• Real Weddings

Alyx and Marcus did not miss a thing when planning their wedding in the heart of Sunol, California at  Sunol's Casa Bella and every little detail was hand picked and created for their celebration! From customizing cufflinks, tissue boxes, guestbook, cake topper, toasting flutes, gobo lights, and signage to the incorporation of a jeweled-out broom that they used to "jump the broom" with at their ceremony, there were so many personalized touches. Alyx is the perfect example of a bride in the millennium as she had much of her details, decor, and gifts created specifically for their wedding from customizing shops on Etsy.

Keep scrolling to see all of the beautiful photos by Simple Joie and all the floral details by Pretty in Pink Events & Floral Design. You can see all the images in the full gallery.

From  Simple Joie

Alyx and Marcus had a sunset ceremony at Sunol's Casa Bella where they exchanged a beautiful heartfelt teary personal vow that walked through their journey as a couple, followed by the lasso tradition from Alyx's Mexican heritage, and then "jumped the broom" to honor both their African American roots.

The two spared no expense when it came to their attire and celebrated in style. Alyx wore a beautiful jeweled mermaid gown that flared out at the bottom that accentuated her curves. She topped off her bridal look with a modern jeweled cape instead of a veil. 

Marcus wore a classic Hollywood Glam tuxedo with black accents from  King Formal Wear. He also had his own flare shine through his gold trimmed bowtie and some red bottom shoes! The ladies in the bridal party carried the colors of their theme through classic black halter bridesmaids dresses and red heels while the gentlemen sported red tuxedo jackets. After the ceremony, Alyx changed into a beautiful flowy gown and the two shared their first dance as husband and wife with a choreographed danced.

From Alyx, the bride

How did you meet?

Marcus and I met through a blind date in March of 2017. We had common friends and they had both worked in the same company. My friend Jennifer and his friend Rhukshar had become really good friends and when they continued to talk they figured out that they each had someone that needed that special person. So they wanted to set Marcus and I up on a date. We had planned to meet up in Santana row in San Jose, Ca at Maggianos. It was going to be a group date to see how they responded to each other and the friends also wanted to be there in case we didn't like each other at all. I arrived with Jennifer and Rhukshar arrived with Marcus. I was so nervous and couldn't keep my hands still at all. Marcus was already waiting in the courtyard of Santana row and I approached him. As I approached him, the first thing I noticed was his smile. He had such a genuine smile. Marcus said the first thing he noticed about me was my eyes and curves. I stuck out my hand to shake his hand and then he told me "Hi there My name is Marcus. Let's go for a walk." He took my hand and I've never let go after that. We've been together ever since.

Tell us about the Proposal.

Fast forward to the next year, June 12th of 2018. It was my birthday and we had put together a family dinner that brought together his and my family. They arrived at Skates on the bay in Berkeley, Ca. I had a hard time trying to figure out where to eat but her mother pushed her to decide that specific place (She now knows exactly why). Everyone was there and having a good time and laughing and talking and just enjoying one another. I started to feel something was up when the waiter each time he spoke to me had the BIGGEST smile and was extra attentive. When everyone was talking, I noticed that Marcus got really quiet and he looked as if something was stuck on his mind. As I sat next to him I continued to feel like something was bothering him so I positioned my chair on the end of the table and took his hand and asked him if everything was okay. He said "yeah I'm okay.. I just love you" I said okay I love you too. Fast forward to dessert, and the dessert was placed on the table in front of me. After we took a few bites, Marcus looked towards his brother and then said to me "Babe, I can't find my car keys, you know how I don't like these pants sometimes, everything seems to fall out" I asked him why he was looking for his keys because we weren't even leaving yet. I continued to eat dessert and then looked up to see everyone with their cell phones out and then Marcus got out of his seat with a navy blue box in his hand. He got down on one knee and took my left hand. He told me "You are the girl of my dreams and I can't picture spending my life with anyone else. God answered my prayers and brought you into my life and I'm not about to let you go... will you marry me?" I started to cry and I said yes! This beautiful diamond ring was inside the box and it looked stunning. He placed the ring on my finger and couldn't be happier. After all this I figured out that my whole family knew!! Turns out he asked my father and mother months before if he could ask for my hand in marriage. He even brought over the ring to show them and asked them when he should ask me. It was a great night and it'll be one that I never forget. 

How did you know you loved each other? 

Marcus knew he loved me when we went to the movies. He realized he wanted to see movies with me for the rest of his life. He looked over at me while we were in the theater and said to himself "man, I love this girl." I knew I loved Marcus when we could carry on a conversation and have a good time with each other. He felt so easy to talk to and made me so comfortable. I knew I loved him when we had gone to church and then after that we spent the whole day together. We had lunch, saw a movie, had coffee, and then continued to talk about everything and anything.. Our hopes, dreams, struggles, family. It was beautiful. As for our relationship we balance each other out perfectly. He is very supportive of me and my line of work in being a law enforcement officer. He understands the job can be difficult and he is there to support me. He is a little more quieter and I'm on the louder side. If we're ever in a situation and if I start to think negatively I can rely on Marcus to keep me in that positive space. Same thing goes for him if he is in a negative space I can pull him back and let him know that it's me and him against the world and we got each other. He is wise, kind, and my protector. The one thing I love about him is that he won't let me talk bad about myself. He thinks I'm beautiful in every way. I couldn't have asked for a better partner. 

What made your wedding special? 

The few things that made our wedding special was having all our family and friends all in one space. We have friends from all different backgrounds and to see everyone come together was a blessing. Another thing was adding in our ethnic traditions. I am Black, Mexican, and Native American and Marcus is Jamaican and Black. I really wanted to incorporate our heritage in our wedding because it is who we are. We added in the rosary tradition from my Mexican side and together added the jumping of the broom. Our ancestors are the reason why we're here and I thought it was important to incorporate that into our wedding. Another added bonus of being Mexican is the TACOS! At the end of the night we added tacos to the menu and it was a blast. 

Tell us about the dresses.

My wedding dress was actually designed by Maggie Sottero bought from Trudys in Campbell, CA and my second dress I bought from Garner and Grace over in Hayward, CA. My main wedding dress was a fitted dress with a mermaid flare at the bottom. I wanted a second dress to boogie on the dance floor while still looking like a million bucks. My wedding veil/cape was bought from Etsy and it made me feel like royalty. 

Tell us about the Venue.

The venue we picked was Sunol's Casa Bella. We picked the venue because it was beautiful and we felt like it had everything we wanted. We wanted that glamorous chic feel but we wanted areas of the venue to feel like you could relax and enjoy a taco or two. The venue also had a great feeling and I felt like the professionalism of this place and of the employees really made this place stand out from all the rest. We also loved that the ceremony area felt romantic and private. They added doors just before we got married and it was the perfect touch. The reception hall was decorated with lights and mirrors and there was a seating area for guests inside and just outside too. The other thing that made this place the one was the suite upstairs above the reception hall. We used it for that night and it was perfect because we didn't have to leave right away. The next morning we got up and got to enjoy breakfast from the Casa Bella bistro that was on them! When my husband and I renew our vows in the future, I wouldn't mind doing it there again at Casa Bella. Casa Bella felt magical to me and I felt like they cared about the details as much as I did. Them caring and making us feel like family made choosing Casa Bella that much easier. 

Give is the dish on floral and decor.

For our floral and design we went with Pretty in Pink Events & Floral Design from San Jose, CA. My bridal bouquet was complete with entire roses. I saw a picture of a large bouquet of roses that had an ombre look from Pinterest. It started out with dark roses at the bottom to pink to light pinks and then white roses at the top wrapped in black ribbon. The bridesmaids bouquets were smaller with an array of greenery and white, red, and pink roses wrapped in ivory. We got 3 corsages for my grandmother, mother, and mother in law that consisted of the same colors and the men's boutonnieres consisted of white with pink or red flowers with a black and white striped ribbon. 

Centerpieces: The way I wanted the tables and centerpieces were the feeling of romance. I didn't want the same centerpiece on every table so having some tables with tall candles with floral and greenery as the centerpieces with gold accented candle holders around and keeping the flower centerpieces with a gold base on the other tables. The floral centerpieces were low and simple with heavy greenery with pops of white hydrangea, reds, and light pinks. I felt like having candles on the tables made it feel dream-like and special with a spark. I still wanted to incorporate the black and white stripes (I also had black and white stripes on the back of my wedding invitations) and so I found black/white table runners from online and I wanted to use those for the two main tables for our family. Having the centerpieces with the gold candle votive holders and the black white table runner made it look complete. The other tables were covered in a black table cover to make the candles and the flowers stand out more. 

The ceremony: During the ceremony, we wanted to incorporate our heritage into the wedding. We added the rosary wedding tradition from my Mexican side and then added the jumping of the broom from our African American side. We're here because of our ancestors so we thought it was important to incorporate both of these traditions. The rosary and broom were both handmade and purchased through Etsy. We also purchased a sign from Etsy to include members of the family who have passed on but we know would've attended the wedding. We added photos of the family members to the sign and placed them on a chair in the first row so they could have a front row view of our union. 

  Tell us about the cake.

We had a three tiered cake and the bottom level was fake. The middle tier was red velvet (my favorite) and top tier was carrot cake (his favorite). We also added a whole sheet cake that was vanilla cake with strawberry filling. I designed the cake and brought the drawing back to the bakery. For the cake we went with Gala Bakery located in San Lorenzo, CA. I loved working with Andrea and she made us feel so comfortable. She really took her time with us and we loved the cake tasting part. There were so many different flavors and it was hard to decide but we finally did. The best thing also is that they offer you a free one year anniversary cake. 

Anything else you'd like to add?

Since Marcus and I got married on October 18th and that happened to be my mother and one of my bridesmaid's birthdays.. We had specially made cupcakes for them. My mother's was a Minnie mouse themed cupcake and my friend's was a princess Jasmine themed cupcake. Not only was it our wedding day but we thought we should also give a big thank you to my mother and my friend for sharing that special day with us.I purchased little tissue boxes that were made from Etsy. I was inspired from a picture from Pinterest and I thought that would be great to give out to guests. The pink boxes had our initials and the date of our wedding. There were also 3 little tissues inside for the guests. We also purchased personalized fans with our wedding date and names on them. Since we weren't having wedding favors I thought this was a good alternative and everyone loved them!

• Accessories & Lingerie: ROXANA T DESIGN
• Bridesmaid Dresses: Azazie
• Cakes & Catering: Cake by Gala Bakery
• Decorative Broom: Elves Florals
• Dress & Apparel: Badgley Mischka
• Flowers: Pretty in Pink Events & Floral Design
• Groom & His Men: King Formal Wear
• Hair, Makeup & Beauty: Nubian Beauty
• Paper Goods & Calligraphy: Minted
• Photographers: Simple Joie
• Venues: Sunol's Casa Bella
• Wedding Dresses: Allure Bridal