Weddingbee bios

I was out with my friend for her birthday. We had gotten pretty drunk and needed food when the bar closed at 2am.

The only place open was a taco-stand called Holy Guacamole. We were in line, talking about how much food we were going to order. The guy in front of us in line turned around and said, "Do you know how BIG the burritos are here?" I guess he was shocked at how much we were about to pig out.

He kept talking to us and flirting with me. At one point, he brushed my hair out of my eyes and I totally swooned.

The taco stand closed after they took his order. "That's it! No more orders!" My friend was pissed and snapped at him, "Look. We're outta here so are you gonna get her number or what?!?!"

And the rest is history.

(This photo was taken a couple of weeks before our wedding.)

We had talked about playing hooky from work for ages but he was never able. Finally, we picked a day and I spent the night at his place the night before so we could go eat dinner at our favorite restaurant.

We walked down and were a little early so he suggested we head to the beach. It was Earth day. He said he had some crazy Earth Day sculpture with lights and stuff and he wanted to show me.

When we got down there, I looked all around and didn't see a thing. I thought he was crazy. When I turned back to him to say that I didn't see anything he was on one knee and said, "I was wondering if you would be my wife..."

I think I replied, "SHUT UP! Are you serious?!?!" We had been together 3 years at that point and I really didn't see it coming.

He didn't have a ring. The hooky day from work was so that we could go shopping together and pick something that I liked. I picked the setting. He picked the center stone.

 

We hadn't planned to have any taken but our photographer threw in a free session. We figured it would be a good way to get comfortable in front of the camera.

We chose to have our pictures taken at Union Station in downtown L.A. Such a beautiful old building. (We even made a day out of it...stopping for lunch before the shoot at Cole's...one of the "originators" of the french dip sandwich.)

What we discovered that day is that our photographer was strange, socially awkward, and late. We started to get a very funny feeling about him. We even considered firing him and finding someone else but we didn't want to lose our deposit.

A week and a half before the wedding he cancelled on us...claiming that he just realized he had double-booked our date. Everyone panicked for us but I looked at it as a blessing in disguise. We ended up finding an even better photographer who brought a 2nd shooter with him. The wedding pics turned out more amazing than I could have ever imagine.

Here are a few e-pics taken by the weirdo...

As soon as we got engaged I began scouring the internet for wedding dresses. I love vintage styles and knew I wanted something tea length.

I stumbled across a picture of the Maya and was instantly in love. I got a bunch of false info, including that the dress was discontinued and that the Roths had gone out of the bridal gown industry.

I kept searching though and found a shop in San Diego that claimed to have the dress. I called and not only did they have the dress but Henry Roth was in the store that very weekend for a trunk show.

I asked how much it cost and was floored at the high price tag. I hadn't even thought about a budget yet but I was sure this dress was well over whatever budget I would have. They called me back and said Henry wanted to know what my budget was so he could work with me.

My DF and I took a road trip from LA to SD that weekend. I tried on the dress with Henry. It was love at first sight. I wanted it. And he came down quite a bit on the price. And even though it was heavily discounted, he convinced the store to give me the trunk show offer of free alterations if I purchased that day.

I paid in full on the spot!

And here it is at my final fitting. I had a cashmere shrug in case it got cold. And I was going to add the black sash for the reception.

When I first started planning, I was going to wear blue shoes. I love blue! It's my favorite color. I was going to carry blue flowers and have blue polka dots on my cake.

And then I came across a style shoot on Style Me Pretty that changed everything...

http://www.stylemepretty.com/2010/02/08/from-inspiration-to-reality-translated-2/

I decided I loved these flowers and the black accents. And I went from there...

 

 

We spent the morning at our venue, setting up flowers and helping the DJ to lug all his equipment down the Santa Monica Pier. That was no easy feat!

After that, I returned to our beautiful hotel room at the Casa del Mar by myself. I wanted to spend about an hour on my own to just take it all in.

The first person to arrive was my best friend's little sister who was going to do my hair and makeup.

After that, my mom showed up. And then friends starting rolling in to say hi and have a glass of champagne with me. My mom made sure we had plenty. It was a beautiful morning and I felt very loved.

Our ceremony took place in the public observation deck of the Santa Monica Pier.

Our friend's cousin performarried us and we had a Spanish guitarist perform the ceremony music, as a nod to my Madrid-born mother.

Our respective older brothers served as Best Man and Man of Honor.

It was a very emotional ceremony. There were quite a few tears. Of joy, I hope. Otherwise, the unexpected  sun beating in through the observation deck windows was more unbearable than I thought. :)

We had our reception at Mariasol...the Mexican restaurant at the end of the pier. It was so bright and colorful in there. That was one of the bonuses of picking that venue. We didn't really need to do much decorating. On top of that, the view from up there (we had the top floor) was unbelievable. We were surrounded on all sides with views of the Pacific Ocean, the beach, and the pier. I think our out-of-town guests really got a kick out of it.

A couple of memories that stand out for me...my brother (the Man of Honor) wrote a very funny poem for his speech, which included references to DH and I first meeting at a late night taco stand.

The other thing that I'll never forget is being serenaded by all DH's friends. They have a tradition of doing this at every wedding they go to.

 

My husband and I live in and love Santa Monica. We have spent a lot of time at the pier. One night, while we were drinking margaritas at Mariasol, we saw a bride walking upstairs to their 2nd floor. A light bulb went off! We should get married on the pier! How fun!

We did lots of research. We were on a limited budget but wanted to make sure we had a wedding in central Santa Monica, on a Saturday night, and with an open bar. No easy feat in L.A.! But the pier worked out great. Mariasol was very affordable. And it was very close to where most of our friends live. And it was also a great "destination wedding" for all of our out-of-town guests.

The ceremony was in the public observation deck, which is connected to the upper floor of Mariasol in an L shape. Mariasol took care of getting the city permits, setting up the chairs, etc. After the ceremony, they took down the chairs and our DJ moved in. The observation deck became our dance floor while dinner took place in the restaurant.