Here we are. An American and an Aussie… all good and married.
Our wedding was simply amazing. It was small enough to feel intimate while being large enough to feel like we weren’t missing most of our friends and family. The location was absolutely breathtaking. I really worried about having our wedding at the residence of family friends but it worked out so well. The spacing was right on for the number of guests we had (what would we have done if every guest that we invited actually showed up? Eek!) and the setting was beautiful.
When you plan a wedding at a house, there are SO many more details to think about than you could ever imagine. When you host a wedding at a rented venue like a hotel or banquet hall you don’t have to remember to buy toilet paper for the bathrooms and lighters to light the candles. You don’t have to recruit family members to go to the location a few days early to move all the furniture out. All that stuff is just done for you. You don’t have to work hands-on with every single vendor to ensure the day runs smoothly- that is usually all taken care of through the venue. Since I had to do everything on my own (with some help from family and friends of course) I feel like I really experienced EVERY SINGLE DETAIL of planning an event. From picking out paper for the invites all the way to the last details which included ordering sparklers for the bride and groom send-off. Even with my amazing organizational skills working for me (and yes, I will pat myself on the back and say they are AMAZING), I still needed help from the professionals to bring it all together. So in honor of all the professional help we had on our big day, I’d like to dedicate this post to our stellar vendors. Without you guys, we wouldn’t have had the amazing wedding that we did.
Our DJ Allan was spectacular. He was the very first vendor I booked back in August once we had settled on our date. I’d seen his DJ/MC work at two previous weddings and knew instantly that he was the right guy for us! In fact I knew he was right for “us” before I even met Andrew!! Some guests even wanted to take photos with him! His cues were spot on and he was so full of personality and professionalism. I can’t recommend him highly enough!
The florist Jen K. did a beautiful job on the gazebo, don’t ya think? My bouquet was MASSIVE but it photographed so well!
The photographer Candace of Mark Brooke Photography took some beautiful shots as we have all now seen on their blog (see my last wedding blog post). I cannot wait to see the rest of the fantastic photos.
Our videographer, Jonathon was just wonderful. He is not even a regular wedding videographer but he was referred to us through a friend. I felt so bad that he was staying so late into the night when originally that was not the plan. I thought he was just so awesome when he told me he heard about the sparkler send-off and he thought it would be great to catch on film. Whenever there was a big moment that was about to occur, I’d turn around and he’d be there. He was completely on top of things without needing direction. I cannot thank him enough for his hard work on our big day and I am so excited to see how the video turns out!
Our caterers, Orange County Catering were superb. I probably worked with these guys the most over the last year to ensure the food, service and rental set-ups were all exactly what we wanted. Jeff and Lyn at OCC were incredibly helpful and I’d definitely use them again. The set-up went fairly smoothly, although I did hear that they showed up a bit later than planned (thankfully I wasn’t aware of that while I was getting ready). The food was delicious. We got SO many compliments from people on the quality of the appetizers and dinner and it made me really happy to hear that people enjoyed it all.
It really sounds so cliche to say that the day just goes by so quickly- but it really does!! It is all a big blur and although I remember how it all went, the little details that I spent a year perfecting seem to have quickly faded from my memory. There are so many things I wish I could have remembered to do on the day, but such is life. The wedding came and went and I can’t change a moment of it now. In the end, I married my love and that’s all that matters.
Oh… and a little note to all of you out there holding our wedding photos hostage… please share!! I don’t have many photos to post because not many people have posted photos online. If you have them, post them- or better yet, burn me a CD! THANKS 
EDITED TO ADD:
I can’t believe I forgot some people. Actually I can, my brain is mush lately.
My fantastic hair stylist Regina from Medusa Salon did the hair for myself, all the bridesmaids and the flower girl. My hair was so different from traditional brides and I loved it. I didn’t love it so much in pictures from the end of the night when it sort of flattened out and I looked like I was wearing a helmet but that could also be because my face looked like a sweatball since I was oblivious to the fact that I should have reapplied makeup. It all looked beautiful at the start of the wedding and that’s what matters!!! And I LOVED the flower girl hair. I actually wish I would have done my hair like hers I think.
Makeup was done by the lovely Sumry, although I don’t have a page to link for her.
The photo booth was the hit of the wedding. Evidently the attendants were awesome (I think I said 2 words to them but all our guests said they were great). I’d highly recommend Rockstar Photobooth for any party! They were so reasonably priced and Chris from the company probably had the best customer service of any vendor I worked with.
Back from a hiatus to provide you more relationship advice from complete strangers.
