Today’s wedding is a gorgeous and classic black and white affair. And I will be honest, I am in dress lust with the bride and bridesmaids’ gowns! Gorgeous! This couple also took a lot of care in making their wedding memorable and meaningful, which I love. The stunning photography comes from the amazing couple/photography duo at We Heart Photography. Enjoy!
From the beautiful bride, Emily:
My husband, Tim, and I had three top priorities for our wedding: the location, the decor and the photography. We wanted to treasure our wedding photos forever, so making sure the setting was as beautiful as possible was important. We chose the Rancho Bernardo Inn for our location because it was so lovely on its own, we hardly had to add anything. We wanted an elegant, yet relaxed wedding, so we chose the hold both our ceremony and reception outdoors. We chose black, ivory and silver as our color palette. Tim and I wanted our wedding party to consist of people who had influenced us and would also be a part of our lives in the future. My Maid of Honor was my actually my mom because she has been my best friend and role model for my whole life.
Favorite parts of the day: Honestly, the whole day was so awesome, start to finish. One of my favorite parts was the ceremony. I am really shy and the most nerve-wracking part of the whole wedding was walking down that aisle in front of nearly 200 people. As soon as I turned the corner and saw Tim’s smiling face, I instantly relaxed. I loved listening to Tim say his vows with the biggest, brightest smile on his face. Also, we used Papa, Tim’s 92-year-old grandfather, as our ring bearer, and we brought him up during the ceremony to give us our rings. He cried and held our hands as we exchanged rings, and it was the sweetest moment.Another favorite part was when Michael, Tim’s brother and best man, recounted the story of how Tim got me to show up to his family’s Christmas dinner wearing pajamas. When I showed up at Tim’s house, all the men were wearing tuxes, and his mom and sister were in formal gowns. When Michael finished telling the story, he whipped off his tux pants and underneath, he was wearing flannel pajamas!
DIY: I made the favors for our wedding. I was took a bunch of graphic design classes through college, so I created a monogram that was both modern yet elegant. I purchased about 200 little white boxes at Michaels, as well as black satin ribbon. We filled the boxes with dark chocolate-covered espresso beans and our guests loved them! I also brought in a lot of the decorations that were used. We had this incredible indoor/outdoor fireplace with a huge mantel, and I stacked all kinds of silver candlesticks up there. I am not the biggest fan of DJ’s, so Tim and I created several playli
sts to be played throughout the wedding. My brother, who is an amazing musician, helped us create out playlists and he was in charge of audio for the wedding. One of my favorite moments in the wedding was rocking out to James Brown with my brother. Finally, I got my jewelry from Etsy and my dress from a vintage and couture bridal store. My dress was awesome because it weighed barely anything, so I wasn’t exhausted by the end of the night.
Advice to other brides: Remember that you will be looking at your wedding photos for years to come, so choose the things you love, but choose wisely. Also, when it comes to money, invest in what you care about the most. For Tim and I, we wanted awesome photography, so we invested in We Heart Photography and they did a phenomenal job. Finally, don’t be afraid to break tradition. We put our flower girl in black, my mom was my maid of honor and our ring bearer was Tim’s grandfather. Having those people involved in our wedding was meaningful for us and for them.
Photography | We Heart Photography
Venue | Rancho Bernardo Inn
Bridesmaid Dresses | Vera Wang
