How To Find Beauty In The Mixups On Your Wedding Day
This wedding day was lovely, and why wouldn't it be. Planned for a late summer afternoon and evening in California with a laid back vibe that would put anyone in a comfortable and carefree mood, but there were some wild cards that could not be planned for. One big surprise that turned into a heartwarming quirk was the venue Olivia and Jeff chose just happened to be Olivia's dearly departed fathers favorite spot to take her mother. Shocking but what a significant aspect of the big day.
The other wedding unknown would be the weather... no one can plan the weather, although this beautiful outdoor day played it cool when wind kept them from decorating the reception as planned. Keep scrolling to see how this sweet couple handled the unknown with the grace of seasoned pros. Plus don't miss a moment that was captured by Little Boat Photography, check out the full day in the full gallery here!
Ceremony
From the Bride: My wedding party was huge. Originally I wasn’t going to do a wedding party because I am blessed with an abundance of incredible friends. I decided it didn’t feel right to not have them by my side. So I wanted to do things less traditional and I asked them to just wear any long floral dress that wanted! I had 14 of them!
For the ceremony, my father passed when I was 15 so the next in line to walk my down the aisle was my brother. It only felt right to have my mom as well, being she played the role of both mom and dad for a long time now. I walked to Tom Petty’s ‘Here Come’s My Girl’. I had always wanted that to be the song I walked down the aisle to. When I presented it to my husband to be I thought he’s going to laugh at me and there’s no way he’ll go for it.I played it and he said “There’s no way in the world there’s a better song”. It even has a moment Tom Petty say’s “watch her walk”, my husband had that looped haha. It was perfection.
Reception
We got married May 13th 2017 at a place in Los Olivos in the Santa Barbara Mountains called Mattei's Tavern. We picked our location and knew instantly that was the place. When I told my mom she said “No way! That’s where your dad and I used to go for special occasions”. My dad passed away when I was 15 so that was a huge sign! It used to be a stagecoach.The inside has the feel of an old haunted tavern! And the outside is charming and just magical.
For cocktail hour we did mini sandwiches, because “sandwich” is our nick-name. So we had a sign the said “Find your sandwich, find your seat.” and our tables were titled as all our favorite sandwiches. We had mini Meatball sliders, PB& J, and grilled Veggies. For dinner we did family style Italian. We had a beautiful arugala salad with fresh shaved park in a lemon dressing, Farm to table grilled veggies, Rigatoni with meat sauce, a butternut squash Ravioli in a butter sage sauce. And there was a wood burning oven that we did fresh baked late night pizza’s. There was this incredible butterscotch pudding for desert. And the cake was white chocolate with lemon chiffon and raspberry.
Last Minute Move
We had a DJ and dance floor set up out side and right after we cut the cake we moved the whole wedding inside! It was really windy and I took a vote and the the conclusion was to move it in. The room had the old western feel with 2 burring fireplaces and candles everywhere for a super cool vibe. It was like having two locations. We danced all night with our best friends.
Have your vision but be willing to surrender the attachment to it. Things happen that you may not be able to control. For instance we didn't anticipate it would be windy! So all of our flower arrangements had to be re-worked. None of the vintage vases we had (5 per table) would hold the flowers... the wind would knock em over. So those little things that take a lot of time to settle on could possibly change last minute. We ended up doing garland ha. I'd say if you get hyper focused on "how it should be" you'll go nuts. My husband had to center me and remind me to let it allllllll go! And I did and it was pure magic.
- Bridal Shop: Solstice Bride
- Cakes & Catering: Christine Dahl
- DJ: Bouquet Sound
- Event Planning & Design: Salt and Sparrow
- Flowers: Cody Floral Design
- Hair & Makeup: Bridget Benaim
- Hair & Makeup: Sharon Slattery
- Jewelry: Emerson Ryder Jewelry (back necklace)
- Jewelry: Sarah Leonard Fine Jewelers
- Photographers: Little Boat Photography
- Photographers: Sweet Beginnings
- Venues: Mattei's Tavern
- Wedding Dresses: Stone Fox Bride