Who doesn’t love some gold glitter? I have absolutely fallen for the black, white, and gold color scheme of today’s California wedding from Couture Events captured by onelove photography. You can really feel all the love and joy between this couple that makes this wedding super sweet. Plus, there are gold glitter giraffes. You really cannot go wrong with gold glitter giraffes.
Even though we were getting married in February in Mill Valley, we wanted to plan for the cocktail hour to be outside in the courtyard. The sun was on our side that day, and it ended up being 70 degrees! The courtyard is surrounded by lush greenery and is beautiful on its own, but we added a few black & gold personal touches (glitter, market lights, pillows, etc.) to make it ours.
I am big on tradition and even bigger on suspersitions. Knowing it is both tradition and bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the ceremony on the wedding day, I was positive that we could not do a first look. But, I also knew that I would be really nervous and want (well, need) him to calm me down before the ceremony. So, we decided to find a place at the venue where we could talk and hold hands, but not see each other. We are both better writing our feelings down, so the letters were a natural addition to that moment. Holding his hand and hearing his voice in the moments before all of the excitement was so important, and so special. He is my rock, he adds patience and support to all that I do. At first, I started crying, but after allowing myself to be overwhelmed by the day and the words of his letter, we just held hands. I could feel my heartbeat steady and I knew that I was ready.
We knew we wanted 3 things for our ceremony: an officiant that we were close with, tradition with personal touches, and to keep it short and sweet! We thought for months about who would be the perfect officiant – we had some mutual friends from before we started dating, but no one was clicking. When my closest cousin Bryce (who was already a groomsmen) mentioned he was officiating another friend’s wedding, we both knew he was the one! He did an amazing job and made the ceremony so personal and unique.
I have two small obsessions – giraffes and sparkly gold. Our amazing coordinator and my dear friend, Krystel Tien, knew about these obsessions and surprised us with over a dozen gold glitter giraffes all over the cocktail hour and reception. They were such a unique and personal touch and I will always remember them.
Everything about the reception was perfect – the speeches made everyone laugh and cry, the room was magical, and the food was amazing. The venue had a wall of doors that opened up into the courtyard and the bar was outside, so the whole reception was a flow of indoor and outdoor activity. It was so wonderful, in fact, that we didn’t even mind that a guest took a slice of the wedding cake before we cut it, or that a couple crashed the celebration – going so far as to sign the guestbook and leave a Polaroid!
Photography | onelove photography | Coordination | Couture Events | Venue | Mill Valley Outdoor Art Club | Catering | Stacy Scott Catering | Florals | La Fleuriste | Cake | Susie Cakes | Macarons | Sugar Dealer | Rentals | A Party Center | Dress | Maggie Sottero from J’aime Bridal | Bridesmaid Dresses | David’s Bridal | Hair | Tousled by Teddi | Makeup | Tylar Leonard | Cinema | Silver Tie Films | DJ | Sutherland Entertainment
