entirely different vibe for the wedding, think boho to the max. As we kept postponing my style really changed and I opted for a more classic vibe for the wedding aesthetic. Luckily my dress fit my style and the vibe of the wedding no matter the changes but I did alter a couple things to make it a little more streamlined. We got rid of the arm cuffs and instead added thin straps. I absolutely love how it came together and how truly unique of a dress it is.
THE CAR
I so wanted to rent a classic car for our wedding photos but after searching for months I couldn’t find any in the styles I was looking for. We ended up finding a company that had just started renting our their gorgeous 1956 Porsche Speedster right in time for our wedding. It made for the best photos and our favorite part was being able to drive off at the end of the night in it
VENDORS
Finding vendors that really fit the aesthetic and quality I was looking for while remaining on budget took a little extra searching but I truly couldn’t have been happier with how amazing each vendor was and how perfectly they achieved my vision for the day
PLANNER: The first vendor I hired, Occasions by Bea Priscilla was so crucial to my whole planning process and taught me SO much about planning a wedding. My absolute best advice for wedding planning is to get yourself a great planner and do so as soon as you start the planning process. I like to think I’m pretty on top of it and detail oriented but let me tell you, there are hundreds of details I never would have even thought to go over if it weren’t for my planner. She kept us on track with planning timelines from day 1, helped us figure out how much we could spend on each vendor and truly made sure every single detail was perfect and that the day ran seamlessly.
FLORALS: I found my florist MR Florals through my planner and couldn’t have been happier with his work and how he brought my vision to life! Since our wedding was on the smaller side we didn’t have a huge amount of decor so having great florals was super important to us and he completely nailed it. To save costs he actually suggested repurposing some our florals so after the ceremony he reworked the arch florals to be our sweetheart table display and did the same with the bridesmaids bouquets, repurposing them for our guest table centerpieces.
PHOTOGRAPHER: I found Peyton Beth Photography through Instagram and am so glad I did because she was an awesome photographer to have on our big day and had the best energy, making us feel so comfortable in front of the camera!
CATERING: I really wanted to make sure the food we served was delicious and not your typical sub-par wedding food. We went with one of our favorite caterers, The French Gourmet and opted for a plated salad and buffet for the rest of dinner. The food was SO delicious and the caterers did a spectacular job. We hired them for our full bar, dinner, serving, cake and coffee service along with using their rental contact for all our tables and chairs.
CLASSIC CAR: One of the things I REALLY wanted for our wedding was a classic car to take our couple photos in and of course to drive off in at the end of the night. I looked for months and couldn’t find any that were the style I was looking for and by luck Seaside Classics just began offering their 1956 Porshe Speedster for rental. Im SO happy we ended up renting the classic car, it made for my favorite photos hand down and Seaside Classics was awesome to work with!
CAKE: I wanted a very simple and minimal cake and of course had to make sure it was absolutely delcious so we went with one of my favorite bakeries, Susie Cakes. The cake turned out perfect and was SO good.
DJ: We went with Dancing DJ Productions per a friend’s recommendation and they did an awesome job!
SIGNAGE: We worked with Loralei & Co to create our custom welcome sign, seating chart and table numbers. They executed exactly what I wanted and were so great to work with to create all our custom signage!
OFFICIANT: Our officiant Heather from Ehvents truly made our ceremony so special and worked with us to write the perfect program and really brought the most wonderful energy to our ceremony, we’re so glad we chose her to officiate our special day!
HAIR: I hired my stylist last after having to postpone again and my previous stylist not being available, everyone was totally booked for my new date but I luckily found Holly of HD Beauty through instagram and hired her right away. We did my hair trial for my bridal shower which I loved and she did a beautiful job on my wedding day hair!
PHOTOBOOTH: We used Robert Magana for our photobooth and it ended up being such a hit with our guests!
